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Unit 14: Enterprise Architecture
Notes
Caselet Enterprise Architecture will be Key Tool for Biz
Strategy
he role of enterprise architecture, a framework laying down the company’s
operations and structure, is set to undergo a major change, according to findings
Trevealed in a study by Infosys Technologies. ”The role of enterprise architecture is
changing. When it started off it was simply an IT-centric function, whereas today it aims to
align IT with business,” said Mr Sohel Aziz, AVP and Head-Strategic Technology &
Architecture Consulting, EMEA at Infosys, in a release.
“We believe that the next stage in EA’s evolution will make the discipline of enterprise
architecture a central tool not for managing IT, but for implementing business strategy.”
The survey asked 260 CIOs, Chief Architects, and business and IT managers why and how
they are practicing enterprise architecture. Of the EA teams surveyed, 36 per cent actively
participate in their company’s strategic business planning. The research reveals that
enterprise architecture has achieved the objectives of previous evolutionary stages – that
it is helping IT to support the corporation; and that architecture is increasingly accepted as
a tool for implementing business strategy across the enterprise.
The consensus among those surveyed is that enterprise architecture is now ready for the
next step – to become a tool for transforming organisations by enabling flexibility and
agility. It will focus not only on IT, but also on defining a platform for implementing
business strategy, and joint value creation with business partners and customers. However,
integration and information integrity are concerns.
Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/bline/2007/09/01/stories/2007090152000400.htm
Self Assessment
Fill in the blanks:
1. ...................................... is the name given to this process of leadership and control.
2. Enterprise architecture provides a link between the ...................................... and the
development teams who design the detailed technical solutions.
3. The role of the ...................................... is to provide a clear singular vision for IT, and to
work to ensure that vision is delivered.
14.2 Software Architecture Styles
Software architecture is the representation of a software system at the highest possible level of
abstraction. It is the representation of the earliest design decisions that need to be made in order
to build a software system. Software architecture is mainly a collection of components that
make up the software system. These components are also called software elements.
Software architects use a number of commonly recognised styles to develop the architecture of
a system. Architectural style implies a set of design rules that identify the kinds of components
and connectors that may be used to compose a system or subsystem, together with local or
global constraints that are implemented. Components, including encapsulated subsystems, may
be distinguished by the nature of their computation. For example, whether they retain state
from one invocation to another, and if so, whether that state is available to other components.
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