Skip to main content

Enterprise Architecture at the University of Edinburgh


So, what is Enterprise Architecture (EA) and why are we bringing it to the University?  Let me set aside formal definitions and detailed explanations - after all, there is plenty of background information on the web, which you can read should you wish.  Instead, let’s keep this informal and look at what it can do for our university.

Essentially, the goal of EA is to link all IT and administrative services together to provide a joined-up, easy-to-use suite of services.  Times have changed from when students dealt with IT systems separately -  logging in to the back-office finance system for one task, the timetabling system for another, teaching systems during the day, and so forth.  Instead, people do everything online, using smartphones or laptops or desktops.  We rarely think about the ”IT” systems underpinning these services, we just do the processes online without really thinking about the IT.  Enterprise Architecture is about making the “business processes”, the data, the applications and the underlying technology all line up to provide this modern, integrated service.

We need to design processes to prioritise the user’s point of view, rather than the administration staff  (including IT staff).  We may need to change the way we do things, and we need to align the underlying IT so that we can make these changes as easy as possible.

We also need agreed data models and data definitions, so that anyone accessing data via any of our systems see the same information and understand the information presented to them.  We need management information (MI) so that the University makes decisions based on accurate and timely information.

Enterprise Architecture provides a range of techniques to aid all this.  An EA practice brings people together to achieve shared understanding and common goals.  It creates templates so that we can define standards, processes and data models using common approaches.  It produces reusable data schemas and APIs so that IT systems can integrate with each other more simply, and so that projects don’t replicate similar work.

This gives me plenty of scope for future blogs posts.  I can write about particular techniques and what they can do for us.  I can give examples of the work we do as we do it.  I can discuss some of the challengers we face as an institution.  First of all, I’ll be writing about enterprise architecture experiences from other universities, which may give us some guidance of what can be achieved in our sector.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Webinar: Powering your business with Cloud Computing

On October 14th, I will be hosting a Grid Computing Now! web seminar on the topic of Cloud Computing. We have lined up two very interesting speakers who are using Cloud now to make businesses work. Ross Cooney had a good technological solution to sell but couldn't make it economic until Cloud Computing allowed him to pay for his computation only when he needed it. He will discuss the instant benefits and long term impact of cloud computing to the development, competitiveness and scalability of your application. Alan Williamson created the BlueDragon Java CFML runtime engine that powers MySpace.com. He advises several businesses and will give an overview of the different types of services available and how to avoid being locked-in to a single supplier. You can register for this event here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Business Model Canvas

A Business Model Canvas is a tool for mapping the core functions and capabilities of an organisation.  Compared to the Core Diagrams that I described in an earlier post , the business model canvas attempts to present more aspects of the business, starting with the value proposition – a statement of what the organisation offers to its users (in the business world, to its customers).  It shows the activities and resources, as Core Diagrams do, but also shows user relationships & channels, and also benefits and costs.  I’m not aware of any universities that have used this tool but you can find examples from elsewhere on the web. We are considering business model canvases as a tool for mapping the strategic capabilities of units at the University of Edinburgh.  Phil Taylor, our EA contractor, sketched an outline of what a business model canvas might begin to look like for HR: This is only intended to be suggestive: the real canvas would need to result from in-de...
2 comments
Read more

Changing Principles

In EA, architecture principles set a framework for making architectural decisions.  They help to establish a common understanding across different groups of stakeholders, and provide guidance for portfolios and projects.  Michael Durso of the LSE gave a good introduction to the idea in a webinar last week for the UCISA EA community. Many organisations take the TOGAF architecture principles as a starting point.  These are based on the four architectural domains of TOGAF: business, information/data, applications, technology/infrastructure.  These principles tend to describe what should be done, e.g. re-use applications, buy in software rather than build it, keep data secure.  See for example the principles adopted at Plymouth University and the University of Birmingham . Recently though, I encountered a different way of looking at principles.  The user experience design community tend to focus more on how we should do things.  E.g. we should...
1 comment
Read more