Wednesday, March 28, 2007

What Is An Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise architecture integrates the general decisions that have to be made within an organization. It helps to build an information support system. Enterprise architecture acts as a master plan that coordinates the different aspects of a business enterprise. These are the goals, objectives and strategies adopted in the business planning process. It also includes the business terms, organization structures, processes and data in business operations, application systems and databases involved in automation. The computer operating systems and network frame the technological infrastructure.

Enterprise architecture is an IT frame creation that assists in managing and reorganizing the different processes of an organization. It enables the personnel to make a business logic sketch and assists in converting the business objectives of the company into technology-assisted systems.

Enterprise architecture is divided into business, data, application and technical architecture. It helps to address various issues involved in the business process, where the main objective is to deliver business solutions. Enterprise architecture has different applications for the different facets of a business enterprise. It helps in organizational learning, strategic planning, organizational design, competitive advantage, business process re-engineering, and systems delivery.

Most business enterprises prosper on intellectual capital and not equipment or machinery. People who contribute new ideas, knowledge and skill are counted as assets. These intellectual assets of the business exceed the value of assets that appear on the balance sheet. The ability to tap these intellectual assets requires structural and intellectual assets such as manuals and software. Enterprise architecture helps to procure and explore the structural intellectual assets.

In the business being conducted these days, the focus is to reduce product development time. This architecture helps in the product differentiation, at a low cost. Enterprise architecture also assists in business process re-engineering and is very useful in providing the necessary information to facilitate desired progress.