For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

The Five Essential Metrics For Managing EA

by Jeff Scott, November 17, 2009

Enterprise architects frequently ask what metrics they should use to demonstrate EA's progress and value to the organization. CIOs want to know what they are getting for their investment in EA, and EAs see metrics as an important tool for promoting their . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Learn More About Your 2009 Business Analysts  (694 KB PPT)

by Mary Gerush, November 13, 2009

These data charts highlight more data from the Forrester Research/IIBA Q2 2009 Global Business Analyst Online Survey, first reviewed in the July 23, 2009, "Your 2009 Business Analysts: Know Them To Grow Them" report.

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Global Enterprise Architecture Self-Assessment Tool  (186 KB XLS)

by Jost Hoppermann, November 5, 2009

Forrester's Global Enterprise Architecture Self-Assessment Tool is an interactive tool designed to help enterprise architecture professionals identify their global EA initiative's probability of success. The tool bases this assessment on an organization's . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Global EA Drives Global IT: Assess Your EA Initiative's Global Readiness

by Jost Hoppermann, November 5, 2009

Poor results when working to facilitate global IT are often a result of poorly executed global EA programs, poor preparation, and/or a too-positive perception of the global business and IT environment. Forrester's Global Enterprise Architecture Self-Assessment . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

When Selling EA Value, Context Is Everything

Align Your Value Message With Your Marketplace To Make It Stick

by Katie Smillie, Jeff Scott, November 3, 2009

Describing success as a result of being at "the right place at the right time" is often akin to saying "I just got lucky." So rather than waiting for the right place and time to market EA's value, continuously craft your message around what will be successful . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Case Study: WestJet Creates Clarity With Its Architecture Services Catalog

by Jeff Scott, October 26, 2009

EA organizations struggle to define what they do in terms the organization both understands and appreciates. The root cause for this struggle is often that the EA team itself is not clear about what it delivers, what stakeholders it is delivering to, . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Successful EA Programs Integrate Specific Value Levers And Accelerators

by Jeff Scott, October 22, 2009

CIOs intuitively understand the value of a well-architected environment but are less certain of how (or if) their enterprise architecture (EA) teams deliver that value. This disparity generates a great deal of discordance in EA efforts: Companies charter . . .

For CIOs

Role Descriptions For The Office Of The CIO

Key Roles Support The CIO In Driving IT's Success

by Marc Cecere, October 22, 2009

Forrester has assembled job descriptions for several roles within the Office of the CIO — the group of IT leaders who report to the CIO and provide services outside of applications and infrastructure. Based on analyst expertise and a sampling of actual . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

What's Next For The IT-To-BT Transformation: The Contractualization Trend

by Henry Peyret, October 14, 2009

The combination of the current economic climate and business globalization is accelerating the evolution of business models toward a networked model, where businesses focus on their core competencies to add value and engage with other external and internal . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Global EA Drives Global IT: Case Studies

by Jost Hoppermann, September 24, 2009

More and more, large global enterprises are going for global modes of operation, including global IT and, in particular, globally used applications. Enterprise architecture (EA) is one of the crucial tools organizations should use to establish global . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Integrate EA With Project Portfolio Management Governance

Organizations Should Use EA Archetypes To Align Expectations With Deliverables

by Henry Peyret, September 18, 2009

Project portfolio governance is often the entry point for EA governance: EA teams are involved to validate projects' design and architecture fit with standards. A recent survey suggests that current EA involvement in project portfolio governance suboptimizes . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Road-Mapping: An Essential EA Skill  (1.6 MB PPT)

by Jeff Scott, September 15, 2009

This workbook discusses road-mapping essentials including best practices for building and managing road maps as well as examples depicting how to build a road map and what road maps look like.

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Consolidating Vendors? Make Sure EA's Voice Is Heard On Strategic Products And Services

Enterprise Architects Need To Become More Involved In Corporate Initiatives To Rationalize The IT Vendor Portfolio

by Gene Leganza, September 4, 2009

When CIOs and CFOs launch vendor consolidation initiatives to cut costs and simplify their environments, they turn to their sourcing and vendor management teams to lead the charge. But enterprise architects must play an active role, identifying the enterprise's . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Integrate Enterprise Architecture With Application Portfolio Governance

by Henry Peyret, August 24, 2009

IT organizations that are seeking to drive down operating costs while delivering business projects on time and on budget find they must manage their application portfolios to provide an optimal foundation for execution. Application portfolio management . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Characterizing EA Teams And Their Challenges

by Alex Cullen, Katie Smillie, August 6, 2009

Forrester has seen that the mission and operating model of enterprise architecture teams can be characterized along two dimensions: orientation (technology-oriented or business-oriented) and focus (project-focused or strategy-focused). These two dimensions . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Software AG Acquires IDS Scheer To Finalize Its Five-Year Restructuring Plan

Software AG Will Pass The €1 Billion Revenue Mark Once It Closes The Deal

by Stefan Ried, Ph.D., July 15, 2009

Software AG continues to stay the course on its five-year turnaround plan. After stabilizing its legacy application business — mostly by replacing its former integration offering with the webMethods technology stack it acquired in 2007 and successfully . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Survey Data Shows Enterprise Architects Are Gatekeepers Of Technology Acquisitions

Despite A Growing Focus On Business Architecture, Data Shows That EA's Technology Role Has Not Diminished

by Gene Leganza, July 13, 2009

Recent Forrester survey data shows that, in most organizations, enterprise architects strongly influence technology purchase decisions. Three-quarters of our respondents said that all or most major technology purchases at their organization require enterprise . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Use EA Assessment And Maturity Models To Guide Your EA Program Next Steps

by Henry Peyret, July 2, 2009

A recent survey revealed that a minority of enterprise architects perform regular EA assessments. While a wide range of assessment methodologies are available to EA organizations, none of them are widely recognized or complete in scope — which is why . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Use TOGAF 9 As Your Next EA Framework

TOGAF V9 Complements Your Existing EA Framework With Methodology And Templates

by Henry Peyret, July 1, 2009

An enterprise architecture (EA) framework describes the deliverables an EA function should produce as well as how to create these deliverables. A framework helps EA leaders organize their efforts as they work with their teams to fulfill the EA objectives . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Next-Generation IT Requires Next-Generation EA

EA Makes The New Core Processes Of IT Work

by Alex Cullen, Gene Leganza, Jeff Scott, Jost Hoppermann, June 30, 2009

What business wants from IT is changing, and that means IT has to change how it manages itself and the IT-business relationship. Building on current project delivery and operational management competencies, CIOs are adding new core management processes: . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Developing Architects, Q2 2009

by Jeff Scott, Katie Smillie, June 29, 2009

Whether you're an architect yourself or you have architects reporting to you, you've probably wondered: What does it take to be an architect? We analyzed more than 60 inquiry questions from Forrester clients related to the topic of the architect's role . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Help Yourself Make Tomorrow's IT Decisions

Tools For IT Planning

by Simon Yates, June 23, 2009

Flexibility and quick thinking are vital when planning for IT, so go ahead and arm yourself with the best weapons: You're going to need them. Volatility in the marketplace and an increased reliance on IT across all business sectors have forced IT managers . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Building An EA Practice, Q2 2009

by Gene Leganza, Katie Smillie, June 1, 2009

Forrester examined 2,292 end user inquiries from enterprise architecture (EA) professionals in 2008. The topics of these inquiries were wide ranging, including questions about information and knowledge management, infrastructure and operations, and application . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Pharmaceutical Industry Trends Drive EA

The Impact Of Consolidation, Cost Pressures, And Networked Business Models On Pharma IT Means EA Practices Must Change

by Henry Peyret, April 28, 2009

The pharmaceutical industry faces enormous challenges — from changes in how pharmaceutical companies develop and source products, to pricing pressures, to increasingly stringent regulatory environments. These business changes are driving IT to both reduce . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Enterprise Architecture Best Practices, Q1 2009

by Gene Leganza, Katie Smillie, April 9, 2009

Forrester examined 2,292 end user inquiries from enterprise architecture (EA) professionals. Most of these inquiries were on specific technology topics such as information and knowledge management, infrastructure and operations, and application development; . . .