Summary of Concepts
A program or systems-level perspective is not sufficient for the management and planning of technology and other resources across enterprises with significant size and complexity. EA is the one discipline that looks at systems holistically as well as provides a strategy and business context. EA was described as being as both a management process and an analysis and design method that helps enterprises with business and technology planning, resource management, and decisionmaking. The purposes of an EA management program were described: strategic alignment, standardized policy, decision support, and resource development. The six basic elements of an EA analysis and design method were presented: the EA documentation framework, EA components, current EA views, future EA views, an EA Management Plan and multilevel threads that include security, standards, and workforce planning. An example of how to communicate the various areas of an EA framework was also provided. The following chapters of Section I will describe why EA is valuable to many types of enterprises, what the risks of doing EA are, and how to ensure that an architecture is driven by strategic goals and business requirements.