In 2021, we in Enterprise Architecture spent a lot of time working on strategy development.  We looked at the next steps for integrating our CRM platforms with other applications and for establishing more strategic governance for CRM.  We also took several technical strategies for our Core Systems to the relevant University committees; a process which is due to complete with the next meeting of the Knowledge Strategy Committee in February.

Alongside this, our BI team were bringing HR data into data warehouse, with the aid of our data architect, in collaboration with the university’s HR transformation programme.  As I’ve blogged in other recent posts, we faced several challenges along the way, which we managed to resolve, and we’ve now reached a good outcome.  This work will continue until March as we add more entities to the data mart.

In 2022, I intend to shift back to doing more architecture modelling.  We haven’t done much of this over the past year or so, as other activities have taken priority (not least, responding to the Covid-19 pandemic). With much of the strategy work now maturing, we can shift our attention to building models to support the new IT initiatives that are in the pipeline.

Details about these new initiatives will be announced in due course via the proper channels.  What I can say here is that several of them will involve working across multiple business areas and systems, which of course is exactly the sort of scenario where Enterprise Architecture can help projects succeed.

We intend to model the interactions between the business units, and also the data flows between the applications, with the aim of helping the project teams design the best solution.  We’ll also use the models to assist any procurements, by providing potential vendors with information about how their solution will need to interact with the wider digital estate.

I’m looking forward to working on this, as it’s an activity I really enjoy, both for the models it creates and for the conversations with a range of stakeholders.

Thoughts for the new year / Enterprise Architecture by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0