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Pragmatic enterprise architecture : strategies to transform information systems in the era of big data
Luisi J., Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, 2014. 372 pp. Type: Book (978-0-128002-05-6)
Date Reviewed: Sep 30 2014

Enterprise architecture (EA) is the combination of the analysis, planning, and frameworks necessary to successfully implement strategies for an enterprise. In earlier times, the success of an organization largely fell to the natural talent of its leadership. Enterprises led by astute and adept people grew and prospered. EA is an attempt to codify the planning and organizational tenets necessary for the success of an enterprise. Information and communications technology (ICT) people tend to think only of the application of EA to ICT systems, but the scope of EA is much broader and applies at a strategic level across all processes within an enterprise. In this book, Luisi describes the full business potential that EA can achieve for an organization.

The first chapter provides a good general introduction to the topic, explaining how businesses operate and the problems common to large organizations, and introduces readers to how EA can deliver the necessary framework, processes, and automation to help businesses succeed. Subsequent chapters are each devoted to one facet of EA. Chapter 2 introduces business architecture, covering topics such as business functions, marketing, business continuity, risk management, and governance. Chapter 3 looks at information systems architecture and governance. Technology and application management, compliance, reporting, business continuity, system life cycle, and return on investment (ROI) are some of the topics discussed. Information architecture, a sizable component of information systems architecture, is covered in chapter 4, which describes how an enterprise manages one of its most significant assets: its data. Data management is covered from both business and information technology (IT) perspectives; topics include ownership, stewardship, modeling, communication, and access to data. In particular, transaction path analysis (TAPA) associated with physical data models is introduced. TAPA is discussed in more detail in Appendix A.1. Chapters 3 and 4 are both quite sizable, together constituting over half of the book.

Chapter 5 covers control systems architecture. Although similar topics are covered, the high computational and real-time characteristics of control systems make them sufficiently different to information systems to warrant separate treatment. Chapter 6 discusses operations architecture, including discussion of standards and frameworks covering security, networks, infrastructure, system recovery, performance, applications, directory, and technical services. Chapter 7 looks at structuring business capabilities that span several of the areas of EA. Capabilities such as innovation, project management, and application development are discussed.

The final chapter wraps up a handful of related topics, such as the careful use of consulting firms and vendors for EA projects, the nonfunctional requirements of EA projects, and a general conclusion to the book.

Although the book is meant to be read sequentially, the layout and thorough index facilitate quickly jumping to particular topics. The layout of one chapter per part and the large variation in chapter lengths are both a little unusual, but the reasoning is explained in the prologue and the chapter segmentation is logical. Luisi has a broader focus and is more up to date when compared to earlier works such as Bernard [1], now in its third edition, but Luisi and Bernard are both clearly proponents of EA. Others such as Jacobson [2], however, are more skeptical and point to a lack of clear and effective results from EA projects over the past decade.

Luisi’s views, particularly as expressed in the latter paragraphs of chapter 8, present a more pragmatic approach to EA. This calm, more balanced approach may, in part, have been influenced by the fact that the first draft of the book was written while on vacation in the Caribbean. In general, this is a balanced introduction to the field of EA. It will help business managers trying to achieve their strategic goals with the help of ICT systems in particular, and help them understand what EA can do to help.

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Reviewer:  David B. Henderson Review #: CR142777 (1501-0046)
1) Bernard, S. A. An introduction to enterprise architecture (3rd ed.). AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, 2012.
2) Jacobson, I. EA failed big way! Ivar Jacobson International. http://blog.ivarjacobson.com/ea-failed-big-way/ (Accessed 09/27/2014).
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