Week 13 - EA Measurement

EA Measurement

There are so many different ways in which you can measure the success of Enterprise Architecture.  Below are 7 Key Metrics that Simplicable.com lists for Enterprise Architecture.  

1. IT Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as a Percentage of Revenue
2. Total Cost Savings (TCS) 
3. Percentage Of Spend That's Strategic (PSTS)
4. Common Services Compliance Rate (CSCR)
5. Architectural Due Diligence Rate (ADDR) 
6. Sunset Technology (ST)
7. Business Specific

All the metrics listed above is good information, but I think there is only one metric that matters more than all the rest.  

Did EA help the Business reach it's business goals and metrics?  You can meet or exceed every independent EA metric available, but if you didn't help the business meet their goals, the value of EA will be perceived as low.  If you have to rely on all the other metrics available to prove the value of EA, you might be doing it wrong.

7 Key Enterprise Architecture Metrics. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://arch.simplicable.com/arch/new/7-key-enterprise-architecture-metrics 

Week 12 - EA Governance (Part 2)

EA Governance (Part 2)

     In 2014, my organization launched its Client Master Data Management project without an active governance effort. Client Data Governance is the decision rights or rule set for master client data in the Client domain. Client Data Stewardship is the operational or “day to day” work of Client Data Governance.  Figure 1 below outlines the Client Data Governance Framework.

Figure 1 – Client Data Governance Framework

     A Client Data Governance Committee was assembled and members include business and information technology subject matter experts from high impact systems and/or processes that create and enrich master client data.

Figure 2 – Data Governance & Stewardship Roles & Responsibilities

It is the job of committee members to:

• Attend twice per month committee meetings and participate in Committee meetings and sub-group meetings, as needed
• Represent their organization or function in approving artifacts and decisions, as well as establishing domain priorities
• Provide their subject matter expertise / process knowledge into issue resolution,  data discussions and any resulting decisions
• Be a source for reactive Client data issues 
• Proactively bring forward any Client data and/or process issue
• Alert this committee when there may be changes [i. e. process changes, system changes, etc. impacting Client data.
• Perform analysis and make recommendations regarding issues and process improvement
• Review and approve data definitions, business rules, measures, and metrics associated with the Client Master Data Management implementation and systems associated with CMDM
• Help drive cultural change [seeing our data as an asset]

Quest Diagnostics, & Schubert, C. (2015). Client Data Governance Framework [JPEG]. Collegeville.

Quest Diagnostics, & Schubert, C. (2015). Data Governance & Stewardship Roles & Responsibilities [JPEG]. Collegeville. 

Week 11 - EA Governance

Enterprise Architecture Governance

(We all know we need it, yet no one takes ownership.)

      Governance is a crucial component for any Enterprise Architecture program to be successful.  It is something we struggle the most with at my organization and I wonder if other companies face the same challenges.  EA does not have any authority, sufficient time, money or dedicated resources for governance.

     At my organization, we do our best to influence our business partners into to doing the right thing for our enterprise.  We however, do not have any authority to stop our business partners from deploying solutions that do not align with our strategic goals.  This has been very frustrating for me personally and at times I have requested that upper management intervene.  They decline, so I consider the matter closed.  You have to know when to stop "influencing" otherwise you are seen as a hindrance instead of helpful.

     Enterprise Architects are working on so many projects that often we don't have time to discuss what our governance program should even consist of.  And for the handful of times we conducted governance discussions, we rarely agree on anything and because of that, nothing actually gets implemented.  No one from EA is a dedicated resource to develop and enforce an EA governance program.

    Our Client Data Governance team has been trying to get our business team who creates client accounts to also become our operational data stewards (ODS) for two years now.   No budget ever includes money for ODS.  Yet countless conversations and time has been spent on this topic and it always ends with, we should schedule some more time to discuss.  It is nothing more that an elaborate game of hot potato.