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Four Aspects in Measuring Enterprise Architecture

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PEARL ZHU

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The set of possible measurements for EA is very

large. This is partially because EA is glue

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between strategy & execution, Thus, the main

principle is: Focus on outcomes, "beginning with
the end in mind.", Generally speaking, EA
benefits indicators can be grouped into next four

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categories.

1. Communication Value

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Successful EA effort will enforce cross-functional

communication; on one hand, EA addresses

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abstract concepts like business motivation, and

on the other hand, addressing how business processes are enabled in very concrete and material ways such as

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IT applications and infrastructures.

Three Love Essentials

We love life, not because we are
used to living but because we are
used to loving .
Friedrich Nietzsche If holida...

Enforce stakeholders communication: Success criteria for successful EA organizations are

improvements in KPIs for their stakeholders. Complexity is inherent in negotiating how to please many
masters, and quantifying their contentment quotient in hard currency. An enterprise defines objectives of
its enterprise architecture practice including different priorities for the activities. To measure the success
of enterprise architecture, multiple types of metrics are needed.
Communicate the Change: EA is about change. And you need to measure if you can manage changes.
One central EA objective is to improve the improvements. So, measure your business improvement
processes and check if you are successful changing it.
Convey Triple Bottom Lines: There's basic premise that EA should be measured by its impact on the

Five Elements of Authentic

Leadership
In Ancient oriental Philosophy,
wood, fire, earth, metal, water are
five basic substances in nature
movements, all five elements of na...

bottom line. It is not just economic measurements, but environmental and social measurements as well.

CIO's Four Views of IT KPIs

IT is Integral Part of Business, and
Every IT Project is Business
Project. IT is pervasive in any
contemporary enterprise today,

The latter two still being less standardized, and thus more ambiguous and harder to actually get
agreement on what exactly to measure. Still there is potential to the idea since it means an enterprise
cannot simply stop accounting once a good service passes through its doors.

2. Strategic Value

howev...

EA is a missing link between strategy and execution. So one of the measures can be effectiveness of execution.

Five Characteristics of a Toxic

Workplace
Culture is collective mindset,
attitude, habit, and behavior. It is
crucial to measure the effects of a
toxic workplace against the impa...

In order to measure the value of EA, one has to be able to see the enterprise holistically ... as an organism is
struggling to survive in a hostile environment, not just as a means to an end
Generic Enterprise Architecture Capability Map, Metrics and Measurement capability is placed in the
business perspectives; EA ROI is based on that organization's TCO models as Dollars are usually far

Three Levels of Happiness

Happiness is like a butterfly
which, when pursued, is always
beyond our grasp, but, if you will
sit down quietly, may alight upon

more persuasive than logic. Capability Portfolio ranges from Advocacy Curve measurements (how many
people are actually doing what EA is influencing them to do, and how well) to regular old operational and
HR metrics for the EA team as a unit.
Measure Strategy Alignment & Execution: Although focus on reducing TCO is important - what is

you. ...

more important is competitive edge and innovation right. By looking at metric(s) that show integrated
project planning investment in strategy alignment & execution vs.other - which by the way directly
influences reducing TCO.
How "LEAN" is EA without losing effectiveness - the cost effectiveness of organization's EA.
Many times it seems as if businesses focus solely on cost reduction which can be counter-productive.
Most cost-centric initiatives are indeed counterproductive. It's important to look at how an initiative will
contribute (or decrement) other goals as well. Capability-based analysis makes sense to ensure that
completeness.
Tracking the EA & reusability and generating a GEM (Good Enough Metric) or any other KPI, to be
review with the senior management on a periodic basis. By having an asset registry- to log all enterprise

Five Ponderings on Why IT

Projects Fail
Stakeholder satisfaction, timely
delivery and staying within budget
top the list of measures that
indicate a projects success. In the Un...
Three Big WHATs to Identify Big
Data Challenges
Big data means both big
opportunities and big risks for
organizations, at Three Big Why

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Four Aspects in Measuring Enterprise Architecture Effectively ~ Future of CIOhttp://futureofcio.blogspot.com/2013/03/four-aspects-in-measuring-enterp...

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"assets" or reusable components which can be further reused by various "teams" within an enterprise.

for Big Data , we clarify why Big Data is such ...

Seven IT Leadership Principles
Lead, don't just manage ! Lead,
don't just manage ! Management
is about execution while leadership
is about change, s...

EA KPIs stay focus on measuring some cohesive business goals:

--Business strategy-execution progress measurement
--Business culture Index, productivity
--Business Communication Effectiveness
--Business growth opportunity
--Cost Structure Optimization

Three Big WHYs for Big Data

Dont inundate with data details,
foresee the trends, the future, and
the organism. Economically, data
is about 80% of business asset

--GRC Management
--Sustainability

3. Tactical Value

tod...
At tactical level, the purpose of 'doing EA' is to improve
the efficiency with which an organization operates.
Measures of efficiency would vary based on the nature of
business the organization is in
Focus on measuring the effectiveness & Efficiency

Three Ts in Transformational
Leaders
I only ask to be free. The
butterflies are free. --Charles
Dickens Fundamentally there are
two basic categories of leadership: trans...

of EA by measuring the processes and KPIs performance

within the organization, evaluating the improvements in

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these processes and KPIs and validating these

improvements with the goals or the benchmarks.

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Cost Metrics to demonstrate the cost-saving, increase in revenue generated by EA. This metrics
is appropriate for showing value for standardization, resource-consolidation, and exploitation of
opportunities. As far as expense of EA... There are a lot of organizations that are getting into EA without a

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good grasp of how much capital and resources they have to devote to a minimum-functional EA
Time Metrics to demonstrate the improvement in the efficiency of the processes. Ensuring reusability of

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components /assets is part of the employee's annual performance plan/goals, so that EA and reusability
can be enforced in day to day routines. Otherwise it has a tendency to stay in the discussion boards and
not get implemented. Best way to measure the success of Enterprise Architecture effectiveness, when
you will start receiving call from the LOB executives for their need.
Activity Metrics to show the efficiency and output of enterprise architecture. (Example: Number of
architectures reviewed, number of standards created, number of business problems solved, reduced
production defects related to the architecture). This is good to keep track of efficiency of EA, but these
are not good to demonstrate value of EA. Also, there can not a thumb rule to define the processes and
KPIs within the EA purview. The processes, KPIs, measurement methods, metrics for data collection and

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representation would differ from one enterprise to other

August (46)

EA Measure: Is Architecture right (freeze), the documentation complete and delivered on time

July (51)

- Has the enterprise architect delivered against all projects (PM feedback)

June (49)

- Demonstrable cost savings

- Risks identified and solved

May (44)

- Time spent right

- Auditor report

April (34)

- Customer and Peer 360 degree feedback

March (39)

- Architecture Maturity Matrix

CIO's Four Views of IT KPIs

Three Ns in Nature Leaders

4. Governance Value

BPM's Best First Step: Three-Step to

Implement BPM...
Governance right is the other key area EA can deliver value.
Determining costs associated with risks is as much art as it is
science in many cases, but where EA can point to a mitigation a
cost benefit can sometimes be determined. Of course many risks

Is BALANCE the Ingredient of Effective

Leadership
Is BIG DATA = BIG HEADACHES?

are not uncovered at the level of abstraction of EA efforts and are

not known until detailed implementation architectures/plans are
developed.

Five Factors in Deciding CIO Maturity

Level
UX as Key Factor in Process Design

Risk Metrics to demonstrate the impact of EA on reducing risks

for the enterprise's business. Innovation and Governance related
activities are good candidate for this metrics. EA should

Four Aspects in Measuring Enterprise

Architecture ...

demonstrate the risk of not adopting innovative ideas, new

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Four Aspects in Measuring Enterprise Architecture Effectively ~ Future of CIOhttp://futureofcio.blogspot.com/2013/03/four-aspects-in-measuring-enterp...

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technologies, and opportunities.

Is the God Complex in you?

Governing Right: The scope of enterprise architecture is broad. To measure & monitor performance &

Five "Super-Pitfalls" Why Large IT Projects

Fail

effectiveness of the EA, organizations can use the performance monitoring framework such as
Balanced score card. At high level, it includes

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Leadership Dev...

a) Cost reduction by standardization and resource consolidation,

b) Improvement in efficiency by process optimization,
d) Solving business problems (example: merger, divestiture, expansion of business in new market/regions,

CIO as Governance Master: Data

Governance, IT Gove...

new products etc)

Five Characteristics of a Toxic Workplace

c) Exploitation of opportunities by bringing innovation and research,

e) Governance to ensure operational model of the enterprise is aligned for its vision
EA makes it easier to avoid the kinds of problems that "order-taker" IT orgs run into all the time:
-- well intentioned projects that the business wants, but don't deliver value

Five Aspects Why Major IT Projects are

more likely...
Is Communication the Bottleneck in
Decision Making...

-- implementation of redundant, complex, and duplicative capabilities

-- ignoring root-cause problems because they are politically difficult to address
-- infeasible or conflicting business strategies that never get resolved but drive wasteful or conflicting
behavior
-- un-vetted or un-reviewed business decisions and initiatives that optimize one area of the business at

What is the single most Important Tool

every CIO s...
The Future of Abundance

the (greater) expense of other area

Governance by EA Design
Usually, the organizational management changes the focus of EA based on its need, the combination of metrics
for measuring EA effort would change from time to time. Accordingly, the metrics should be adjusted, but the
important thing is, EA is the means to the end, always focus on business goal and strategy execution via

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How does Enterprise Architecture differ
from Strat...

communication well and governing right.

Is the Gap between Business and IT

Shrinking?
Information vs. Intelligence: Is Intelligence
Jewe...
CIOs Five-factor Consideration in Creating
Five-y...
Does Governance Stifle Innovation
CIOs Talent Strategy: Are People the
Weakest Link...

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