Technology-Business Impact Analysis
Powerful Insights for Fast, Accurate Decision-Making
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Against a backdrop of technical disruption and innovation, changes in an organization’s strategy can have radical implications for its architecture. The organization must find a way to see what effect of any architectural change, before it actually takes place. Doing so will future-proof the enterprise against new innovations and enable business to make the right decision at the right time.
Why you need this
Common
Challenges
Running technology-business impact analysis is a crucial part of an organizations operations, and proactive action must be taken mitigate risk and understand the effect of technology on the enterprise. This is nonetheless easier said than done, and there are several challenges most organizations must overcome.
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Lack of Visibility Over the Bigger Picture
Attempts to create a holistic view of the enterprise architecture landscape are rendered impossible without a central repository.
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Inadequate Documentation
Poor and inconsistent documentation of components across the different layers due to inadequate architecture language.
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Unclear Links Across Components
An absence of described relationships and dependencies between various architecture components, especially cross-layer links between business architecture and IT architecture.
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Ill-Defined Procedures and Processors
A lack of pre-defined artifacts, templates or reports for change impact assessments renders it difficult to recommend actions on potential changes.
Technology-Business Impact Analysis in Four Weeks
Inputs
Technology-business impact analysis exercises are reliant on a number of key inputs:
- Lists of core enterprise architecture components in the various architecture domains: applications, business capabilities, processes, information objects, technologies.
- Lists of dependencies between components within specific architecture layers, i.e. between applications components, interfaces and services or software components to servers.
- Lists of mappings and relationships between components across architecture layers, i.e. between technologies and applications, applications and data, data and processes, applications to processes and capabilities.
- Lifecycle information on key architecture components including applications, technologies for internal or vendor support roadmap.
Centralize Architecture and Impact Analysis Data
- Decide the scope of the exercise, establishing the types of impact analyses that the enterprise architecture team is keen to enable
- Identify the business questions and concerns that need to be addressed, and which architecture domains are covered
- Define key priorities for impact analysis types such as application lifecycle business impact, technology lifecycle business impact, vendor lifecycle business impact, application technology support risk, application operational business risk and strategy change impact
- Gather and review available enterprise architecture data, including initial relationships and mapping between elements
Load Data and Identify Cross-Layer Links
- Migrate data into the architecture repository in accordance with the established metamodel and define mappings between concepts
- Consolidate imported data directly in the architecture repository, defining key relationships between components using intuitive mapping tools such as matrices, relationships visualizations and hierarchies
- Bring to light key cross-layer dependencies as a basis for traceability and impact analysis types using reusable templates
Visualize and Analyze Your Change Impact
- Create powerful graphics and reports to visualize both bottom-up and top-down impact analysis scenarios
- iServer facilitates an array of analysis including strategy change impact analysis on business (top-down) application lifecycle business impact (bottom-up), technology lifecycle business impact (bottom-up), vendor lifecycle business impact (bottom-up) and application technology support Risk (bottom-up)
Communicate the Results
- Disseminate analysis and reports to target stakeholders with powerful communication tools that make it possible to easily access and consume information.
- Tailor navigation and interaction with the impact analysis deliverables to the needs of your stakeholders using role-based navigation pathways and feedback options.
- Present results and deliver insights to address business questions, leading to the establishment of an architecture roadmap.
Business Outcomes
Over the course of four weeks, the organization can expect to achieve a number of key benefits, including:
- A central and governed repository, providing a standardized approach to enterprise architecture.
- Increased visibility over the relationships and cross-domain linkages between architecture components.
- Attractive visualizations and reports for impact analysis encompassing bottom-up, top-down traceability.
What our Customers are saying
Easy implementation and the comfort of using familiar productivity tools.
Excellent vendor support has made adoption of iServer very easy. Our familiarity with Office productivity tools leveraged by iServer greatly reduces the learning curve.
Solution Architect in the Transport Sector - read the full review
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