What are the requirements for a truly effective enterprise architecture management tool — and how should one be designed?
The tools most organisations use to manage enterprise architecture — spreadsheets, presentation software, drawing tools — were built for entirely different purposes, and the gap shows. This 2005 presentation by Graham McLeod takes a rigorous look at what a purpose-built EA management tool actually needs to do, synthesising requirements from Zachman, Spewak, Schekkerman, TOGAF, and real-world RFPs into a comprehensive checklist spanning repository design, meta-modelling, collaboration, security, reporting, and governance support. The presentation then describes the design of Archi/WebModeler, Inspired's own web-based EA repository, and how its architecture addresses these requirements — including a runtime-extensible meta model, rich content types, inferencing and computation capabilities, visual modelling, and scenario management. Particularly notable is the emphasis on making the tool useful not just to enterprise architects but to the full range of stakeholders involved in EA: strategic planners, programme managers, risk managers, sponsors, and domain architects. For practitioners evaluating EA tooling or building the case for a dedicated repository, this presentation remains a clear-eyed benchmark of what good looks like.
Originally presented by Graham McLeod at an Inspired event, 2005.