The concept of Whole Enterprise Architecture (WEA) is explored, using a detailed worked example to demonstrate its application. WEA is a new approach to standard enterprise-architecture that focuses on the ‘whole’ of the enterprise, rather than just the IT. The example used is a hypothetical architecture-project for a small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME) in the retail sector.
The example starts with the identification of the business-problem, which is a significant drop in sales. The next step is to gather information about the business context, including the business-model, supply-chain, and customer-journey. The architecture then moves on to the ‘big-picture’ view of the business, which includes the business-vision and strategy, as well as the key stakeholders.
The architecture then delves into the details, looking at the business-operations, the IT-systems, and the business-rules. The final step is to develop a set of architecture-views that provide a comprehensive overview of the enterprise, including the business, IT, and stakeholder perspectives. The WEA approach is shown to be a comprehensive and holistic approach to enterprise-architecture, providing a full view of the enterprise, from the big-picture to the minute details. The example demonstrates how WEA can be used to address a real-world business problem, providing a practical and effective solution.
Go to source article: http://weblog.tetradian.com/2016/06/01/towards-a-whole-enterprise-architecture-standard-worked-example/