Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
architects' purview, provided the organization has matured to some form
of matrixed structure. A single chief architect or chief technology offi-
cer must still be identified in all cases, because someone must ultimately
make choices between alternatives and be responsible for success or failure
of the effort.
Distributed federated architecture for very large enterprises can be con-
figured serially or in parallel, depending on the nature of the enterprise
and its goals, as noted in Figure 2.1. Serial architecture divides individual
aspects of the overall architectural vision so that each element is guided
by its own chief architect. Communication among the chief architectural
roles creates a community environment within the coordinated guidelines
dictated by each architect's contributions. This is similar to a university
or corporate environment in which each business unit operates within a
negotiated general vision but maintains some aspects of localized control.
Parallel architecture is more like a city, in which no common vision
is implemented and each silo makes decisions for access within its own
Figure 2.1
Architecture coordination as enterprise size increases.
