Washington's enterprise architecture principles guide technology decision makingFebruary 2006
The State of Washington's Enterprise Architecture Principles
The Washington State Information Services Board adopted the following list of Enterprise Architecture Principles:
- Commonality
Should be common where there is a clear business case; once designated as common, justification is required to deviate
- Business Alignment
Should align projects and investments based on Priorities of Government (POG)
- Natural Boundaries
Should be designed around natural boundaries
- External Linkages
Should facilitate linkages with external partners
- Scalability
Should be scalable to support different size organizations and loads and handle growth or decline in business levels
- Security
Should protect information assets
- Customer Viewpoint
Should be designed around the customer's viewpoint and provide a consistent customer experience
- Business Ownership
Should have a clear business owner
- Business Continuity
Should be designed and implemented in a way that minimizes interruptions to service
- Interoperability
Should enable interoperability
Washington's enterprise architecture principles guide technology decision making
The Information Services Board adopted Enterprise Architecture Principles on Nov. 24, 2004, as a foundation for building Enterprise Architecture in Washington state government.
These principles encourage outcomes that reflect what is important to the enterprise and that align with strategic business goals. Decision makers use the principles to help set clearer expectations and make consistent decisions as they implement projects throughout the enterprise.
(For the full list of principles, see the sidebar "The State of Washington's Enterprise Architecture Principles.")
An enterprise project, the
Roadmap program illustrates how state project managers are using a principles-based approach to make decisions. In response to state agencies' need for better information, improved management systems, and streamlined business processes and policies for core financial and administrative business systems, the
Roadmap program will:
- provide agencies with direction and a comprehensive plan to guide financial and administrative systems investments.
- offer a mechanism to allow agencies to move together in a common, leveraged direction.
- supply better management tools for both line agency and central service managers.
- create efficiencies in financial and administrative functions within agencies, freeing up more resources for other agency priorities.
- demonstrate leadership of central service agencies in achieving efficiency across core financial and administrative business processes.
Roadmap executive sponsors include the directors of the Office of Financial Management (OFM) and the departments of Information Services, General Administration, and Personnel. An agency advisory group makes recommendations to the
Roadmap executive sponsors for consideration.
The Natural Boundaries Principle is one of the tools the
Roadmap executive sponsors and the advisory group use to make decisions for the
Roadmap program. "The Natural Boundaries Principle will help guide our decisions relating to grouping and organizing enterprise business processes, such as supply chain management, asset management, and cost accounting," says Kathy Rosmond,
Roadmap Project Manager. "It also helps us determine which projects we will pursue - and in which order - as we move from planning to implementation."
To learn more about Enterprise Architecture at the state level, read the December 2005 TechNews article "
Enterprise Architecture provides agencies with a tool set for technology decision making." You can also visit the
Enterprise Architecture Program Web page on the DIS Web site. To find out more about the
Roadmap program, visit the
OFM Web site.