How Business Architecture Informs Requirements

How does business architecture provide the context that makes requirements meaningful?

Requirements gathering that ignores the broader enterprise context produces solutions that solve the wrong problems. This presentation by Graham McLeod establishes why business architecture is a prerequisite for good requirements engineering, not an optional upstream activity. It walks through the key business architecture perspectives — motivation, value streams, operating models, functions, processes, services, and business capabilities — and shows how each one contributes to defining scope, surfacing gaps, and grounding solution requirements in business reality. A particularly useful section contrasts the enterprise architecture view (breadth, context, planning) with the solution architecture view (depth, design, delivery), using the analogy of city planning versus building design. The presentation also covers gap analysis and the role of reference models in assessing solution options against current capability.

Originally presented by Graham McLeod at Inspired events, 2018–2023.

Should Banks Outsource Operations Processing? Drivers, Constraints, and the EA Angle

What drives and constrains outsourcing decisions in corporate and investment banking — and what role should enterprise architects play?

Outsourcing operations processing is a live and recurring challenge for executive leaders in corporate and investment banking — and the decision is rarely as simple as comparing internal and external costs. This 2013 presentation by SJ van der Westhuizen, delivered at the Inspired TOGAF/EA Forum in Johannesburg, draws on research across thirteen banking organisations to map the full set of forces at play, distinguishing clearly between what drives outsourcing and what constrains it.

On the driving side, the research identifies capability maturity, capital preservation, management focus, and the formalising effect of contracts as significant positive forces. On the constraining side, organisational form complexity, responsiveness to change, reputational risk, management culture fit, and capability maturity concerns about prospective vendors all emerge as meaningful brakes. Cost and revenue, often assumed to be the dominant drivers, are shown to be more nuanced than executives typically expect.

A particularly valuable thread running through the presentation is the specific contribution enterprise architecture can make at each decision point — from capability-based planning and CMMI assessment, to operating model design, TOGAF governance frameworks, and the business model canvas. The central conclusion is direct: the greater the level of EA maturity in an organisation, the greater the number of business objectives achievable through outsourcing.

Originally presented by SJ van der Westhuizen at the Inspired TOGAF/EA Forum, Johannesburg, July 2013.

Real Business Architecture: Strategy, Design Thinking, and the Bigger Picture

How does business architecture go beyond conventional scope to become a genuine driver of business transformation?

Most treatments of business architecture focus on functions, processes, and capabilities — important, but incomplete. This 2012 presentation by Graham McLeod, delivered at The Open Group Enterprise Transformation Conference in Cannes, makes the case that the true scope of business architecture is much broader: encompassing innovation and design thinking, customer value and emotion, external context, emerging technology, and the full range of strategic concerns that drive organisational change. Drawing on TOGAF 9, Archimate 2, and the Inspired framework, the presentation maps out an expanded meta model that integrates motivation, functional, process, service, and capability perspectives — and shows how these are not competing views but complementary lenses that can be reconciled. A compelling section examines the transformative forces reshaping business in 2012 — cloud, big data, social media, additive manufacturing, and the rise of design-driven companies — and asks what business architects must do to stay relevant. Case examples from Apple, Volkswagen, and others illustrate how architectural thinking at the right level of abstraction enables the kind of strategic clarity that transforms organisations. The closing argument is unambiguous: business architecture practised at its full scope is a board-level strategic capability, not a documentation exercise.

Originally presented by Graham McLeod at The Open Group Enterprise Transformation Conference, Cannes, France, April 2012.