Enterprise architecture as a collaboration tool

It captures the dynamic interrelationships and interdependencies within and between an ecosystem of applications, business capabilities, people, processes and technologies. Models represent relationships between these artifacts and are treated as assets that help describe and shape the future of the enterprise.

How would an Enterprise Architecture Tool fit into our strategic management product portfolio? An Enterprise Architecture tool would sit adjacent to ServiceNow and Confluence and would provide dynamic, data driven architecture models that show relationships and interdependencies between IT artifacts within the context of business capabilities.

Architecture frameworks and iconography combined with a comprehensive database of IT artifacts would render dynamic ecosystem models at different levels of detail in a matter of minutes versus hours. Model and dashboard linkage into Confluence project and product pages will facilitate accurate, robust documentation goals. Like other applications in this portfolio, it will take planning, effort and time to fully realize value. These tools are just getting off the ground in the enterprise architecture space, but they should be considered for adoption as they increase communication and enable enterprise architects and the business to get more work done together.

Are you using social task and work collaboration tools within your team? Share by leaving a comment below. Involved since its inception more than a decade ago, Hackney oversees the procurement of bylined articles, the editing of those articles and the production of the magazine.

Planview Blog Your path to business agility. EA Management. Schedule a demo. Value Stream Management. Free Day Trial. SaaS Management Platform. A Definitive Guide to. Introduction Moving from traditional IT solutions to modern, cloud-driven tools has become the new normal in the business sphere and companies are constantly looking for the right tools to facilitate this process.

Legacy EAM tool challenges While going through their own digitization process, some companies have to find out the hard way that their EAM legacy tools are unfit for a successful and continuous IT transformation.

How modern EAM tools help enterprise architects In a cloud-driven IT environment that is becoming increasingly product-centric, enterprise architects and their ability to align IT strategies with business objectives are in high demand. All free resources ». When you are looking for the best solution for your team and company, pay close attention to the following enterprise architecture tool features to help align your business goals with IT: Fast time-to-value An EA strategy stands and falls with the adoption of the right EAM tool and how quickly it delivers the first crop of value to an organization.

Below are some of the characteristics of EAM tools that make them far superior to legacy tools. Modern EAM tools are out-of-the-box and ready-to-use products that are easy to understand and deliver a highly usable data model based on industry best practices. With little training and customization needed, their intuitive user interface supports broad product roll-outs and bridges gaps across organization silos.

Their pricing is consumption-based rather than user-based, meaning that costs depend on the number of applications that are stored within the repository.

This concept grants access to multiple users and fosters cross-department collaboration. Full collaboration between IT and business stakeholders Legacy EAM tools usually require previous IT knowledge and are therefore not accessible to those without a computer science degree. Crowdsourcing EA by leveraging application owners and subject matter experts. Customizable for individual stakeholders to quickly view and assess the information most relevant to business requirements.

Automated data discovery and report generation One of the bigger challenges that companies face in their EA efforts, is to initially locate and gather meaningful data and find a way to keep it up to date. Visibility of the present IT architecture and ability to roadmap the desired future-state Cross-functional collaboration and expanded ownership of IT assets Flexibility to stay on top and in control of the adoption of new technologies Recommended steps for adopting an EAM Tool Choosing the right EAM tools and enterprise architecture tool adoption as a whole involves various steps that are aimed to ensure smooth integration and maximum benefits.

Understanding the benefits of EAM tools: Through advanced and integrated features, EAM tools help you to uncover and avoid unmanaged IT applications that would otherwise increase your cloud spend and create potential security risks for sensitive data. Once you understand the benefits that modern EAM tools have to offer, you can focus on finding the right solution for you and your EA strategy.

These could be application portfolio management, technology risk management, post-merger IT integration, or an overall business transformation. Assessing needs of stakeholders: Since you don't want to create another IT silo, you should ask yourself what informational needs each stakeholder has and how EA can bridge knowledge gaps. Ideally, the tool will foster cross-department collaboration and optimize workflows.

Stakeholders should be able to access data and drive their own analysis. On top of that, QA mechanisms will improve overall data quality. You should be able to align it with your current terminology and attributes and assign authorization roles with ease. Measuring the onboarding process against goals: Once you have settled on an EAM solution that fulfills your current and foreseeable future needs, you can start with the onboarding process.

From data mapping, imports, workspace reviews, and success KPIs — ideally, the tools allow you to use the desired form of measuring your onboarding success and keep track of the work in progress.

Conclusion With SaaS adoption moving at the speed of light, companies also need to update and adjust the ways they manage their IT environment. Get your complimentary Copy.

Answer to frequently asked questions on Enterprise Architecture tool. Prev Next. Resources Resources UML 2. All rights Reserved. Legal Privacy About us. Informal Discussions. Displays either the Collaborate window main icon , on which you can set up and manage reviews of elements or diagrams, or a menu drop-down arrow providing these options: Review - to display the Collaborate window at the 'Review' tab, on which you can join a review and create new discussion points or responses within that review, on any element or diagram Review History - to display the Reviews window at the 'History' tab, showing the elements included in a selected review; you can switch to the 'Details' tab to show the details of a selected reviewed element All Reviews - to display the Reviews window, listing all current and recent reviews of elements Help - to display the Formal Review Elements Help topic.

Formal Review Elements. Team Library. My Journal. Introducing the Journal.