Architecture
Roadmap
The Problem:
As much as the phrase “If you don’t know where you
are
going, any
road
will take you there” applies to setting a strategic vision,
it is
opposite that applies to the viability of architecture:
“No
matter
where you try to go, most roads will never take you
there.”
Computer
architectures are complex things, and they are also living
things.
Well-designed architectures can respond to a wide-range of conditions
and changes to those conditions, but there certainly is and never will
be “one size that fits all.” Poor
architectures can
be very
debilitating, effecting realistic abilities to handle more customers,
get new products/services to market at all (much less, quickly),
empower staff, grow teams, etc.
As an architecture is moved and stretched in various ways, it needs to
be assessed if it is still within capabilities or reaching
boundaries.
This requires an architectural roadmap. The roadmap captures
the
business assumptions that underlie the architecture, and the
architecture’s capacity to handle changes in those
assumptions. The
roadmap also describes how the architecture can evolve incrementally
and systematically by enhancing functionality, adding components, and
retiring others. Most importantly, the architecture roadmap connects
plans to reality.
Without an architecture roadmap, the business strategy may be difficult
to execute – it certainly will be risky, potentially
resulting in
over-due projects, under-performance, disappointed customers,
disaffected salespeople, and burnt out IT staff.
The Panoscopix
Solution:
Panoscopix provides this service as a mixture of on-site and off-site
consultancy. The initial analysis requires on-site work to
review
the
architecture current
state and the business strategy
and
implications on the architecture. Since most plans fall into
well-understood categories, such as web-ifying an existing capability,
adding a new service/product, introducing/enhancing back-office
systems, etc, the bulk of developing the roadmap can be done on- or
off-site as the customer prefers.
The service will include collecting documentation and interviewing
stakeholders, particularly in the strategic planning, product
development, and operations areas.
The roadmap provides a time-sequenced set of capabilities required in
the organizations physical and logical architectures (including,
processes, information, and administration). The roadmap
describes a
number of “gates”, so that management can use it as
a
living document
as business conditions change.
Deliverables:
This service provides the following deliverables:
- Comprehensive
architecture roadmap document for the physical and
logical architectures.
- Formal
presentation to stakeholders to the salient points in the
roadmap, implications and recommendations.
- Mentoring
of staff on how to use the roadmap and how to maintain it.
