Blog Archives - BiZZdesign Enterprise Architecture and Business Process Management Software

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Behavioral Economics & Enterprise Architecture (2): Enterprise Architecture = Choice Architecture!

October 17, 2018/0 Comments/in Adaptive Enterprise, BiZZdesign, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Software, Innovation, Lean Management, Security Architecture /by Tim Vehof

The promise of enterprise architecture is that it helps improve decision making. Typically, the role of the enterprise architect is to advise and enable other stakeholders to make better decisions. Therefore, Enterprise Architecture – more than anything else – is a social discipline, in that it demands social skills and interaction in order for practitioners to successfully engage with stakeholders and change their behavior. Read more

Planning and Roadmapping: Modeling in ArchiMate

October 9, 2018/0 Comments/in Adaptive Enterprise, BiZZdesign, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Software, Innovation, Lean Management, Security Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst and Sven van Dijk

In our previous blog post on planning and roadmapping, we discussed the general idea of planning and roadmapping in the context of enterprise architecture and capability-based planning. We addressed different levels of roadmaps, ranging from short-term sprints of a few weeks to long-term, multi-year roadmaps. We also provided some first insights into the use of ArchiMate concepts for modeling roadmaps. In this installment, we want to go deeper into different ways of modeling the evolution of your architecture.

Planning and Roadmapping: Introduction

September 25, 2018/0 Comments/in Adaptive Enterprise, BiZZdesign, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Software, Innovation, Lean Management, Security Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst and Sven van Dijk

A key driver for management in general and enterprise architecture in particular is to get a better grip on the future, on the evolution of your enterprise. A common technique to support this is roadmapping. A roadmap is a strategic plan that shows the main steps or milestones needed to achieve a desired outcome. It articulates the strategic direction of your enterprise and shows the path forward. It helps you identify what is needed and what the main dependencies and priorities are, and serves as a communication instrument to align the organization along a common course of action.

Organizing Architecture Governance With Workflow And Forms

September 12, 2018/0 Comments/in Adaptive Enterprise, BiZZdesign, Blog, BPMN, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Innovation, Lean Management, Security Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst

– Marc Lankhorst, Fabian Aulkemeier

In a previous blog post on the features of our collaboration platform, we have explained how you can support people in working together on architectures and other models via structured workflows. In that post, we looked ahead at future features to support this kind of collaboration. Time to update you on the latest developments!

Data Analysis with Dashboards in HoriZZon

August 15, 2018/0 Comments/in Application Portfolio Management, BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Portfolio Management, Infrastructure Architecture Management /by Marc Lankhorst and Rob Kroese

In my recent blog post on stakeholder communication, I described various basic forms of communication about architecture, with diagrams, tables, heatmaps and the like. What I did not touch upon in that post is how you can enrich your architecture (and other) models with additional data and display the results in various dashboards. That is the topic of this post.

Practical ArchiMate Viewpoints for the Application Layer

August 8, 2018/0 Comments/in ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, Blog, BPMN, Business Architecture, Business Capability, Business Model Management, Business Process Management /by Bernd Ihnen

In my previous blog post (https://bizzdesign.com/blog/a-pattern-for-sizing-archimate-diagrams) I described why it is useful to reduce complexity when creating architecture diagrams. It supports the architect by guiding the creation of diagrams and it supports the reader by not creating overly complex diagrams (too many different types of concepts). Each viewpoint addresses a specific concern, e.g. a capability map to show what the capabilities of a company are. In this blog I will focus on the application layer to provide practical examples using the viewpoint creation pattern described in the previous blog post. The examples are quite generic. They are meant to be used as a starting point for professionals looking to learn more on the subject so they appeal to a large audience.

The Consumerization of Enterprise Architecture: Everyone’s an Architect!

August 1, 2018/1 Comment/in Adaptive Enterprise, BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Software, Enterprise Architecture Tools, Enterprise Portfolio Management, Innovation, Lean Management, Security Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst

Enterprise architecture is often perceived as an abstract, conceptual, and somewhat esoteric discipline practiced by ‘high priests’ who provide guidance with their lofty ‘architecture principles.’ It’s true that architects are often concerned with overarching, cross-cutting concerns that are not always visible to the people ‘in the trenches,’ but this view of enterprise architecture is misguided at best and increasingly misses the mark.

Agile/DevOps Support in BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio & HoriZZon

July 26, 2018/0 Comments/in Adaptive Enterprise, ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Tools, Resources /by Marc Lankhorst

-Fabian Aulkemeier & Marc Lankhorst
In our previous blog post, we outlined why Enterprise Architecture and Agile/DevOps are key in becoming an adaptive enterprise. We also described several use cases where EA can strengthen Agile and DevOps practices. Now, we want to focus on the ways in which you can connect these in practice, using architecture models and appropriate tool support.
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Continuous Architecture: Turning the Database Inside-Out to Improve Transformation Decision-Making

July 18, 2018/0 Comments/in Adaptive Enterprise, BiZZdesign, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Innovation, Lean Management /by Nick Reed

-Nick Reed and Bart Molenkamp

In today’s business landscape, effective transformation is critical for enterprises to stay competitive. By definition, transformation happens over time.

Enterprises (or some subsection thereof) have a current state which needs to change for the better. That change – however small or large – results in a different future state. With the widespread adoption of Agile working practices and DevOps-based continuous delivery, these changes can be very small and very frequent.

Enterprise Architecture and Agile/DevOps: Adaptive Enterprise Cornerstones

July 13, 2018/0 Comments/in Adaptive Enterprise, ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Software, Enterprise Architecture Tools, Infrastructure Architecture Management, Innovation, Lean Management, Resources, Security Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst

Marc Lankhorst, Fabian Aulkemeier

Enterprise architecture, agile software development, and DevOps are sometimes seen as being at odds. We think they can fruitfully collaborate and interface, but how do you do that? How can you align the concepts and processes from these worlds and bridge the cultural gap?

NATO Architecture Framework & ArchiMate: Work To Be Done for NAF & ArchiMate in Defence

July 9, 2018/0 Comments/in ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Capability, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture, Security Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst

Kevin Wallis (MOD ISS) & Marc Lankhorst (BiZZdesign)

In the previous instalments in this series, we discussed common drivers for architecture in defence and industry, commonalities between the architecture practice in defence and the civil sector, and why the ArchiMate language was chosen as a recommended standard for expressing architectures in the NATO Architecture Framework v4. In this final instalment, we discuss the work that still needs to be done for using ArchiMate in the context of NAF v4.

NATO Architecture Framework & ArchiMate: How ArchiMate Addresses Defence Needs

July 2, 2018/0 Comments/in ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Capability, Enterprise Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst

Kevin Wallis (MOD ISS) & Marc Lankhorst (BiZZdesign)

In the previous two instalments in this series, on drivers for architecture in defence and industry and on comparing defence architecture practice with the civil sector, we described the common drivers for architecture in defence and industry. We also discussed the commonalities between the architecture practice in defence and civil sectors. We noted that collaboration and interoperability in networks of organizations is an increasingly important driver for architecture, and we highlighted the growing use of commercial “off-the-shelf” products in both defence and civil organizations. Where architecture practice is concerned, we also explained how processes are largely similar (as captured, for example, by TOGAF’s Architecture Development Method), that architecture artefacts play an increasingly important role in public procurement and other arenas, and that both worlds are increasingly using reference models to capture commonalities and share knowledge.

NATO Architecture Framework & ArchiMate: Comparing Defence Architecture Practice with the Civil Sector

June 25, 2018/0 Comments/in ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, Blog, Business Architecture, Enterprise Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst

-Marc Lankhorst (BiZZdesign) & Kevin Wallis (MOD ISS)

In the first instalment of this series, we compared drivers for enterprise architecture in defence and industry and found that there is are increasing commonalities: a growing focus on interoperability and collaboration in complex ecosystems. a blend of the physical and IT worlds, and the preference for “off-the-shelf” products over custom development. These commonalities also lead to increased usage of the same methods and standards for enterprise architecture. In this instalment, we’ll compare the architecture practices of defence and civil sectors.

NATO Architecture Framework and ArchiMate: comparing Defence architecture drivers with Industry

June 18, 2018/0 Comments/in ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, Blog, Enterprise Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst

-Kevin Wallis (MOD ISS) & Marc Lankhorst (BiZZdesign)
In this blog series, we want to update you on the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) use of the ArchiMate modelling language as described in the NATO Architecture Framework version 4, which was officially approved by the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Board (C3B) in January. The document states: “NAF v4 compliant architectures can be created using the following meta-models; The Open Group®’s ArchiMate® and the Object Management Group®’s Unified Architect Framework (UAF)® Domain Meta-Model (DMM)®.” In addition, the approved method for architecture is based on The Open Group’s TOGAF® framework. Read more

Communicating Architecture with Stakeholders

June 12, 2018/0 Comments/in ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, BPMN, Business Architecture, Business Capability, Business Model Management, Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Software, Innovation /by Marc Lankhorst

Previously, I have blogged about stakeholder management and showed you some useful techniques to support this important part of enterprise architecture. In this blog post, I want to address different ways to share architecture information with different types of stakeholders involved in changing your enterprise.

How is AI Impacting Your Business?

May 31, 2018/0 Comments/in BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Capability, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Tools, Resources /by Joost Niehof

Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be a buzzword lately, promising techniques and tools that could influence our lives, our work and the way we do business. For many designers and enterprise architects, the question becomes: What would be the role of designers on all levels (strategic, EA, BPM, data, technical) in incorporating AI in a company? There are even ethical questions that may arise when instituting AI in a company, which you must take into account before making the change.

Behavioral Economics & Enterprise Architecture (1): The Case for Slower Decisions

May 27, 2018/0 Comments/in BiZZdesign, Blog, Business Architecture, Enterprise Architecture /by Nick Reed and Tim Vehof

Humans have evolved to make fast decisions. For example, when a stranger approaches you, you know almost instantaneously if they represent a threat, if they are angry, friendly or happy. The cognitive processing involved is mind-boggling if we actually stopped to think about it (which we don’t).

We subconsciously process a myriad of information, such as the person’s stance and their facial expression, and make a decision in a split second about whether this stranger represents a threat or opportunity. Or, in the language of evolution, we decide “Which one of us is lunch?” and “What am I going to do about it?”

A Pattern for Sizing ArchiMate Diagrams

May 18, 2018/0 Comments/in ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Capability, Enterprise Architecture /by Bernd Ihnen

In my recent blog series, I highlighted the importance of communication for strategic transformations. This affects several functions and various roles in your organization by asking different questions, such as:

Three Key Techniques for Managing Your Stakeholders

May 16, 2018/0 Comments/in Application Portfolio Management, ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Decision Model Management, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Portfolio Management, Project Portfolio Management, Resources /by Marc Lankhorst

Everyone remotely involved with enterprise architecture and similar disciplines knows the importance of knowing your stakeholders. Stakeholder management is a key technique in EA and many methods, including TOGAF, stress its importance. But there is more to management than keeping individual stakeholders happy. In this blog post, I want to introduce three techniques that not only help you ensure stakeholder satisfaction, but also make good use of stakeholders and their influence in achieving business goals.

Supporting Large Architectures as a Team

April 18, 2018/0 Comments/in ArchiMate, BiZZdesign, BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, Blog, Business Architecture, Business Model Management, Capability Based Planning, Enterprise Architecture /by Marc Lankhorst and Rob Kroese

The architectures of large organizations can become quite large and complicated, posing a challenge for the architects developing and maintaining them. In previous discussions, we have addressed a number of techniques for organizing and controlling such large models to keep things manageable. In this installment, we look at the processes and practices you can use to optimize the collaboration between the people working on these architectures.