Architecture Principles
It all starts with organization-wide principles that we agree on. Architecture Principes are usually split between four architecture domains: Business, Data, Application and Technology.
In this article, I provide sample principles that you can reuse and customize to your own case. I’ll be also referring to these principles in the reference architectures that I’m planning to share going forward.
Architecture Principles define the underlying general rules and guidelines for the use and deployment of all IT resources and assets across the enterprise. They reflect a level of consensus among the various elements of the enterprise and form the basis for making future IT decisions. [TOGAF 9.2]
1. Business
1.1. Maximise benefit to the organization
This principle embodies “service above self”. Decisions made from an organization perspective have greater long-term value than decisions made from any particular project perspective. Maximum return on investment requires information management decisions to adhere to organization-wide drivers and priorities. No minority group will detract from the benefit of the whole. However, this principle will not preclude any minority group from getting its job done.
1.2. Information management is everybody’s business
Information users are the key stakeholders, or customers, in the application of technology to address a business need. In order to ensure information management is aligned with the business, all units in the organization must be involved in all aspects of the information environment. The business experts from across the organization and the technical staff responsible for developing and sustaining the information environment need to come together as a team to jointly define the goals and objectives of IT.
1.3. Business continuity
As system operations become more pervasive, an organization must consider the reliability of such systems throughout their design and use. Business premises throughout the organization must be provided with the capability to continue their business functions regardless of external events. Hardware failure, natural disasters, and data corruption should not be allowed to disrupt or stop organizational activities. The business functions must be capable of operating on alternative information delivery mechanisms.
1.4. Common Use Applications/Modules
Development of applications or modules used across the organization is preferred over the development of similar or duplicative applications which are only provided to a particular department/unit. Duplicative capability is expensive and proliferates conflicting data.
1.5. IT responsibility
The IT department is responsible for owning and implementing IT processes and infrastructure, either locally or in the cloud, that enable solutions to meet user-defined requirements for functionality, service levels, cost, and delivery timing. Effectively align expectations with capabilities and costs so that all projects are cost-effective. Efficient and effective solutions have reasonable costs and clear benefits.
2. Data
2.1. Data is an asset
Data is a valuable corporate resource; it has real, measurable value. In simple terms, the purpose of data is to aid decision-making. Accurate, timely data is critical to accurate, timely decisions. Most corporate assets are carefully managed, and data is no exception. Data is the foundation of the organization’s decision-making, so it must also carefully manage data to ensure that stakeholders knows where it is, can rely upon its accuracy, and can obtain it when and where its needed.
2.2. Data is shared
Timely access to accurate data is essential to improving the quality and efficiency of organizational decision-making. It is less costly to maintain timely, accurate data in a single application, and then share it, than it is to maintain duplicative data in multiple applications. The speed of data collection, creation, transfer, and assimilation is driven by the ability of the organization to efficiently share these islands of data across the organization.
Shared data will result in improved decisions since the organization will rely on fewer (ultimately one virtual) sources of more accurate and timely managed data for all of its decision-making. Electronically shared data will result in increased efficiency when existing data entities can be used, without re-keying, to create new entities.
2.3. Data is accessible
Wide access to data leads to efficiency and effectiveness in decision-making and affords a timely response to information requests and service delivery. Using information must be considered from an organization perspective to allow access by a wide variety of users. Staff time is saved and consistency of data is improved.
2.4. Common vocabulary and data definitions
The data that will be used in the development of applications must have a common definition throughout the organization to enable sharing and reuse of data. A common vocabulary will facilitate communications and enable dialogue to be effective. In addition, it is required to interface systems and exchange data.
2.5. Data Security
IT systems support the implementation of the organization’s information management and security policy by appropriately protecting confidentiality, integrity and availability of data against relevant security threats and risks and in line with the data protection and confidentiality requirements in the applicable laws and regulations.
3. Application
3.1. Ease-of-use
The more a user has to understand the underlying technology, the less productive that user is. Ease-of-use is a positive incentive for use of applications. It encourages users to work within the integrated information environment instead of developing isolated systems to accomplish the task outside of the organization’s integrated information environment. Most of the knowledge required to operate one system will be similar to others. Training is kept to a minimum, and the risk of using a system improperly is low.
4. Technology
4.1. Control technical diversity
There is a real, non-trivial cost of infrastructure required to support alternative technologies for processing environments. There are further infrastructure costs incurred to keep multiple processor constructs interconnected and maintained.
Limiting the number of supported components will simplify maintainability and reduce costs.
4.2. Requirements-Based Change
Changes to applications and technology are made only in response to clearly identified needs. Unintended effects on business due to IT changes will be minimized. A change in technology may provide an opportunity to improve the business process and, hence, change business needs.
