Assessment Details:
This assessment is designed to assess develop your skills in Enterprise Architecture (EA). You are required to develop knowledge on EA methodology, EA Framework, data model and emerging EA. In completing this assessment successfully, you will be able to know major widely accepted Enterprise Architecture (EA) domains, layers, frameworks and governance, which will help in achieving ULO-3, ULO-4, and ULO-5.
Enterprise Architecture (EA) Report: Part-I
ComTech is a diversified, multi-profile company. Essentially, it is a conglomerate company consisting of three diverse strategic units acting as independent businesses under separate brands in different industry sectors: Unit Alpha, Unit Beta and Unit Gamma. ComTech is governed from the central head office, which oversights the three subsidiary business units and their financial performance indicators, though without any operational interventions. Each strategic business unit has its own managing director with full discretion and responsibility over its competitive strategy, investment priorities, budget allocation and ensuing yearly profits.
Unit Alpha is in the food manufacturing business. The unit produces and distributes a variety of goods including, but not limited to, vegetables, groceries, meat and dairy products. Each of these product lines requires unique production processes, storage arrangements, transportation approaches and underlying equipment and is organizationally implemented by a separate specialized product department. However, these products are delivered largely to the same circle of customers, including both major retailers and local food shops. All product lines are also served by a number of common unit-wide functions, e.g. HR, finance, accounting, logistics, legal, marketing and sales support.
Unit Beta competes in the restaurant business with 78 IT staff. Specifically, the unit controls a chain of small fast-food restaurants occupying the low-cost market niche. In total, the chain includes more than 80 restaurants located in different geographies and more restaurants are planned to be opened in the foreseeable future. All restaurants offer same interiors, menus, prices, meals and services to their customers and imply standardized policies, working procedures and supporting equipment.
However, each restaurant is run separately by a chief manager responsible for its overall financial well-being and all necessary business processes, e.g. recruiting, training, procurement, cooking, servicing, cleaning and complaints management. With the exception of Unit Beta’s lean central office, where chain-wide branding, marketing and other strategic decisions are made, the restaurants operate independently from each other and even have their own profit and loss statements.
Finally, Unit Gamma runs a chain of resort hotels. These hotels gravitate towards the high-end price segment and offer premium-quality services to their customers. Unit Gamma’s competitive strategy implies improving its brand recognition and achieving consistent customer experience. For this purpose, the unit’s leadership plans to standardize all customer-facing and, to a lesser extent, back-office processes across all hotels of the chain as well as all its suppliers and service providers.
Moreover, Unit Gamma also intends to become “closer” to its customers and build lifelong customer relationships. This strategy requires collecting more information about customers, their individual preferences and transaction histories, aggregating this information globally and leveraging it for providing customized services, launching loyalty programs, developing special offers and promoting personalized discounts.
As an EA manager at Comtech, you are required to write a report that discusses the following:
- Describe five major roles that STANDARD as EA Artifacts will play in SmartT.
- Discuss how solution designs as an EA Artifacts should be implemented in Unit Gamma
- What are the four responsibilities of architecture functions in SmartT?
- Based on IT staff ratio model and degree of decentralization as a factor, name and discuss architects positions that would be required in Unit Beta.
Enterprise Architecture (EA) Report: Part-II
SmartBiz is a large financial and stockbroker company. 8 years ago SmartBiz decided to establish a full-fledged EA practice to accommodate with the growing problems around non-transparency of its IT investments and poor business and IT alignment in general. The establishment of EA practice was successful, and it was completed last 1 year. Due to recent advancement in technologies, SmartBiz wants to implement Cloud Computing technologies that would empower their staff and customers for example, implementation of analytical Cloud Computing Technologies that would enable SmartBiz staff to approve credit card application within 30 minutes of the submission of the application.
However, SmartBiz’s CEO is sceptical towards the implementation of cloud computing technologies. He believes that the company is only wasting money on the cloud computing technologies as it is essentially nothing more than a sophisticated collection of data.
As a newly promoted IT manager at SmartBiz, you are required to write a report that discusses the following:
- Discuss four (4) types of cloud computing that SmartBiz could use or implement.
- Discuss five (5) challenges that SmartBiz may have with implementation of Cloud Computing Technologies and how the challenges should be resolved.
- Discuss five (5) characteristics of cloud computing and explain 4 major cloud computing services that you would recommend to be used in SmartBiz.
- Discuss five (5) ways in which cloud computing may be used in EA practices.
- Explain ITIL Framework and Discuss five advantages of implementing ITIL framework at SmartBiz.