Use of the TOGAF® Architecture Development Method (ADM) will provide your team with a playbook for performing enterprise wide research and analysis in an orderly fashion.
Through adoption and use of the ADM the resulting outcome will be a process of ever expanding awareness. Remember – application development projects will have some sort of architecture that explains:
- Who will use the system?
- What it will do?
- How it will provide benefits?
Enterprise Architecture allows a structured approach be applied to groups of applications, to collections of departments, and eventually to the enterprise as a whole. As awareness grows thoughout the organisation there will a better understanding of the role that each business unit plays and the way that each technology component plays a supporting role.
As a result the essential systems and the functions they perform become more obvious, as do the systems that are heading toward obsolescence. It becomes possible to prune the enterprise portfolio. Investment can flow toward the areas that will have the most impact, not the areas that reflect fashions or political power.
The largest value of a “living” Enterprise Architecture is the ability to quickly navigate the world of new technology, through the efficient qualification of your technology needs. You can comfortably say “no”or “yes” to a lot of new ideas that make commericial sense for your enterprise. This saves enormous amounts of time and cost. You may find that a small subset of technology would better serve your enterprise and this will make a huge difference to your investment decisions.
By Delme Jones – Account Manager, Americas