Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Putting Application Portfolio Management into the picture

Inside Architecture — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:10:36 GMT

Gabriel Morgan knocks one out of the ballpark in this blog post that traces the connection from Business

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Charles T Betz — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:52:42 GMT

So, where does the concept of an IT Service come in? This is something I have wrestled with mightily.

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Gabriel Morgan — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:27:20 GMT

Hi Charles,

I've heard 'IT Service' used in several ways; a software service (eg .asmx or Operations of an .asmx), an organizational function within IT such as Operations Support or Application Portfolio Managment, or as a high-level abstraction of a technical capability such as Messaging. So, unfortunately I can't directly answer your question with a known industry-accepted response because the term is illdefined.

I probably lean to IT Service being synonomous with a Software Service becuase I mostly roam in Software Architect circles but I don't get wound around the axels if it used differently.

As you can imagine there are many different kinds of Software Services. A good taxonomy of generic Software Services descriptions has been defined in Shy Cohen's article 'Ontology and Taxonomy of Services in a Service-Oriented Architecture' found here http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/arcjournal/bb491121.aspx

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

alphasong — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 06:14:30 GMT

Please read this exchange and (if you are so inclined) I would love to know your thoughts.

http://blogs.pinkelephant.com/index.php?/troy/comments/naming_it_services/

You might also be interested in my IT data architecture work - early version here:

http://erp4it.typepad.com/erp4it/2005/08/a_data_architec.html

-Charlie

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

alphasong — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 06:34:46 GMT

I have posted some thoughts here:

http://erp4it.typepad.com/erp4it/2007/08/the-evolving-do.html

-ctb

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Carlos Figueroa — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:06:25 GMT

Hi Gabriel,

do you have some information about how this models fit into the main enterprise architecture frameworks like zachman or togaf ?

I mean, can this model be represented in terms of these EA framework views ?

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Gabriel Morgan — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:08:30 GMT

Hi Carlos,

It is probably possible to map the concepts I used in the views above to cells in the Zachman framework or BA, IA and TA architecture views from TOGAF. I didn't do this because the amount of added concepts in those frameworks loses the simplicity I think is necessary to gain understanding why an IT asset exists.

The views above are really just another metamodel but different in that they simplify the relationship between Business Strategy/Goal/Objective/Need and an IT asset to help describe why an IT asset exists in a fashion that is very, very simple and applicable to a small organization or large organization.

I arrived at this metamodel as a result of the approach defined in the IEEE 1471 spec for describing architecture models. The IEEE 1471 spec is a great way of building architecture models based on the concepts of Views and Viewpoints that filters the noise to focus on the point and, therefore, maximize the chances of communicating an architectural message.

In my metamodels above, I wanted to address the Concerns "What are the major architecture concepts in an enterprise and how do they support the business?". I focused on the Enterprise Architects and Portfolio Managers Stakeholders becuase managing these concepts are what keep them busy. I chose an enterprise-wide Viewpoint to ensure coverage.

It isn't perfect and I don't claim that it replaces an Enterprise Architecture Framework by any means. It is simply a filtered view from the same concepts in popular EAFs in my opinion. I consider it a simplified View of major EA concepts with the purpose of tracing IT assets to the business. I use it for for many things such as mapping exercises as part of application portfolio management, discussions on how SOA is relavent to the enterprise as well as a means of drilling down in the depths of software service design.

Enterprise Architecture Mapping Artifacts - They are very powerful so be very, very careful

Gabriel_Morgan — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 04:43:10 GMT

I wrote a blog ( found here ) describing the relationship from Business Strategy to other Business Architecture

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Gabriel Morgan — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:28:57 GMT

@ Charlie,

I took your recommendation and commented on your blog http://erp4it.typepad.com/erp4it/2007/08/the-evolving-do.html.

How SaaS, S+S impact an Enterprise Architect

Gabriel_Morgan — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:42:38 GMT

Mike Walker wrote a great thought-provoking blog post on the implications SaaS has on Enterprise Architecture

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Adrian Campbell — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:37:41 GMT

I recommend taking a look at Archimate which clearly shows where Application Services fit in the EA meta Model.

http://www.telin.nl/NetworkedBusiness/Archimate/ART/index.html

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Gabriel Morgan — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:57:08 GMT

@ Adrian

I'm a fan of Archimate and, in fact, in my metamodel above, you might notice some thinking which is compatible from many of Archimate's concepts (largely taken from the book "Enterprise Architecture at Work: Modelling, Communication and Analysis") however the Archimate language doesn't define the concept of Solution Domains, Business Capabilities and Data Facets well enough and a bit of tweaking is necessary to make this work...but definitly workable in my opinion.

My metamodel above is meant to be a simplistic view of the key concepts for an enterprise architecture and avoid overburdening it with the familiar overhead EAF's unfortunately have out there today. Of course, what I've posted in this blog isn't the whole story - it's more of a just a taste of what I actually use to get the juices flowing and convey an idea. I wish I had the time to share more.

Anyway, thanks for posting the Archimate link. It's great to see others out there familiar with it.

Valuing the Undervalued Solution Model

Gabriel Morgan — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:15:42 GMT

Modeling helps improve the success of delivering a high-quality solution A primary responsibility of

re: Traceability from Biz Strategy to Application to Data to Hardware...

Mark — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:57:33 GMT

If it is not teaceable, it is not reproduceable, and it is thus not valuable.