Practical Enterprise Architecture – with TOGAF and Capability Based Planning

Jan 2011, at The Open Group Conference in San Diego, I delivered a presentation on how Enterprise Architecture teams can help deliver tangible business value by combining TOGAF and Capability Based Planning. The presentation stressed four key points , provided the audience with practical know how and outlined how EA team can demonstrate tangible value in 30 to 90 days.

Four Key Points:
• By combining capability based planning and TOGAF, EA discipline can help define closed loop value chain process. This process respectfully integrates current disciplines such as strategic planning, PMO, PM, Systems Delivery, Organization Change Management and ITSM without creating hierarchy among these discipline. Role of each discipline is well defined and each discipline is focused on defining, developing and helping stakeholders exploit the capabilities
• Recognize the fact that the IT Organization (ITO) is a line of business (LOB) and has mandate to deliver IT services to the Organization at an acceptable cost and service level agreement. Given this mandate how do we ensure the ITO is sufficiently exploiting the current capabilities and explicitly able to demonstrate to all other LOBs in the Organization that “IT House is in order”
• Each ITO spends roughly 10% to 20% of their IT Operating budget on capital projects. How can the EA team ensure the new capabilities are aligned with Organization goals and help rationalize the current portfolio of investment
• Each LOB has mandate to deliver services to internal and external customers. It is mandate of each LOB to define how to deliver these services. The role of ITO is to help LOBs define effective and efficient process while remaining true to Organization wide principles defined to “Run Business Effectively and Efficiently”

The Presentation
• Defined end to end closed loop process with clearly defined deliverables, milestones, decision rights and gates along the value chain process
• Defined how the processes within the value chain are executed depending on the service you are trying to deliver , keeping in mind the Architecture must fit the purposer”
• Outlined several case studies where by integrating TOGAF and Capability Based planning has helped LOB achieve their goals
• Download the complete presentation with notes via the link below.

Action Items for Attendees

The audience was asked to exploit the defined methodology to help drive three common goals that are present in most organization

• Demonstrate current IT assets are fully optimized by comparing current cost and SLA with industry benchmarks and establish targets that are minimum 20 to 30% better than the benchmark
• Translate your strategic intent into capabilities and help rationalize your current portfolio of investment
• Use the closed loop process to ensure the defined capabilities are being develop right and stakeholders are eager to exploit the new capabilities

To the Manager

If you paid your staff member to attend this conference, then you have right to expect following outputs from their learning:

• Define a closed loop value chain process that respectfully integrates all current value delivery disciplines
• Define plan how they will ensure current IT assets (which most often represents 90% of IT spend) are fully exploited and help put “IT House in order”
• Help translate your Organization’s strategic intent into Capabilities and rationalize your current portfolio of investment.

From my experience this work is doable within 30 to 90 days and hold your EA Team members to demonstrate visible and tangible results in this time frame

Copy of Presentation :
• Download Practical Enterprise Architecture – with TOGAF and Capability Based Planning presentation