EA872 Weekly Blog Entry 10

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” - Sir Winston Churchill

Results matter everywhere. Enterprise Architecture is no different. Everyone who has a stake in the enterprise wants to know the value EA brings to them.  How does one go about demonstrating the value of EA? If EA comes out with the number of diagrams, models depicting the current state architecture that were completed by the team, would the stakeholders be impressed? Of course not! Gartner says EA teams must focus on and communicate the business value of EA, based on the bottom-line impact to the business, not the capabilities and functions of EA.

The measurement program can be developed to measure how often businesses leverage EA along with how enterprise architecture aids the business and IT in the execution of the organization's long and mid- term strategy. For instance if the IT has a goal of reducing the product offerings to align with enterprise’s goal of standardization then the business unit that EA has coverage can be selected to measure how EA aided in the standardization effort.

The measurement has to be an iterative process and should be adjusted along the way based on the environmental factors and a communication plan has to be developed on the audience, mode and frequency of communication. The measurement has to be initiated at the start of the EA initiative and should not be an afterthought.