Delivering value. Enterprise architecture MUST deliver business value and do it now. Companies understand the need for architecture in general, but what are the specific benefits? Architecture processes are sometimes perceived as slow and bureaucratic. Architects are often insufficiently connected to strategic investment decisions on the one hand, and realization processes on the other. Architects have difficulty expressing their added value..

1. BiZZdesign Enterprise Architecture
Capability Assessments:
Get a Grip on Your EA Practice!
Marc Lankhorst
April 17, 2014

2. About Marc Lankhorst
• Enterprise Architecture Service Line Manager
@ BiZZdesign
– Managed the development of the ArchiMate®
standard
– TOGAF® and ArchiMate® certified
– Board member of Netherlands Architecture Forum
• Some publications:
– Enterprise Architecture at Work (2005-2012),
the book on ArchiMate
– Agile Service Development (2012)
• m.lankhorst@bizzdesign.com
2

3. BiZZdesign: Integrated Service Offering
Enterprise
Architecture
Management
Business
Modeling
Lean &
Business Process
Management
Consulting services
Tooling
Training
Best practices
3

4. BiZZdesign Worldwide: Offices and Partners
BiZZdesign offices
Official BiZZdesign resellers

5. Some Clients Worldwide
5

6. Delivering Business Value
• Enterprise architecture MUST deliver business value and
do it now
• Companies understand the need for architecture in
general, but what are the specific benefits?
• Architecture processes are sometimes perceived as slow
and bureaucratic
• Architects are often insufficiently connected to strategic
investment decisions on the one hand, and realization
processes on the other
• Architects have difficulty expressing their added value
6

7. The Problem: The Value of EA
• How effective is your enterprise architecture capability?
• What is the business value it delivers?
• What should the next steps in its development be?
7

8. EA Adds Value in Context
Enterprise
Architecture
8

9. EA Adds Value in Context
Enterprise
Architecture
9

10. Approach: An EA Assessment
1. Enterprise architecture Capability quick scan
– Rapid, high-level assessment of your architecture capability
2. Enterprise architecture Realization assessment
– Provides thorough insight into effectiveness of your EA practice
– Based on principles of COBIT governance framework
– Aligned with the phases of TOGAF’s Architecture Development
Method
3. Enterprise architecture Value assessment
– Insight into the (actual and perceived) business value offered
by your enterprise architecture practice
– Based on Balanced Scorecard
10

11. Assessment Benefits
• Independent review of the effectiveness and results of
your architecture practice
• Concrete guidance for improvement, focused on the
most valuable and urgent steps
• Based on BiZZdesign’s extensive experience and broad
knowledge of the architecture practice
11

12. ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE CAPABILITY QUICK SCAN
12

13. Assessing the Enterprise Architecture Capability
• Rapid assessment of the EA capability
– Quickscan, to gain first important insights in status and issues
– Using the familiar 5 levels of maturity
• EA cannot add value on its own, but functions in
collaboration with:
– IT governance: EA must fit within the governance structures of
the organization
– Project portfolio management: EA realizes the enterprise vision
via projects and programs
13

14. Approach & Effort
1. Interviews with experts from enterprise architecture,
portfolio management and IT governance
– Using an assessment instrument with a structured questionnaire
of some 70 questions
2. Collating and analyzing findings
– Intermediate report to interviewees
3. Final report and presentation to management
• Effort:
– Lead time: 1-3 weeks, depending on availability of interviewees
– Typical effort: 2-6 days, depending on nr. of interviews
14

15. Example Questions
Awareness and Communication
Is the need for having an EA recognized and supported by business and IT
management at relevant organizational levels?
Responsibility and Accountability
Is the responsibility for the architectural fit of projects with the EA explicitly assigned?
Does each IT system have a business owner?
Goal Setting and Measurement
Are the goals, objective and scope of the EA program clear and well-defined?
Is the contribution of the architecture function measured and used for improving its
working practices?
Policies, Standards and Procedures
Is the architectural compliance of projects explicitly managed, e.g. via building
permits?
Tools and Automation
Do the architects actively seek and employ international standards and best practices
for their way of working, methods and tools?
15

16. Maturity Levels
• Level 1: Initial
– Starting point, need is recognized
• Level 2: Managed
– People are starting to take responsibility
• Level 3: Defined
– Standardized ways of working
• Level 4: Quantitatively Managed
– Measuring the outcomes
• Level 5: Optimizing
– Forward-looking approach, continuous improvement of
practices
16

17. Example Outcome
IT
Governance
Portfolio
Management
Enterprise
Architecture
Integration
Awareness and
Communication
Responsibility
and
Accountability
Goal Setting
and
Measurement
Policies,
Standards and
Procedures
Tools and
Automation
Graphs show that most attention should be directed to
IT governance and Integration, and Goal setting and Measurement
17

18. Course of Action
• Based on this quickscan, you can identify pain points
and areas for improvement
• Start with those areas that are least mature
• The quickscan provides guidance to select relevant
approaches and instruments to help you get to the next
maturity level
– In our example outcome, to get from level 2 to 3 in Goal setting
and Measurement, recommendations would e.g. include
• a business case handbook
• a portfolio management tool
• a corporate EA repository
18

19. ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE REALIZATION ASSESSMENT
19

20. Enterprise Architecture Realization Assessment
• How do we assess the effectiveness of the EA capability
in an organization?
• Focus on architecture goals and outcomes
– NOT just the process
• Provides clear insight into current capability and the
needs for improvement
20

21. Architecture Goals & Outcomes
1. Vision (phase A in TOGAF ADM)
• Is the goal part of the architecture vision?
2. Architecture design (B, C, D)
• Can the goal be achieved with the solutions described by the
Business, Information Systems & Technology architecture?
3. Migration (E, F)
• Have the right projects been started to achieve the goal?
4. Project result (G)
• Can the goal be reached with the project (start) architectures?
• Have the relevant architectures been realized by the project?
5. Operational outcome (H)
• Have the project results realized the goal in practice?
Per organization goal, we measure the following outcomes:
21

22. Measurement
Per outcome, we measure three aspects:
architecture Product, Scope and Acceptance
Product
• Does the product contribute to realizing the goal?
Scope
• Does the product cover the desired scope?
Acceptance
• Do the relevant stakeholders know and use the product?
22

23. Assessment Approach
Step 1. Preparation
• Setup
• Select interviewees
• nr. of interviews
depends on org. size
• Way of reporting
• Lead time: 1-2 weeks
Step 2. Interviews
• 1,5 hours per interview
• Intermediate report
• Lead time: 2-4 weeks
• depends on
availability of
interviewees
Stap 3. Final report
• Writing report
• Presentation to
management
• Lead time: 1 week
Total lead time 4-8 weeks
23

24. Example Outcome
Deliverable
Acceptance
0
2
4
6
8
10
#1 Define
Vision
#2 Develop
Architecture(s)
#3 Develop
Migration Plan
#4 Transfer the
EA to
Implement.
projects
#5 Govern
Implementation
projects
EA Realization Score
Conclusion The example organization scores very high on vision and migration,
below average on architecture development and transfer to projects,
and very low on implementation governance
Legend
Deliverable Acceptance
10 =
Deliverable is
available,
quality is
good, scope is
right
10 =
Contents of
the
deliverable
are well-
known and
actively used
by all relevant
stakeholders
1 =
Deliverable is
not available
1 =
Deliverable is
completely
unknown to
relevant
stakeholders
24

25. Effort
• Total effort required depends on:
– Size of organization, nr. of interviewees
– Goals to be evaluated
– Size of architectures and project deliverables in scope
• Lead time: 4-8 weeks, typical effort: 5-15 days
• A modular setup is also possible
– Evaluating outcomes only for specific phases in the approach
• Vision, Architecture design, Migration, Project result, Operational
outcome
• Specific quality analysis can be part of the Architecture
design phase
25

26. ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE VALUE ASSESSMENT
26

27. Value of Enterprise Architecture
• Questions:
– How can EA benefits
be classified?
– Are the benefits
measurable?
– How can the benefits
be measured?
– What are the
measured benefits?
Changes in
Operations
Organizational
Goals
EA Goals
Effects of these
changes
due to
terms
assessment
EA activities
Value
created?
27

28. Classification Principles
• Our principles for measuring EA value:
– Value should be measured in terms
of business goals
– Value can change (increment) with
time
– Value has a subjective dimension as
well: perceived value which should
be taken into account
Balanced Scorecard
Architectural lifecycle
Different scales for
measured and
perceived value
28

29. The EA Value Classification Scheme
Perspective
Phase
Financial Customer Internal Learning &
Growth
Development
Realization
Use
Re-use
Improved decision making
Business goals (Balanced Scorecard)
LowerITcosts
Improved
processes
29

30. Questionnaire
• In order to measure
benefits, a questionnaire
is used
– Based on the classification
scheme
– Covers reported benefits
– Focuses on measurements
made in the organization
(“objective data”)
Any benefits in
cell X?
Measurable
benefits?
Measured
benefits?
Regularly or
ad-hoc?
30

31. Example Questions
Phase Customer’s Perspective
Development In developing the architecture, have the consequences for the
customers and the market been taken into account? Where? How is
this translated to the realization phase?
Realization Has the impact of the migration on the customers and the market
been established? Are there any analyses and/or scenarios
developed and if yes, what were the expected results?
Use Has the market share increased as a result of the changes? How is
this measured?
Has the customer satisfaction changed as a result of the changes?
How is this measured?
Re-use Has a strategic advantage in the market been reached by virtue of
the architecture? How is this evaluated?
Has the ability of the organization to react on changes in the
environment (like market changes, changes in customers’ needs,
etc.) increased? How is this evaluated?
31

32. Approach
Preparation with the responsible manager
Goal selection, identification of stakeholders, plan, ...
Report outcomes
Documents
Collect evidence
Interviews
With stakeholders
32

33. Measurability Maturity Scale
• Question: Are there enough factual data for objective
measurements? Introduction of a measurability
maturity scale
1. Ad-hoc: sometimes
2. Measurable: systematic,
but not everywhere
3. Measured: systematic and
enough data available
4. Managed: used in managing
EA activities
33

34. Perceived Value
• When there are not enough factual data available:
use the perceived value (gathered by the interviews)
• Extend with
additional
questionnaire
if necessary
Preparation
Measurability Perceived value
Report
Documents Interviews
34

35. Results
• The EA value assessment is a powerful tool for measuring
benefits of EA
• Quick indication where insufficient data are available to
establish the actual value
• Quick assessment of the perceived value of EA
• Subjective judgements may be quite different from objective
measurements
• Effort:
– Lead time: 2-5 weeks, depending on availability of interviewees
– Typical effort: 4-10 days, depending on nr. of interviews (organization
size, architecture size)
35

36. ARCHITECTURE QUALITY ANALYSIS
36

37. Quality Analysis
• Analyzing specific qualities of architectures and
architecture products
• Can be performed as part of enterprise architecture
realization assessment (phase 2: architecture design)
– But can also be done as a separate review or second opinion
• Approach can be tailor-made to specific client questions
and architecture content
– E.g. cost analysis, agility, feasibility of a roadmap, security, etc.
• Example: Enterprise agility assessment
37

38. General Enterprise Agility Assessment
• General assessment of agile capabilities, in 3 aspects:*
– Process agility: how does the organization use agile ways of
working?
– System agility: how does the organization foster the agility of
its organizational and technical service systems?
– Business agility: how is agility part of the organization’s
strategy and daily business?
• Assessment instrument with structured questionnaire,
used in expert interviews
– Ca. 1,5 hours per interview
– Total assessment can be done in 2-5 days, including report,
depending on organization size
*M. Lankhorst (ed), Agile Service Development, Springer, 2012 38

39. Agile Capabilities
Business
Agility
Process
Agility
System
Agility
Agility Capabilities
Awareness and
Communication
Individuals and
Teams
Goal Setting and
Measurement
Way of Working
Tools and
Automation
Capability Aspects
Graphs show that most attention should be directed to
System Agility, Tools & Automation and the Way of Working
39

40. Business Agility
• Based on the
Business Model Canvas*
• Shows hotspots where
the business needs to
be agile, but current
agility is lacking
• Darker colors = more
agility needed
*A. Osterwalder & Y. Pigneur, Business Model Generation, Wiley, 2010 40

41. CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS
41

42. Conduct an Assessment of Your EA Practice!
• Know the strengths and weaknesses of your EA practice
• Build a solid foundation for your EA capability
– Create awareness & establish responsibilities
– People & skills
– Methods & tools
• Use independent expertise
– Credibility of independent assessment
– Comparison with other organizations
• Get concrete guidance for improvement
– Increase the business value that your EA capability provides
– Focus on the most urgent and valuable steps
42

43. Determine Which Assessment to Conduct
• Capability quickscan:
– To get a quick overview of your EA capability
– What are the most important points for improvement?
– Does not look at EA products
• Realization assessment:
– Does your architecture realize the desired goals and outcomes?
– In-depth assessment of both EA processes and products
• Value assessment:
– To assess the measured and perceived value of EA
– Do the EA outcomes really add business value, and is this seen
by your stakeholders?
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44. BiZZdesign Can Help!
• BiZZdesign can assist you in all of these aspects
with our extensive EA knowledge and experience
• We provide:
– Consultancy, e.g. in setting up your architecture practice
– Training on TOGAF, ArchiMate and more
– Tools for enterprise architecture, business modeling, Lean, and
business process management
• Free trials of our solutions:
LeanCoach
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45. For More Information on Assessments and Other
Questions, Please Contact:
• Marc Lankhorst
Service Line Manager Enterprise Architecture
m.lankhorst@bizzdesign.com
• Brenda Cowie
VP Client Services, Director – BiZZdesign North America
b.cowie@bizzdesign.com
+1 416 821 0297
Webinars, blogs, e-books, customer stories, training
portfolio, software and more on www.bizzdesign.com
More on our EA Assessments
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