Ken Orr, a Fellow of the Cutter Business Technology Council, has authored a report entitled "Extending Zachman: Enterprise Architecture and Strategic IT Planning." [Strangely enough, Cutter hasn't entered the report into its database online, so we cannot offer a link to the report at this time.]
"Those of us engaged in long-range IT planning simply have to do a better job. Too much is riding on the decisions we make today. Enterprise architecture, based on an extended Zachman Framework, provides a basis for top decision makers to take both broader and longer-term views of their IT asset bases. In a time when more than half of corporate capital expenditures are for IT, this is particularly important. We're already seeing IT planning that makes more sense. For example, we're finding it easier to explain to top management why some projects (e.g., core business applications and infrastructure initiatives) are more important than others to the organization as a whole and why the investments are worth the money. Over time, we're finding that the process is becoming easier as we develop better frameworks, methods, and tools. IT planning will never be easy, but, hey, that's why we get paid the big bucks."Ken is taking the tack that we need to do a better job in strategic It thinking, and that enterprise architure forms a keystone of that activity.
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