2008 April | Enterprise Architecture in Higher Education

Discussing a Technology Lifecycle Taxonomy

Apr 302008

Tomorrow, I will be asking my peers in the Internet2 ITANA – IT Architects in Academia to do a peer review of a Technology Lifecycle taxonomy that we use at BCIT. As we developed our Enterprise Architecture, we needed a way to communicate not only the lifecycle of initiatives and technology but also their viability.

Here is what we use:

Technology Lifecycle

Here are the definitions that we use:

Watching:
- includes initiatives and technologies that are being watched for maturity in industry

Researching:
- includes initiatives and technologies that are currently under consideration, investigation or evaluation for future implementation

Investing:
- includes initiatives and technologies that are the target of resources including financial investments and/or investments in human resources

Sustaining:
- includes initiatives and technologies that deliver services identified in the Core Services Catalogue or in Service Level Agreements

Containing:
- includes initiatives that have been completed and technologies that are in the process of being phased out

End of Life:
- includes initiatives and technologies that are being retired from service

While this is a life cycle, it is not mandatory that an initiative of technology follows through every step.

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Time flies when you are having fun …

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Apr 122008

On Friday, I hit an anniversary of sorts … it has been 3 years since my organization formally established the Enterprise Architect position, that I have been in. In Sept 2007, I moved from a senior staff member to management and was able to elevate EA leadership to the management level. Even though I feel like I have been working on architecture for over 15 years, I really did not have a formal name for it. Thank you John Zachman!

Since then we have come leaps and bounds, from only having a vague understanding of what EA was or could be and now having it embedded into our processes and culture.

EA practices that we value:

embedding EA approvals into Project Management Processes to be able to guide technology adoption and manage complexity
embedding EA approvals into Change Management Processes to ensure implementation of new technology and changes to existing technology reliably deliver core services
embedding EA reviews for capital requests that come to the CFO’s office for approval
creating a Technology Watcher role to build EA practices and broaden the people working on EA
building a 3 year technology plan with EA guiding principles at its core
recently, doubling the EA team with the creation of a Solutions Architect role and hiring a senior staff member into the position
building collaborative relationships around our EA methods with our partner institutions in higher education

Personally, this has been the most challenging and rewarding years of my career to date. I will continue to looks for ways (using EA) to make our IT Services department the trusted and valued partner to our clients at BCIT.

I can’t wait to see what the next 3 years will bring!