http://davidfrico.com/rico07a-s.pdf
Enterprise Architecture is often a cost center for the business. This makes it difficult to gain funding for an official division. Traditionally most cost centers derive financial value through cost avoidance. In RICO’s article he provides some methods of determining an ROI to assess value. His premise aligns the Zachman Framework to a formula analysis. This could be used in the traditional enterprise although it is applied to municipalities in the examples. I would also observe that the scope of RICO’s work appears to be directed at project architecture. I do feel that it could be expanded to encompass other organizational structures at varying granularities. Towards the end of the article, Dr. Rico provides some thoughts in the form of principles to achieving a successful ROI analysis. While some of these principles seem to be common sense, the outline provides a great checklist when looking to answer the question around ROI. One of the standard themes amongst the his principles is solidifying the measurements and processes for attaining the ROI. Without creating a repeatable and measurable method, using ROI to guide the practice towards value creating activities becomes irrelevant. The question arises: How prevalent are methods like this in companies where an EA practice is in place and how does the EA group chase value in those companies?
Enterprise Architecture is often a cost center for the business. This makes it difficult to gain funding for an official division. Traditionally most cost centers derive financial value through cost avoidance. In RICO’s article he provides some methods of determining an ROI to assess value. His premise aligns the Zachman Framework to a formula analysis. This could be used in the traditional enterprise although it is applied to municipalities in the examples. I would also observe that the scope of RICO’s work appears to be directed at project architecture. I do feel that it could be expanded to encompass other organizational structures at varying granularities. Towards the end of the article, Dr. Rico provides some thoughts in the form of principles to achieving a successful ROI analysis. While some of these principles seem to be common sense, the outline provides a great checklist when looking to answer the question around ROI. One of the standard themes amongst the his principles is solidifying the measurements and processes for attaining the ROI. Without creating a repeatable and measurable method, using ROI to guide the practice towards value creating activities becomes irrelevant. The question arises: How prevalent are methods like this in companies where an EA practice is in place and how does the EA group chase value in those companies?
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