Ref: http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Federated_Architecture#nid2VTH
Suggest changing technical definition of Federated
Architecture
Proposed:
Federated Enterprise Architecture: A collective set of organizational architectures
(as defined by the enterprise scope), operating collaboratively within the
concept of federalism, in which
governance is divided between a central authority and constituent units
balancing organizational autonomy with enterprise needs. The central
authority’s architecture focuses on the dynamics of economies of scale,
standards, and the well being of the enterprise, while constituent units’
architecture has the flexibility to pursue autonomous strategies and
independent processes.
Rationale:
To the point why was the verb “federated” added
to enterprise architecture? To address a complex or multi-mission enterprise
that has multiple enterprise architectures functioning as a collective. A
Federated Enterprise Architecture embraces the concept of Federalism –
“A system of government in which power
is divided between a central authority and constituent political units”
Webster
The principles of Federalism can be gleamed from the Federalist
Papers or, for a more contemporary view, from an excellent discussion of
Federalist concepts in business, Charles Handy’s “Balancing
Corporate Power: A New Federalist Paper”, Harvard Business Review,
Nov-Dec 1992. He proposes guiding principles that embody
Federalism. With great liberty, these principles have been interpreted in
the context of Enterprise Architecture as -
- Heightened emphasis on Governance – Shared Power
- Integration and acceptance of multiple Enterprise
Architectures
- Focus on cross-functional processes and standards by
the “Parent” organization
- Focus on unique or less frequently occurring functions
by supporting organizations
The key characteristic is the balancing of control (i.e.,
power) between “Headquarters” and the quasi autonomous
organizational units with the implied goal of a flexible and adaptive
pluralistic enterprise that is sustainable. This requires an alliance
based on trust and common goals (Handy, 1992).
In the author’s opinion there are two Federated
Enterprise Architectures that faithfully embrace the concept of Federalism
these are:
In addition there is an interesting discussion of Federated
Architecture in support of supply chains –
While the definition originally proposed in the CAF does
embrace some of the key characteristics of Federalism, the focus on LOBs is misguided.
While a LOB can have an architecture, it is not an Enterprise
Architecture. The term “Enterprise” is more expansive and is organizationally
based (see definition for Enterprise in the glossary forum). The whole
concept of Federalism is a collection of organizational units operating
collaboratively not a line of business. Further there is insufficient
emphasis on Governance. In a separate topic, an alternative definition is
proposed for consideration.
Edward Newman (Matt)
Information Resources Management
College
National Defense University
(202) 685-2693