let's state our vision for a digital government

Troy MacFarlane
Aug 26, 2017 · 2 min read

Enterprise architecture is often misunderstood for its role in defining strategy and execution. Digital transformation, or any change, can benefit from an approach that provides form to the wide variety of questions that need to be answered and actioned. Therefore, we are sharing with you our first cut at summarizing the Enterprise Architecture Vision For A Digital Government. We welcome your thoughts and feedback to help us shape the doc.

Executive Summary

Digtal disruption is not just about technology. It is also about new business models — and the ability to deliver value to Canadians in a better way with digital services. The Government of Canada (GC) must not simply attempt to emulate industry driven digital tactics and it must action a business strategy that challenges the assumptions that have driven prior successes and assess the ways in which the GC delivers value to Canadians.
The Government of Canada Enterprise Architecture Vision For A Digital Government describes the guiding principles, enterprise capabilities of a digital government and the reference models to support the GC in transforming toward a digital target state architecture. These elements will support the GC in its realization of a digital policy and digital strategy to deliver value to Canadians.
An agile digital transformation is built around two core concepts — a digital strategy derived from a business strategy and a digital architecture developed through an enterprise architecture. Enabling the GCs agility toward digital transformation will require a digital strategy that includes capabilities to deliver hyperawareness, actionable insight and fast execution.
The GC will continually be impacted by disruptive technologies; therefore this document presents a change to the IT operating model for the GC which encourages innovation and experimentation to occur while following an agile approach to increase knowledge in support of policy development and transformation.
Digital disruption implies that the business and technical landscapes are rapidly evolving, and often in unpredictable patterns, which makes reacting to change difficult. However, having a framework that can link people, process, data and things in new ways positions the GC to ensure its readiness for current and future digital disruption. This vision document will help structure the GC’s planning toward a digital government by providing insight to why we must transform, what capabilities are required in our new desired state and how can we coordinate the transformation.

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Troy MacFarlane

Written by

Enterprise Architect working on the Digital Target State Architecture for the Government of Canada, disruptive technologies and enterprise governance.

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