Thursday 2 April 2015

The Constraints of EA and Biz Arc Tools

Having spent some time working with a tool vendor over the last year I have come to the conclusion that tools for creating the models in business architecture are a double edged sword.

Clearly the ability to create relationships between business components and then present views appropriate to stakeholders is good, particularly when the meta-model as it always is, is complex and multi-dimensional. However, tools are prescriptive. Tools may or may not support particular methodologies; often they support one or two as the vendor has to pay royalties to the owner of the methodology which pushes up the development cost and ultimately the cost to the purchaser. Some methods like TOGAF are aligned to I.T. architecture and are weaker on the business front and therefore the tool mimics the weaknesses.

Other tools come from a perspective bias like process centric modelling where process sits in the middle and everything connects to it. Process centric tools are designed with keeping a library of processes for the operation controlling and presenting those to business users. In more advanced business process tools other business components are mapped to the process with the process being the hub. This is all fine if the objective is operations mapping and control but what if it isn't?

The trouble with tools is that your thinking gets constrained by what the software tool was designed to model. Invariably most tools are built by I.T systems people to model hard components close to systems requirements. Marketing biased items and HR biased items are invariably absent. Try modelling customer segments, propositions, channels, skills and learning development to link to the more traditional items and then the issues start to appear.

Some tools are just so complicated it takes a week or so of training to get going and then explaining what is going on to business stakeholders becomes a nightmare. In many organisation the purchase and adherence to a tool becomes more important than anything else, architects focus on their tool and the tool becomes the role not the architecture. Adding on to this the serious price per seat for many high end tools means they sit in I.T. hidden away in an ivory tower whilst business architecture needs to be a the "coal face".

I like multidimensional modelling tools but I have learnt not to become obsessed by them.

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