The Open Group Conference,
London
22nd Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference
Highlights of the Plenary,
Day 2
(Tuesday April 28)
The Open Group’s 22nd Enterprise Architecture Practitioners
Conference began Tuesday April 28 in London. Industry leaders from all
over the globe convened at the Central Hall Westminster to develop
standards and best practices around enterprise architecture, TOGAF™ 9,
EA certifications, SOA, and business analysis.
Allen Brown, President & CEO, The Open Group, gave opening
remarks and welcomed members and attendees to the European launch of TOGAF
9. The London APC has attendees from 25 countries, a remarkable number
especially given the recession and an indicator of the global reach of The
Open Group.
Following Allen's welcome, an Introduction to TOGAF 9 was given
by Steve Kirby, Principal Enterprise Architect at SAP EMEA. He gave
a short history of TOGAF up to Version 8.1 and then explained the SAP
Enterprise Architecture Framework (EAF), which was launched in April 2007
at both Sapphire and The Open Group APC Paris and has since experienced
successful adoption by major SAP customers. Steve explained the major
differences and similarities between the SAP EAF and TOGAF 9 and showed
how the SAP EAF contributed significant elements to TOGAF 9, such as the
concept of Iteration cycles and much of the TOGAF 9 metamodel. He wrapped
up his presentation by giving his own personal recommendations for what
should be included in subsequent TOGAF versions, including reviewing and
refreshing the Technical Reference Model and the ADM.
The spotlight on the ArchiMate®
Forum was delivered by Henry Franken, Chair of the ArchiMate Forum
and Managing Director of BiZZdesign. ArchiMate 1.0 was announced last
week.
Henry Peyret, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, France,
delivered his presentation Certifications for Enterprise Architects.
Certifications are needed as enterprise architecture transforms from an
art to a science, he said, but we should be wary of what enterprise
architect certifications are really addressing. He began by discussing the
difficulty of hiring and developing enterprise architects: the job is
stressful, it may lack recognition, and so on. Notably, the job of an
enterprise architect requires a complex mix of skills, particularly both
hard and soft skills.
Henry shared the results of a December 2008 online Forrester survey
about enterprise architect certifications. Of the 167 survey respondents,
81% claimed that EA certification is a criteria considered during hiring
– the majority saying it is "a criteria among the others" –
and 18% said EA certification was not important. TOGAF was the most
adopted certification. He noted that only 2% of EAs surveyed received a
salary increase as a result of being certified, thus exposing another
aspect of certifications: they must benefit all parties involved. Henry
went on to say that most EA certifications today are partial and focus
only on hard skills and not enough on soft skills, which are recognized as
critical for EA effectiveness but are hard to evaluate, so ITAC is going
in the right direction with experience and peer recognition. He
recommended that enterprises use EA certifications as one criterion (but
not the only one) for hiring and that they certify entire teams so they
develop a common vocabulary.
The spotlight on the Architecture Forum was then given by Jane
Varnus, Vice Chair of the Architecture Forum and Architecture Consultant
at the Bank of Montreal, who updated the audience on the Forum’s
roadmap post-TOGAF 9. Reviews of nearly all Architecture Forum activities,
including strategy, are planned.
The presentation Using TOGAF 9 to Develop Industry Reference Models
(EMMMv) was given by Sarina Viljoen, Senior Consultant, Real IRM
Solutions and Helius Guimaraes, Global IS&T Manager, Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto, one of the world’s leading mining and exploration companies,
is one of the members of the EMMMv™ (Exploration, Mining, Metals, and
Minerals) Forum, which was established in September 2008 to encourage
interoperability and innovation amongst members. Helius reviewed the
business drivers in the exploration and mining industry, such as increased
productivity, legal and regulatory compliance, and cost reduction. The
objectives of EMMMv are to realize sustainable business value through
collaboration around a common operating model and to ensure that the
organizations are at the forefront of process productivity and regulatory
compliance. Sarina discussed EMMMv’s reference architecture, reference
model, and business reference model. She spoke in detail about how the
group applied TOGAF 9 as the basis of creating deliverables. They
customized different phases of TOGAF 9 to incorporate their reference
model, in particular the ADM and the Content Framework’s metamodel. The
presenters finished by stating that the economic climate is requiring the
group to take a more aggressive approach to developing the vertical, and
collaboration by industry players will be critical for EMMMv’s success.
Then the spotlight on the Business Architecture Work Group was given by
Dave van Gelder, Chair of the Work Group and Global Architect,
Capgemini Nederland BV.
The thought leader panel Resisting Short-Term Thinking:
Rationalizing Investments in Enterprise Architecture during a Recession,
moderated by Kevin White, Contributing Editor, Computer Business Review,
wrapped up the morning plenary. To hear the live recording, visit Dana
Gardner’s BriefingsDirect podcast later this week. The panel
participants included:
- Terry Blevins, Lead Architect, MITRE Corporation
- Thomas Obitz, Principal Architect, Infosys Technologies
- Phil Pavitt, CIO, Transport for London
- Henry Peyret, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
- Mike Turner, Enterprise Architect, Capgemini
The discussion covered topics such as balancing long-term goals against
pressing short-term needs, value versus ROI, overcoming frustration
with IT departments, and demonstrating the value of EA to both management
and individual business units. In talking about how enterprise
architectures can demonstrate their value, Thomas said that EAs need to
pay attention to the "mechanics of management". Similarly, Terry
recommended that EAs understand who is making decisions and what
information they need to make those decisions, and then build their
architecture to support those decisions and decision-makers. Phil reminded
the audience that each business unit might do or die by the value they
lend to the organization as a whole, so it is vital to understand customer
(external or internal) wants. The challenge for any IT organization, he
said, is anticipating the business needs. IT can lead and guide businesses
in a positive way to make the right choices, and EAs can play the
political part of helping the businesses make the right choices.
During the afternoon parallel streams, Nigel Green, Executive
Enterprise Architect at Capgemini UK, gave a presentation entitled Lost
in Translation – Multiple Lenses in Business Analysis. He explained
the core concepts of his book "Lost in Translation", which
details how IT and business professionals can use non-technical,
behavior-focused, and outcome-driven business analysis to arrive at useful
solutions for business information system problems. Business and IT often
arrive at different conclusions regarding the problem and/or solution, and
frequently this is because of a misunderstanding in the difference of
their value systems. Nigel's framework, which he calls the "5D Lens", consists of using the following headings to ensure a smooth
and productive conversation between the two parties: Values, Policies,
Events, Content, and Trust. He gave three examples of situations in which
the 5D Lens allowed organizations’ business and IT to work together to
better define their needs and solve problems. The framework works well across geographies and even language barriers.
Judith Jones, CEO, Architecting-the-Enterprise, UK, presented on
TOGAF
9 and Business Alignment in the "TOGAF 9 in Detail" parallel stream.
She explained the role that TOGAF 9 can play in accelerating understanding
and business cooperation and enhancing business performance via an
organization’s enterprise architecture. Some of
Architecting-the-Enterprise’s ten rules to plan for success with TOGAF 9 are:
- Providing the business leadership
- Establishing the metrics, frameworks, and standards to be used
- Using architecture governance
- Managing the costs and expectations
- Ensuring that there is ownership of the enterprise architecture
Finishing the day was Paul van der Merwe, Consulting Manager, Real
IRM with his presentation on the TOGAF 9 Capability Framework. He gave
an introduction to the Capability Framework, noting that TOGAF Version 9
includes many more graphics of it than previous versions had, giving very
good visual representation. A capability is
ongoing, sustainable, and business-appropriate – it must execute the
business requirement and take into account all of the stakeholders’
points of view. He then reviewed some real-world case studies and later
described how to use the Architecture Development Method (ADM) in the
different phases when looking at establishing the capabilities.
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