We all know James McGovern has a strong dislike for things like CMMi and heavy weight processes but I wanted to share a light weight way to use a Capability Maturity Model to plan and build out your Enterprise Architecture. This tool has been a great way for me to build an EA practice from scratch.
In April 2005, I successfully competed for the Enterprise Architect position in the IT Services department at BCIT. Here is the list of initial responsibilities of the position:
- Developing and delivering presentations on EA to all levels of the organization
- Detailed development of the Data/Information EA as part of an TEK activity (Information Access and Management 3 Year Action Plan)
- Participation and assimilation into departmental processes and projects
- Approving all Project Charters and Change Requests for EA compliance
- Development of a plan for the integration and maturation of EA
- Provide direction and guidance for all technology related acquisitions
At the suggestion of my Director, I tried using a simple CMM to develop a plan for integration and maturation of EA. It took many iterations and consultation with colleagues and senior IT leadership to be able to publish a plan. The end result is the maturity plan I use to grow our EA practice.
Steps I took to build this model:
- Identify 5 stages of maturity (processes: Level 1=Informal, Level 2=Development, Level 3=Defined, Level 4=Managed, Level 5=Optimized)
- List Attributes that describe the maturity level
- Develop Attribute Descriptions for further clarification
- Review with stakeholders particularly management and peers
- Create a spreadsheet to record the CMM
- Evaluate and score each Attribute (I used a simple scale of 0=not started, 0.5=underway, 1=complete)
- Total scores for each level to determine CMM level and total EA Maturity score
- Publish and review regularly (annually might be the best option)
Below is an image of the spreadsheet with the EA CMM, that I use. If you would like a copy of the document, please email me.
