Implementing the Enterprise Architecture vision #2 - Simulation

In my previous post, I wrote about three different parts of a vision for enterprise architecture. The second of my suggestions for the future enterprise architecture practice was the concept of simulation. For me this is a clear goal for any business-oriented enterprise architecture practice: help the organization create and run simulations or create scenarios about what the future will be like, based on different parameters from data collected. This is the opposite of building an ivory tower full of documentation. Instead the enterprise architecture practice should be able to help the business answer questions like:

• “What happens if we enter this new business area?”
• “What happens if we change this core process?”
• “What happens if we replace major systems?”

A common problem with strategic planning is that the planning (“what are we doing in the next 12-24 months?”) and collecting data for market, competitor analysis (“what are our major risks, opportunities etc.”) is in focus, while focus on existing information about the organization, its systems and processes is more limited. Often only certains types of data are collected, often in aggregated form, since the time for strategic planning is limited. A lot of the input for analysis comes from data about financial costs and benefits, but not about the underlying drivers of cost and benefits: systems, applications, processes, people. With limited analysis comes the risk of making the wrong decisions, underestimating risks or failing to see the complexity in the implementation of the strategy.

I see the enterprise architecture practice playing a vital role in doing strategy work smarter and more advanced. Instead of basing strategic analysis on a simplified snapshot in time, the architects will deliver the building blocks for doing strategic planning by choosing between several different scenarios: overviews of different types of strategic goals, processes, systems etc. with maturity, risks and other parameters made clear. This data will have been updated constantly over the course of the year and not just in the run-up to the strategy process. Data will come from people close to the content: system owners, process responsible people etc.

When this part of my EA-vision is delivered, the future enterprise architecture practice constantly builds and updates scenarios for the future business and IT landscape, based on parameters that are always changing. Scenarios are used across the organization, from everything to mitigating risk, analyzing impact and aiding strategic planning. This in turn makes it possible to regularly make changes in the strategic direction and act with great agility when facing new challenges of digital disruption.