Enterprise Architecture

Why an Enterprise Architecture?

Times of a monolithic ERP-system are over. To be able to respond to the ever faster-changing pace of business, organizations need a set of functional- and integration of digital components. A clear vision of a fitting architecture is essential to let these components work together and prevent a siloed architecture.

What is an Enterprise Architecture?

The glossary of Gartner defines an Enterprise architecture as: “Enterprise architecture (EA) is a discipline for proactively and holistically leading enterprise responses to disruptive forces by identifying and analyzing the execution of change toward desired business vision and outcomes. EA delivers value by presenting business and IT leaders with signature-ready recommendations for adjusting policies and projects to achieve targeted business outcomes that capitalize on relevant business disruptions.” We take the liberty to put more emphasis on the principles and guidelines and not so much on the rules. We also put more emphasis on visualizing the different elements of an Enterprise architecture to facilitate communication throughout the organization.

How do we design an Enterprise Architecture?

To develop a clear Enterprise architecture, we take the following steps with our customers:

Map out of available digital components

The first step is to see what is already in use. We check what is already available, and if the organization uses software solution correctly. Typically, a lot of these solutions can be valuable components when developing a new architecture.

Develop Enterprise architecture options

Now that we know what is available, it is time to learn about the plans of your organization. To learn about your strategy, we reuse existing documents as much as possible. Based on these plans, we develop a set of architecture options that include the solutions that are already available in your organization. Each IT architecture option has one goal, to support the realization of the plans of your organization.

Develop rollout scenario’s

An IT architecture needs a good rollout plan to put it into action. A good rollout plan focuses both on the risks and the opportunities that arise from the new Enterprise architecture. Together with your team, we develop different rollout scenario’s to choose from.

Select an architecture option and rollout scenario

With all the options on the table, it is time to choose. We different group-decision techniques to make sure that the wisdom of the entire team is included without going through lengthy discussions. When we agree on the right IT architecture and an accompanying rollout scenario, we pay special attention to visualizing its contents.