Enterprise Architecture is a young subject, which has not been adopted in many companies. Although it is becoming increasingly known and developed, no formal description of the roles and training it requires is currently available.
Each Enterprise will require Enterprise Architecture at a different level, depending on the nature of its business and how it is organized. Nevertheless, some level of Architecture is necessary and should be looked at.
We can define four levels of maturity towards Enterprise Architecture:
- Stage 1: No Architecture is present and there is little or no culture on Enterprise Architecture in the company
- Stage 2: Enterprise Architecture has been recognized as an important subject. Some people are dedicated to developing Architecture. Nevertheless, this is usually a very small team (compared to the rest of the resources dedicated to IS projects), mainly focused on developing norms and standards, and only for IS/IT (no Business Architecture). Project teams get little benefit from Architecture and usually do not use it. Shared components across the company (Business, Organization and IT Architecture) are merely developed.
- Stage 3: Enterprise Architecture has been correctly developed. There are many reusable components and patterns. A clear target Architecture and master plans have been designed. But Architecture value still has to be demonstrated. The wide population of IT professionals and business partners, working on projects to build or upgrade IS/IT applications still do not use Enterprise Architecture to its full potential.
- Stage 4: The Enterprise has developed Architecture to its full potential. Every Actor in the company knows what value Architecture can deliver and how it impacts their role. The required changes have been made so that every Actor is fully trained and operational, hence using and enriching Architecture properly.
Stepping from one stage to the next requires specific change management and training. The training modules we describe in this white paper can developed with more or less details to be used with any target audience at different stages. The training should be developed by combining the right mix of these modules according to your objectives (which stage, which audience).