Business Architecture (BA) sets the whole enterprise or organization-wide roadmap to achieve the corporate mission
This is possible through the optimal performance of core business processes within an efficient IT environment. In simple words, a BA with good thinking, to carve out the execution of documents - blueprints - as an engineer friend calls them - to systematically and completely defining the organization's current (baseline) and / or desired (target) environment.
BA is very important to develop information systems and newer systems that optimize business performance. This includes thinking carefully and detailed plans for the transition from the initial environment to target environment; effective, change management. If clear, simply maintained, and implemented correctly, this BA blueprint helps optimize workflow and document the organization's business operations and underlying IT that support operations. Without a full BA and enforced, the organization runs the risk of buying and building systems that duplicative, incompatible, and do not need expensive to maintain.
Business Architecture is the basis of information-strategic assets, which defines the mission, the information needed to conduct missions and technology necessary to perform the mission, and the process of transition to implement new technologies in response to changing mission needs. Business architecture includes the basic architecture, target architecture, and sequencing plan.
Architecture is the structure of components, their linkages, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time.
The organization is any entity supporting certain business scope and mission. An organization includes interdependent resources (people, organizations, and technology) that must coordinate their functions and share information in support of common mission (or series of related missions).
Baseline is a series of architecture products that describe the company's existing, current business practices, and technical infrastructure. Often referred to as the As-Is architecture.
The target architecture is a series of products that depict the future or end-state enterprise, generally captured in the organizational strategic thinking and planning. Often referred to as To-Be architecture.
Sequencing Plan is a document that defines the strategy to transform the company from the basic data for the target architecture. This multiple schedules, concurrent, interdependent activities, and incremental build a company that will evolve.
Architecture Business Products is the graphics, models, and / or narrative that describes the business environment and design.
BA terminology brought a lot of variation within each organization and the vast array of literature. Although the term business is defined in terms of organization, it should be understood that in many cases, businesses may exceed the limits established by the organization (eg, sales, marketing, finance and accounting logistics, inventory flow, HR).
In general, an important reason for developing the BA include:
Alignment - ensuring the reality of companies carried out in line with management's intention
Integration - to realize that business rules are consistent across the organization, that the data and its use is changed, the interface and flow of information standards, and connectivity and interoperability are managed across the enterprise
Change - to facilitate and manage changes to every aspect of company
Left-to-market - reduce system development, application generation, modernization timeframes, and resource requirements
Convergence - striving toward a standard IT product portfolio
The tangible benefits
A BA offers tangible benefits for companies and those responsible for developing the company.
BA can:
Capturing the facts about the mission, functions, and business foundation in a way that can be understood to promote better planning and decision making
Improving communication between business organizations and IT organizations within the organization through a standard vocabulary
Provide architectural views that help communicate the complexity of large systems and facilitate management of large, complex environments
Focus on the strategic use of emerging technologies to better manage enterprise information and consistently insert those technologies into the enterprise
Improve consistency, accuracy, timeliness, integrity, quality, availability, access and share information across the enterprise managed IT
Support the process by providing tools for assessing the benefits, impact, and measurement of investment capital and support the analysis of alternatives, risks, and sacrifice
Highlight opportunities for building greater quality and flexibility into applications without increasing costs
Achieving economies of scale by providing mechanisms for sharing services across the organization
Accelerate the integration of legacy, migration, and new systems
Ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. The main objective of the BA is to inform, guide, and hampers the decision for the organization, particularly those related to IT investments. The actual challenge is to maintain the architectural engineering firm as the primary authoritative source for enterprise IT planning. This goal is not met by policies enforced, but with the value and utility of information provided by BA.
Architecture Principles
There are principles that govern the process of BA and the principles governing the implementation of the architecture
Principles to help design the rules, the rules in turn determines organizational behavior. Architectural principles for the BA process influenced the development, maintenance, and use of BA itself. Architecture Principles for the implementation of the BA first established doctrine and guide decision making related to design and develop information systems.
Chief Architect, in conjunction with the CIOs and business managers select, define architectural principles that map to the IT organization's vision and strategic plan. Architecture principles should represent fundamental requirements and practices believed to be good for the organization. These principles need to be improved to meet the business needs of the organization. It really should try to act a certain map, such as BA development, system acquisition, and implementation, with the principles of architecture. Deliberate and explicit standards-oriented policies and guidelines for the development and implementation of BA produced in accordance with these principles. Each and every phase of System Life Cycle is supported by actions that are required by the principles of architecture.
Business Life Cycle
Business life cycle is a dynamic process, repeatedly changing the company from time to time by entering new business processes, new technologies, and new capabilities, and the maintenance and disposition of existing elements of the company.
Although the BA is the main topic, it can not be discussed without considering the closely related processes. These include business engineering and management program cycle (better known as system development / acquisition life cycle) that assist in the implementation of the BA.
Upon this process of human resource management and security information management. When this work together, effectively and effectively, organizations can effectively manage IT as a strategic resource and business process enabler. When this process is properly synchronized, the system efficiently migrate from their basic technology legacy environments through evolutionary development and incremental to their target environment, and finally to prove the point that the investment has been worthwhile.
Business Process Architecture
As a prerequisite for the development of each business architecture, each organization must determine the need to develop a BA and formulate a strategy that includes the definition of the vision, goals, and principles. The picture on the side, showing a representation of the BA.
Executive buy-in and support should be established and the architectural team that created the organization.
The team defines the approach and process tailored to the needs of the organization.
Team architecture implemented process to build both the baseline and the BA target.
Architecture team also produce sequencing plan to transition systems, applications and related business practices based on a detailed gap analysis.
This architecture is used in business engineering and program management processes in a way prioritized, incremental projects and incorporate the technology emerged.
Finally, the architecture is provided through continuous modification to reflect the basic data organization and practice of business targets, objectives, vision, technology, and infrastructure required
