Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
the iA 2 process
3.1 introduction
A process is a prescribed set of actions or activities that must be undertaken to
perform a task. The use of a process promotes consistency, completeness, and rep-
lication. People following the same process in the same manner for the same situ-
ation should end up with reasonably similar results. The IA 2 Process presents a
disciplined, consistent, repeatable manner in which to identify, enumerate, articu-
late, and address business risk. The IA 2 Process is a prescribed manner that, when
applied upward to the architectural level, will help to develop an IA architecture or
integrate IA into an enterprise architecture. When applied downward to the proj-
ect level, the IA 2 Process assists with defining IA requirements and IA assessment
tasks like gap analysis and remediation analysis. The IA architecture may address
all aspects of the IA 2 Framework, or it may address parts of the IA 2 Framework. As
the IA architect, you decide what is important to the problem at hand.
A general architectural process includes a to-be definition, an as-is discovery, a
gap analysis, and a transition plan to move from as-is to to-be. The to-be is the target
state and may be a technical system, business function, business service, or any other
organizational desire or goal. The IA 2 Process calls this the intent.
Discovery of the as-is provides a starting point by defining the current business
environment, state of operations, security posture, and other relevant aspects to the
project. Comparing the as-is to the to-be provides a gap analysis between where
the organization is and where it wants to be. The transition plan provides for gap
closure. Rarely is there an existing formal document that represents the as-is; there-
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