How can enterprise architecture models be extended to capture cost, quality, and risk — and why does it matter?
Enterprise architecture models do an excellent job of mapping the structural relationships between business, process, application, information, and technology domains — but they have traditionally said little about cost, quality, and risk, the dimensions most relevant to the executives and managers who need to act on them. This 2003 presentation by Graham McLeod, delivered at the University of Cape Town in collaboration with Promis Solutions AG, makes the case that these dimensions are not separate concerns requiring separate tools — they can be woven directly into existing EA models. Drawing on the Inspired EA framework and its EVA repository, the presentation shows how cost centres can be linked to architecture elements and values derived through declarative formulas, how quality metrics can be attached to products, processes, applications, and platforms, and how risk can be incorporated as a further dimension of the model. A particularly useful insight is that most of the cost elements organisations need are already present in their architecture models — they simply need attributes added and a mechanism for accumulation and apportionment. The result is a single integrated view that allows strategic planners, architects, and business managers to evaluate current positions and future scenarios with proper appreciation for the full implications of their decisions.
Originally presented by Graham McLeod at the University of Cape Town, June 2003.