Enterprise Architecture Balanced Scorecard

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is an interesting topic for those in the IT industry. There are tons of articles on the web that talks about the role of the Enterprise Architect, and how this IT-centric function  or responsibility is key to serve the entire business, including strategy and execution well beyond IT and IT solution delivery.

On the other hand, you may come across debates and lots of conflicting opinions on the differences in focus between an Enterprise Architect, a Business Architect, an Information Architect and a Process Architect. However, having spend considerable time in the enterprise software development space, it is my opinion that 'job titles' do not matter. As an Enterprise IT professional, I have learnt that sound practices like clearly defining the problem statement, asking the right/relevant questions, focus on priorities and a sense of humility will take us a long way in helping achieve the business/technical goals to serve the wider global community. Well, this is a complex subject and I have in no way figured it all. The best part is that it is a collaborative learning experience.

In this post, I will share my opinion on what 'Enterprise Architecture' means to me and use Balanced Scorecard as a conceptual tool for illustrating Enterprise Architecture (EA) as a means for Business-IT Alignment. This approach connects business model to EA vision and proposes design methods/perspectives to be measured in the Business, Applications, Data and Infrastructure areas.