What is a business architecture practice?
The concept of a business architecture practice is simply a way to refer to the intentional set of activities performed to achieve the defined mission for business architecture within an organization. When a business architecture practice matures, the value it delivers increases in strategic focus, scope and complexity.
Establishing a successful, scalable, and sustainable business architecture practice is a journey that takes time, particularly within large organizations. However, those who commit to the journey will develop the essential organizational capacity to execute strategies and adapt to change in an accelerated way – while also ensuring the most effective design of the organization and its ecosystem. In today’s environment where change is the norm, the ability to move strategy into action, and constantly innovate and adapt to change, has now become a competitive advantage in itself.
Within Biz Arch Mastery, The Practice learning pathway will guide you on what to do each step of the way. It begins with Steps 1, 2, and 3 that provide a critical foundation upon which all of the subsequent steps build upon. Due to practicalities, the timing of these three steps may blend together where they are performed somewhat in parallel. The importance of Steps 1, 2 and 3 cannot be understated. They are not only critical to ensure adoption, but also to set the direction for the business architecture team’s activities, decisions, and priorities going forward based on a defined value proposition and usage scenarios for business architecture within the organization.
Once the initial steps are completed, the practice continues along two parallel tracks. The first track is for building business architecture and applying it for value. It starts with Step 4 which establishes the business architecture baseline and from there goes into a continuous loop with Steps 5 and 6 applying business architecture to defined usage scenarios and expanding and refining the knowledgebase accordingly. The second track is for establishing and maturing the business architecture practice, which includes all supporting aspects such as developing people, managing methods and practices, maintaining tools, assimilating into the organization, and measuring success. It starts with Step 7 to establish key foundational aspects of the practice and from there goes into another continuous loop with Steps 8 and 9 of assessing and advancing the practice until the practice reaches the state of the desired maturity.