Funded by the: JISC Flexible Service Delivery programme.

Lead Institution: Coventry University.

Key Words: Enterprise Architecture (EA).

Our Enterprise Architecture (EA) journey

a story of impact and value

 

Background and institutional context

 

Institution: Coventry University

 

The current economical challenges faced by the HE sector demands that Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have to reappraise their vision and strategy in order to prosper and respond rapidly to external change.

 

The reduction in funding by HEFCE and the high focus on environment sustainability forces HEI’s to:

 

• Innovate to generate income from other sources, increase globalisation, increase business partnership, etc
• Reduce cost by conducting organisational reviews in order to lean processes and standardise systems
• Invest in new technology or exploit existing systems to provide sound returns on investment
• Reduce carbon footprint

 

To be able to prosper during these external changes and to quickly adopt new strategies and visions there is a need for Coventry to be both flexible and agile. In January 2010, Coventry University Project Amundsen was launched with a directive to perform a whole organisational review. Project Amundsen was to assess if the organisation is fit for purpose and ready to take on the challenge of meeting our 2015 vision. One of the work package objectives was to identify areas for improvement which would generate cost savings immediately or in the future.

 

This work package identified the following areas for improvement:

 

• Standardisation of processes
• Integration of systems (especially the security access system)
• Better use of technology to improve process efficiency

 

One area identified for immediate attention is the replacement of our current card technology and access control system with the introduction of a new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based “Smartcard” system across the University. This would replace the existing INDALA card technology currently used and would be directly linked with the adoption of the new access control system (Salto).

 

The introduction of smart cards across the campus would have numerous beneficial applications which would vastly improve systems and processes as well as the experience of our staff and students. The review and redesign of our business processes and supporting application and technology also offers excellent opportunities for us to reduce our impact on the environment. The initial outlay required for this system is relatively small in comparison to the anticipated future benefits and returns on investment.

 

Since the project in itself has such a wide impact, Coventry decided to adopt an EA approach to help to overcome cultural barriers associated with such a change initiative ie governance, staff roles and responsibilities as well as ensuring that all opportunities are exploited and ensure that new business processes contribute in reducing environmental impact. 

 

Objective/Overall vision for EA practice

 

To date

Looking ahead (next 12 months post June 2011)

For the University  The main objective was to assess if having an EA approach would help us overcome change barriers and ensure that all opportunities and risks are being correctly assessed and benefits materialise.   It provided us with a new methodology that could be combined with PRINCE2.   We have already seen the valuable benefits of modelling which has now been extended to other projects.   Individual  Interested in learning about a new framework, EA and governance. It helped change the typical way of doing things and provided career opportunity.

For the University  To embed the EA approach within the programme management team, so that we can eventually reach a continuum.   Net results to ensure we can respond and adapt more rapidly, and become much more flexible. This requires a full endorsement from all the senior management of the University.   Individual  To see it fully embedded as a practice, continue working with other HEI’s on this and help develop an Archimate user group.

 

Getting value from JISC resources

 

To date

Looking ahead (next 12 months post June 2011)

The FSD programme is what opened our eyes to EA and without the JISC FSD programme, we would still be in the dark ages. Not only can JISC help you understand the merits of EA and help you move forward, it also provides a huge opportunity for networking with others. Coventry was able to rely on more experienced EA practitioners to help gain some momentum with EA in the first 6 months. I feel Coventry’s journey in understanding and adopting EA was greatly reduced by the FSD programme and the networking it provides. We now return the favor by helping others who are just starting their journey.

In 12 months time, it would be good to have an Archimate user group for people involved in Modelling that could be driven by the business and potentially with some JISC funding to enable attendance. A similar approach could be adopted for TOGAF and project governance.   In another year, it might be beneficial to have a shared repository of models, which could be helpful to all the community when starting in a new area. However this would require adoption of common principles and a data dictionary.

 

Progress and achievements

 

Progress so far:

 

• Drawn principles and guidelines for modelling
• Extended the use of EA to other projects such as student footprint
• Have completed our 'As Is' and 'To Be' model for our 'Smartcard' project
• Managed to quickly assess opportunities in terms of system interoperability 
• Helped us start some SOA modelling

 

Business benefits (impact) and opportunities (3xE's)

 

• Concentrate the mind around the visions and the benefits that are required, which we often lose track of when implementing a new system for example
• Ensure full documentation and help all involved to understand why the change is required.  This will then speed analysis the next time around
• Full analysis performed, speed development process (avoid having to go back to square one)
• Better risk assessment
• Rationalise system interfaces, remove point to point, increase the concept of reusability, which all lead to reduce development time and therefore increase capacity

 

Key learning points: do's and don'ts, and advice to those who follow

 

Do's:

 

• Visit and spend time with others who are further along their EA journey than you
• Ask questions and always keep engaged with the wider community
• Have more than one Business Analyst doing the modelling
• Gain full support from the senior management team
• Keep pointing out the merits/benefits as you move along

 

Don't:

 

• Don’t talk EA to the business, speak their language
• It is not sufficient on its own, it needs to be combined with light touch PRINCE2 or other project management methodologies
• It is not a magic wand