An HTML version of the complete April 2010 edition of the CAEAP Newsletter is available here.

Here’s an extract of the main content.

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Why CAEAP is an Advocacy Body and Not an Advocacy Group

Advocacy is a broad, and often sloppily used, term.  Advocacy can be political activism or public awareness; it can be professional associations, consumer organizations or even trade unions; it can be for-profit, non-profit or even governmental; it can be selfless or self-serving.  When the usage of a word becomes this blurred, its true meaning can be lost in shades of gray.

So why did we at CAEAP choose such a word, when it can mean so many things to so many different people?  We chose it deliberately and we chose it for its embodied and most responsible meanings.

Common advocacy is the act of speaking or of disseminating information intended to influence individual behaviour or opinion, enterprise conduct, or public policy. Responsible advocacy means that advocates are answerable for their actions and for the consequences of those actions.  Advocacy bodies seek to build trust between the collective aims of their members and the constituencies served and impacted by the actions of those members.

CAEAP, as an advocacy body, works to establish this trust between the profession of enterprise architecture and the public it serves. It is an obligation and duty for CAEAP to build this trust through a standardized contract and set of expectations for enterprise architecture. The trust is enabled through oaths, principles, engagement practices, and methods for determining consistency of the profession. For this to be a contract with the public there cannot be barriers to entry for participation. Membership fees, technical qualifications, or organizational membership cannot bar anyone from volunteering their time to advocacy. Furthermore, there can be no hidden or profit-driven agendas as these would serve to interfere with and potentially sever any well-earned covenant of trust.

CAEAP promotes the professional status of enterprise architects and works to ensure the legitimacy of the profession by distinguishing it from other professions. CAEAP is not driven by lobbyist or corporate agenda’s – we represent the public face of the profession and furthermore we are charged with maintaining a consistent view towards the public, the enterprises we provide value to, and the members of our own profession.

CAEAP’s recent work is targeted at long term sustainability of the profession through standardization and support for professional autonomy, as well as through differentiation and consistency of brand recognition for the profession. All of this must be aligned with relevance to the public, to practitioners and to the infrastructural components that support the profession itself.

Responsible advocacy must align with and leverage all available resources and endeavour to:

• Clarify for the public the contributions of a professional EA to value creation;
• Ensure the public’s trust in EA as a profession;
• Assure the public they’re dealing with a competent EA professional.

On the behalf of the Profession, individual Enterprise Architects are needed to support responsible advocacy through all various means and channels, such as:

• Writing in journals, web sites, blogs and other media;
• Speaking in enterprise and public forums;
• Actively engaging with other enterprise architects, students, and communities of interests;
• Leading by example in the practice of the Profession; and
• Joining an EA advocacy body

CAEAP is passionate about EA. Even thought EA means many things to different people and different organizations, when it is done right, EA can bring numerous benefits to customers, organizations, and even societies. Unfortunately, EA is often seen as expensive, ineffective, or wasteful. CAEAP believes that by advocating for the professionalization, EA can be done right and it will help people and organizations to be successful.

In all cases we believe in the value of EA and we take it upon ourselves to promote, educate, and create change by communicating through numerous channels and by engaging others to participate in our efforts.

The Role of Chief Enterprise Architect

Currently the scope of central IT function encompasses strategy, governance, and delivery with direct control of almost all IT-related resources and activities entrusted in the CIO. Over the next few years, what will happen to the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Enterprise Architect (CEA)?

Will the CEA become a peer to the CIO?

IT management is well suited to manage technology procurement, integration, convergence including assemble to order service delivery and resource mobility – all core services of IT.  Are functions such as planning, strategy, architecture, technology risk, investment oversight, and architecture governance primed to move into separate corporate shared service and is the CEA positioned to manage and lead this function?  The CEA is accountable for designing and implementing the structures that link your organizations strategy with its execution.  This vital link captures your organizational strategy as blueprints that include enough guidance and detail for the various parts of your organization to execute while allowing sufficient innovation for groups to be competitive. Specialized practices are used to determine where the company is today, scenarios for where it will be tomorrow, and the roadmaps that lead from one stage in the journey to the next.

How do CEA’s lead a strategy of improving business results? By formalizing the enterprise’s architecture, driving structural innovations and overseeing investments in change!  CEA’s are well suited to serve the organization as point for differentiation and contribute to the executive team by 1) making sure the organization and operation strategies are clear, in alignment, cohesive and enduring, 2) enablement of structural alignment with both strategy and business model, and 3) ensuring the operating model is flexible enough for work to get done across the organization. In addition, there are other aspects of technology investment that need to be harmonized for growth enablement, to spur innovation, and to drive customer value.  These include rationalization of technology investments across all business functions and the alignment of activities and goals across the value network.

The CEA with these traits is well positioned to stand beside the CIO aligning operational excellences with synergies in growth and differentiation.  There are many questions regarding how best to prepare for the CEA role and CAEAP is collaborating with thought leaders to build a new type of leadership development program, which we call Leadership in the Enterprise Architecture Profession (LEAP), to help guide and position the CEA for this next step in the evolution of the EA profession.

Be prepared to be a part of this transformation and leverage your CEA as an enabler of continuous transformation and not solely a role for managing technology.

Accreditation of EA Certifications

We’ve been asked many questions recently about EA certifications, which one is best for my career in enterprise architecture, what are the pros and cons of each, why should I need an EA certification. Not only are individuals asking but also organizations, recruiters and EA industry groups are starting to ask the right questions. The problem CAEAP faces as an enterprise architecture advocate — providing a responsible answer to these questions.

We propose development of a Council for Enterprise Architecture Accreditation (CEAA) aimed to establish a baseline of standards for enterprise architecture educational programs. The Council’s mission is to provide a foundation of excellence in the Enterprise Architecture profession by setting standards for education and accrediting academic programs that meet those standards.

Standards for accrediting enterprise architecture programs are formulated by the CEAA. Members may be enterprise architecture educators or practitioners, representatives of the public served by enterprise architects, other educators, and others deemed appropriate to the development of acceptable standards for reviewing enterprise architecture educational programs. A balance of interests is maintained in the composition of the CEAA.

The professional standards set forth by the CEAA are used to evaluate enterprise architecture programs that prepare students for practice and position them for future professional growth. CAEAP is firmly committed to setting high standards for enterprise architecture education, challenging others to meet and exceed those standards and seeking ways to continuously elevate and evolve the standards, thus significantly contributing to the advanced professionalism of enterprise architecture.

If we are to mature as a profession, it is the right time to launch the Council for Enterprise Architecture Accreditation (CEAA)?  Please contact director@caeap.org.

The Enterprise Architect’s Contract with the Public

Every profession is based on a contract with the public. When we enter a doctor’s office there is an expectation that he/she has the experience and training to identify whether or not something is wrong with us.  There is also trust that the doctor is acting in your best interests.  Talking to a lawyer has the expectation that the lawyer knows both the law and how to apply it to your situation.  There is trust that the lawyer is more concerned with providing you the best legal remedies and not simply looking for higher fees.  Meeting with a building architect brings an expectation that the building that results will be sturdy with a design based on the architect’s years of training and experience.  There also needs to be the trust that the building will meet your needs and that the architect will provide alternatives for a less costly structure.

Professional practices are about this contract.  From the ethics of the profession to the engagement process, professional practices provide the structure for how a professional is seen and for how that professional connects with non-practitioners.  Professional practices build trust with the public by establishing consistent expectations that are the same across all professionals in the field.

Professional practices also establish a unique problem space that only that professional can fill.

All of this leads to the question “how does one create a profession that builds this public trust beyond what an employee, consultant, or certified practitioner can offer?” The answer to this is a Professional Practice Guide. CAEAP is now finishing just such a guide.  The guide follows the same path that other professional practice guides have followed.  Starting with the professional practice guide for interior designers, and following with the practice guides for the legal, medical, and building architecture professions, CAEAP is developing the guide that will instil public trust in and visibility to the enterprise architecture profession.

For each professional practice area, the Professional Practice Guide has two parts.  The first part consists of an abstract, a 2-3 paragraph summary of the professional practice area.  Written for CEO’s as well as CIO’s, each abstract presents what the public can expect of the Enterprise Architect in a given practice area.  This public contract is what every enterprise architect should be willing to internalize in order to become a professional. Topics like setting up a practice, including legal, ethical and financial considerations; individual ethics; accreditation; and the appropriate problem space of enterprise architecture together guide enterprise architects in fulfilling their public contract.  In short, the abstracts are those short paragraphs that provide the enterprise architect’s contract with the public they serve.

The second part for each of the professional practice areas in the Professional Practice Guide is the detailed content.  While not directly relevant to the public the detailed content provides further guidance to enterprise architecture organizations, individuals, educational providers, and other interested parties on how to meet the public contract.  Everything from history to the types of infrastructure needed to maintain this contract is covered.  These detail sections are a critical to bringing all of the various enterprise architectural organizations together into an established profession.

The Professional Practice Guide is the basis for what defines enterprise architecture as a profession instead of an occupation.  It defines the enterprise architect as a professional with the autonomy to practice in the best interests of their client, whether as a full-time employee or as an independent contractor.

Reading this guide should be easy and quick, whether the reader is a CEO or a practitioner.  Living by the guide is a lifetime effort, one that will require the professional to be ever vigilant.  It is a long and arduous task that will take many years to get to a high level of expertise.  We are not surprised when a lawyer or a doctor is well into their 40′s, 50′s, and 60′s when providing their best services. We are not surprised when an experienced executive in a company has taken that much time to reach that same level of expertise.  It is in fact expected.  It takes time to develop the level of expertise that is needed to run a corporation, to heal a broken body, or to protect the legally vulnerable.  It takes experiences that are measured in decades.  It also takes time to develop the expertise to design, define, and build the structures for running, healing, and protecting the interests of an enterprise.  Without a guide, we will never get to that point.

For more information on how to get involved, follow this link.  For more information on all of our programmes look to our website.

What is the 5-Year Strategy for the Professionalization of EA?

Strategy: Get to a Self-Governed state of maturity by 2015!

What does that mean? It means moving from organized, to qualified, to self-governed. These are measured levels of maturity for the EA profession in three key areas 1) Standards of Practice, 2) Professional Learning, and 3) Industry Governance.  Within each of these areas, there are many infrastructure components of the profession, all requiring a level of maturity to self-govern in four key areas, 1) education, 2) ethics, 3) examination and 4) experience.

Are there dimensions of professional maturity beyond Self-Governed? Yes and they are Publicly-Governed and, if required, Statutorily-Governed.

Do we need to pull together and recognize a common set of priorities? Do we need to create an industry wide action plan?  What are your views on this matter?

Email director@caeap.org with your thoughts!

Survey on Enterprise Architecture – Current State of Practice

The College of Information Sciences and Technology at The Pennsylvania State University invites you to participate in a study that is very important to the Enterprise Architecture profession.  We would greatly appreciate your thoughtful and timely completion of this survey.

This survey should be completed by people who lead enterprise architecture functions in their organizations.  If you are not this person, we would greatly appreciate the forwarding of this information to the appropriate person in your organization

Please feel free to forward this information to colleagues in other organizations as well.

If you have already completed this survey, please DO NOT complete it again.

Total time to complete the survey is about 30 minutes depending on the length of your open ended responses.

Early results of this survey will be shared with you when available.

The results of this survey will be kept totally anonymous and we appreciate your thoughtful answers to the survey questions.

To start the survey, please click on this link:

Again, your participation is important and greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your contribution to the EA profession!

Organizational Spotlight: SIM EAWG

The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture, now in its 3rd printing, is a collection of writings from leading authorities woven together around the vision of creating and managing the Information Age enterprise.  It is about bridging the gap between strategy and implementation, and everything in between.  The book provides a vision and overview of EA as a key to creating 21st century organization and includes insights from top EA thought leaders, academics, and practitioners – including John Zachman, Jeanne Ross, Scott Bernard, George Paras, Leon Kappelman, and CAEAP co-founder Mark Lane.

Nearly three years in the making, The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture (CRC Press, 2010) provides a solid understanding of key concepts to effectively provide the leadership, vision, and tools to enable optimal use of all enterprise resources to ultimately drive value and achieve objectives.  The book covers current theory, discusses the practical application of enterprise architecture, includes a wealth of best practices, resources, references, and an in-depth case study, as well as a survey of IT organizations to provide important metrics for evaluating progress and success.

Additional details about the The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture can be found athttp://eawg.simnet.org including a code for a 20%-discount and free shipping when purchased frompublisher’s website.  All author royalties go to further the work of the not-for-profit SIM EA Working Group(eawg.simnet.org).

Send Request for more information to Director of Communication

Quarterly Leadership Spotlight

Bob McIlree – CAEAP PPG Program Manager

Robert McIlree has contributed to the CAEAP PPG project since July, 2009 as a content author and project manager, and assumed the PPG Program Manager role in December, 2009. Bob is a practicing enterprise and IT architect and project management consultant specializing in EA, information/data architecture, and project management consulting to healthcare organizations and US federal and state governments. His work primarily focuses on development and integration of enterprise and information architectures for healthcare facilities (hospitals, clinics, and professional medical practices), health insurers and government agencies in the health, judicial, and energy sectors.

In addition to EA and information architecture work, Bob has significant background as a project manager and as a course developer and instructor in project management topics. He holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Continuing Education where he lectures on project management fundamentals, multiple project/program management techniques, and Agile project management.

When he is not working, putting his 2 daughters through college, or obtaining his Ph.D in Cat Herding, Bob enjoys a number of activities such as travel, cooking, the outdoors, and becoming argumentative with individuals who do not share his choices of professional and college sports teams

Shashi Shrimali – CAEAP PPG Senior Project Manager

Shashi Shrimali has been working with the CAEAP PPG project since August 2009 as a content author, chapter lead and project manager. Shashi is a practicing enterprise and IT architect specializing in EA, SOA, Application, and Integration architectures.  His work primarily focuses on establishing SOA Centers of Excellence for the enterprise, building SOA governance models and establishing roadmaps for one of the largest school systems in the USA, a telecom service provider in Europe and one of the largest automotive companies in the USA.

In addition to EA and SOA architecture work, Shashi has significant background as a course developer and instructor in architecture, design and technology related topics. Shashi has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and is a Master Certified IT Architect (by The Open Group).

When he is not working, babysitting his 1.5 years old daughter is what he enjoys doing. He loves to read books to enhance his skills and also enjoys spending at least an hour in the Gym experimenting on some workout routines suggested by experts.

Sudhir Gadepalli – CAEAP PPG Senior Project Manager

Sudhir Gadepalli has been with CAEAP since June 2009 in a project manager role and has been working with the CAEAP leadership team to onboard volunteers and manage content delivery activities by coordinating with the PPG volunteer base and the PPG Project Management Group.

Sudhir has over 15 years of experience in the IT industry and is currently working as a Senior Architect in the central Ohio area.  Sudhir’s areas of expertise and interest include enterprise program/project management, and enterprise architecture.  Sudhir has a Master’s degree in Computer Science and is a PMT certified Project Managment Professional.  Sudhir is currently working on his TOGAF certification.  Sudhir lives in Dublin, Ohio with his wife and two children, and enjoys reading encyclopedias whenever time permits.

Since June of 2009, Sudhir has been working with the PPG project management group in developing on-boarding procedures for volunteers, establishing a framework for effective coordination and control of the project management processes and creating timelines and assigning roles, responsibilities and deliverables for his team of volunteers to deliver PPG content. Sudhir looks forward to working with this group of very talented volunteers and renowned EA practitioners in delivering the very first professional practices guide for the global EA practitioner community.  Sudhir invites all EA practitioners to volunteer in this initiative

Coming Soon!

New Wikipedia Article

CAEAP is in the process of creating an article on Wikipedia that focuses on the process of creating an Enterprise Architecture Profession.  The article provides a summary background about what a professional organization is and why it is important to enterprise architects, and then goes on to explain a workable strategy for founding the profession.  Finally, it mentions current activities related to development of the profession, and ties these activities to a 10-year roadmap.

The article is in final review among a small cadre of people within CAEAP, and is expected to be available online in early May 2010.  To find it, search Wikipedia for “Enterprise Architecture Profession”.  If no hit is returned, the article isn’t there yet.  When it is posted; edits, editing history, and feedback on the article can be entered online in normal Wikipedia fashion.  Just follow the guidelines, which you can find here:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Editing_Wikipedia

For further information, contact Don Hirst, CAEAP Community Relations (dvhirst@aol.com)

Career Assistance

Would it be helpful to create a EA job posting page on our web site? If this would be useful, we can implement relatively easily. What do you think?

For further information, contact Don Hirst, CAEAP Community Relations, dvhirst@aol.com