IT AI Skill

Enterprise Architecture

Design and maintain enterprise architecture including application portfolio rationalization, target state architecture, technology roadmap, capability mapping, and architecture governance. Use when creating enterprise roadmaps, rationalizing application por...

Enterprise Architecture

Design and maintain enterprise architecture including application portfolio rationalization, target state architecture, technology roadmaps, and architecture governance.

Workflow

1. Application Portfolio Management

APPLICATION PORTFOLIO RATIONALIZATION
═══════════════════════════════════════

CURRENT STATE INVENTORY:
═══════════════════════════════════════

Application     Type     Owner      Users    Annual Cost  Business Critical  Age  Tech Debt
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Salesforce      SaaS     Sales      250      $480K        High               8yr  Low
Oracle ERP      On-prem  Finance    180      $350K        Critical           12yr High
SAP HCM         Cloud    HR         120      $220K        High               5yr  Medium
SharePoint      SaaS     All        500      $85K         Medium             6yr  Low
Custom CRM      On-prem  Sales      30       $180K        Low                10yr High
Tableau         SaaS     Analytics  45       $120K        Medium             4yr  Low
Legacy billing  On-prem  Finance    15       $95K         Low                18yr Very High
Box.com         SaaS     All        300      $60K         Low                3yr  Low
Dropbox         SaaS     All        200      $45K         Low                3yr  Low

PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS:
═══════════════════════════════════════

Application Mapping Matrix (Business Capability vs Application):
═══════════════════════════════════════

Capability          Salesforce  Oracle  SAP HCM  SharePoint  Custom  Tableau  Legacy  Box  Dropbox
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Sales Management    Primary                              Secondary                                ──
Financial Mgmt                        Primary                                                                
HR Management                                        Primary                            
Document Mgmt                                                Primary                   Primary  Primary
Analytics                                                        Primary               
Billing                                       Secondary                     Primary

RATIONALIZATION RECOMMENDATIONS:
═══════════════════════════════════════

Action        Application       Rationale                                  Annual Savings
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
KEEP          Salesforce        Primary system, strong ROI                 $0
KEEP          Oracle ERP        Critical system; plan migration in 3yr    $0
KEEP          SAP HCM           Good condition, modern platform           $0
KEEP          SharePoint        Microsoft ecosystem, widely adopted       $0
RETIRE        Custom CRM        Migrate users to Salesforce               $180K
KEEP          Tableau           Strong analytics platform                 $0
RETIRE        Legacy billing    Migrate to Oracle billing module          $95K
CONSOLIDATE   Box + Dropbox     Migrate all to OneDrive/SharePoint        $105K
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TOTAL SAVINGS:                                                  $380K/year

2. Target Architecture

TARGET STATE ARCHITECTURE — 3-Year Roadmap
═══════════════════════════════════════

ARCHITECTURE PRINCIPLES:
═══════════════════════════════════════

1. Cloud-first: New applications deploy to cloud by default
2. API-first: All services expose RESTful APIs
3. Buy-over-build: Prefer SaaS/COTS over custom development
4. Security-by-design: Security embedded in architecture, not bolted on
5. Data-driven: Decisions backed by data, analytics platform central
6. Resilience: Multi-AZ, multi-region for critical services
7. Composability: Modular, interchangeable components

TARGET APPLICATION LAYER:
═══════════════════════════════════════

CRM: Salesforce (expand to service cloud, marketing cloud)
ERP: Cloud ERP migration (NetSuite or Dynamics 365)
HCM: SAP SuccessFactors (upgrade from SAP HCM)
Collaboration: Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive)
Analytics: Power BI (consolidate from Tableau)
Automation: Power Automate + custom APIs
Integration: MuleSoft or Boomi (ESB/iPaaS)

TARGET INFRASTRUCTURE LAYER:
═══════════════════════════════════════

Cloud: AWS (primary) + Azure (Microsoft workloads)
Compute: Kubernetes (EKS) for containerized apps
Data: Snowflake (warehouse) + S3 (data lake)
Network: Transit Gateway + PrivateLink
Security: AWS Security Hub + Sentinel + Purview

INTEGRATION ARCHITECTURE:
═══════════════════════════════════════

  ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
  │  Salesforce    │◄────│   Integration   │────►│   Oracle ERP   │
  │  (CRM)         │     │   Platform      │     │   (ERP)        │
  └────────┬────────┘     └───────┬────────┘     └────────┬────────┘
           │                      │                        │
           ▼                      ▼                        ▼
  ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
  │  SAP HCM       │     │  Data Platform  │     │  Power BI      │
  │  (HCM)         │     │  Snowflake + S3 │     │  (Analytics)   │
  └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘

3. Technology Roadmap

3-YEAR TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP
═══════════════════════════════════════

YEAR 1 (Foundation):
═══════════════════════════════════════

Q1-Q2:
  → Migrate Custom CRM users to Salesforce ($180K savings)
  → Consolidate Box + Dropbox to SharePoint ($105K savings)
  → Deploy integration platform (MuleSoft/Boomi)
  → Establish architecture review board (ARB)

Q3-Q4:
  → Retire Legacy billing system (migrate to Oracle)
  → Deploy Snowflake data platform
  → Implement cloud landing zone (AWS)
  → Begin ERP migration assessment

YEAR 2 (Transformation):
═══════════════════════════════════════

Q1-Q2:
  → Begin ERP cloud migration (Phase 1: Finance)
  → Deploy Kubernetes platform (EKS)
  → Migrate analytics to Power BI
  → Implement zero-trust network architecture

Q3-Q4:
  → ERP cloud migration (Phase 2: Supply Chain)
  → Deploy API gateway and service mesh
  → SAP SuccessFactors migration
  → Implement data mesh architecture

YEAR 3 (Optimization):
═══════════════════════════════════════

Q1-Q2:
  → Complete ERP cloud migration
  → Migrate remaining on-prem workloads
  → Implement AI/ML platform
  → Achieve multi-region active-active

Q3-Q4:
  → On-prem datacenter closure
  → Optimize cloud costs (FinOps)
  → Continuous architecture improvement
  → Architecture maturity review

INVESTMENT PLAN:
═══════════════════════════════════════

Year    Migration    New Platforms    Infrastructure    Total
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Y1      $500K        $800K           $600K            $1,900K
Y2      $1,200K      $600K           $400K            $2,200K
Y3      $800K        $400K           $300K            $1,500K
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TOTAL:  $2,500K      $1,800K         $1,300K          $5,600K

ROI:
  → Annual savings: $380K (rationalization) + $500K (cloud optimization) = $880K
  → Payback: 6.4 years (including transformation benefits)
  → Productivity improvement: 25% (estimated)

4. Architecture Governance

ARCHITECTURE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK
═══════════════════════════════════════

ARCHITECTURE REVIEW BOARD (ARB):
═══════════════════════════════════════

  Members:
    → CTO/VP Engineering (Chair)
    → Enterprise Architect
    → Security Architect
    → Data Architect
    → Cloud Architect
    → Application Architects (rotating)

  Mandate:
    → Review new project architectures
    → Approve technology selections
    → Enforce architecture principles
    → Manage technology standards
    → Resolve cross-team dependencies

  Meeting Cadence:
    → Weekly: Architecture stand-up (quick reviews)
    → Monthly: ARB meeting (formal reviews)
    → Quarterly: Architecture strategy review

REVIEW PROCESS:
═══════════════════════════════════════

  Phase 1: Request
    → Team submits architecture proposal
    → Include: use case, requirements, options analyzed, recommendation

  Phase 2: Assessment
    → ARB reviews against principles and standards
    → Check: security, scalability, cost, maintainability
    → Identify: risks, dependencies, alternatives

  Phase 3: Decision
    → Approve: Proceed as designed
    → Approve with conditions: Address specific concerns
    → Defer: Need more analysis
    → Reject: Doesn't meet standards; propose alternative

  Phase 4: Tracking
    → Track decisions in architecture repository
    → Monitor implementation compliance
    → Post-implementation review

5. Architecture Documentation

ARCHITECTURE DOCUMENTATION FRAMEWORK
═══════════════════════════════════════

DOCUMENT TYPES (based on C4 model):
═══════════════════════════════════════

Level 1: Context Diagram
  → High-level view of system and stakeholders
  → Shows: users, external systems, main application
  → Audience: Executives, stakeholders
  → Format: Single page

Level 2: Container Diagram
  → Major components and technologies
  → Shows: web app, API, database, message queue, SaaS integrations
  → Audience: Technical teams, architects
  → Format: 1-2 pages

Level 3: Component Diagram
  → Internal structure of each container
  → Shows: modules, services, libraries
  → Audience: Developers
  → Format: Per component

Level 4: Code-Level
  → Class diagrams, sequence diagrams
  → Audience: Developers
  → Format: Per feature/module

TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS DOCUMENT:
═══════════════════════════════════════

Category            Preferred          Alternative         Status
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Cloud Platform      AWS                Azure               Active
Container Runtime   Kubernetes         Cloud Run           Active
Database (RDBMS)    PostgreSQL         MySQL               Active
Database (NoSQL)    DynamoDB           MongoDB             Active
Cache               Redis              Memcached           Active
Message Queue       SQS/Kafka          RabbitMQ            Active
API Framework       FastAPI/Node.js    Spring Boot         Active
Frontend            React              Vue.js              Active
Monitoring          Prometheus/Grafana  Datadog             Active
CI/CD               GitHub Actions     GitLab CI           Active

Edge Cases

Regulated industries: Architecture must comply with HIPAA, PCI, SOX
Legacy modernization: Strangler pattern for gradual migration
Multi-cloud: Avoid vendor lock-in with abstraction layers
Acquisition integration: Merge architectures post-M&A
Startup EA: Lightweight approach, document as you grow

Integration Points

EA tools: LeanIX, Ardoq, MEGA, BiZZdesign
Cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP
Documentation: Confluence, GitHub Wiki, Draw.io
CMDB: ServiceNow, Lansweeper
Project management: Jira, Asana
Portfolio management: Clarity, Planview

Output

Architecture Summary

ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE STATUS
═══════════════════════════════════════

Applications: 40 (current) → 32 (target)
Cloud adoption: 35% → 90% (3-year target)
Annual savings from rationalization: $380K
Investment required: $5.6M over 3 years

Architecture governance:
  ARB meetings: Monthly
  Standards: 15 technology standards active
  Projects reviewed: 12 (Q4)