Preliminary Phase

Section 6.1 suggests a Cloud-enabled approach for the Preliminary Phase of ADM, by suggesting guidelines and deliverables which are necessary to develop an enterprise Cloud Ecosystem. The TOGAF for Cloud Ecosystems approach adapts systematically the Architecture Development Method (ADM) of TOGAF in the ArchiSurance case study.

6.1.1 Approach

The Preliminary Phase includes all the activities which prepare the organization for the new Enterprise Architecture. The main activities of our approach are the definition of Cloud Ecosystem principles and the definition of an organization-specific architecture framework (The Open Group, 2011).

TOGAF ADM is a logical process model and each ADM cycle creates an increment to the Enterprise Architecture. Typically an ADM cycle goes through Phases A to H but in most (if not all) of the cases the cycles overlap, with Phases A to F of the Nth cycle carried out in parallel with Phase G of the Nth-1 cycle. In order to obtain a logically consistent architecture Phases A to E should start simultaneously.

The Cloud Ecosystem principles and organizational change principles are defined in this Phase as mentioned above. This impacts the governance and support strategy and the content of the initial Architecture Repository. The architecture principles are set in the Preliminary Phase for common understanding across the enterprise, and also to govern the architecture process. The architecture principles can be translated into rules and guidelines for the usage, structure and deployment of all IT resources and assets across the enterprise.

6.1.2Guidelines

Following the main focus is on the aspects which ensure that the organization’s architectural model has the support for necessary business and IT capabilities for the use of Cloud solutions.

1. Define a process for documenting the architecture principles, business requirements and constraints which are related to the Cloud.

2. Align these architecture principles with the business mission, goals, and objectives.

3. Align the business goals and objectives of the Cloud Ecosystem with the organization model for the Enterprise Architecture.

4. Support the organization’s Cloud Ecosystem with the appropriate governance structure by ensuring that the governance structure includes the processes, roles and responsibilities related to the Cloud Ecosystem (Thorn, 2010).

5. Communicate the impact of the new architecture initiative to all stakeholders by ensuring that this initiative is understood and agreed by all stakeholders.

6. Prepare a request for Cloud Ecosystem architectural work which must be approved in Phase A. 7. Add a step related to the creation of a strategy for the consumption and management of Cloud services (public/private Clouds, semantic management, security, transactions) (Thorn, 2010).

Get ready for the Cloud – Tailoring Enterprise Architecture for Cloud Ecosystems 78 The definition of architecture principles is of utmost importance in the Preliminary Phase because they will guide the rest of the EA program. Below it is given a list of high level architecture principles (Explained in Appendix II) which are applicable in every Enterprise Architecture program for Cloud Ecosystems.

Figure 23: High-level Architecture Principles for Cloud Ecosystems.

Organizations in general will have an established set of architecture principles from previous architecture programs. These principles must be checked then for their applicability and completeness to the Cloud Ecosystem. Below they are given some guidelines on how to define and reuse Cloud-specific principles.

Table 13: Remedies on how to adapt existing principles for the Cloud Ecosystem.

Type of principle Remedy

New Must address the concerns of the Cloud Ecosystem. Existing-Poor fit with

Cloud

This can happen when a principle dates from an earlier period, when cloud in its current form did not exist. Should we keep the principle as-is and accept the consequences, even if it means little or no cloud? Can it be amended? In this case we need to look at the underlying Business Principle and evaluate whether the Architecture Principle can be phrased differently. It is possible that we may come to the conclusion that the principle is no longer valid.

Existing-Not particular for Cloud

These principles should be evaluated whether they address adequately the concerns of the Cloud Ecosystem.

Existing-Relevant to Cloud

Need to be given particular attention in the Cloud context.

6.1.3 Deliverables

The deliverables which are listed below are essential to capture the aforementioned aspects. The present research focuses only on the deliverables which can be modeled with the use of ArchiMate.

Consequently, the deliverables which are created with other techniques or notations are not presented in the ArchiSurance case study. The Preliminary Phase outputs may include the following but are not

Table 14: Suggested deliverables of the Preliminary Phase which can be modeled with ArchiMate.

Preliminary Phase Outputs (The Open Group 2011)

Supporting ArchiMate Viewpoints (Iacob et al. 2012)

-Organization Model for EA, including:

Roles & responsibilities for architecture team(s)

Organization viewpoint (Figure 24) -Tailored Architecture Framework, including:

Architecture principles

Principles viewpoint (Figure 25) -Governance and Support Strategy N/A (in document form) -Initial Architecture Repository N/A (in document form) -Request for Architecture Works N/A (in document form)

6.1.4 Preliminary Phase in ArchiSurance

Step: Define and Establish Enterprise Architecture Team and Organization

The executive board of ArchiSurance consulted the EA governance board and they decided to start an architecture program for the development of the new architecture. The governance structure and the roles and responsibilities (Figure 24) of the project were defined by the EA Governance Board. After that

the Cloud Architecture Team scoped the EA project. The biggest impact is expected in the customer-related

information management as the goal of the project is to replace the old CRM system by a Cloud-based solution.

Figure 24: Roles & Responsibilities in ArchiSurance.

Step: Identify and Establish Architecture Principles

The architecture principles, sourcing from the business principles, are important for the architecture governance. Once the organizational context is in place, the Cloud Architecture Team defined a set of appropriate architecture principles.

The Cloud PMO reviewed the inventory with the high-level principles that will govern the new

architecture project (Figure 25). This principles list is a combination of new and existing principles. The new principles are Cloud-specific principles, while the existing ones (from previous EA programs) have been rephrased to address the challenges of the Cloud Ecosystem. For a detailed description of the principles refer to Appendix II.

Get ready for the Cloud – Tailoring Enterprise Architecture for Cloud Ecosystems 80

Figure 25: High-level Business & Architecture Principles of ArchiSurance.