Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Of course, an architecture is only helpful to the extent that it is adopted and
used across the organization. The next section shares ideas for how to make
this happen.
Making Architecture Work
Architecture can provide great benefits to an organization, but it must be
developed with common sense. It is easy to lose sight of the overall purpose,
which is to provide structure to support the design and development of
application systems. It is easy to get swept up in the realm of architecture and
define strict, rigid guidelines that can impede the ability of a project team to
build a system. Architecture should support and help teams, not prevent them
from meeting their goals.
In addition, any architecture must continue to grow and change with the
organization. It is critical that the architecture be flexible and adapt over
time to ensure its value to the organization. A rigid architecture is often
disregarded and never used. This is actually worse than no architecture, as
time and resources were spent to develop it. Developing an architecture that
both provides order and is able to help project teams deliver real solutions is
a challenge.
Companies are under a lot of pressure to meet the many demands facing
businesses today. It can be difficult to invest in long-term strategies, such as
implementing architectures, when dealing with serious short-term problems.
However, ignoring architecture is not the answer. Both business and systems
management have some responsibility for architecture. From a systems per-
spective, it is important to ensure that your architecture is reasonable and
that appropriate procedures are put in place so that project teams can utilize
the architecture. All projects need to tie into the architectural vision. Many
companies are good at these systems-related responsibilities. Unfortunately,
many companies stop there.
Business management must also actively support the architecture. This
means that everyone must be willing to make accommodations to ensure that
the architecture is used. Each individual project must be not only allowed but
actively encouraged to adopt the architecture. When getting started, this may
addsometimeoradditionalexpensetoaproject,butitshouldsavetimeand
money in the future.
As a joint business and IT management team, you need to work together to
do the following:
Understand the need for and purpose of the data warehouse architecture
Support the enterprise viewpoint
Not penalize projects or individuals who are taking the time to address
enterprise-level needs
