Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The symphony that can result from effective coordinated enterprise gov-
ernance depends on a clear vision, strong leadership coupled with execu-
tive buy-in and support, and an effective means of communication with
those responsible for their own areas of expertise. Some assessments detail
the process of enterprise architecture as follows:
1.
Creation
—Identification of the business drivers and requirements
that create a need for enterprise coordination. This may be a sim-
ple need for cost-effective technology utilization, or made more
complex by regulatory mandates and partner intercommunication
requirements.
2.
Discovery
—Identification of the individual protocols and technol-
ogies that come together to form the executive-level vision that will
guide technological development, purchase, and organization.
3.
Implementation
—Enacting changes, developing policies, commu-
nicating requirements necessary to implement the vision in actual
terms.
4.
Governance
—Overseeing and managing the process that guides
technology decisions, implementation actions, and all other deci-
sions that fall within the guidelines of the technology enterprise.
However, governance is more fundamental than first appears in this
process. Enterprise architecture translates business requirements into
technology planning that must include strategic and operational deci-
sions. These decisions must in turn contain decision making for capacity,
cost, recovery, survivability, and future-proofing that must be more than
theoretical abstracts. Governance is more about communicating between
strategic roles (CEO, CFO, CIO, business-unit leaders), operational roles
(managers, partner representatives, regulatory agents), and infrastructural
roles (integration competency centers, information technology imple-
menters, training staff ).
Without some mechanism for governance, lines of communication
and authority can become hopelessly tangled and doom the architectural
effort before it has even begun. Many formal systems for information
technology governance exist, including:
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
Perhaps
the most widely adopted standard for enterprise governance, the
