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Module 2 Reflection Enterprise Architecture Frameworks

1/31/2016

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When this class began I was extremely nervous.  While I am a technology using teacher, sometimes the “techno-babble” from the engineers I work with just goes right over my head and out of the window.  My fear was that I would struggle with this course because I have never been good with technical terms.  I am an educator, I want to know how to use the tools in my classroom to maximize my students learning experience.  While teaching in North Carolina I was aware of who was on my district’s “Enterprise Team” and that they communicated the district's short and long term goals to everyone else.  I might have made a few “Star Trek” jokes about the title “Enterprise.”  I didn’t realize exactly what the “Enterprise Team” was or did.  I just thought they had a good “big picture” understanding of our Technology Department and the department of Curriculum and Instruction.

What I want to know still is:
  • How is EA applicable to my school district?
  • Will good EA help ease the “bad feelings” between the teachers and technology department?
  • If implemented properly, will EA help the community better understand what occurs in our classrooms, and why we need more technology and training?
    I have learned about the major EA models.  Personally I found that reading “A Comparison of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks” and “Analyzing the Current Trends in Enterprise Architecture Framworks” first helpful.  I would then refer to the assigned appendices in our textbook, An Introduction to Enterprise Architecture for further clarification and a visual aid.  I don’t really have what I would consider a “working knowledge” of these frameworks, but I do have a better understanding of EA and how I could apply it to my school district.  I have learned the following about the major EA frameworks:
  • Zachman: Illustrates an enterprise with a 6X6 visual.  The columns bring (what, how, when, who, where, and why) understanding of the rows (Planner, Owner, Designer, Builder, Subcontractor, and User)  This framework is only to provide a visual representation of the organization.
  • DoDAF: Has three views (Operational, System, and Technical Standards), and one overarching (All View) to provide the linkage between the three views.  Ensures everyone is speaking the same language when working together.
  • FEAF: The goal is to foster communication and seamless integration between agencies of the Federal Government.  Each segment is developed independently under prescribed guidelines, and is considered to be its own enterprise within the Federal Enterprise.
  • TEAF: “aims at facilitating integration, information sharing, and exploitation of common requirements across the (Treasury) department's.”  Work products must align with FEAF and DoDAF products.
  • TOGAF: Explains the process of developing good EA.
  • Gartner: A Continuous process involves defining current state, defining a process to build future state, and managing the portfolio as it is transitioned to the Future State.
After learning and analyzing the various EA frameworks, I can see the benefits each can bring to an organization.  I am personally drawn to the Gertner and TOGAF models because I am always forward thinking, and these models seem to embrace the idea that an enterprise is a work in progress and never stagnant.

​Link to my KWL Chart

(2012). An Introduction To Enterprise Architecture: Third Edition ... Retrieved January 31, 2016, from http://www.amazon.com/An-Introduction-To-Enterprise-Architecture/dp/1477258000.
Cameron, B. (2013). Analyzing the Current Trends in Enterprise Architecture ... Retrieved from http://ea.ist.psu.edu/documents/journal_feb2013_cameron_2.pdf.
Urbaczewski, L. (2010). a comparison of enterprise architecture frameworks. Retrieved from http://ggatz.com/images/SOA_COMPARE.pdf.

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Wide Angle

1/24/2016

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I'll admit, before this class, I don't think I'd ever heard of Enterprise Architecture.  If I had, I dismissed it as one of my school engineers, "techno-babble."  While I was reading, I couldn't help thinking about how EA is more than an organizational framework, it's a thought process.

Before entering the education profession, I worked in the private sector.  The best managers I ever had were those with an understanding of the "big picture."  These people paid attention to what departments other than theirs, and understood how everything was interconnected.  After reading Chapter 1 in Bernard, it seems that those who we would call good managers, and CEO's were implementing a form of EA on their own.  Like Obi-Wan Kenobi told the Gungans on Naboo in Star Wars Episode 1, everything is interconnected, what happens in one department has an impact on others.  EA is understanding and planning for that impact.

In my current environment, an understanding of EA would help teachers understand why the technology department makes decisions.  We currently have some lack of communication between the two, which leads to frustrated feelings.  If we were able to have an open conversation and see into the realm of the technology department, we could potentially be partners in educating our students, and not (self) perceived as opposing forces.
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    Michael A. O'Hagan is currently a middle school teacher and graduate student working on his Masters of Educational Leadership.

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