Advantages of a well planned stack in an Enterprise

My previous two blog posts talked about enterprise architecture and how there is a close relationship between the concept of stacking and the principles behind EA. In this post i want to reflect upon the various advantages i can think of when the stacking is done right within an enterprise.

As we all know by now that there are 5 very important layers that essentially play a role of a backbone for an Enterprise. These layers if planned strategically and in compliance with the companies policies can result in an architecture that is strong, organized, and can sustain any adversities over the years both inside and outside. This is similar to building a house, making sure that the foundations are laid down, a strong foundation means a strong home, then the pillars are added for the support system, the walls and insulation for the protection of the house from the outside harsh climates while keeping the heat/ cold to not escape from the house, having windows and various different outlets for the interaction with the outside world, and then the roof on top to make sure that the house is closed from all ends in order to protect it from outside forces.

You must be thinking why i am giving you this analogy. My thought behind this analogy is to compare the amount of work that went into constructing a house to building a self sustained, organized, efficient architecture within an organization layer by layer. By having a well thought through strategic plan that focuses on the five different architectural layers stacked on top of each other, an EA can ensure a sustained enterprise. The advantages of a well planned stack are:

1. Low maintenance cost - there will be low cost in the long run, since the layers were designed keeping in mind all the dependencies they will have with internal and external entities.
2. Well connected - the layers within the organization will be well connected, as they are interdependent on each other. They will have a close knit network.
3. Improved communications - because of the closed knit network in place, there will be open communications between these different layers, that will help keep everyone in the organization on the same page, and the same view/ goals will flow from the top of the layer till the bottom
4. Efficiency/ Higher Productivity: The open communication channel will increase the efficiency within the various sub orgs within the enterprise.
5. Identifying Gaps: with the layers all planned and laid out in a compliant, consistent manner, it will be easy to identify the gaps (if any) and work on them in a well organized and efficient manner.
6. Secured

These are some of the few advantages that i can think of from the top of my head by involving the concept of stacking within the enterprise. That is also the reason why i believe that EA and concepts of stacking have a very close relationship with each other. 

Quick introduction to Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Architecture is defined in several ways and its use changes from one organization to another. However, the meaning behind any of these definitions is the same, to help an organization with their architectural layer, the four most important being  Business, Data, Technology, and application.

As mentioned in the course, EA represents the different layers that includes improving the organizations:

1. goals and objectives
2. organizational structure and processes
3. data and technology infrastructure
4. system and applications

All  of these activities are used to streamline the business processes within an organization, improving technology infrastructure in order to improve the overall efficiency of the system.

Nowadays, besides the four layers mentioned above, the fifth layer (Security Architectural layer) is becoming popular as well. With the increase in online presence, and companies everyday dumping their data in cloud, it is but obvious that serious focus needs to shift towards security layer within an organization as well. It is even more important to make sure that the security layer is well thought through and put into place, so as to protect the company and its data from any data breaches in the future.

The five architectural layers mentioned above are all interdependent with each other, as you will find in my following posts.

Interconnected architectural layers in the form of a stack

 

Enterprise Architecture and Stack

After the last weeks online class discussion and trying to understand the relationship between Enterprise Architecture and the concept behind stacking, in my opinion stacking is the backbone to a sound enterprise architecture within an organization.

I visualize these stacks as the 4 stacks of your favorite pancakes (coconut flavor for me).
These 4 stacks need to be well placed on top of each other so that they are both pleasing to the eye (presentation/ well planned and organized) and interconnected with each other in order to maintain consistency throughout. These 4 stacks  as mentioned in my previous post are very important to the organization as a whole, with the new security layer that is becoming popular day after day. I treat this fifth layer as the cherry or strawberry on the top of my 4 pancake layers.

Stack of Pancakes depicting the Architectural Layers

Every layer is important, and all of them stacked together make a well organized and an efficient enterprise. When i compare these layers to my organization, i find that there is a lot of work that needs to be done on smoothing the business layer. Since a lot of data and technology within my organization depends on the requirements generated by the business, there is a lot of miscommunication that takes place. The result is insufficient data that carries over to the other layers within the org, such as Data, Technology, and ultimately effecting the application in itself.

I stumbled across a blog that also paints a picture of a relationship between EA and stack. ref: https://dalbanger.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/back-to-basics-the-enterprise-architecture-ea-simplified/

Although the blog talks about what its core audience is, that is limited to CIO, CTO, SA, etc, in my opinion the relationship between the enterprise layer and the stack is something that needs to be understood by every employee working in every layer of the organization, in order to ensure a consistent viewpoint flowing down the layers. (Analogy: just like the maple syrup flows through the different layers when poured from the top of the pancake, and if there are irregularities or gaps in one of the pancake layers, the syrup doesn't completely flow to the bottom of the pancake.). These holes or irregularities i used in my analogy reflect the various gaps we find time to time in our various architectural layers. These gaps need to be filled, so as to maintain the consistency throughout the EA system.

The blogger also talks about every layer being dependent on each other, that i agree with completely. I also believe that every architectural layer is dependent on the previous layer and if one of the layer has irregularities then it can effect the following dependent layers, in other words a domino effect can take place. That is why it is very important to strengthen every layer from top to the bottom in an enterprise. I also like the way the blogger used the stacking approach in the form of time frames; from Current, Target and the transitional (gaps).

As the architecture is defined within an organization, it is very essential to understand the current state of the enterprise, where the enterprise sees itself in 5 years from now (future/ target state), and what are the gaps that need to be filled during this process. This kind of reminds me of the maturity analysis tool that we used in previous classes, that help in listing down these gaps for an enterprise. A very powerful tool in my opinion.