• Courses
    • Oracle
    • Red Hat
    • IBM
    • ITIL
    • PRINCE2
    • Six Sigma
    • Microsoft
    • TOGAF
    • Agile
    • Linux
    • All Brands
  • Services
    • Vendor Managed Learning
    • Onsite Training
    • Training Subscription
  • Managed Learning
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Our Team
    • FAQ
  • Enquire

OUR BLOG


Category: TOGAF

Why You Should Get a TOGAF® Certification in 2023?

Posted on January 11, 2023 by Marbenz Antonio

A TOGAF 101 - All the Essentials of This Certification Explained

TOGAF, short for The Open Group Architecture Framework, is methodology organizations use to develop their IT architecture. It was first established in 1995 and was derived from the Technical Architecture Framework initially created by the US Department of Defense. The framework is currently maintained by the Open Group Institute.

TOGAF is used to assist organizations in creating an IT infrastructure that fits their specific needs. Trained professionals familiar with TOGAF, work with different department leaders and help develop and execute an IT plan efficiently.

Why Use TOGAF®?

TOGAF is a comprehensive framework that organizations use to plan, design, implement, and manage their Enterprise Architecture. Enterprise Architecture is divided into four distinct areas – data, technology, application, and business – and heavily emphasizes the use of pre-existing and standardized products and technologies.

Companies that are in the process of implementing or planning to implement a wide-ranging technical infrastructure to support core business applications using open systems architecture can benefit from using TOGAF. TOGAF principles help in creating design and procurement specifications that promote open systems implementation while minimizing risk. TOGAF 9 training and certification are also valuable for individuals who want to work on Internet of Things (IoT) projects.

What Do TOGAF® Certified Professionals Do?

By becoming a TOGAF-certified professional, you would be able to simplify complex technical processes. Many developers and technical leads seek TOGAF certification to gain a better understanding of Enterprise Architecture principles and to increase their chances of advancing to architect and senior architect positions in their careers.

Enterprise Architects (EAs) are responsible for creating the company’s long-term IT strategy that aligns with the overall business strategy. They develop the roadmap for technology and applications, guided by the TOGAF standards for technology infrastructure. They make sure that the technology flow is well-defined and that all IT-enabled processes are smooth, from beginning to end.

Enterprise Architects are often working on various transformative programs across multiple portfolios, overseeing multiple meetings and projects, which may include:

  • An Architecture strategy encompasses all the elements of IT architecture strategy, including assessing the present state, outlining the steps for transition, and defining the target path for the strategy.
  • Architecture Review Boards are recurrent gatherings of stakeholders who review and give their approval to modifications of the existing architecture.
  • Portfolio Management is the process of overseeing the overall health and performance of the IT infrastructure.
  • Governance Committee is a group of stakeholders that are responsible for making decisions on standards, policies, and protocols, specifically in regard to security and requirements.
  • Technology Lifecycles are the methodology used to plan and execute the changes and versioning of the different technologies in use within an organization.

In short, TOGAF-certified professionals make certain that an organization’s ideals and objectives are aligned with aspects of information technology. TOGAF-certified professionals tend to be in strategic management roles and are mostly sought after by big organizations. Moreover, TOGAF training and certification can also be beneficial for those who want to work on Internet of Things (IoT) projects.

Why Get a TOGAF® Certification?

Now let’s look at the reasons why should get TOGAF certification is important. Here are twelve reasons why you should consider getting TOGAF certification:

  1. High demand for enterprise architects

    As the integration of IT technology and architecture become increasingly critical for an organization’s success, more and more companies are turning to TOGAF to plan and manage their enterprise architecture in the short term and long term.

  2. Understand a common language 

    Individuals who have TOGAF certified share a standardized set of knowledge and expertise that allows them to better understand and fulfill business requirements.

  3. Staged approach 

    The TOGAF Enterprise Architecture certification is divided into two levels: Foundation and Certified, which facilitates the learning journey for professionals. They can start by acquiring fundamental knowledge, then proceed to advance their understanding as they become more experienced.

  4. TOGAF® is a budget-friendly certification

    The cost for obtaining the certification is relatively low, with the foundation exam being as low as $320, and for both exams, the total costs can be $495. Though if you choose to take training courses, the overall cost might increase, but still getting certified in TOGAF is an investment that can pay off in the long run.

  5. Boost your salary and your career: 

    According to PayScale, the average salary for professionals who hold TOGAF certification starts at over $80,000.

  6. Explore new Opportunities with a TOGAF® certification:

    Large enterprises place a high value on certifications due to the sense of standardization that it brings. Obtaining certification demonstrates to industries that you have undergone industry-recognized training and testing and are proficient in concepts that are relevant to your field. This trust in certifications can open up opportunities that might otherwise not be available to you. Large organizations like banks, hospitals, and other industries will have confidence in your abilities and consider you to be the right fit to solve their enterprise management issues.

  7. Speak a Language Common to all Professionals in your Field: 

    A significant part of working as a TOGAF professional entails effective communication. The role includes designing and implementing an IT environment for an organization, which necessitates interacting with various professionals. Having a certification helps in speaking the same language as your peers in the industry, making it more comfortable to work in collaboration and gaining buy-in for your ideas.

  8. Meet your Company’s needs better: 

    Organizations are always searching for ways to achieve the most outcomes with minimal resources, this is the core philosophy of TOGAF. TOGAF training imparts knowledge on how to do tasks in an efficient manner, which can lead to cost savings for the company and an increase in profit margins.

  9. Work on your Managerial Skills: 

    TOGAF certification combines technical and management aspects of IT, making it an excellent stepping stone for individuals aiming for management positions. TOGAF professionals often handle designing IT infrastructure from an overall perspective, meaning they have to evaluate and balance different viewpoints while implementing a project. This experience gives them an edge when they pursue management roles.

  10. Validate your skills: 

    TOGAF is a well-established certification, in the field of enterprise architecture there are not many other certifications that are as well-respected as TOGAF. Holding a TOGAF certification is a symbol of credibility and demonstrates that your skills and knowledge have been validated. Companies have trust in the abilities of those who hold a TOGAF certification.

  11. Networking Opportunities: 

    As with any other certification, obtaining TOGAF certification allows you to network with other professionals in the field. You can form professional connections, stay up to date with industry trends, and exchange ideas that can contribute to the advancement of TOGAF principles.

  12. No Prerequisites for taking the TOGAF® Certification Course:

    In contrast to other certifications, TOGAF does not have any prerequisites for taking the certification, making it easy for professionals who want to enter the field of IT architecture to get started after certification.

TOGAF® 9 Exam and Certifications Details

  • There are no prerequisites to enroll in the TOGAF 9.1 Level 1 (Foundation) course, making it open for anyone to take it.
  • To take the TOGAF 9.1 Level 2 exam, one must first complete the Level 1 course as a prerequisite.
  • If you don’t pass the exam, you will have to wait 30 days before taking it again. And only 3 attempts per year are allowed.
  • TOGAF 9 certification for individuals does not require to be renewed.

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFTagged TOGAFLeave a Comment on Why You Should Get a TOGAF® Certification in 2023?

What makes TOGAF so important to enterprise architecture

Posted on September 29, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

TOGAF vs. Zachman: Choosing an Enterprise Architecture Framework

The Open Group is the certification authority for the Unix trademark and is responsible for some outstanding architectural and digital standards, such as the Open Agile Architecture (O-AA) Standard, the ArchiMate Modeling Language, and many others. The Open Group has issued more than 110,000 TOGAF certifications to individuals in 155 countries, making it The Open Group’s most-used enterprise architecture framework. It created and manages the renowned Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), the “key industry standard for enterprise architecture.”

Enable Architect is honoring TOGAF and its influence on the people who design the systems that support enterprises through times of change and ongoing innovation as a community of IT architects and other enterprise architecture professionals.

On the occasion of The Open Group’s 25th anniversary, we invited the organization and a few certified TOGAF architects to discuss what TOGAF means to them and the role it has played in their careers as IT architects.

Evolving to shifting needs

The Open Group says:

“Given the heritage of TOGAF Standard, it would be easy to see it as something that has held firm while all around it changes. This is, perhaps, an oversimplified perspective, as it misses the many ways in which the TOGAF Standard developed and evolved as the needs of enterprise architects shift.”

“In recent years, we have witnessed a shift in businesses rolling out digital transformation projects to better exploit a digital-first business model. Typically, this has tended to be piecemeal by individual business units or departments.”

“While digital transformation has accelerated the adoption of digital practices, organizations are finding the need to pull these disparate projects together and are turning to TOGAF Standard and enterprise architecture as the most proven and reliable methodology of achieving this. Understanding and managing that big picture of an enterprise has always been at the heart of TOGAF Standard, and it will be exciting to see how practitioners apply it to this next stage of digitalization.”

Realigning problem solving into a common framework

“TOGAF helped me bridge the gap between what I learned on the job as a technologist early in my career and how architects seek to understand business problems and deliver business outcomes as professionals. What TOGAF doesn’t do is tell you how to do your job: TOGAF doesn’t give us a playbook, instead, it realigns the way we solve problems into a common framework, approach, and language that can be communicated across a team of architects, a practice, an industry, and across our profession.”

“TOGAF is like a reference book to refer back to. It proved incredibly valuable to me as I stepped into the methodology as a new architect leader. It started [for me] as an encyclopedia to understand the relevant architecture concepts, which allowed me to engage more seamlessly across the architecture practice and to contribute in line with its principles and expectations. Today, it’s helping me as one of many tools we can use to professionalize enterprise architecture within our organizations.”

“I use TOGAF the same way it helped me [so that I can] help others. If I notice dissonance in a new architect’s engagement across the community, I might encourage them to take TOGAF training or to use some of its concepts to get onto the same page as their peers. It’s no longer about my journey of seeking to understand the architecture practice, it’s about supporting a community’s journey and helping them find their common ground and their common language. When we get stuck as a practice, the TOGAF framework is one of those places we can look to get support as an industry-standard approach for solving many architectural challenges.” 

Providing a holistic approach

“I believe enterprise architecture requires a holistic approach, starting with the business of the enterprise leading to the applications and the information processed. Enterprise architecture is validated by the successful deployment and ongoing sustenance of the solutions that are designed and implemented based on these principles. Doing this at scale requires a consistent baseline framework that can be reapplied with context across a multitude of industries with continuously evolving technology paradigms.”

“TOGAF works because it provides a framework to identify and promote validated patterns across an evolving set of customer and industry-specific architectures that are then evolved into deployable solution blueprints.” 

“What I appreciate most about TOGAF is that it provides a lifecycle approach for advancing enterprise architectural dialog across customers, an ecosystem of partners, as well as internal stakeholders.”

“As an advocate of TOGAF for many years, I’ve contributed to the TOGAF 8 specifications with content in the Business Architecture and Application Architecture phases. I was also first-hand witness to the diverse perspectives brought to bear by The Open Group members when I co-led multiple projects in the SOA Working Group – SOCCI (Service Oriented Cloud Computing Infrastructure) and the Cloud Governance Framework, in addition to presenting TOGAF and applying TOGAF principles at multiple Open Group conferences around the globe in India, Scotland, and the United States.”

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in Red Hat, TOGAFTagged Red Hat, TOGAFLeave a Comment on What makes TOGAF so important to enterprise architecture

The 2020s will be Guided by Architectural Data

Posted on September 20, 2022September 23, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

A Guide to Google Tag Manager Data Layer for Digital Marketers | Hire Digital

What technical and financial analytics from enterprise architects should CIOs and decision-makers anticipate in 2022?

An increase in applications and an acceleration of transformation are currently affecting businesses.

Just looking at the application landscape, we can see that according to industry studies, the typical business uses 500 to 1,295 custom applications in addition to cloud services. According to IDC, the global corporate applications market will reach $241 billion in 2020, expanding 4.1% over the previous year.

Enterprises’ foundational architectures, which are composed of interactions between people, processes, and technology as well as usually physical assets (IoT), are also expanding and changing quickly.

Enterprise architects use IT cost calculations, technical data, and lifecycle analytics to keep CIOs and business units informed.

In addition to projections to help with planning for future business scenarios and digital transformation projects, they usually gave expenses and technical indicators for the current IT ecosystem.

In previous years, common analyses might have included:

  • Counts of applications
  • The total cost of application ownership (also ROI and NPV)
  • Which procedures depend on a specific piece of software or equipment (dependency analysis)
  • How long will technology be supported, and when will the business need to change or upgrade?

Although this basic data is helpful, decision-makers might still wish for more analysis or greater detail.

Business units want to know how much enhanced technical metrics (uptime, responsiveness), or improvements to procedures that are crucial for successful customer journeys, will result from revised processes or apps.

Enterprise Architecture Data Analysis in 2022

Data-driven enterprise architecture may now give forecasts more precision and assurance. To create the necessary KPIs on demand, architects and business users must construct calculations that quantitatively aggregate data across the architecture.

Data scientists and numerate business analysts are familiar with using operations like Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Min, Max, Average, and Count. Additionally, you can compute trends, and probabilities, attribute values and measure or predict the effects of business choices by using operations like Power, Log, and Atan.

EAs usually need to be prepared to produce reporting dashboards that incorporate the following in addition to diagrams and roadmaps:

Technology Cost Analysis:

  • Cost estimates for outdated technology that are available on demand
  • Using the links and interactions in the architecture, the total cost of a particular Business Capability or Process can be determined.
  • Costs of the underlying infrastructure or resources used, for example, when estimating software, support, or external service costs based on business function EAs can determine the overall cost of ownership for outdated technologies (available as a pre-built cost simulation in tools such as ABACUS from Avolution)
  • Costs of cloud migration
  • Metrics for technical debt like the cost of compliance, complexity, and remediation

Lifecycles & Trends in Metrics

  • Costs associated with applications and technology-related risks and vulnerabilities
  • Information summaries for the technology and vendor lifecycles, such as the number of years till technology is retired
  • Applications and technologies are analyzed for their business and technical fit in application portfolio assessments. For instance, do our applications use recognized technologies, and is the vendor still providing support for those technologies? (Resources like Technopedia can be used to get the fundamental data for this research.)
  • Technical KPIs such as Resource Utilizations, Availability, and Response Time
  • Trends in measurements like the rate of cost growth, the rate of increase in availability, or the rate of increase in reliability
  • Predictions based on machine learning, such as using lists of apps, lifecycles, financial information, and other architectural content For instance, ABACUS from Avolution’s machine learning engine offers a quantitative forecast of the values that should go in any vacant cells. Machine learning will offer a TIME (Tolerate-Invest-Migrate-Eliminate) proposal for an “empty cell” application, which the architects might decide to accept, in exchange for a more comprehensive dataset.

Adding KPIs to Diagram-based Enterprise Architecture

  • The future state and existing state are contrasted. Architects can use these and associated metrics to track transformation initiatives by using dashboard side-by-side comparisons of information or technical architectural designs and related catalogs.
  • Risks related to particular processes (security ratings and risk ratings can be rolled up from technologies and applications to the processes they support)
  • Connecting processes or tasks to capacities to compare tasks. For instance, architects can compute expenses or technical KPIs on processes as part of consolidation during a merger or acquisition to determine the efficiency of the two versions of the process.
  • Process dependence analysis: highlighting areas of dependency on outmoded technology utilizing diagrams and Graph Views to see relationships.
  • Displaying systems, interfaces, and APIs in process diagrams

Analysis by Architects of data from APIs

Architects can also provide stakeholder dashboards with data retrieved from CMBDs or other corporate data sources (through API queries). Compared to lists of facts, charts and interactive visualizations are usually clearer and simpler to understand.

  • Architects can use applications like Postman to do API inquiries.
  • Technopedia, a variety of CMDBs, and VMware products are examples of common API integrations.

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFTagged TOGAFLeave a Comment on The 2020s will be Guided by Architectural Data

Choosing the Right Approach for Data Integration

Posted on August 16, 2022August 24, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

How to Choose the Right Integration Tools for Your Data

How do you approach data integration?

According to a recent survey of enterprise and solution architects conducted by The Open Group, 62% of organizations are currently using or intend to use a particular data integration approach like data virtualization, data fabric, or data mesh. However, this is usually done on a case-by-case basis. How would you choose the best strategy for your company?

It’s not ideal to respond to questions like this “off the top of your head.” You want to know how the different strategies would function in your unique case. You wish to read case studies and explanations for them. You should speak with others who are experiencing the same issues to learn what they are doing or have done and how it relates to what you wish to do. You want to be able to keep to best practices and standards.

We have a clear understanding of the state of data integration in businesses today, as well as the challenges encountered by enterprise and solution architects, thanks to the Open Group survey. It serves as a foundation for the creation of best practices and standards that will direct architects in the future.

Data Integration’s Current Situation

Initially, a few members of The Open Group Architecture Forum filled out the survey. Members of the Association of Enterprise Architects then finished it after making slight changes in response to comments. There were almost 600 answers in all.

Many of the characteristics of the picture painted by the survey will likely be familiar to you. The majority of business leaders see data as a strategic corporate asset, yet business unit usage of data is usually specialized. Some data is on-premises and some are on the cloud. Overall, there are varying degrees of great, poor, and average data quality. There are usually “quality” data islands with varying management practices.

Respondents identified several improvement points:

  • Governance and Stewardship (47%)
  • Accelerating speed of discovery and delivery of data – e.g. DataOps (20%)
  • Creating a data platform (18%)
  • Self Service (7%)
  • Systematically protecting data (3%)
  • Culture, data and content modelling, silos, technical capabilities, and understanding value were also mentioned.

The data that needs to be merged originates from corporate departments and business lines. Most of it is in databases, but it’s also frequently in electronic documents and occasionally comes from real-time sensors or social media. The chief information officer (CIO) and business analysts, sometimes business departments, define the information requirements. Some data have quality qualities indicated, but not all of them. The information could include personally identifying data (PII).

17% of respondents had point-to-point interfaces between applications and services internally and externally, 16% had a line of business data silos, and 36% had a mix of these. About 29% of respondents had a corporate integrated information-sharing environment, such as data warehouses, data lakes, or archives. However, 62% of those respondents worked for companies that were already employing or intended to utilize a specific method of data integration, such as data virtualization (37%), data fabric (27%), or data mesh (23%).

Pain points

One open-ended question in the poll asked participants to list their top issues and concerns with data integration. The responses can be divided into five categories.

  1. Lack of commitment from business units – The refusal of departments to disclose their data. They are unaware of the benefits to business from doing so. Finding the necessary data is challenging, and getting subject-matter specialists to explain it is challenging as well.
  2.  Lack of commitment at corporate level – Enterprise data integration is not seen as an investment-worthy business project.
  3. Different sources and toolboxes – Different data platforms, web services with various languages and operating systems, SaaS providers with different interfaces, and described as parts with different processing requirements all exist.
  4. Conflicting data models – Enterprise data models are usually absent. The information is not uniform. Data from both old and new systems are included. It incorporates outside data that is either at odds with internal data or ontologically and taxonomically non-normalized.
  5. There is no data management culture – There is usually no data governance task group and no data-specific policies. There are problems with data quality, such as duplicate records and conflicting data from several sources.

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFTagged TOGAFLeave a Comment on Choosing the Right Approach for Data Integration

Consider a world without open standards

Posted on August 4, 2022August 5, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

بحث عن مهارات الاتصال بالعناصر | المرسال

The statement that the world runs on open standards of some description is not debatable. Every day, we interact with them, whether it be by using a kettle to boil water (electrical voltage standards first appeared in the early 20th century), reading a PDF document (an open standard made by Adobe® in 2008), using the World Wide Web (an open standard managed by the W3C® since 1994), or even holding a piece of US letter format paper (an ANSI® standard) or A4 paper (an international standard paper size since 1975).

We rely on well-known and widely accepted standards to make the different factors of our life work together, both in the physical world and the digital world. The increasing complexity of computer technology and the expectation that these technologies will interact with one another securely and predictably in the digital world, however, make standardization vital.

The unexpectedly short history of open standards

In essence, standards are necessary for the globe to address commercial issues. Solutions become more usable and easier to deploy through the process of creating a set of standards that benefit both users and providers.

One of the best examples of an open standard is the Single UNIX® Specification, although it wasn’t always that way. When a technology initially appears and is in its innovative and formative stage, there used to be a wide range of UNIX operating systems based on the original AT&T code base. This process is known as the emergence of different types.

UNIX technology, which was initially created at Bell Laboratories beginning in 1969, was rapidly embraced by corporations in the late 1970s to take advantage of the more strong and reasonably priced computing systems that were entering the market.

As a result, other vendors developed their own versions of the UNIX operating system, which sometimes became incompatible with one another. These differences caused unnecessary obstacles to the transfer of data and applications between systems.

Several businesses joined forces to unify the UNIX community by recognizing the importance of the UNIX platform and, more importantly, the requirement that all UNIX technology implementations be interoperable and compatible to support the massive ecosystem that has been built on top of UNIX systems.

Following an open and inclusive collaboration, the Single UNIX Specification—now the industry standard for UNIX systems—was produced. The Single UNIX Specification, a set of agreed-upon API definitions for the UNIX system, has been kept in the trust of the industry by The Open Group since 1994.

To maintain and advance the standard, The Open Group now works closely with the UNIX community. The standard documentation must be made available online for free, test tools must be provided, the UNIX and POSIX™ certification programs must be managed, and the standard documentation must be made available for reuse in open source projects.

Open standards’ enduring future

It’s important to remember the value of open standards for the industry, the progress we’ve made toward interoperability of the systems we rely on, and how far we still have to go after more than 25 years since the Single UNIX Specification was created.

The 28-year history of the UNIX operating system seems to be the best proof of the effectiveness and power of standards. The UNIX platform serves as an example of the benefits of transparency because, as a truly open standard, it enables everyone to concentrate on fostering innovation inside the platform’s ecosystem rather than dealing with competing at the level of the core operating system.

The open standard facilitates software portability, gives integrators options for solution building blocks, and frees up customers to concentrate on business concerns rather than integration challenges.

Open standards free up businesses from having to fight with competition about how systems should function, providing them more time and space to concentrate on creating and developing the systems as they are.

The main advantages, however, come after the vendors: open standards allow for efficient internal and external corporate communication and collaboration. They imply that a professional’s accumulated knowledge can be applied to any industry or area in which they choose to operate. They imply that organizations are not prevented from moving toward better, more effective working practices by a lack of information resources.

To even begin the meaningful work of delivering value from that technology, companies would continuously need to negotiate between the walled gardens of various technology providers, reskilling and rehiring staff members as they went.

It’s a situation we should never find ourselves in, and the more complicated the world is and the more difficult it is to conduct business, the more important it is to avoid it.

The Open Group, for instance, is no longer only the keeper of the UNIX platform. The Open Process Automation™ Forum and the Open Footprint™ Forum are two of the initiatives managed by The Open Group that are creating standard methods for gathering and evaluating environmental data, such as emissions, and automating manufacturing, respectively.

In other words, the open standards community will be at the front of collaboration for innovation as we address the big concerns of the future, such as AI and climate change.

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFTagged TOGAFLeave a Comment on Consider a world without open standards

What Has Changed in TOGAF 10?

Posted on July 21, 2022July 25, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

Open Group Releases TOGAF® Standard, 10th Edition

TOGAF, or The Open Group Architecture Framework, is a brand name in corporate architecture, as well as business and digital transformation. As the world’s most common enterprise architectural framework, it has been used to enable strategic transformation and optimization across a wide range of sectors, industries, and locations. As more organizations explore digitization, the clarity and guidance afforded by TOGAF architectures have proven useful.

TOGAF 10 is the most recent version of the framework. With TOGAF 9.2 launched in 2018 and 9.1 released nine years prior, many practitioners were hoping for a significant improvement. However, changes surrounding the framework, as well as EA in general, were frequently debated in The Open Group Architectural Forum during this time. As such, TOGAF 10 is the sum of several years of expertise, conversation, and first-hand experience from businesses and practitioners at the forefront of EA.

“The next decade of technology and commercial challenges will need businesses to be more agile, robust, and adaptable than ever, and that will make a clear approach to architecture more vital than ever,” said Steve Nunn, President, and CEO of The Open Group. “I am proud of what The Open Group Architecture Forum has accomplished for this release, which makes the TOGAF framework substantially more accessible by even more enterprises while keeping the framework’s key goals of consistency, openness, and efficiency.”

The Open Group outlined numerous essential goals in more depth about the framework, including:

  • Easier navigation
  • More straightforward implementation
  • Simpler customization for individual organizations
  • Greater alignment with Agile

So, what precisely has changed in TOGAF 10? In this article, we answer the most common questions about the next phase in EA.

Is the Core Framework Different?

The TOGAF ADM, or ‘Architectural Development Method,’ is at the heart of the system. This is the foundation of TOGAF, and it has not changed with the updated framework.

TOGAF 10 differs from previous versions in that it is divided into two sections: TOGAF Fundamental Content and TOGAF Series Guides.

What is TOGAF Basic Content?

The TOGAF Fundamental Content serves as the framework’s skeleton. It comprises an introduction and implementation tips, as well as specifics on:

  • The Architectural Development Method
  • ADM techniques
  • Applying the ADM
  • Architecture content
  • EA capability and governance

Those who have studied and used TOGAF 9.2 will recognize this section of the framework.

What are the TOGAF Series Guides?

The guides enhance the core framework by delving into more particular elements of architecture, such as:

  • Business architecture
  • Security architecture
  • Information  architecture
  • Enterprise architecture
  • Technology architecture
  • Digital architecture

Other tutorials cover subjects such as Agile, how to adapt the ADM, MSA, and SOA designs, and more.

This format, most importantly, gives a new level of versatility to TOGAF. Practitioners can refer to and apply the Series Guides as needed based on elements such as organizational structure, goals, and settings.

The Open Group has also stated that it will create and update guidelines in the future, thereby growing the TOGAF body of knowledge and making the framework more useful and adaptable.

Is TOGAF 10 Simple to Use?

The notion of deploying TOGAF for the first time can be intimidating given the scope of corporate architecture. Because of this complexity, it can be difficult to gain support for EA, particularly from stakeholders and managers who are unfamiliar with the concept. Making TOGAF 10 easy to use and implement was one of The Open Group’s top aims during its development. This is true not only for practicing architects, but also for organizations of different sizes from various industries, locations, and sectors.

This was accomplished through the modular nature of the new framework. This makes it easier to navigate the TOGAF Library and obtain information on how to implement and alter the framework. Even the Series Guides include modular lists that outline what they cover in detail.

The Open Group has also simplified the framework by deleting a significant amount of unnecessary content. Importantly, TOGAF’s How-To documentation has been enhanced, with a stronger emphasis on implementation.

Is TOGAF 10 Agile?

Agile approaches and styles of working have grown in popularity in recent years. Given the importance of the relationship between enterprise architects and technological or information technology managers, understanding Agile can be important for EA. This information is becoming increasingly important for TOGAF users and practitioner organizations since Agile methods of working are now being applied to project management, strategy, organizational structure, and other aspects of the business.

As a result, how integrating corporate architecture with TOGAF became a primary priority during the development of TOGAF 10. The Series Guides provide distinct and clear instructions on how to work in Agile environments and discuss Agile flexibility with technical leads.

TOGAF 10: How Does It Help Digital Transformation?

Enterprise architecture has long been seen as a valuable instrument for digital transformation. Qualified and experienced individuals may design architectures that clearly show how an organization must change to accomplish strategic goals. This is especially true for digital transformation efforts, and both the TOGAF 9.2 framework and The Open Group Architecture Forum provide extensive resources to assist with this.

TOGAF 10 will surely be a significant advancement for businesses engaged in enterprise digital transformation. It places a major emphasis on digital components such as technological and digital architecture. Because many businesses must still handle legacy systems and other issues that can hamper digitization, the variability in its approach also facilitates slow and hybrid changes. The documentation for TOGAF has also been revised to incorporate digital features of domains such as Security Architecture.

Another important aspect is the framework’s emphasis on Agile. Agile methods of working have grown in favor, particularly in the digital and IT sectors. Not only can TOGAF 10 practitioners confidently communicate with managers in these domains, but they can also accommodate and even benefit from Agile environments.

Those who are already enabling digital transformation with TOGAF 9.2 will not need to disrupt their efforts because the core of TOGAF 10 is similar to the previous framework. However, the most recent TOGAF 10 recommended practices will definitely be valuable in assisting with digitalization.

Getting Certified in TOGAF 10

The Open Group has not yet given information on how to get TOGAF 10 certified. There is no indication that the current certification method will alter, nor that existing TOGAF certifications would become invalid.

Of course, this brings up the question of what is the best way to learn TOGAF.

TOGAF 9.2 is recommended for newcomers to study first. The current TOGAF 10 material may not be user-friendly for newbies, but because the underlying foundation is mostly the same, transitioning, later on, will be simple. There are also numerous free TOGAF tools available to help practitioners comprehend the new framework.

Existing practitioners will not need to change their EA techniques now that TOGAF 10 is available. In reality, by familiarizing themselves with the TOGAF Series Guides, they should find it simple to use the new framework. The Open Group presently has no information about bridging certification.

Studying TOGAF with CourseMonster

CourseMonster is a TOGAF online training provider. Our in-house e-learning professionals collaborate with business architecture experts to deliver courses that prepare candidates to pass their tests and become competent TOGAF practitioners.

Our courses include a variety of interesting online training elements, such as instructor-led videos, gamified quizzes, and free TOGAF whitepapers. Our support staff is available to walk candidates through course material, which may be accessed at any time and from any web-enabled device.

 



Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFTagged TOGAFLeave a Comment on What Has Changed in TOGAF 10?

A WORLD WITHOUT IT4IT: Why is it time to manage like a business?

Posted on July 19, 2022July 26, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

It's time to run IT like a business - here's how - Information Age

IT departments are in great demand today. Businesses in the digital world have become dependent on IT to be competitive. Traditional IT departments, on the other hand, have their roots in skills such as development or operations and are not equipped to deal with a business and technology environment that is attempting to fast adapt to a continuously changing marketplace. As a result, many IT departments today may be on the point of collapse.

IT departments used to be in charge of technology adoption in support of the business. When a new technology, such as departmental servers, was developed, it took a long time for enterprises to adopt it, and even longer for them to become reliant on it. However, once a company adopted the technology, it became subject to business rules—expectations and parameters for reliability, maintenance, and upgrades that kept the technology updated and allowed the business it supported to be competitive.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, as IT became increasingly established in enterprises, IT systems grew in size and complexity as technology companies raced to stay up with market forces. IT’s purpose at major enterprises, in particular, became to maintain large infrastructures, which required small armies of IT employees to maintain.

A variety of factors have come together to change that. Most businesses now conduct their business operations digitally, which Constellation Research analyst Andy Mulholland refers to as “Front Office Digital Business.” Technology-as-a-service models have changed how technologies and applications are delivered and supported, with support and upgrades provided by outsourced vendors rather than in-house staff. An IT department may not even be required with Cloud models. With the swipe of a credit card, entrepreneurs can launch a firm and have all of the technology they require at their fingertips, hosted remotely on the Cloud.

The Gap Between IT and Business

Although the distance between IT and business is narrowing, there is still a divide in how IT is managed. Most IT departments nowadays are structured in a way that keeps them connected to their technological roots. This is due, in part, to the fact that IT departments are still led by technologists and engineers whose core skills are in the challenge (and excitement) of developing new technologies. Not every skilled engineer makes a successful businessperson, yet in most businesses, employees who are good at their jobs are typically promoted to management, whether or not they are ready. The Peter Principle is an issue that affects many businesses, not just IT.

What has happened is that traditionally, IT departments have not been run as businesses. Despite IT’s involvement in how the rest of the organization is conducted, good business models for how IT should be run have been patchy or slow to evolve. Although some standards have been developed as guides for how different parts of IT should be run (for example, COBIT for governance, ITIL for service management, and TOGAF®, an Open Group standard, for architecture), no overarching standard has been developed that encompasses how to holistically manage all of IT, from systems administration to development to management through governance, and, of course, staffing. Despite its advancements, information technology has yet to become a well-oiled business machine.

Today’s business—and technological—climate is not the same as it was when companies required three years to replace their software. In today’s world, everything happens almost instantly. Cloud computing, Big Data, social media, smartphones, and the Internet of Things are transforming the IT world. Every day, new technical talents and approaches emerge. Although Java and C remain the most popular programming languages, new languages such as Pig and Hive develop daily, as do new development methodologies such as Scrum, Agile, and DevOps.

The Risks of IT Business as Usual

With these different pressures affecting IT, departments will either need to change and adopt a more effective IT management strategy, or they will face some approaching chaos that will delay their businesses.

Companies will be unable to mobilize fast for the digital age unless they have an effective IT management approach. Even a basic inability to use data can lead to problems such as investing in a product prototype that customers aren’t interested in. These are errors that most businesses cannot afford to make these days.

Having a broader understanding of what IT performs assists the department to make better decisions. How can you know what will match your organization’s business goals with technology and development trends shifting so quickly? You want to capitalize on trends or technologies that are beneficial to the organization while ignoring those that are not.

One of the basic concepts of DevOps, for example, is to match the development phase with the release and operation of the software. To assess whether or not this technique will work for your company, you must first understand its operational model. Having a sense of that also allows IT to decide whether it is worthwhile to invest in training, hiring employees trained in those procedures, or purchasing new technologies that will allow you to adopt the model.

Companies that lack that management perspective may be vulnerable to the vagaries of technical advancement as well as current IT fads. If you don’t know what’s valuable to your company, you risk pursuing every new craze that appears. There’s nothing worse for an IT guy than showing up to the management meeting every month and saying you’re trying yet another fresh way to solve an issue that never seems to get solved. People in business will not respond to it, and they will wonder if you know what you’re doing. IT must be decisive and make sound decisions.

These difficulties affect not only the IT department but also company operations. Inefficient IT departments will not know whether to invest in the right technology, and they may miss out on working with new technologies that could help the company. Without a framework to design how technology integrates into the business, you could wind up with outstanding IT bows and arrows but be machine-gunned when you walk out into the competitive world.

The other side of the issue is cost and efficiency—if the entire IT department isn’t functioning well, you’ll end up spending too much money on problems, which will divert funds away from other elements of the business that can keep the organization competitive. Failure to manage IT can result in competitive loss across multiple aspects of a business.

A Brand-New Business Model

To assist prevent the implications of not running IT more like a business, industry experts such as Accenture, Achmea, AT&T, HP IT, ING Bank, Munich RE, PwC, Royal Dutch Shell, and the University of South Florida recently created a collaboration to explore how to better run IT as a company. With billions of dollars invested in IT each year, these organizations knew that to compete, their expenditures had to be done prudently and show measurable outcomes.

The Open Group IT4IT™ Forum, which issued a Snapshot of its proposed Reference Architecture for running IT more like a business in November, is the outcome of their efforts. The Reference Architecture is intended to act as an IT operational model, addressing the “missing link” that earlier IT-function-specific models failed to address. The paradigm enables IT to attain the same business, discipline, predictability, and efficiency levels as other business activities.

The Snapshot comprises a four-phase Value Chain for IT, which serves as an operational model for an IT business as well as a description of how value may be added at each stage of the IT process. The Snapshot contains technical models for IT tools that businesses can use, whether for systems monitoring, release monitoring, or IT point solutions, in addition to suggested best practices for delivery. Giving IT tools advice will allow them to become more interoperable, allowing them to communicate information at the appropriate place and right time. Also, it will enable greater control of information flow across various sectors of the business via the IT shop, saving IT departments the time and effort of aggregating tools or cobbling together their own tools and solutions. The Reference Architecture also includes staffing guideline models.

Why is IT4IT important now? Digitalization cannot be slowed, especially in an era of cloud computing, big data, and the inevitable Internet of Things. An IT4IT Reference Architecture provides more than simply best practices for IT; it places IT within the framework of a business model that allows IT to be a contributing component of an enterprise, giving a path for digital enterprises to compete and thrive in the years ahead.

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFTagged TOGAFLeave a Comment on A WORLD WITHOUT IT4IT: Why is it time to manage like a business?

ZiRA, The Dutch Hospital Reference Architecture, is a Tool for Addressing a Global need

Posted on June 30, 2022July 26, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

A Framework of Reference for Hospitals

The goal of this blog is to introduce one such Dutch healthcare breakthrough, ZiRA, to a large audience of English-speaking architects. In Dutch, a hospital is referred to as a “Ziekenhuis,” so ZiRA is a set of interlocking components (templates, models, and downloadable files) that give architects, managers, and high-level decision-makers tools to a) understand and describe the current state of their hospital and b) transform virtually any aspect of their business to achieve desired states. The ZiRA can assist users in achieving important, mission-critical goals, such as continuously evolving to provide high-quality health services, improve patient outcomes, increase patient experience, and, in general, function efficiently and effectively.

The Impact of Public-Private Partnerships

Nictiz, the Dutch competence center for the electronic exchange of health and care information, developed ZiRA. Nictiz is an autonomous foundation that is pretty exclusively supported by the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport in the Netherlands. Nictiz has been promoting ZiRA adoption for over a decade by encouraging the formation of collaboratives such as iHospital, a group formed of and directed by important stakeholders from hospitals and related stakeholders across the Netherlands.

Introducing ZiRA to a Larger Audience

ZiRA was previously exclusively available in Dutch. It comes to reason that this characteristic alone has limited its widespread acceptance. The Open Group Healthcare Forum (HCF), in partnership with Nictiz and the ZiRA Governance Board, is working on a thorough English translation and clarification. The first of two parts, titled Hospital Reference Architecture, was released on June 23, 2022. The HCF addresses how Enterprise Architecture can help hospitals provide more value to patients while also increasing functional efficiency in the Preface to this White Paper.

Relating ZiRA to The Open Group Healthcare Enterprise Reference Architecture

The Open Group O-HERA™ standard, a healthcare reference architecture industry standard, provides a high-level conceptual framework relevant to all major stakeholders across all healthcare disciplines. As a result, the O-HERA standard is provided at a higher degree of abstraction, whereas ZiRA is adjusted to fit individual hospital needs and objectives. The O-HERA standard enables the creation of a crosswalk between the concepts and objects defined in ZiRA (mainly the Architecture Model) and a variety of other emerging and potentially less developed healthcare reference models around the world.

10,000 Foot View: Applying Reference Architectures to the Health Enterprise Level

The Open Group published the O-HERA Snapshot in 2018. This resource includes a cognitive map and conceptual roadmap to assist healthcare professionals in consistently defining their enterprise architectures to effectively align information technology and other resources to solve business problems.

The O-HERA is built on the traditional “plan-build-run” methods that have been used profitably by numerous sectors for decades, as seen in Figure 1. The company concentrates on vision, mission, strategy, capability, and transformational outcomes during the “PLAN” phase (or “management model”). The organization handles procedures, information, applications, and technology during the “BUILD” phase (or “management model”). Finally, the “RUN” phase stresses operations, measurement, analysis, and evolution (consistent with an “operations model”). Security, which is important to efficiently transmit healthcare data, pervades the entire model. The O-HERA standard, as shown in the center of the diagram, is built on agility, a person-centric focus, and a strong preference for modular solutions.

Figure 1. The Open Group Healthcare Enterprise Reference Architecture – O-HERA™

The Vital Importance of Industry Standards

The country’s establishment and application of standards as a strategic approach to ensuring that the best interests of its inhabitants are served have been a critical success factor for ZiRA’s adoption in The Netherlands. Nictiz actively contributes to the creation of standards and the dissemination of best practices knowledge. ZiRA was created over a decade ago with The Open Group ArchiMate® modeling language.

ArchiMate allows you to generate diagrams or illustrations that describe the relationships between concepts, which improves communication and hence understanding of complicated ideas connected to business architecture, in this example the hospital organization.

Effective standards are required for the establishment of information exchange in healthcare, which in turn is required to enhance healthcare delivery and outcomes. When each hospital uses its own chosen vocabulary and proprietary method to characterize the systems that enable clinical care, considerable obstacles to successful health information sharing arise. This topic is further upon at the end of this blog in the context of a health care interoperability use case.

Without information flow, elaborate and costly crosswalks and mapping operations are required just to connect as simple yet critical data as individual patient identification. Data sharing agreements are similarly expensive and difficult to implement since essential concepts and vocabulary must be exhaustively specified to achieve complete mutual understanding between parties. Extensive reliance on such efforts at translation across proprietary systems is also brittle and time-consuming to maintain.

How A Reference Architecture Benefits Communication

When a Hospital Reference Architecture, such as ZiRA, is implemented, a foundation is built to assist hospital organizations in bridging communication issues between diverse internal and external systems. Nictiz laid the groundwork for this shared knowledge by creating a “Five-Layer Interoperability Model,” as seen in Figure 2. The definition of common language and explicitly associated concepts aids in the advancement of common understanding within and between hospitals. For example, agreement on the meaning of terms such as “Business Functions,” “Services,” “Business Processes,” and “Business Activities” reduces the possibility of ambiguity or misinterpretation.

Figure 2.  Nictiz Five-Layer Interoperability Model

ZiRA expands on the standard notions expressed by Nictiz in the metamodel shown in Figure 3. In this case, dependence on The Open Group ArchiMate® modeling language, an international standard, is a critical strategic success factor for assuring ZiRA’s performance.

The ZiRA demonstrates, using rich context from the healthcare industry, how the adoption of The Open Group standards helps ensure that a reference architecture is immediately consumable by Enterprise Architecture practitioners across all industry verticals and domains.

Using the same concepts from the ArchiMate standard across hospitals facilitates a common understanding and makes comparing differences easier when, for example, a merger is being explored or systems must collaborate to support care shared across the healthcare continuum.

Figure 3.  ZiRA Metamodel

A ZIRA Use Case: Interoperability

ZiRA provides a conceptual and practical framework for achieving a wide range of hospital improvement goals. It uses the ArchiMate standard to give a shared frame of reference and a uniform modeling language. It encourages collaboration among participating hospitals through standardization, the sharing of best practices, and the acceleration of architecture and agile development processes. The goal of expanding interoperability in the healthcare chain between and among hospitals, health information networks (HINs), and a variety of other providers is particularly noteworthy.

Interoperability, or rather its lack, is a global issue, especially involving challenges in creating data sharing agreements and resolving data ownership and translation barriers between and even inside healthcare organizations. In the United States, “information blocking” has become such a problem that legal mandates such as the US Office of National Coordinator of Health IT’s the 21st Century Cures Act, which requires covered businesses to support interoperability, have been created. Similar rules and regulations have been enacted in other nations. In such an environment, a ZiRA success story built on more effective collaboration provides vital insights from which other countries and health systems can benefit.

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFLeave a Comment on ZiRA, The Dutch Hospital Reference Architecture, is a Tool for Addressing a Global need

THE IT4IT™ STANDARD ENSURES SIMPLE APPLICATION OF BUSINESS TOOLS

Posted on June 16, 2022July 26, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

Digital is destiny | Architecting your digital enterprise

Consider a technology deployment plan that benefits both you as the customer and your suppliers. Whether you’re an Enterprise Architect, Digital Practitioner, Sponsor, or Vendor, it’s not as difficult as it appears when you use The Open Group’s IT4IT™ Reference Architecture, a game-changing foundation for digital systems professionals.

We set out to tackle the most prevalent and expensive implementation problems, such as managing a complex landscape of diverse processes and tools, multi-vendor integration, automation, and end-to-end support.

For tool sellers and suppliers, the answer is making their tools plug-and-play, boosting the ease of adoption of their goods, and eventually expanding revenue potential.

Solutions ensure that new tools can be easily plugged into a multi-vendor end-to-end toolchain in support of specific value streams or even the entire digital product delivery pipeline, improving interoperability across the ecosystem, reducing costs, avoiding outages, and enabling business process automation for Digital Practitioners and other customers.

Benefits and Outcomes

Establishing the IT4IT Reference Architecture as the standard that your suppliers must satisfy eliminates long debates about “how” to integrate, making supplier on-boarding and off-boarding faster, easier, and more cost-effective on both sides.

Collaboration across standardized systems and interfaces that easily communicate data results in enhanced success and satisfaction for Enterprise Architects, Digital Practitioners, Sponsors, and Vendors. New tool deployment is faster, more automated, and provides superior end-to-end system insights and metrics. With greater communication and support across numerous providers, integration needs less effort and costs less to maintain, allowing vendors to expand their companies.

Furthermore, having a clear picture of the intended tool integration landscape benefits both a specific value stream and the whole value chain, providing firms better agility when it comes time to adopt new processes and tools, such as cloud computing. DevOps, CI/CD, and GitOps.

Identifying Key Challenges

Before we could offer solutions, we assessed particular difficulties from numerous stakeholder viewpoints, discovering universal discontent with integration being costly and time-consuming for both consumers and suppliers.

Sponsors suffer from adaptability, as they are unable to adjust quickly to changes in business demand. Frequently, redundancies exist between various tool providers, resulting in unwarranted cost increases and a considerable decrease in ROI. They also lack automated end-to-end information flow, making strategic business insight for decision-making challenging.

Enterprise architects waste time integrating data across value streams that have overlapping capabilities, no industry-standard shared data model, and no capacity to automate.

Due to the risk, difficulty, and price of integrating a new provider or tool, digital practitioners are left with unreliable, incompatible, or incomplete data.

Meanwhile, suppliers wanting to provide solutions must evaluate and rationalize this jumbled portfolio of product offerings, and are thus ill-equipped to persuade a customer that they can assist facilitate their success.

Moving away from proprietary platforms and isolated solutions for specific processes and services would benefit all stakeholders.

Implementing Solutions

Using the IT4IT standard as a template aids in the implementation of a consolidated, contemporary, and automation-ready toolchain that speeds flow, reduces the cost and complexity of digital product delivery, and enables effective data interchange throughout the tooling landscape.

Customers and Digital Practitioners use the IT4IT standard to analyze and assess the current state of their tooling integration landscape, identifying gaps and overlaps in each tool’s functionality and interface and allowing them to better understand the most effective ways to evolve their digital strategy with their business’s needs. They can increase transparency, traceability, and broad awareness of data flows between teams and their tools, such as existing vendors and tooling, bottlenecks that require scaling and automation, self-service/self-healing capability offerings, and areas where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) could be used.

Based on the IT4IT Reference Architecture, vendors may offer standardized interfaces and data models in their toolkits, allowing for more automation and faster delivery of more consistent, trustworthy information.

When decision-makers work with tool providers who follow an industry-standard data model, they assure greater consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness for all stakeholders.

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFLeave a Comment on THE IT4IT™ STANDARD ENSURES SIMPLE APPLICATION OF BUSINESS TOOLS

CREATE END-TO-END DATA AND TOOL INTEGRATION FOR FLOW, INSIGHT, AND TRACEABILITY

Posted on June 16, 2022July 26, 2022 by Marbenz Antonio

WHY DATA ANALYSIS IS IMPORTANT IN THE SUCCESS OF A DIGITAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN?

Businesses seeking an unrivaled competitive edge should reconsider their data management strategy. When there is an effective information flow and trust amongst all stakeholders, data-driven choices are faster, more reliable, and less expensive. Using The Open Group’s IT4IT™ Reference Architecture to increase data quality, transparency, and accessibility, Enterprise Architects, Digital Practitioners, Sponsors, and Vendors obtain improved business insight and planning skills.

The IT4IT Reference Architecture provides prescriptive guidelines for designing, sourcing, and managing services throughout the whole value chain, including simplified solutions for plug-and-play tool adoption. It is a strategy for boosting operational efficiency so that a firm may produce maximum value at the lowest feasible cost and with the most predictability.

When your teams don’t have access to the solutions and products being built for your company, you might question, “Are we receiving what we asked for?” “And because the barrier to adopting a more agile technique may appear too high, with no obvious route to begin, many firms continue to operate defective, frustrating, and costly processes.”

Adopting the IT4IT Reference Architecture provides your company with a tried-and-true architecture for assuring long-term agility, seamless integration, and data visibility and traceability.

Common Problem Scenario

Several prevalent difficulties were highlighted during our case study. Stakeholders from various industries struggle to obtain end-to-end data chain visibility and traceability, efficiently utilize time to avoid delays, reduce redundant software or gaps, and comprehend cost.

Sponsors may be unaware of the current state of new and old products across teams and tools. Enterprise architects may lack confidence in the interchange of relevant and useful data across functions, teams, and technologies, limiting them from effectively integrating each component across the larger landscape. To progress, Digital Practitioners may accidentally create isolated, manually maintained single-purpose systems of record. Release Train Engineers frequently struggle to gather detailed operational feedback from sprints.

Data access and management are dispersed amongst process owners, application owners, or development teams without a long-term plan or explicitly allocated data custody over the digital product lifecycle, growing increasingly unstable with each corporate re-organization or employee departure.

Many businesses unwillingly accept the reality of data islands, multiple data stores, and conflicting data. The ensuing chain reaction of problems is both daunting and costly. Before deployment, it may be unable to do a meaningful root cause analysis to fix issues, measure the efficiency of digital product delivery, assess the value relative to cost, or obtain important feedback from development. Design defects are perpetuated inadvertently, and faulty practices are reinforced.

Because there is no traceability or data integrity for tracing down the underlying cause of problems, there is a delayed response time to development, change, and incident tickets. When data ownership is moved or uncertain, disgruntled teams may avoid accountability and pass difficulties “over the fence” to other stakeholders throughout the lifespan of the digital product. These disruptions in data flow are what produce data islands, duplication of data and efforts, and communication breakdowns.

Blissful Solutions

You desire a competitive advantage. You want dependable, comprehensive data sets so you can make faster, more informed decisions and enhance your company plan. These objectives are more likely to be met if your tools, data objects, and connectors are all aligned to facilitate seamless flow across your digital product lifecycle management value chain.

The IT4IT Reference Architecture serves as a road map for major areas of improvement such as Tools and Scope, Data Availability, and Data Flow. You may develop a structured tool inventory, assess whether or not current tools interact with data items, document any gaps, and do a gap analysis to explain those interactions.

You would then identify your next actions for improvement. These often comprise mapping the value chain onto IT activities and tool sets, then working with all stakeholders to identify key drivers for change (e.g., greater productivity, increased agility, cost reduction) and agree on top objectives. If there are gaps in tools, data, or integrations, you may prioritize their solutions based on your main drivers.

Plan of Action

While each company’s data strategy is unique, our case study revealed some similar goals. Participants committed to producing data records just once and devising techniques to foster common data consumption across the value network. A universally valid data model that may link any digital asset or configuration item to a digital product and/or investment would be supplied to Digital Practitioners. Businesses would combine several systems of record to interoperate coherently and enable the use of varied development approaches and speeds (multi-modal) without creating silos, minimizing delays.

Once in place, the same data sets might be utilized across the value network to promote portfolio consolidation and standardization based on real consumption/usage, cost, or operational health, as well as gather and eliminate defects from events and problems.

Rather than being constrained by system limits, organizations can now take control of whatever technological tools, products, and services support their operations and better understand, control, and forecast their expenditures.

Comprehensive Advantages and Outcomes

IT4IT Reference Architecture provides developers and business leaders with the knowledge that allows them to drive an agile strategy. It is feasible to develop data integration amongst digital product management technologies, boost transparency, and improve decision-making by employing an industry-standard information model. Data objects can now be fully specified, and management systems may be prescriptively connected. The important linkages and inter-relationships between them will eventually result in the “System of Record Fabric,” which enables full product visibility and traceability.

Technology’s business value in a company is now measured and verifiable. The availability and quality of data promote visibility and confidence across business and technology stakeholders. This increased agility enables product development teams to collaborate more closely with the company to develop solutions and make informed choices. Overlaps and duplications are reduced, improving the predictability of timeframes, functionality, and cost of digital goods.

IT4IT Reference Architecture provides your company with the framework you thought was unreachable, allowing data-driven choices to be made faster, more reliably, and at a lower cost, allowing you to gain the long-term competitive edge you’ve been looking for.

 


Here at CourseMonster, we know how hard it may be to find the right time and funds for training. We provide effective training programs that enable you to select the training option that best meets the demands of your company.

For more information, please get in touch with one of our course advisers today or contact us at training@coursemonster.com

Posted in TOGAFLeave a Comment on CREATE END-TO-END DATA AND TOOL INTEGRATION FOR FLOW, INSIGHT, AND TRACEABILITY

Posts navigation

Older posts

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • December 1969

Categories

  • Agile
  • APMG
  • Business
  • Change Management
  • Cisco
  • Citrix
  • Cloud Software
  • Collaborizza
  • Cybersecurity
  • Development
  • DevOps
  • Generic
  • IBM
  • ITIL 4
  • JavaScript
  • Lean Six Sigma
    • Lean
  • Linux
  • Microsoft
  • Online Training
  • Oracle
  • Partnerships
  • Phyton
  • PRINCE2
  • Professional IT Development
  • Project Management
  • Red Hat
  • Salesforce
  • SAP
  • Scrum
  • Selenium
  • SIP
  • Six Sigma
  • Tableau
  • Technology
  • TOGAF
  • Training Programmes
  • Uncategorized
  • VMware
  • Zero Trust

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

home courses services managed learning about us enquire corporate responsibility privacy disclaimer

Our Clients

Our clients have included prestigious national organisations such as Oxford University Press, multi-national private corporations such as JP Morgan and HSBC, as well as public sector institutions such as the Department of Defence and the Department of Health.

Client Logo
Client Logo
Client Logo
Client Logo
Client Logo
Client Logo
Client Logo
Client Logo
  • Level 14, 380 St Kilda Road, St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria Australia 3004
  • Level 4, 45 Queen Street, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand
  • International House. 142 Cromwell Road, London SW7 4EF. United Kingdom
  • Rooms 1318-20 Hollywood Plaza. 610 Nathan Road. Mongkok Kowloon, Hong Kong
  • © 2020 CourseMonster®
Log In Register Reset your possword
Lost Password?
Already have an account? Log In
Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.
If you do not receive this email, please check your spam folder or contact us for assistance.