Enabling The Enterprise-wide Ea

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Ed Tolentino BsC, CPA

A whitepaper on

Continuous Compliance: Enabling the Enterprise-Wide Enterprise Architecture By Ed Tolentino, BsC, CPA

Table of Contents What is “Enterprise Architecture”? ............................................................................................ 1 Preparing the “Enterprise Architecture” ....................................................................................... 2 Capabilities required for “Enterprise Architecture” .......................................................................... 3 Fundamental business transformation ......................................................................................... 3 Common pain-points with current IT environments .......................................................................... 3 Platform for a Service-Oriented Architecture ................................................................................. 4 A unified view on delivery of services ........................................................................................ 4 Define mechanics of success criteria .......................................................................................... 5 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 5

What is “Enterprise Architecture”? In my humble opinion, “Enterprise Architecture” (hereafter called EA) is a sophisticated instantiation of a Service Oriented Architecture, where end users and business partners receive Business Services that are composed of finer grained services provided by various elements of Enterprise Architecture.

An Enterprise Architecture; unlike a design, does not specify exact sizing and placement of components. For example, an Identity & Access Management Architecture Solution typically specifies the necessary user registration mechanisms; authentication strengths and technologies; and high-level directory structure, namespace, and interfaces. EA capabilities can be broadly classified into Integration and Infrastructure Management related capabilities. As a result, EA provides a sound IT foundation for supporting the business that is focused, responsive, variable, and resilient. To maximize ability to integrate within and beyond the state, there are seven key EA Integration Capabilities we want to add over time:

1. Business Modeling enables the graphical depiction and simulation of a business process including task descriptions, resources required and decision points

2. Process Transformation enables existing applications and information to be reused in new ways

3. Access extends data and information to new classes of devices and methods of interaction regardless of connection type

4. Collaboration allow users to interact in a personalized way with dynamic information, applications, processes and people

This document is for informational purposes. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality. This document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or distributed without prior written consent of Ed Tolentino.

Ed Tolentino BsC, CPA

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5. Application and Information Integration enables multiple information sources and business applications to be combined

6. Business Process Management allows EA to model, deploy and analyze processes with the goal of managing the end-to-end business process

7. EA Continuous Measurement is the proof of success measurements of existing EA

framework. Ultimately, EA framework implementations must be monitored and measured for effectiveness, value, and many others.

In short: EA is the enterprise structure and the operation blueprint describing the current and future states of the Enterprise, in terms of Business, Technology, People and Information views, and the transformation roadmap, process, program and portfolio, all linked together by the EA framework.

Preparing the “Enterprise Architecture” Quest to operate the business at the speed of market demand not only makes the organization more efficient and responsive, but also enables the many departments on providing significant service advantage. Enterprise Architecture by leveraging the associated capabilities and how these frameworks contribute towards transforming business into an agile enterprise by increasing the degree of focus, responsiveness, variability, and improved resiliency of business. Simplification of the IT environment is necessary for technology to act as a catalyst and an enabler of a nimble and responsive business. As visionary Enterprise Architect, It is imperative to steward the combined concepts from different domains, including: Business Performance Management -- includes the tools to analyze and model business processes, integrate various packaged and custom applications to support the modeled process, export and execute the modeled process in a robust runtime environment, monitor business processes in real time, track current performance against goals/historic trends, and align the business operations to match the changing business priorities. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) -- an emerging style of architecting next-generation enterprise applications by composing and choreographing business-aligned services into end-toend business processes to fulfill business goals. SOA provides a sound foundation for Business Performance Management systems. Web Services -- a set of standards which makes it possible to publish, discover, invoke, manage, integrate, and interoperate application functionality across heterogeneous technology platforms. Grid Computing -- enables the virtualization of distributed computing and data resources such as processing, network bandwidth and storage capacity to create a single system image, granting users and applications seamless access to vast IT capabilities. By aligning the “Enterprise Architecture” with the above list, the resulting open standards-based architecture supports faster integration, automated management of IT, and ubiquitous access to computing power where and when needed through virtualization.

This document is for informational purposes. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality. This document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or distributed without prior written consent of Ed Tolentino.

Ed Tolentino BsC, CPA

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Capabilities required for “Enterprise Architecture” To achieve Enterprise Architecture, implement the following infrastructure over time:       

Availability ensures the health and appropriate functioning of IT environments Security ensures information assets (including Personal Information and Personal Health Information), confidentiality and data integrity are protected Optimization ensures the most productive utilization of IT infrastructure Provisioning makes available the right resources to the right processes and people Infrastructure Orchestration senses, triggers and responds according to business goals Business Service Management to visualize IT environment in business terms and manage service levels to business objectives Resource Virtualization provides a single, consolidated, logical view of and easy access to all available resources in a network (i.e. applications, servers, storage, distributed systems/grid)

Fundamental business transformation Achieving an increasing degree of agile characteristics requires fundamental business transformation supported by IT simplification. Roadmaps and entry points for such a transformational journey are based on the current of their business and the specific goals planning to achieve. The resulting open standards-based architecture supports faster integration, automated management of IT, and ubiquitous access to computing power where and when needed through virtualization. In other words, it supports people, process, and information of the overall solution. Infrastructure Services include various capabilities necessary to manage a robust infrastructure onto which Application Services can be deployed and managed. It includes capabilities to virtualized IT capabilities to enable sharing across applications, automated management of service levels and bring down barriers brought about by decade pin-point application delivery through autonomic computing capabilities, and the ability to track and bill various applications for their workload based on usage.

Common pain-points with current IT environments             

Unchangeable business process design Not getting most from the existing assets Limited access and reach Lack of real-time interaction Disconnected applications and information Isolated and Unmanaged Business Processes Unacceptable downtime Heightened security concerns Capabilities not targeted at business performance goals Over provisioning of underutilized resources Management complexity of IT Mismanaged service levels Disparate physical view of IT

This document is for informational purposes. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality. This document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or distributed without prior written consent of Ed Tolentino.

Ed Tolentino BsC, CPA

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Platform for a Service-Oriented Architecture From the pain-points discussed above, it should be clear that an Enterprise Architecture should be developed that meets all requirements that include: 

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First and foremost, leverage existing assets. Existing systems can rarely be thrown away, and often contain within them great value to the enterprise. Strategically, the objective is to build a new architecture that will yield all the value hoped for, but tactically, the existing systems must be integrated such that, over time, they can be componentized or replaced in manageable, incremental projects. Support all required types or "styles" of integration. This includes: User Interaction -- being able to provide a single, interactive user experience Application Connectivity -- communications layer that underlies all of the architecture Process Integration -- choreographs applications and services Information Integration -- federates and moves the enterprise data Build to Integrate -- builds and deploys new applications and services. Allow for incremental implementations and migration of assets - this will enable one of the most critical aspects of developing the architecture: the ability to produce incremental ROI. Include a development environment that will be built around a standard component framework, promote better reuse of modules and systems, allow legacy assets to be migrated to the framework, and allow for the timely implementation of new technologies. Allow implementation of new computing models; specifically, new portal-based client models, Grid computing, and on-demand computing.

A unified view on delivery of services Pause and not just examine application architecture, but the basic business problems. From a business perspective, it's no longer a technology problem, it is a matter of developing an application architecture and framework within which business problems can be defined, and solutions can be implemented in a unified enterprise view that is coherent & repeatable. Discover, explore, map, and document:   

All functions are defined as services. This includes purely business functions, business transactions composed of lower-level functions, and system service functions. All services are independent. They operate as "black boxes"; external components neither know nor care how they perform their function. In the most general sense, the interfaces are virtually-usable; that is, at an architectural level, it is irrelevant whether they are local (within the system) or remote (external to the immediate system), what interconnect scheme or protocol is used to effect the invocation, or what infrastructure components are required to make the connection.

In all this, the interface is the key, and is the focus of the calling application. It defines the required parameters and the nature of the result; thus, it defines the nature of the service, not the technology used to implement it. It is the system's responsibility to effect and manage the invocation of the service, not the calling application. This allows two critical characteristics to be realized: (1) that the services are truly independent, and (2), that they can be managed. Management includes many functions, including:    

Security -- authorization of the request, encryption and decryption as required, validation, etc. Deployment -- allowing the service to be redeployed (moved) around the network for performance, redundancy for availability, or other reasons Logging -- for auditing, metering, service level metrics, etc. Dynamic rerouting -- for fail over or load balancing

This document is for informational purposes. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality. This document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or distributed without prior written consent of Ed Tolentino.

Ed Tolentino BsC, CPA 

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Maintenance -- management of new versions of the service

Define mechanics of success criteria Once we understand the requirements of a given business service (including reg ulation or mandate), determine the scope, configuration, and mechanism for collecting, alerting on, reporting on and retaining the data necessary to meet satisfy auditors. Th e following step by step process allows us to define goals and key tasks for successful EA:    

Determine the scope - the goal should be to identify all system components that are subject to a given initiative. Define key tasks related to that goal. Once those tasks are complete, move to configuring network elements, systems and applications to generate the required log messages. After configuration, define key tasks necessary for decision making and compliance activities, i.e. the collection and retention of data and setting up automated alerts and reporting on that data.

Summary Existing business scenarios can be significantly re-designed using the Enterprise Architecture capabilities and technologies. In addition, greater flexibility can be built into the business processes enabling quicker future change whilst delivering more resilient and responsive services today. What is next? Drill down into each of these scenarios in turn to describe the specific technologies, patterns, best practices, products and skills applied to achieve these transformed business scenarios. In order to promote the reuse of architecture and design considerations across departments, the future work-effort should describe the architectural patterns and design patterns leveraged by each of the scenarios. Design patterns in this situation are commonly occurring detailed application design best practices that ar e relevant within the context of a broader Enterprise Architecture. In order to promote the reuse of architecture and design considerations across departments and entities, it is necessary to describe the architectural patterns and design patterns leveraged by each of the scenarios.  

Architectural patterns in this context represent commonly occurring fundamental structure of an IT system. Design patterns in this situation are commonly occurring detailed application design best practices that are relevant within the context of a broader architecture.

Since implementing these solutions requires deep business process design and IT skills, it will be apparent that an Enterprise Architect with strong Business and IT expertise is highly beneficial in order to transform business processes and to exploit the range of technologies necessary to achieve an On Demand Business.

This document is for informational purposes. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality. This document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or distributed without prior written consent of Ed Tolentino.