The initial EA

The initial EA establish EA awareness and collaboration via the effort to see the whole, analyz business architecture.

The Initial EA section describe the initial EA work break down structure, the EA team, the budget distribution, notional schedule and financial benefit.

Initial EA is not execuatble

Enterprise Target Architecture is the master plan rather than the heavy duty architecture design blueprint. In the analogy of City planning, the target architecture is similar to the master city plan and the city is developed incrementally by different segment in the city. For example : The city of Washington DC was planed Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant on the year of 1800, it has been the master plan of Washington DC since then. Instead of taking Nero�s approach to design and build the city in a �Big Bang� approach, the city of Washington DC is developed in a segment architecture approach base on business need.

The purpose is to deliver EA value from the very beginning rather than a waterfall approach only to see the result at the very end. It also relive the EA project from the burden of making significant effort to design the entire enterprise and just to see it become obsolete due to rapid technology evolution. For example of this is the capital city of Kabul, Afghanistan,

Why initial EA?

Traditional EA use a "Big Bang" approach

Many EA projects , under the name of �Architecting the Enterprise�, made significant initial investment to design their Target Enterprise Architecture in a �Big Bang � approach as if it is a large application system. Many EA experts, failed to make transition from application development to EA themselves, like to use the analogy of architecture blueprint to explain what is EA. They locked up their best architects for couple year to design the enterprise as if designing an aircraft carrier only to find that architecture buy-in from stakeholder is not guaranteed and the architecture design become obsolete due to rapid technology evolution.

In this very waterfall approach, the enterprise will not be able to benefit for EA until it is implemented in the same way that the aircraft carrier can not be launched for services until it is delivered. The fact is that enterprise can hold up their operation to wait for the great pumpkin of EA to come.

It is futile for EA in a command and control approach

It is futile to design a central planned blueprint in a command and control approach to impose enterprise architecture in a militaristic/totalitarian style. EA is all about people and business processes in an enterprise subject to local business reengineering based on geographical location and culture difference. The command and control approach do not serve well in a people community. The experience of central planned economy in socialism country by the social architects has very limited success. To the IT community, EA is a notion of command and control and they would like to pay for EA to go away.

It is futile because the central planed EA approach does not provide values in time for practical use. The traditional EA approach requires significant investment of time and resource to design the entire architecture blueprint. In many EA projects, the enterprise architects simply walk way to design the most efficient architecture for a long time and resurface with a architecture blueprint without stakeholder participation. The business owners can not afford to wait for a long time due to their immediate of automation .. The great promise from architecture is only a promise without practical value. They have no choice but develop the stovepipe systems.

It is futile because the central planned EA approach is lack of architecture buy-in from the stakeholders. After the hard work of design the entire architecture blueprint, the enterprise architects find out that architecture buy-in from the stakeholders is actually more difficult. The central planned EA approach does not provide enough value to earn the architecture buy-in from stakeholders. It overlook the fact that EA is all about people [] and the fact that the central planned architecture does not support the stakeholders need due to that business processes subject local business process reengineering.

EA is all about people, it is the engineering of reuse and sharing among many different business owners. In the people oriented civil community, there are always many difference due to human nature and culture. In the human society, central planed architecture in a command and control approach have very limited success for example : the experiment of Marxism and communism country in a central planned command and control approach have limited success.

Business processes subject to local business reengineering. Enterprise architecture is not an factory automation effort where business process can be optimism under the factory environment in a mechanical process. The central planned architecture approach is based on the assumption of optimized business process design and standardization as if it is in a factory automation environment. It overlook the fact that business processes subject to local business process reengineering in an enterprise based on geographical distribution and culture difference in the human community. For example : The best way for you to come to work is not necessary the best way for me because of different geographical location and culture.

2. Enterprise Target Architecture is a high level master plan

At the initial stage of EA, in instead making heavy investment to design the entire enterprise blueprint, it is more practical to establish the enterprise master plan which is similar to a master plan in city planning. The master target architecture plan do not requires significant effort of time and resources. The EA Target Architecture plan is developed based on the enterprise mission and direction and serve as the guide and the framework for the enterprise. LEA is a continuous architecture effort to elaborate the target architecture design . It can be for the development for a new segment or the modernization of an old segment.

2.1 Enterprise Target Architecture must be holistic

The Enterprise Target Architecture plan must be holistic to cover every aspect of Enterprise Architecture at the high level. LEA suggest to use enterprise architecture framework as to assure that enterprise target architecture is comprehensive to describe the high level architecture in each area

2.2 Enterprise Target Architecture describe the connectivity

The enterprise target architecture must describe the relation and connectivity between architecture components in different areas of the framework. The relation and connectivity serve as the context to relate and integrate segment architecture.

6.1 Initial EA

Initial EA is the effort to establish the holistic view of the enterprise to establish high level and notional architecture principle. Enterprise see the return on EA rather quickly from the initial EA with significant investment of time and resources.

Unlike the big-bang approach in EA 1.0 which requires significant time and resources, the Initial EA does not requires exhausted effort to design and plan for transition.

The initial EA do not requires significant time and resource. It is the effort to establish the EA governance , render the big picture, know the enterprise and align the notional and high level target direction. It does not include the time consuming gap analysis and transition plan because the target architecture is notional and high level.

6.2 Continuous EA by Segment Architecture
EA is implemented via segment architecture in an incremental and continuous manner. After the initial EA, the major effort of EA is shift to Segment Architecture which is a sub-set of EA to address the dynamic change of business. For EA to be practical, the notional enterprise architecture is only elaborated in the area of business rather than design the entire enterprise in a big-bang approach base on the architects ideology. Segment Architecture is incremental and continuous. On contrary to the holistic and notional target enterprise architecture , segment architecture is executable which support gap analysis, transition plan and modernization.