How the Business Architect Works^[i]

The specific responsibilities of a Business Architect will vary depending on the organizational environment, but the following is an example of a typical work pattern. 

The Business Architect receives an update to the corporate strategy. The Business Architect reviews it, identifies necessary changes and meets with each part of the organization that will be impacted by these changes to assess the scope and scale of the impact, determine what expertise will be necessary to design and implement the changes, develop working options with associated cost and time estimates, identify competing initiatives, document challenges and opportunities and present findings to the strategy team. 

The Business Architect works with the Strategy team to make adjustments and determine the strategic importance relative to competing initiatives. The Business Architect shares the revised strategy and prioritization with the departments for final adjustments and signoff, and coordinates an end-state model, key success factors and specific metrics and success goals.

This model is reviewed with the strategy team and each department and signed off by the strategy team.

In consultation with each department’s subject matter experts, an individual view of the model is packaged into a set of projects for each department that includes all of the information they need to implement their portion, and the sequencing and coordination information necessary to mesh with the efforts of the other parts of the organization.   

The complete set of coordinated documents is issued by the Business Architect to the strategy team and all participating departments, allowing each to understand their own work as well as the work of other parts of the organization. With final signoff, the documents are turned over to the project management team for implementation, and to the change management and training teams, who will ensure the organization is ready to operate and support the adjusted organization when the improvements are implemented.

The Business Architect administers the implementation by remaining available to interpret and clarify documents, facilitating communication, and verifying progress and compliance.

The Business Architect, at the completion of the improvements, updates the documents which are then stored and made available to other teams as baseline documents from which to design future improvements.

Their Scope of Concern

The Business Architect takes a holistic interest in all aspects of the organization, beginning their examinations from the 40,000 foot view of the organization within the context of its marketplace and then drilling down into the details at a level granular enough to successfully direct and coordinate the implementation work of the various parts of the organization.

Business Architects generally do not participate in initiatives that are very narrow in focus or whose impact does not extend beyond an individual functional area.

Tools and Standards

The tools employed by Business Architects can be divided into six primary areas:

• Research: Google, subscriptions to Gartner, Harvard Business Review, …

• Analysis: Excel, Cost/Benefit, ROI, ROA, NPV for larger initiatives, numerous tools for validating strategy, …

• Modeling: ranges from simple drawing tools like Word and Visio to complex tools like MetaStorm’s ProVision, requiring seat licenses and training

• Communication: PowerPoint, Word, town hall meetings, webcasts, …

• Administration:  MS Project, Outlook, …

• Repository:  web-based file repositories and databases, specialized business rules repositories, …

Standards are divided into three areas:

• Standards of Professional Practice: A set of guidelines issued by a professional association describing how a professional Business Architect performs their work.

• Reference Standards: Issued by professional associations and testing organizations governing the components and implementation of projects, which are quoted by Business Architects in their documents.

• Tool Standards: Used to ensure interoperability.