Architectural, or engineering, principles are the cornerstone of the Enterprise Architecture. IT organizations cannot effectively design an efficient architecture without such guiding principles, nor can it enforce an architecture that is out of congruence with those principles.
The implication of executing IT without Architecture Principles and Architecture Governance Processes to drive toward a Target State Architecture is the redundant proliferation of systems that lead to high cost and slow processes which was evident across the Enterprise today.
The Open Group Architecture Foundation defines principles as: “Principles are general rules and guidelines, intended to be enduring and seldom amended, that inform and support the way in which an organization sets about fulfilling its mission.”
At AstraZeneca we will govern the creation of IT Solutions via the adoption and governance of the following 10 Enterprise Guiding Principles:
1. Enterprise First
The Enterprise Architecture applies to all aspects of Information Technology across AstraZeneca.
Rationale
Managing IT separately across the different Business Units of the Enterprise misses the opportunities to reduce cost, shared capabilities & minimize redundant assets. We must simplify with the mindset of a single enterprise.
Implications
We must incorporate a collaborative model to include various aspects of IT with a focus on economies of scale, support of the integrated enterprise & the sharing of technical diversity.
2. Steward the Enterprise
Working WITH the enterprise to provide frameworks, processes and collaboration models to drive change
Rationale
Subject matter experts exist as a distributed asset to make the right decisions on integration & drive the right enterprise strategies as a collective.
Implications
Business areas must invest time & staff into enterprise strategies to understand the best solutions by relying on facts, data, collaboration & our own expertise.
3. Foster Reuse
Creating assets with reuse in mind, identifying & leveraging existing assets when new opportunities arise.
Rationale
In order for systems & solutions to be reusable, they need to exist as a part of a formalized process & rewards system.
Implications
Staff must be trained on the importance of processes to call out appropriate check points for reuse of assets & projects must be measured on leveraging existing technologies.
4. Align to Business Strategy and Value
Cost and value-based on targeted perspective to prioritize Enterprise Business Value Streams.
Rationale
Strategies, architectures, & systems must be developed in the context of understood business value & perspectives of cost.
Implications
IT must enable the business & manage cost for enterprise advancement with a strategy targeted at specific business value points & traceable metrics.
5. Design for Change
Simplify, drive innovation, leverage existing assets, & enable the business to meet the changing markets’ demands.
Rationale
Architecture should focus on enhancing the future state to provide a competitive advantage & a sustainable core of business & technical capabilities.
Implications
Business & IT Leadership must identify the appropriate metrics & criteria to drive our business & understand how/where to direct our strategies for improvement & effective implementation.
6. Design from the Outside In
Design to offer the best possible customer experience.
Rationale
Systems and solutions should be designed to improve customer experience and introduce efficiency in our current processes.
Implications
While we are adopting an Agile delivery approach we should collect the feedback of our customers frequently to assure the solution exceeds their expectations.
7. Data is a Competitive Strategic Asset
Data is our most critical asset; it takes priority over application and technology considerations.
Rationale
To grow as a company, understand & service our customers as well as make good decisions, trustable data is key. Data Integrity must not be sacrificed to meet application or technology constraints.
Implications
Applications and technologies will be selected and implemented based on an approach that first considers data needs. All other design decisions are secondary to those needs
8. Access to insight, anytime, anywhere from any device
We will reduce human latency by providing access to insight and information on the device that can impact decision making faster.
Rationale
Information is power and we will design solutions that will target the device or devices that will impact the business process efficiency in a more meaningful way. Our goal is to improve the quality of the data used to make decisions and to provide that information to the decision makers in the most efficient way.
Implications
We need to better understand how a process task is being carried out so we can provide access to information via the most efficient device or devices.
9. Open but compliant and secure
Putting information in the hands of customers securely. Where they are, what they need & the format they want.
Rationale
Our market is trending towards adding digital services and capabilities directly to our customer, data on demand, and mobile availability of information.
Implications
Rigorous security, service orientation & technical capabilities needed to enable business partners to offer data solutions to customers with protection, performance & openness of data.
10. Operational readiness by design
Solution and systems need to be delivered with the appropriate support for our clients.
Rationale
Reliability of systems is a service that our customers expects and should be included as part of the design of a solution.
Implications
While delivering a solution we will take into consideration the effort and resources necessary to provide excellent support to our clients. The support of the system should be well documented and roles and responsibilities should be clear prior to a system going live.
I invite the readers of this articles to share with me their opinions and collective experiences in defining, leveraging and governing their IT organizations using their principles.
Leo Barella
VP, Enterprise Architecture at AstraZeneca
