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2016 has been a good year

So much has happened over the last year with our Enterprise Architecture practice that it's hard to write a succinct summary.  For my day-to-day experience as enterprise architect, the biggest change is that I now have a team to work with.  This time last year, I was in the middle of a 12-month secondment to create the EA practice, working mainly on my own.  Now my post has been made permanent and I have recruited two members of staff to help meet the University's architectural needs.

I have spent a lot of the year meeting people, listening to their concerns and explaining how architecture can help them.  This communication remains vital, the absolute core of what we do and we will continue to meet people in this way.  We also talk to people in other Universities in order to learn from what they are doing and to share our own experience back.  A highlight in this regard was my trip to the USA last January.

Our biggest deliverable for the past year was the design of the data warehouse, which Applications Division are now building.  This will significantly improve the business intelligence capabilities of the University.  Alongside this, the development of the golden copy data catalogue and the formal clarification of the Data Steward role will improve the way we manage core University data.  This will be supported by the new API service, which I'll be writing about here in the new year.

The main focus of work at the moment is supporting the Service Excellence initiative, which is reviewing business processes in key University administrative areas.  We are building a good relationship with the Service Excellence team as they move into developing their business cases and outline designs.

One thread running through all the strands of Service Excellence (and beyond) is the need to improve the University's management of enquiries, events and ongoing relationships.  This is the focus of our CRM strategy, which is another topic I'll be blogging about much more in the new year.

There are so many opportunities for our team to significantly improve the University's administration.  I'm really excited and optimistic.

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