Your Challenge: Situation Enterprise Architecture increases the organization’s ability to provide consistent services, accessible information, scalable infrastructure, and flexible technology integration on demand. It helps bridge the gap between business and IT and creates a shared enterprise vision. Complication EA programs that are run without the required EA capability level are prone to failure. EA capability optimization and EA operating model design skills are not common, as they are not everyday tasks. Our Advice: Critical Insight Using this research while assessing and optimizing your EA capability will help you: Architect the EA capability by applying four architectural perspectives: Contextual, Conceptual, Logical, and Physical. Develop an EA Operating Model starting at the contextual level, and proceeding through to the physical. Develop a sponsored mandate for EA capability. Identify and engage EA capability stakeholders. Determine organizational scope, i.e. responsibility and authority of EA. Identify business drivers for optimizing an EA capability. Analyze organizational context. Secure executive support and authorization to execute. Establish EA capability purpose and strategic direction. Write EA capability vision statement. Craft EA capability mission statement. Define EA capability goals and measures. Create EA principles. Assess current and determine target EA capability level. Document EA management process. Define EA management practices. Define interactions between EA management and other processes. Define EA capability performance and value measurement approach. Design EA organization and roles. Design EA organization structure. Define EA roles. Define required skills and proficiency levels for EA roles. Determine required EA staff capacity. Standardize EA tools and work products. Establish an EA repository. Decide on EA tools to be used. Define EA artifacts and work products. Develop an EA capability improvement plan. Consolidate and refine steps required to roll out the target EA operating model and improve EA capability. Draw an EA capability improvement roadmap.