ARIS Solution Scenario: IT Architecture Management
IT Architecture Management
Designing the future application landscape involves making decisions at several levels (C-level, business unit level, process level, operational level, etc.) within a short space of time. This brings with it the need to communicate multiple company dimensions (process / application / information / technology) to different audiences, which are interested in different perspectives and levels of granularity. IDS Scheer’s IT Architecture Management solution provides an easy way to map, analyze, and define your company’s future application, information, and technology landscape.
Scenario Benefits
- Align IT strategy with business strategy
- Define as-is and to-be enterprise architecture
- Prepare an IT landscape evolution roadmap
- Derive programs and projects from the roadmap
Scenario Overview
The IT Architecture Management solution is based on ARIS IT Architect. It adds value by enabling the description and analysis of IT strategy and business strategy. The ability to link business objectives (“increase revenue,” “reduce costs by xx%,” etc.) to IT objectives and initiatives (“implement new CRM system,” “integrate SCM processes,” etc.) allows ARIS IT Architect users to identify the architecture design best suited to delivering the required business results. This first step is followed by detailed design of the future IT landscape. IT Architect users are able to automatically import existing architectures and compare them, in order to understand the impact of modifying one layer on another. Each architecture can be evaluated against several criteria, such as, application costs, application criticality, functional redundancy, etc. Finally, a complete IT roadmap can be designed and documented, including the application portfolio lifecycle.
A typical IT Architecture Management project spans three
to six months, and consists of
- Identifying the IT strategy by deriving it from the business strategy (Strategy Phase)
- Designing the plan to transition from as-is to to-be landscape (Design Phase)
- Implementing the plan by launching new programs and modifying existing projects (Implementation Phase)
- Controlling the status of the IT landscape and following up on the differences with the target landscape (Controlling Phase)
Strategy Phase:
This phase consists of recording business strategy and linking it to the corresponding IT strategy. Recording strategies in ARIS guarantees that all stakeholders understand how the strategy applies to their day-to-day activities. The focus is firmly on the architecture elements that are most critical to implementing business/IT strategy. The decisions made when evolving the architecture are linked to the reasons behind the decisions (strategy and objectives).
Design Phase:
Viable IT roadmaps are the result of analyzing existing landscapes. The design phase involves capturing as-is architectures in all the relevant detail. Such architectures may include business views (activities, organizational units, locations, etc.), application and technology views (components, interfaces, technologies), and information views (business objects, data entities). These views are created to allow decisions about which components to keep and which to upgrade or replace.
The analysis and documentation features in ARIS IT Architect support both design and documentation of roadmaps.
Implementation Phase:
Implementing an IT roadmap entails breaking it down into projects and programs. ARIS IT Architect enables enterprise architects to describe how specific objectives will be met. The IT Design Guidance solution scenario allows ARIS IT Architect to be used directly in projects.
Controlling Phase:
Implementing and managing an IT architecture management project consists of following up on individual architecture components to make sure that every element is evolving in line with the defined roadmap. For example, if a technology needs to be phased out, ARIS IT architect provides dashboards to identify who currently uses this technology and for what purpose.
Comprehensive IT architecture governance is essential to ensure that the IT roadmap is followed.
