Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Customization of operating system, application, and service con-
figurations beyond accepted industry standards should be kept
to a bare minimum to protect both interoperability and upgrade
potential.
• Individual business units or key stakeholders may be unwilling to
accept the platform architectural specification. As we discussed in
Chapter 1, a wide range of technology preferences may factor into
the local mandates provided by business-unit IT decision makers.
In addition to preference, individual business units may lack the
expertise and skills necessary to implement a newly specified plat-
form standard—particularly one that differs considerably from the
platform architecture currently in use. Matrices and surveys of exist-
ing resources compiled during the planning phase will help identify
requirements for training to upgrade support capabilities. The plat-
form architect should also ensure that support leadership is included
in the technology council that provides change management con-
trols, to ensure that issues are presented, considered, and addressed
before initiating a change.
• Implementation of alternative standards or platform specifications
without a review of service impact or analysis can compromise ser-
vice availability and user capabilities, and may create push-back
from user and management-level consumers in addition to techni-
cal support teams. This type of issue is common when movement
to an older standard platform is necessary due to a merger between
organizations when the main organization is using older software
versions than the newly acquired organizational element. Users who
have become accustomed to features and functionalities provided by
the newer software may experience significantly reduced efficiency
due to a lack of certain features. Users may also feel “cheated” by
being forced to roll back to the “outdated” application platform or
software standard.
Certainly, these are not the only barriers to adopting a platform speci-
fication, but they illustrate clearly why the practice of enterprise archi-
tecture must take into account elements that extend beyond the range
of platform specification alone. Beyond specification of a set of stan-
dards or vendor products through which the enterprise will operate, the
enterprise architect must also consider integration and communications
