Enterprise Architecture

Assessment 2: Report

Due date: Week 12

Group/individual: Individual

Word count / Time provided: 3600 words

Weighting: 40%

Unit Learning Outcomes: ULO-3, ULO-4, ULO-5

Assessment Details:

This assessment is designed to assess develop your skills in Enterprise Architecture (EA). You are

required to develop knowledge on EA methodology, EA Framework, data model and emerging EA. In

completing this assessment successfully, you will be able to know major widely accepted Enterprise

Architecture (EA) domains, layers, frameworks and governance, which will help in achieving ULO-3,

ULO-4, and ULO-5.

Report: Part-I (Case Study) Techco is a large steel manufacturing company established several decades ago. Historically, Techco

grew largely via mergers and acquisitions of smaller companies occupying adjacent or complementary

market niches and underwent a number of corporate restructurings. Presently, at the highest level

the company is split into two major divisions: Division Alpha and Division Beta. Both divisions are

governed from the lean central head office and report their quarterly financial indicators to top

business executives for their consideration. However, operationally these divisions represent

essentially independent businesses with non-overlapping suppliers, products, customers and markets.

Each division is managed by an appointed executive director reporting directly to C-level corporate

leadership. Divisions are free to set their own agendas, pursue their own competitive strategies and

make their own investment decisions, though major investments must seek approval at the corporate

level.

Division Alpha is an established and large-scale, but highly centralized manufacturing shop. It

specializes on fabricating a single line of products, which are distributed directly to a narrow circle of

wholesale customers over stable supply chain network arrangements. The division has a rather

conservative IT investment strategy intended primarily to achieve better automation of existing

operations and enable smooth, uninterrupted and efficient business processes. It has a central

division-wide IT department employing around 150-180 in-house specialists and also involving about

100-120 external contractors working on a full-time basis. The IT department is responsible for

providing necessary IT support across all activities of Division Alpha’s value chain, e.g. production,

warehousing, sales and delivery as well as various supporting activities including HR, finance and legal

services.

Division Beta has a more complex, dynamic and diversified business model. It offers three core lines

of products focused largely on different market segments and customer groups. These product lines

require substantially different manufacturing processes, distribution channels, sales approaches and

marketing campaigns. However, all products are fabricated from similar raw materials and

components procured from the same suppliers. Moreover, customer bases of these products also

partially overlap, and the department’s leadership is planning to leverage cross-selling opportunities

more actively in the future. Organizationally, Division Beta is structured into three major units aligned

to its three product lines and an additional supporting unit providing shared division-wide services to

the main business, e.g. HR, finance, accounting and IT. Its IT department employs around 450-500 IT

staff qualified in different technologies used in the division’s IT landscape. To accommodate with the

quickly changing market conditions, Division Beta invests a significant share of its profits in new IT

systems and infrastructure. It has an aggressive IT investment strategy aimed at enabling innovative

ways of working.

Questions

1. How many architects does the Techco needs for each of the positions described above? Provide detailed explanation to justify the needs.

2. Discuss 5 (five) major general skills requirements for architecture positions in Techco

3. Describe five major roles that Design as EA Artifacts will play in Techco.

4. Discuss four reasons why outsourcing of EA practice is NOT a good option for Techco

5. Discuss the four types of governances committees that would be implement in Techco

Report: Part-II

SmartSave is a mid-size financial company. 5 years ago SmartSave decided to establish a full-fledged

EA practice to accommodate with the growing problems around non-transparency of its IT

investments and poor business and IT alignment in general. The establishment of EA practice was

successful and it was completed last 2 year. Due to recent advancement in technologies, SmartSave

wants to implement Big Data technologies that would empower their staff and customers for example,

implementation of analytical Big Data Technologies would enable SmartSave staff to approve credit

card application within 30 minutes of the submission of the application.

However, SmartSave’s CIO is skeptical towards the implementation of Big Data technologies. He

believes that the company is only wasting money on the Big Data technologies as it is essentially

nothing more than a sophisticated collection of data.

As a newly promoted IT manager at SmartSave, you are required to write a report that discusses the

following:

1. 5 (five) major differences between Big Data and EA.

2. 5 (five) challenges that SmartSave may have with implantation of Big Data Technologies and how the challenges should be resolved

3. 5 (five) ways that SmartSave would benefits from Big Data disruptive technologies implementation.

4. Discuss IT Service Management and recommend with 5 reasons if COIB or ITIL framework should be implement in SmartSave organization

Marking Criteria and Rubric: The assessment will be marked out of 100% and will be weighted 40%

of the total unit mark

Marking Criteria Not satisfactory

(0-49%) of the criterion mark)

Satisfactory

(50-64%) of the criterion mark

Good

(65-74%) of the criterion mark

Very Good

(75-84%) of the criterion mark

Excellent

(85-100%) of the criterion mark

Report Part-I: Case Study (45% marks)

Not identifying the problems, provided solution is very weak.

Problems are identified very briefly, provided solution is acceptable but details missing, briefly examine the EA

Most of the problems are identified, provide good solutions, examine the EA but major points are missing

All the problems are identified, provides very good solutions, examines the EA clearly

All the problems are clearly identified, provided excellent solutions and EA very clearly

Report Part-II: (45% marks)

Problem is not identified properly, Comparison is presented very briefly, Poorly examine the relation of EA

Problem is identified but details missing, comparison presented briefly, very briefly examine the relation of EA

Problem is identified adequately, comparison presented in detail, briefly examine the relation of EA

Shows sound knowledge on Operating model identification, comparison presented in detail, comprehensively examine the relation of EA

Shows full knowledge on Operating model identification, comparison presented in detail, very comprehensively examine the relation of EA

Structure, grammar, presentation and Harvard style referencing (10% marks).

The report is poorly

organized and

difficult to read –

does not flow

logically from one

part to another. There

are several spelling

and/or grammatical

errors; technical

terms may not be

defined or are poorly

defined. Writing

lacks clarity and

conciseness. Include

few references

without following

Harvard style

reference guidelines

or no reference.

The report shows some organization. At times, difficult to read and does not flow logically from one part to another. There are some spelling and/or grammatical errors; technical terms are generally are poorly defined. Includes Few references with errors.

The report is

generally well

organized and most

of the argument is

easy to follow. There

are some spelling

and/or grammatical

errors; technical

terms are generally

are poorly defined.

Writing is mostly

clear but may lack

conciseness. All

references cited

correctly using

citation style with

some minor errors.

The report is generally well organized and most of the argument is easy to follow. There are only a few minor spelling or grammatical errors, or terms are not clearly defined. Writing is mostly clear. All references cited correctly using citation style.

The report is coherently organized and the logic is easy to follow. There are no spelling or grammatical errors and terminology is clearly defined. Writing is clear and concise and persuasive. Harvard formatting style and citation of references in the body of the report.

Assessment 3: Quiz

Due date: Week 2, 4, 6, 8, 10

Group/individual: Individual

Word count / Time provided: 30 minutes

Weighting: 30%

Unit Learning Outcomes: ULO1, ULO2, ULO-3, ULO-4, ULO-5