Architecting the Enterprise

Preparation is a vital ingredient for passing any examination and in an ideal world where there is time to spare this would not be an issue. But in the real world the rigours of daily life can impede upon this. At AtE we appreciate that some of our students may be facing an upcoming TOGAF® exam and are trying to recall information from a course they attended many months or even years ago. For this reason we have developed a new ‘exam prep pack’ designed to help students through the level 1, level 2, bridge and combined TOGAF examinations.

The aim of the exam preparation pack is to provide additional support for Architecting the Enterprise students and help to put you in a position in which you have the knowledge, understanding and confidence to pass this exam, as well as helping us to maintain our enviable pass rate within the market.

How does the exam prep pack achieve these goals?

1. Students will have access to online content, based on the TOGAF® specification and focused around the learning outcomes of the course that form the basis for the examination questions.
2. Students will also have access to an online workbook – by working through questions in a similar layout to those in the exam in an online environment students gain valuable experience of what to expect come exam day.
3. Students will be invited to our regularly scheduled webinars that are led by our subject matter experts. These sessions place the spotlight on a number of key learning outcomes as well as providing an opportunity to have direct contact to a TOGAF expert and ask any questions you may have!

As a student on one of our courses Architecting the Enterprise want you to understand that you are not ‘going it alone’ in your exam preparation and through our structured exam prep package you will receive all the support you need to take and pass whatever TOGAF examination you are faced with!

To find out more about this offer please get in contact with a member of the team today (Tel: +44 (0) 2081 229 150, Email: [email protected].)

Tom Boyce for the AtE team

TOGAF® 9 has been put together with you in mind, it seeks to put at your disposal the knowledge and tools that will enable you the expert in your field to articulate how you will meet the challenges you face day in day out. To find solutions that will result in a business decision delivered against, a design problem solved and what we all seek to achieve, a business goal met.

What is TOGAF® 9+ all about?

Remember TOGAF® is not the end, its just the start. Now with the bundle options available you can start to shape that EA future and help Architect the Business for future success.

How does TOGAF® 9+ work?

Buy a TOGAF 9 for Practioners or Enterprise Architecture for Practioners course.

+ Receive at no extra charge 3 months access to our EA for Telecoms (Foundation) course with an option to buy the full version at a reduced rate.

+ Receive the opportunity to buy one of the following options at a special discounted rate not normally available on these products:-

Delme Jones for the AtE team

Agile21 supports organizations in updating the rigid and stable business models of the past, which don’t always respond adequately to the demands for flexibility by consumers. The competitive dynamics of globalization and changes in society have lead to the need for radical changes in the responses by companies. Our customers are true entrepreneurs in the concept of improving the vision and strategy of the Company for an unpredictable future and Agile21 participate in this change. Our focus is training and consultancy in Project Management, which is our area of expertise.

Agile21 recognizes the reputation, expertise and merit of Architecting the Enterprise and is very satisfied with this promising partnership.

Portuguese companies are noticing the added value of TOGAF® which is reflected in the increasing demand for this certification. It is with pleasure that we offer to the Portuguese market the certification knowledge of Architecting the Enterprise.

Português

A Agile21 apoia as organizações na actualização dos modelos de negócio rígidos e estáveis do passado, que não respondem de forma adequada às exigências de flexibilidade e diversidade dos consumidores. As dinâmicas competitivas da globalização e as mudanças na sociedade levaram à necessidade de mudanças radicais nas respostas por parte das empresas. Os nossos clientes são verdadeiros empreendedores no aspeto de melhorar a visão e a estratégia das suas empresas para um futuro imprevisível e a Agile21 participa e auxilia nesta mudança. Actualmente o foco dos negócios centra-se em treino e consultoria em Gestão de Projetos, área de expertise da empresa.

A Agile21 reconhece a máxima credibilidade, notoriedade e mérito da empresa Architecting the Enterprise e está muito satisfeita com esta promissora parceria.

As empresas portuguesas estão a perceber o valor acrescentado do TOGAF o que se reflete na crescente procura por esta certificação. É com prazer que oferecemos ao mercado português o conhecimento certificado da empresa Architecting the Enterprise.

Architecting the Enterprise will be sponsoring the Next Open Group conference that takes place in Sydney from 15 – 18 April 2013.

Presentations include:

• TOGAF®, the Enterprise Architecture standard used by the world’s leading organizations to improve business efficiency and facilitate enterprise transformation
• business solutions, best practices, case studies presented by industry experts and current trends
• he process in which EA can create a foundation for Enterprise Transformation that business managers can understand and use to their advantage
• the benefits of EA in enabling the enterprise to successfully adapt to ‘disruptive technologies’ like Cloud Computing and ubiquitous mobile access
• transformation management principles – making the whole process more a matter of design than chance

For more information on this event, visit: Conference Website

Architecting the Enterprise looks forward to the opportunity of meeting you at the event, in order to make this possible, we are offering a discount to our clients and contacts. In addition to meeting with our team at the event you will have the opportunity to find out more about the Open Group and will be able to attend sessions and case studies describing their EA journeys.

To register for the event and to take advantage of our discount offer please click on the registration link below and quote the discount code SYD13-ATE. Register and take advantage of your discount code.

Please do visit our table at the event, we look forward to meeting you at the event

Greg for the AtE team

By Keith Flanagan

I have never been a fan of articles promising ‘seven guaranteed steps to ensure success in… [insert architecture domain or framework here]’.  It surprises me that any ‘expert’ in our industry ever guarantees anything.  Architecture isn’t recipe-based.  There are no guarantees because no one individual can determine the outcome of collective efforts.

Leadership is the same.  Leadership is not like following a cooking recipe because the ingredients that leaders use are not dead but alive; not compliant but resistant. Thus, it is my belief that architecture, like leadership is more of a craft than science. And that craft is best learned in situ, on the job and from reflective practice.   In effect, we should construct development programmes that equip architecture leaders to address compelling, real problems through collaboration with their teams or within their communities of practice. You cannot develop a successful professional sports team just by picking the best player to be the captain; you have to provide that team with the opportunities to practice what it is paid to do.

Elevating Enterprise Architecture (EEA) discusses architecture leadership in great length.  Despite my own open dislike of the term ‘soft skills’; it is those ‘soft skills’ that are vitally important in achieving success through architecture.

Architecture Leadership starts with one’s self.  You must have an accurate self-assessment of yourself before you can have any realistic idea how others see you; be they members of your architecture team, your communities of practice or key stakeholders from within the wider organisation.

We are now offering Self-Assessment consultations to our EEA client list.  This service is available to anyone that has previously undertaken an EEA (or SSFEA) product; although we hope to make this available to everyone in the very near future.  Consultations take approximately 90-minutes and are conducted in private over Skype. All consultations are based on a Myers-Briggs assessment and from the feedback that you give during the meeting. Some recent endorsements of this service are available at our EEA Linked In page which is accessible though this link.

I hope that many (if not all) of you will take advantage of this really beneficial service and I look forward to meeting you in the virtual space for your consultation.

With best wishes,

Keith Flanagan

By Greg Le Roux

As a modelling language, ArchiMate® provides Enterprise Architects a uniform representation for Enterprise Architecture diagrams that describes, analyzes, and visualizes the different architecture domains, their relationships, and dependencies in an unambiguous way. This open and independent notation standard compliments the TOGAF® Enterprise Architecture framework. As an accredited training provider we have seen the rapid uptake of ArchiMate® 2.0 since its release in 2012.

One outcome that most students are looking for is certification and Architecting the Enterprise has been at the forefront of delivering this certification through our accredited Instructor Led training option that includes the modelling exercises and exam leading to certification.

The Open Group’s recent announcement that the ArchiMate® 2.0 foundation examination can now be taken at Prometric test centres will provide many more practitioners access to a recognised certification. For those students not able to attend instructor led training but who are still looking for certification, the Architecting the Enterprise, ArchiMate Core Training for Practitioners Online course, is the perfect way to prepare for this examination.

All our ArchiMate® training options are accredited by the Open Group, and include quizzes, a workbooks and modelling exercises to ensure understanding and application of the ArchiMate layers and extensions, relationships and viewpoints. To ‘mirror’ the instructor led training experience, those attending the online training option have access to a tutorial on how to use the Archi tool and participation in webinar sessions where you can ask questions to a subject matter expert.

In addition to preparing for the certification examination the successful completion of these courses leads to the Architecting the Enterprise gold award which is recognition of your understanding and application of the standard.

For all delegates who wish to go onto achieve ArchiMate 2.0 certification (‘Level 2’) this will require the completion of the required modelling exercise. This is only possible through attending an accredited training course. For those who have completed our online training course, you qualify to attend our ArchiMate® 2 for Practitioners Certification Day. On the day you will participate in practice exercises prior to attempting the certification exercise which is assessed by the instructor.

For more information on the ArchiMate training and certification options visit our website by clicking here.  Should you wish to speak us about this certification and find out more information about our services do contact us on +44 (0) 2081 229 150 or e-mail us at sales@architecting-the–enterprise.com.

In the interim, please do watch our ArchiMate® Tutorial that will provide you with a more detailed introduction.

We look forward to being able to assist you.

Greg for the AtETeam

Should you wish to speak to Architecting the Enterprise about our ArchiMate course please call us. Phone: +44 (0) 2081 229 150 or Email

By Dumebi Oderinde

Q: If I started using ArchiMate today, what are the major benefits I would see tomorrow compared to using other modelling languages out there?

Let’s settle the fact that the ArchiMate language is specifically designed for modelling in enterprise architecture!

Enterprise Architecture embodies the process to achieving coherence, involving an architectural representation of what your organisation looks like, and intends to be. This is similar to the Zachman matrix representing the what?, who?, where? How? When?, and why? in understanding  your enterprise as a whole, or the Architecture Development Method (ADM) in The Open Group Architecture Framework, which outlines a set of sequential steps in describing the current and future state of the business, and then, meticulously managing the change and integration process. So, in essence, enterprise architecture captures a high-level, holistic view of your organisation, and ArchiMate provides a set of concepts to adopt as a standard practice within your organisation. Within your team of architects, and business analysts, you can represent the following views:

1. Your organisational capabilities described using the Business Function concept in ArchiMate.
2. Your organisational structure including the people, roles, and responsibilities. The concepts; Actors, Roles, and their relations are used.
3. Your products and how they’re achieved, using concepts in ArchiMate, like Products, Services, and their internal Business Processes.
4. The use of Information Technology, such as, software applications, which support various aspects of your business processes can be described in the ArchiMate application layer, using concepts like the Application Component.
5. Your infrastructure layer can also be described using the ArchiMate technology layer concepts, such as, Nodes, Devices, Communications, and Networks between them.

One of the key messages of enterprise architecture is effectiveness in communicating with different categories of stakeholders. The needs and concerns of your stakeholders should to be considered, understood, discussed, analysed, and clearly articulated, in order to accurately fulfil business requirements, and succeed in your endeavour. Particularly, clearly understanding how your organisation is coordinated is important in managing the complexities of change, and maximising business assets.

To achieve this high-level representation, ArchiMate stands out as the most appropriate language for a couple of reasons, which includes its ability, to enable you capture your organisation in its entirety, or to some extent. This is one features other modelling languages, such as, Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN), or the Unified Modelling Language (UML), are constrained, but can be used as further extensions for additional details, where necessary, in detailing your architecture. The new ArchiMate 2.0 extensions, provides additional concepts, such as, the location concept, which may be used to describe physical or logical positioning of elements in your architecture diagrams.

Q: Hot topics in my organisation at the moment are Cloud computing, SOA and Big Data. How can ArchiMate help me address these topics?

ArchiMate is used extensively in modelling other types of domains, such as, Services and Data layer, although it does not explicitly provide a data layer but it gives you the flexibility of describing what your data architecture may look like, by using the CRUD (Create-Read-Update-Delete) symbolisms, directions and flow of business objects within specific business functions and processes. In the application layer, the concept for data generated by application components is the data object, which may describe certain elements of automation. In the technology layer, artifacts represent a piece of data deployed or operated in a software development process.

ArchiMate provides a service orientation in-between layers; a service is an external functionality that is exposed to its environment, which is accessible to its users via an interface. The service concept in ArchiMate can also be extended based on your business needs.

Q: How can I develop my ArchiMate skills?

The value of ArchiMate is beyond what can be explored in this space, and at Architecting the Enterprise, we provide several training packages, and resources to support you in your journey. There are intensive classroom training courses, eLearning, and webinar courses, which are interactive with a live expert ArchiMate instructor. Our courses also include case studies, examples of ArchiMate models, and modelling exercises. Have a look at our website for a short video presentation of ArchiMate and other taster courses. Developing your skills in ArchiMate modelling will include understanding the concepts, their purposes, and uses. Also, there are good practices worth adopting, information about tool support, and other support opportunities for modelling using ArchiMate.

In the next issue, we will discuss some tips and best practices in modelling your Enterprise Architecture.

Should you wish to speak to Architecting the Enterprise about our ArchiMate course please call us. Phone: +44 (0) 2081 229 150 or Email

By Keith Flanagan

Feedback is so important.  Without it, you can’t be 100% sure if what you’ve done or what you’re doing is what was required, and as an Architect, you will appreciate this because you deal with requirements all of the time.

In my last article, ‘What Will Be Your New Year’s Resolution?’ I wrote that Mike ‘The Architect’ Walker had taken an interest in our Elevating Enterprise Architecture (EEA) services.  Mike has since reviewed the EEA on-line course material and has posted an excellent review on his website.  The link to Mike’s review of EEA is provided below, but before you click on the link; I want to say that I was particularly pleased with his closing comments which are reproduced below:

“After sitting in on this course, I would most certainly recommend it to my fellow enterprise architects. The course provides the essential soft skills needed to be a highly successful enterprise architect. I would go so far as to say that it is a prerequisite for aspiring enterprise architects and taken as a refresher course for seasoned enterprise architects.

Comparing this course to other EA Courses I find that most pays soft skills lip service and when it does mention soft skills it is in a very technical manner such as PowerPoint presentation skills. I will iterate again that this is a unique course that provides thorough overview of proven methods in a manner consumable to practicing enterprise architects.”

Personally, I’m not all that comfortable with the term ‘soft skills’.  I believe that there may be some incidences when the misinterpretation of the term can act as a psychological barrier, particularly in male-dominated professions such as Enterprise and Domain Architecture.  For example, just by using the word ‘soft’ in relation to a learning programme may conjure up mental images of students being forced to sit on beanbags and partake in ‘happy-clapping’ exercises where mutual hugging and secrets sharing is the norm.  But in EEA’s case, this couldn’t be further from reality.

EEA is about targeting your key stakeholders, analysing them in detail and then constructing and communicating winning value propositions that resonate with their personalities and personal drivers.  There is some psychology involved but I believe that most of us are interested in developing ways in which we may influence others.

Effective communication is not only a key to unlocking barriers and getting what you want.  A recent study has shown that 67% of a group of Canadian Senior Executives cited that communication and other soft skills are missing in today’s candidates applying for roles within their organisations.  Another study by Accen­ture shows com­mu­nic­a­tion skills top­ping senior exec­ut­ives’ most valu­able skills for busi­ness suc­cess list.

So, how good are your communication skills and how well do you influence your key stakeholders?

The dates and venues for the on-going EEA World Tour are provided below but of course, the on-line version, as endorsed by Mike Walker, is a convenient route to gaining that competitive advantage.

Click here to access Mike ‘The Architect’ Walker’s review of Elevating Enterprise Architecture.

More Employable. More Money. The Value of TOGAF Certification!

The start of the New Year can often prompt us to reassess our career ambitions and I’m sure that for many of you the start of 2013 has been no different in this regard. A New Year can also be a time when we look to plan our training for the forthcoming year. This said, if you are an aspiring Enterprise Architect looking for career progression or an experienced practitioner seeking a salary increase in 2013 you may be asking; ‘How can becoming TOGAF certified help me meet my goals?’

If we look to other professions – take for example lawyers and doctors – then it is imperative for people in these lines of work to be certified in their area of expertise. So why should Enterprise Architects (EAs) be any different? The fact of the matter is that they shouldn’t be and at AtE we are seeing an increasing move towards organisations demanding that their enterprise architects have TOGAF certification, as this will demonstrate that they possess a body of knowledge and competencies around TOGAF as an industry standard framework and Enterprise Architecture methodology.
It can therefore come as no surprise that 63% of hiring managers believe that those who are certified are more productive than those who do not hold the equivalent certification (International Data Corporation). As follows, in the current competitive job market TOGAF certification can, through affirming your professional skills, make you more employable.
Your strength in the employment market is heightened when we consider that in the case of TOGAF associated competencies there is a rise in demand from employers that is not being sufficiently met with the supply of TOGAF certified architects in the job market. Research indicates that your market value could increase by +3.7% following certification (Foote Partners, 2012) and for us at AtE this does not come as a surprise as we see a growing necessity for Enterprise Architects to be able to add business value as opposed to simply being able to demonstrate proficiency in a vendors’ products as might be the case with some other certifications.

As a result of becoming TOGAF certified you will be entitled to membership of the Association of Enterprise Architects (AEA). The goal of this network of EAs is to increase job opportunities for its members by increasing their market value. Therefore, the association’s goal, combined with the vast array of networking opportunities and the knowledge sharing that occurs within this peer community between members makes membership a must for any Enterprise Architect looking to progress in their career.

Having looked at how TOGAF certification can enhance your career progression and job opportunities, I will now lend a focus on how this can boost your salary. Evidence suggests that TOGAF certification can add per year up to £5,000 to salaries in the UK and nearly $10,000 in the USA. A fantastic return on investment! The value of TOGAF certification as a worthy self-investment is further supported when considering data collected from over 43,000 participants which shows an average median pay increase of 12.8% over the last 2 years for those certified in Management/Methodology/Processes; the category into which TOGAF falls (Foote Partners, 2012).

Although many other methodologies have emerged over the years, TOGAF has come out as the most widely accepted practice when it comes to developing enterprise architecture within an organisation. For this reason you are likely to find enterprise architecture initiatives occurring in many Fortune 500 companies across the world opening the door for countless career opportunities.
So why not become certified and demonstrate to your peers, clients and employer (current and future!) the proficiency and dedication to your profession which you hold?
At Architecting the Enterprise we aim to ‘Shape Your Future’ and when considering the reasons above, in 2013 there may be no better way to shape your own future than pursuing TOGAF certification…
To find out more, please feel free to get in touch with a member of the team – [email protected].

Fig1. The above chart shows the average % change in pay following a Management/Methodology/Process certification (TOGAF falls into this category) from 3 – 24 months (Foot Partners, 2012).

A Table to Show the Highest Paying IT Skills

The following skills are some of those earning the highest pay premiums.

TOGAF Certification ranks an impressive second.

(Foote Partners, 2012)

By Greg Le Roux

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) appears to be making a comeback, especially where organizations are looking to “The Cloud”.  Much of what is delivered from “The Cloud” is in the form of “services”.

One point that is vitally important for success with services delivered from “The Cloud”, or for that matter, if delivered internally, is that they be Architected. That is, that they are part of an overall Enterprise Architecture. One of the major pitfalls of SOA to date is that it has been delivered as point technology solutions, as “web services” where the technology is the driver, and not the business requirements of the overall solution. This has resulted in a proliferation of SOA infrastructure that is often quite expensive, within organizations.

In its discussions around Service-oriented Architecture, Wikipedia points to “Reuse, granularity, modularity, composability, componentization and interoperability” as principles to guide development, maintenance, and usage of the SOA. How many of these have actually been achieved by organizations today?

Architecting the Enterprise understands these issues and as part of our commitment to being part of the solution to these burning issues, we invite you to attend a Webinar on the 6^th of February at 9:00 EST (14:00 GMT) that will address the question of how you can link your Enterprise Architecture with your SOA Architecture. The webinar will take you a step closer to attaining the values that SOA was originally intended to deliver.  On the Webinar we will look at some of the tools available to the Enterprise and SOA Architects to help attain the benefits of Service Oriented Architecture.

The webinar is complimentary to an online course that Architecting the Enterprise offers that focuses on the “A” in SOA. The course looks to industry standards organizations, in particular The Open Group and OMG, for some help in finding ways to gain the benefits long touted for SOA but seldom achieved.

In particular, the on-line course focuses on an Architected approach to developing SOA solutions using The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF^®).  The course takes the user through various guides and standards, as well as looks to a couple of modeling techniques the SOA Architect might consider.

Topics covered in the course include a Reference Architecture, an approach to determining Service maturity levels in the organization, an Ontology for SOA, a SOA Governance model and a Practical Guide to using TOGAF^® to actually develop architected SOA solutions.  In addition we look at both SOAML from OMG and The Open Group’s ArchiMate for SOA modeling.

We do hope that you will join us for the webinar on the 6^th of February 2013.  Register Now.

Should you wish to talk to us about the webinar or for any other queries please  e-mail us on [email protected] or call us on

USA  +1 415 508 4119

UK +44 (0) 208 1229 150