AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE ( EA) ESSENTIALS: MANAGING FEDERAL IT PROJECTS IN THE UNITED STATES

摘要

Federal agencies in the U. S. are concerned on how to successfully transition their organization that utilizes information technology ( IT) to its fullest strategic extent. It has become widely recognized that Enterprise Architecture( EA) plays a key role in a-chieving this transition and federal agencies are now starting to invest significant amounts of resources into developing or improving their enterprise architecture. From a functional perspective, EA explains how all the information technology elements in an organization-systems , processes, organizations, and people-work together as a whole. For an organization to continue to justify spending their resources on enterprise architecture , it must be able to show the value proposition of an enterprise architecture effort. Effective management and strategic decision-making, especially for IT investments , require an integrated view of the organization-understanding the interrelationships among the business organizations, their operational processes, and the information systems that support them. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the Clinger-Cohen Act( CCA) legislation that mandate the increase use of EA methodologies and frameworks. The paper will also discuss EA process model as it relates to managing federal information technology projects. The paper will examine the various enterprise architecture frameworks such Zach-man EA framework , Federal Enterprise Architecture Frameworks ( FEAF ) and Department of Defense (DoD)EA Framework that are important nowadays. Then, the paper will illustrate some examples of workflow application process for the EA discipline. The paper will identify key benefits and lessons learned of implementing EA. It will also examine the strategic ways to improve the management, performance assessment and long-term planning of IT investment portfolios. The implementation of an effective, efficient, and repeatable EA process is a key essential to ensure that senior management executives can achieve sound IT investment decisions.