AM 130 Define Architect Roles 50

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INITIATE
Define architect roles
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architect role
definitions
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Initiate
Establish capability
Establish directives....
Scope the endeavour
Get vision approved
Govern
Manage
Plan
Study the strategic context

Establish authority for architecture
Define the architecting organisation
Define the architecture processes
Define the architecture resources
Architect
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Architecture domains
From Business through Information Systems to
Technology
Architects support and enable a business by
Focusing on business roles and processes that

are systemisable (repeatable and deterministic)
are digitisable (create or use digitised data)
Shaping and steering the portfolio of systems that

enable and support, monitor and direct
business roles and processes
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Business
Process
Process
Information
Systems
Data
Ensuring a robust IT platform

IT platform
Technologies
Architects look for opportunities to exploit information

The digitisation of business processes has enabled
business to:
standardise and integrate business processes and data to a
degree that was impossible before
perform new information-related processes, and
gather new kinds of business intelligence about entities and
events of interest to business managers.
Timely and good quality information helps managers:

Faster rate of change
Business
Process
Process
Information
Systems
Data
Products and services change more frequently

Exponential growth in mobile devices and internet.
Global competition and knowledge sharing
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Workers available across the world - any time of the day.

Intellectual property is hard to protect
Cross-enterprise communities exchange information.
IT platform
Technologies
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Architecture roles by level

According to survey and standard
Architect roles in IT organisations

Many job titles used in
adverts
Many are ambiguous
There are inconsistent
names and definitions
Survey 1: over two thousand IT job

adverts with architect in the title.
Survey 2: over one thousand roles
from a different source
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Architect job title in job advert

Technical Architect
Solution(s) Architect
Enterprise Architect
Network Architect
System(s) Architect
Infrastructure Architect
Information or Data Architect
Application(s) Architect
Security Architect
Java Architect
Software Architect
Functional Architect
IT Architect
Product Architect
Oracle Architect
SAP Architect
Business Architect (1) Analyst (2)
Technology Architect
Environment Architect
Process Architect
Development Architect
Survey 1
960
177
56
39
27
24
35
19
16
16
14
9
6
4
4
4
3
2
2
1
1
Survey 2
141
433
105
75
53
53
21
37
70
27
The top three architect job titles as a hierarchy

Architect job title in job advert
Technical Architect
Solution(s) Architect
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Survey 1
960
177
56
Enterprise architects
Elaboration
Refinement
Specialisation
Concretion
Solution(s) architects
Technical architects (mostly specialists)
Abstraction
Survey 2
141
433
105
Architects as seniors
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Architect roles are seen as senior, directing, decision-making roles.
Circa 2007!
But architectural decisions need to be understood at every level

And architecture description can be done by juniors
Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA)
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The UK standard
A small selection of roles shown below
Note the seniority of EA and SA roles
Role
Enterprise architecture
Solution architecture
Project management
Business analysis
Business modelling
Requirements definition and
management
System design
Database design
Software development
Database admin
Responsibility level
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
6
6
7
7
Q) When can I start out as an architect?

In building architecture, architect is protected in law.
You cannot put the term architect on your business card until you
have qualified after an intensive 7 years.
academic education
practical work done under supervision.
So, should an enterprise or solution architect should have 7 years

experience of relevant projects?
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Solution Architects
Solution Architect goals
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Focus on success in solution delivery

Design and deliver an effective and efficient solution
Identify and manage technical risks along the way.
Solution Architect role in SFIA

A leadership, guidance and coordination role wrt a specific system.
SA Level 6: [top level design and coordination]
leads architectures for complex systems, manages the target design

ensures consistency with specified requirements
responsible for the balance between functional, non-functional and ITSM requirements
selection of solution components
co-ordinates design activities, promoting the discipline to ensure consistency.
SA Level 5: [still high level design]
logical models of components and interfaces

detailed component specifications
detailed designs for implementation using selected products
assists in technical plans and cooperates with business assurance and project staff
ensures relevant technical strategies, policies, standards and practices are applied.
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Solution Architect role in general

Address sponsors and stakeholders who
have problems and requirements, and
want systems to support business roles and processes.
Work closely with

project managers, EA and solution directors
business analysts and business change specialists
Lead others by
shaping and direct solutions
Attend early to
critical non-functional requirements and
physical design matters
Govern delivery
may double as a project-level technical/software lead.
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Solution Architect as generalist and risk mitigator

SFIA says:
leads architectures for complex systems, manages the target design
co-ordinates design activities, promoting the discipline to ensure consistency.
ensures relevant technical strategies, policies, standards and practices are applied.
Solution Architect
Requirements
Specialists
Database
Specialists
Software
Specialists
Technology
Specialists
Team of Software and other Technical Specialists
The right hand (wo)man of the programme/project manager.

An experienced generalist who joins up specialists to deliver the solution
Smells out costs and risks, and ensures they are addressed.
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Enterprise Architects
Without EA, silo (or point) solutions proliferate

A silo is an organisation unit or application that:
is not standardised
does not follow the same rules or processes as another doing the same thing
is not joined up
does not share information with another doing something different
does not share/reuse common services
at the business or technology level.
Silos are the result of architects being given only narrow projectspecific objectives.
Where to find the motivation and ability to avoid or reduce silo
solutions?
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EA is more strategic than SA

SFIA defines EA development in 16 sentences in which
strategy, strategies and strategic appear 18 times.
setting strategies, policies, standards and practices appears twice
EA is more
Strategic
Cross-organisational
Abstract
SA is more
Tactical
Local
Concrete
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EA as Strategy Ross, Weill and Robertson
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Prompts EAs to position an enterprises operating model

in a quadrant of a standardisation/integration grid.
Integration
Positioning the Operating model for core business processes

High integration
Coordinated
Unified
Low integration
Diversified
Replicated
Low standardisation High standardisation

Standardisation
EA aims for integration and reuse of business systems

shared processes
shared data
shared services
EA is more abstract than SA

EA works at the highest level of
abstraction
with
coarse-grained descriptions,
generic components
idealised/conceptual models, and
strategic road maps.
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The Enterprise Architect

has the responsibility for architectural
design and documentation at a
landscape and technical reference
model level.
often leads a group of the Segment
Architects and/or Solution Architects
related to a given program.
elements in an enterprise architecture

may still be considerably abstracted
from Solution Architecture, design, or
implementation views.
TOGAF
Enterprise Architect goals
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Optimise an enterprises many services and systems

Remove redundancy
Standardise services and systems
Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the whole enterprise
de-duplicated,
standardised,
interoperable and/or integrated.
Integration
Has to
Understand the enterprises estate,
Deliver cross-organisational road maps and EA collateral, and
Govern Solution Architects to ensure that solutions are
High
Low
Positioning the Operating model

Coordinated
Unified
Diversified
Replicated
Low
High
Standardisation
Most modern EA frameworks indicate that

EA strives for enterprise-wide optimisation of business systems.
EA defines enterprise-level principles, standards, patterns and
high-level architecture descriptions so as to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
enable cross-organisational systemisation of a business.

encourage integration and standardization (reuse) if business
processes.
align information systems to business needs across the four primary
architecture domains.
define a strategic context for business system changes.
abstract architecture documentation from implementation
organise and maintain architecture descriptions for future
understanding and change impact analysis
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EA cannot be all things to all people

The enterprise architects role is not to
direct business strategy

manage programmes
manage human resources
develop software
An EA is not expected to lead the design and planning of
a hardware product
a production line
a marketing strategy
an IT data centre
organisation design from a sociological perspective
Though EA should be coordinated with all the above
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Enterprise and solution architects

Working together in an organisation
What do SA and EA share?

Enterprise and Solution Architects
address the same architecture domains
at different levels of abstraction and with different goals.
Share a great deal by way of
Skills
Knowledge
Terms and concepts
Techniques
Enterprise architects cannot succeed without Solution Architects

who speak the same language and work in a systematic way.
Both need to understand Solution Architecture before they can
successfully tackle more political enterprise-wide challenges.
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An enterprise architecture team
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The EA team is often composed of domain/specialists who

take the cross-organisational & strategic view of their domain.
define a road map for their own domain
(which may cut across other domain road maps and business change plans)
not dedicated to any particular solution delivery.

Team of Enterprise Architects
Business
Specialists
Data
Specialists
App
Specialists
Technology
Specialists
Solution Architect
Requirements
Specialists
Database
Specialists
Software
Specialists
Technology
Specialists
Team of Software Architects and Technical Specialists

Team of Software Architects and Technical Specialists
Solution Architect
Often works for an enterprise, is a manager or member of a central

EA function, superintends work done by service providers.
Optimises the enterprise systems by integration or standardisation.
Aims for enterprise-wide integrity and quality.
Responsible for the quality and completeness of strategic road maps.
May specialise in one architecture domain.
Looks to increase business agility and technical agility.
Often works for a service provider in the bid and/or delivery phase.
Shapes and steers a solution, usually at a project level.
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Aims for delivery quality: focused on critical success factors, esp. nonfunctional qualities.
Responsible for the completeness of solution outlines and high-level designs.
Understands all facets of system design well enough to join up a coherent
solution architecture
Shares responsibility for time and cost of solution delivery.
Leadership and governance

Engages with senior executives and their strategies.
Acts as highest-level design authority.
May lead architects in a programme, and guide them on
standardisation and integration opportunities.
May assign other architects to work on discrete developments.
Defines general principles, standards, and reusable components.
Governs that solution architects comply with relevant overarching EA.
Leadership and governance

Joins up business analysts, software architects and technicians
Submits solution architectures for approval to higher/other authorities.
Joins lower-level technical specialists to each other and the overall
architectural landscape.
Identifies and mitigate technical risks, with delivery time and cost in mind.
Adopts general principles, standards, and reusable components.
Governs solution delivery, may be asked to heed relevant overarching EA.
Planning level and time frame

Considers the whole enterprise as a system.
Sets out strategic cross-organisational road maps
Addresses the politics of cross-organisational concerns and goals,
setting strategic and cross-organisational directions.
Governs diverse programmes over the long term.
Planning level and time frame

Considers selected business roles and processes.
Relatively tactical: the migration path for a programme or project.
Does what has to be done to address specific problems and requirements,
and shape and steer system changes with an eye on risks and costs.
Shapes specific solutions over a shorter time frame.
Design and documentation

Designs and documents the enterprise system estate (aka
landscape) and reference models.
Works at the highest level with coarse-grained and logical outlines
Documents the architecture of the enterprise enough to enable
impact analysis.
Design and documentation

Designs and documents solutions to specific business problems.
Works at a middle level, elaborates from the abstract to the concrete, selects
physical components.
Describes the architecture of a system that is the outcome of one endeavour,
at a level sufficient for detailed design and building to proceed.
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Architecture roles by domain

From Business to Technology
Architect Roles by Domain
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There is no industry standard!

An EA team usually divides roles by level and/or by domain
The architects working space

Domain
Level
Business
Architecture
Data
Architecture
Enterprise Architecture
Solution Architecture
Software Architecture &
Technical Specialisms
The power and the politics vary widely
Applications
Architecture
Technology
Architecture
BCS reference model of architect roles by domain and levels

Any given role may span more than one column and row
Business
Enterprise level
Solution level
Software and other technical domain specialism level
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BCS E&SA reference model architecture work space
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Business
view
Information/data
view
Applications
view
Infrastructure Platform
view
Enterprise/Business
Standardisation & integration
of business roles & processes
Business function/capability hierarchy
Business products & services catalogue
Business processes and roles
Etc.
Enterprise/Data
Data standardisation & integration
Data store & data flow catalogues
Maps data to business functions
Business data model & views of it
Canonical data model(s)
Core business data entity life cycles
Etc.
Enterprise/Apps
Business app standardisation &
integration
Business app portfolio/catalogue
Maps business apps to business functions
Business app life cycles and road maps
Etc.
Enterprise/Platform
Platform standardisation & integration
Platform technology portfolio/catalogue
Platform services portfolio/catalogue
(TRM)
Platform technology life cycles and road
maps
Etc.
Solution/Business
For a required system/solution:
Business services
Business processes and roles
Mappings to goals & locations
Requirements catalogues
Use case diagrams and definitions
Outline UI (or other I/O) designs
Etc.
Solution/Data
Maps data to processes and roles
Logical data models
CIA requirements
Data qualities/meta data
Etc.
Solution/Apps
Maps use cases to processes and roles
Maps business apps to use cases
Design for NFRs
Coarse-grained app components
Coarse-grained sequence diagrams
Etc.
Solution/Platform
Maps platform to business apps
Platform technology definitions
Client & server node definitions
Design for NFRs
Outline deployment diagrams
Outline network diagrams
Etc.
Software/Business
Detailed use case definitions
Detailed UI designs
Governs UI implementation
Etc.
Software/Data
Detailed database design
Detailed message design
Governs database administration
Etc.
Software/Apps
Detailed (fine-grained) software design
Governs software development
Etc.
Software/Platform
Detailed deployment diagrams
Detailed network diagrams.
Governs platform and network
configuration
Etc.
Organisation A
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Business
Apps
Data
Enterprise Architects
Solution Architects
BA
Solution Designers
Infrastructure
Organisation B
Data
Business
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Apps
Strategic plan
Business Analysts
Systems Analysts
Infrastructure
Enterprise
Architects
Outline solution
High level design
Detailed design
Technical specification
DBAs, Programmers, and Operators
Training
at http://avancier.website
Code
and
configuration
Solution
Architects
Software Architects
and Technical Specialists
Organisation C
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Organisation D
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Drivers
Strategic
Management
Products &
Services
Channels
Other
management
functions
Business
Arch
Processes
and Data
OD
HR
FM
The
EA space
Customer Business
Goals, Visions &
Segments Model Initiatives
Organisation
Applications
Design
Operating
Model
Human
IT
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Offices
Data Centres
Data
Arch
Apps
Arch
IT
Arch
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Architect as designer and governor

one who designs buildings and superintends their
construction
Architecture and architects (after Chambers 20th century dictionary)

Architecture:
The art or science of building.
In a specific sense, one of the fine arts
Architect:
Master builder [from the Greek].
One who designs buildings and superintends their construction.
Any maker; a contriver.
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People called architect sometimes

Play roles as
business analyst
project manager
But that is not our focus here
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Install systems
Manage operational systems
Monitor systems and diagnose faults
Mend a system when issues arise
Document a (baseline) system after it
is built
But really, that is engineering,

operations, fire fighting, documentation
Architects as architects
Contextual information
stakeholders, concerns,
requirements, principles,
time, cost, and other
precursors that architects
must respond to.
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System descriptions
idealise
abstract level
create and use
inform
Operational systems
Architects
observe and envisage

already built and to be built
Architects as describers
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Architectural
description
specifies the structure
and behaviour of a
system;
can exist before and after
the system
idealise
create and use

Operational system
Architects
observe and envisage
a collection of interacting
subsystems; an
encapsulated set of
processes that transform
input into outputs.
Architects as describers
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Architects have to learn how to produce plans containing architecture

descriptions,
Just as builders must learn how to build to those specifications.
Architect as chief designer

Given a customers requirements for an operational system
The architect must set out the form and functions of that system.
Direct others in the detailed design and building of the system
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Architect as chief designer

Architect: Master builder [from the Greek].
One who designs buildings and superintends their construction.
Should
Understand business and technical contexts
Understand design patterns and trade offs,
Understand the strengths and weakness of materials
Create and evaluate different options
Make decisions
Design and describe new (target) systems
To an acceptable level of detail
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Architecture as higher level design

Higher level design
Directs and constrains
Strategies and road maps
Longer time -> Shorter time
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Lower level design

Shorter term sprints and deadlines
Broader goals, longer processes and

Narrower requirements, shorter
Composition -> Decomposition
coarser-grained subsystems
processes and finer-grained components
Standards, principles, patterns and

Application of standards, principles,
Generalisation -> Specialisation
reference models
patterns and reference models
Business needs and idealised
system descriptions
Idealisation -> Realisation
Encapsulation by services in
interfaces
External -> Internal
Required services and processes
Behaviour -> Structure
Physical technology solutions
Realisation by internal roles and process

Designed roles and interfaces
How far can an architecture description be refined?
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The level of detail depends on

the breadth of the system or endeavour
the constraints on the available time, money and resources.
Three dimensions of scope
Breadth
Constraints
Depth
Size & complexity of

system or project
Large / Medium / Small
Time & resources to

describe the system or project
Little / Moderate / Lots
Level of detail reachable

in descriptions or plans
Large
Little
Vacuous
Medium
Little
Sketchy
Large
Moderate
Sketchy
Medium
Moderate
Elaborate
Small
Little
Elaborate
Large
Lots
Elaborate
Small
Moderate
Fulsome
Medium
Lots
Fulsome
Small
Lots
Complete
How far should an architecture description be refined?

Until the cone of uncertainty has narrowed sufficiently that
stakeholders understand the benefits, costs and risks
a decision to invest in the next stage can be made.
Vision
Outline
Plan
Build
Implement
Focus early on costs and risks associated with NFRs.

Analysts complete functional requirements incrementally
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Architect as governor
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Architect: Master builder [from the Greek].

One who designs buildings and
superintends their construction.
Architecting
Govern
builders
Hand
over
Govern
operational
change
Architects should
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Identify fire risks and

design to prevent fires breaking out,
rather than fight them later.
Which can be a thankless task!
How much architecting does an architect do?

"Architecting" is the high-level design of the structure and behaviour of
systems.
"Architects" are accountable for this - even if they don't actually do it
themselves.
An architect may spend a minority of time on architecting - but they
need to understand it deeply - to be accountable for it.
Where architects are called in after major design decisions have been
made by non-architects, the architect is left with a fire-fighting role, for
which they also need to understand architecting.
From a LinkedIn discussion
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Architecture backgrounds
From Business to Technology
Q) What experience do I need?
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It helps to have experience of detailed design and low-level

architecture descriptions - in junior and specialist roles
Business
Enterprise & Solution Architecture
Requirements
Infrastructure
Data
Applications
Software
Technology
Probably the most natural background?
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Roles in data architecture/design and software architecture/design.
Business
Requirements
Infrastructure
Data
Applications
Software
Technology
Another entry route
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Some arrive from roles in requirements analysis

OK, though some of those find the techy bits scary.
Business
Requirements
Infrastructure
Data
Applications
Software
Technology
Another entry route
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Some arrive from roles in infrastructure architecture/design

OK, though some of those find the abstraction scary.
Business
Requirements
Infrastructure
Data
Applications
Software
Technology
Q) Can I be an architect without years of experience?

An architect should have a holistic understanding of all domains.
He/she must talk to specialists in every area with confidence,
address architectural risks and costs, and make decisions.
So, he/she does need several years relevant experience.
However, training is intended to shorten the experience needed
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Avanciers training for Enterprise & Solution Architects

A broad view of architecture
A contextual understanding that is
useful for project-level technical/software/infrastructure architects
necessary in more senior architect roles.
Knowledge and techniques that are

useful at every level of architecture, and also:
specific to different levels of enterprise and solution architecture.
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Methods and resources

Avancier Methods
are useful with all
architecture
frameworks that share
similar ends and
means
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BCS E&SA
reference model
ArchiMate
Language
Framework
http://avancier.co.uk
TOGAF
The Open Group
Avancier
Methods
CSCs domains of
change (POLDAT)
IBMs view EA
EA as Strategy
MIT

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Avancier Methods (AM)

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See also Some

Study the strategic context

Architects support and enable a business by

Focusing on business roles and processes that

Shaping and steering the portfolio of systems that

Ensuring a robust IT platform

Architects look for opportunities to exploit information

Timely and good quality information helps managers:

Products and services change more frequently

Global competition and knowledge sharing

Workers available across the world - any time of the day.

Architecture roles by level

Architect roles in IT organisations

Survey 1: over two thousand IT job

Architect job title in job advert

The top three architect job titles as a hierarchy

Architect roles are seen as senior, directing, decision-making roles.

But architectural decisions need to be understood at every level

Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA)

Q) When can I start out as an architect?

So, should an enterprise or solution architect should have 7 years

Solution Architect goals

Focus on success in solution delivery

Solution Architect role in SFIA

leads architectures for complex systems, manages the target design

SA Level 5: [still high level design]

logical models of components and interfaces

Solution Architect role in general

Work closely with

Solution Architect as generalist and risk mitigator

Team of Software and other Technical Specialists

The right hand (wo)man of the programme/project manager.

Without EA, silo (or point) solutions proliferate

does not share information with another doing something different

does not share/reuse common services

at the business or technology level.

EA is more strategic than SA

EA as Strategy Ross, Weill and Robertson

Prompts EAs to position an enterprises operating model

Positioning the Operating model for core business processes

Low standardisation High standardisation

EA aims for integration and reuse of business systems

EA is more abstract than SA

The Enterprise Architect

elements in an enterprise architecture

Enterprise Architect goals

Optimise an enterprises many services and systems

Positioning the Operating model

Most modern EA frameworks indicate that

enable cross-organisational systemisation of a business.

EA cannot be all things to all people

direct business strategy

An EA is not expected to lead the design and planning of

Though EA should be coordinated with all the above

Enterprise and solution architects

What do SA and EA share?

Share a great deal by way of

Enterprise architects cannot succeed without Solution Architects

An enterprise architecture team

The EA team is often composed of domain/specialists who