MDA Radar

Issue #15 [May 29-June 2]

Understanding Business Principles and Directions: Finding Neverland

Through the last few editions of MDA Radar we established the foundations of our knowledge about enterprise architecture. With the help of this base, we can consider ourselves empowered to build our enterprise – our flower garden with every possible color in it. Although we have sown the seeds in our garden, we are still a few steps away from seeing the flowers bloom. You must be ready to understand the soil and the seasons. These are two very important concepts for any gardener to understand. Over the next few weeks, we will engage in a new discussion that will revitalize enterprise strategic concepts and enterprise governance. In this week’s installment, we will try to enrich our enterprise glossaries in the context of enterprise business entity. Ever since we acquired initial knowledge about enterprise architecture, we have heard of or experienced the existence of different schools of thought. These schools show characteristics similar to the fabled blind men trying to explain the parts of an elephant. They concentrate only on certain parts of the enterprise and use their own methods to make MDA work. Our objective is to keep a safe distance from these players. As already mentioned in our previous discussions, the concepts behind an enterprise business entity are fundamental in understanding the concepts of enterprise strategies and plans. On identifying the right enterprise entity, our next step is to understand the terminologies associated with business strategic principles.

Enterprise Entity Concepts

The GERAM enterprise life cycle emphasizes the entity concept as the second phase in the entity life cycle. The concepts in the entity life cycle include the definition of the entity mission, vision, values, strategies, objectives, operational concepts, policies, business plans and so on. The PERA Master Plan has identified nine steps in relation to business principles: Mission, Vision, Values, Objectives, Strategy, Goals, Business Plan, Critical Success Factors and Policy.





The following flower diagram helps us visualize and mind-map enterprise entity concepts in the context of an organization strategic roadmap:





Figure 1: Enterprise Entity, the Flower in the Enterprise Garden

Enterprise success depends entirely on these nine enterprise entity concepts.

Conclusion

In today’s fast-paced world, people are happy buying ready-made foods to eat and potted plants to grow at home. They avoid spending time applying fertilizers to the garden, enriching soil fertility and sowing the seeds to see them bloom. Enterprise architecture is a flower that grows naturally with the help of a ‘magic touch’ and lots of care. This week, we have given you the vocabulary to help you to start your own enterprise master plan, and move ahead with strategic planning and governance. Enterprise architecture players are ready to sell their potted flowers, but you must decide if you are ready to buy those or if you want to grow one of your own. Wait until the journey to ‘Neverland’ is complete.

References

  • GERAM: Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology. Version 1.6.3 Also in P.Bernus, L.Nemes and G. Schmidt (Eds) Handbook on Enterprise Architecture, Berlin : Springer (2003) pp 22-64.
  • [GERAM] GERAM: Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology. Version 1.6. (http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~bernus/taskforce/geram) also in P.Bernus, L.Nemes and G. Schmidt (Eds) Handbook on Enterprise Architecture, Berlin : Springer (2003) pp 22-64.
  • PERA AND GERAM--ENTERPRISE REFERENCE ARCHITECTURES IN ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION by Theodore J. Williams, Institute for Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies, Purdue University and and Hong Li, Senior Consultant, Claremont Technology Group, Inc
  • [GERAM Report 1995] A SPECIFICATION AND STATEMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR GERAM by THEODORE J. WILLIAMS and HONG LI, November 1995
  • [PERA] A HANDBOOK ON MASTER PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION FOR ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION PROGRAMS Based On The Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture and the Purdue Methodology Purdue Laboratory for Applied Industrial Control Edited by Theodore J. Williams, Gary A. Rathwell, Hong Li. February 2001 (Revised from July 1999 PERA website version)
  • http://www.pera.net/Pera/Wha_mast.html
  • http://www.e-competitors.com/Strategy/SBUPlanning/SBUPositioning/SBU_Critical.htm
  • http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/04.reports/04tr010.html
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_success_factor
  • http://www.cert.org/archive/pdf/04tr010.pdf