Enterprise Architecture Verification Validation
- 1. Enterprise Architecture (EA) Professionals have to shift their focus from technology standardization and cost reduction to customer-driven technology capabilities. To succeed, you must execute on a business technology agenda focused on delivering superior customer experience to drive growth; utilize agile, stakeholder-driven methodologies; and adopt wider people, process, information, and technology competencies. The purpose of enterprise architecture is to create a map of IT assets and business processes and a set of governance principles that drive an ongoing discussion about business strategy and how it can be expressed through IT. There are many different suggested frameworks to develop an enterprise architecture, however, most frameworks contain four basic domains, as follows: • Business architecture: documentation that outlines the company's most important business processes • Information architecture: identifies where important blocks of information, such as a customer record, are kept and how one typically accesses them • Application system architecture: a map of the relationships of software applications to one another • The infrastructure technology architecture: a blueprint for the gamut of hardware, storage systems, and networks. The business architecture is the most critical, but also the most difficult to implement, according to industry practitioners. Enterprise Architecture • Business architecture—Describes the processes the business uses to meet its goals • Application architecture—Describes how specific applications are designed and how they interact with each other • Data architecture—Describes how the enterprise datastores are organized and accessed • Technical architecture—Describes the hardware and software infrastructure that supports applications and their interactions Job description: An enterprise architect (EA) takes a company's business strategy and defines an IT systems architecture to support that strategy. EAs must understand a company's business and be able to dive deeply into technology issues. In recent years, the role has moved to align business goals and the IT infrastructure that supports the business and helps achieve those goals. Why you need one: With more than 50 percent of IT projects typically not achieving their stated goals, having someone to ensure a company's technology objectives are aligned to its business goals is vital. The EA role becomes more important as companies adopt service-oriented architecture (SOA) approaches toward application development. To
- 2. realize significant cost savings with SOA, issues of software quality and reusability are key. An EA must be able to see whether the application has been built with quality and with reuse in mind. "They don't need to know how to program, but they need to be able to recognize patterns. What to look for: Communication is a key skill; self-confidence is a must. Enterprise architects have to talk to both technical developers and business managers. They need to be able to stand up in a meeting and tell the most senior person in the room unwelcome news, like an IT project won't make its deadline. EAs also need to demonstrate they're on the cutting edge of enterprise software and SOA. Elimination round: Buckholtz says to be leery of candidates who claim their IT projects have been 100 percent successful. Look instead for interviewees who willingly discuss projects where they didn't achieve the goal and tell you what they learned from the experience. Software Validation 1. User Requirements Document - Create a user requirements document that contains a quick list of one or two-line sentences identifying the functionality that is required for your business. 2. Project Plan - In creation of the project plan you will identify who, what, where, and when the validation will occur 3. Functional Specifications Document - Create a functional specifications document that is an extension of the user requirements, but contains slightly more information. 4. Gap Analysis - A review of the functional specifications occurs and a gap analysis is created. The gap analysis is used to determine risk, or the difference between the desired performance and the existing performance. 5. Installation Protocol - The installation protocol document outlines how the software should be installed. 6. Installation Report - This document serves as evidence that the software was installed correctly according to the vendor recommendations and design. 7. Testing Protocol - The testing protocol document outlines the specific objectives, procedures, data sets, test scenarios, expected results, and acceptance criteria for the system testing process. 8. Testing Report - The testing report is an outline of the testing that has occurred. 9. System Release/Go-Live - The system release allows the software to be used in production. 10. Validation Complete - Once the validation is complete, the system must be maintained in a validated state. Maintaining this state requires that standard operating procedures are in place for addressing problematic concerns and resolution,