Mapping the enterprise

For strategists, enterprise architects and others, one of the hardest tasks is we face is mapping the enterprise in a form that creates and supports a sense of the whole as a whole. And it’s a task that’s often made harder by the way in which so many current model-types seem only to fragment the view ever further.

This book introduces an alternate approach: we create consistency at every level by modelling the enterprise as services with the Enterprise Canvas. It’s a new model-type that can be used to describe just about anything in any part and at any level of the enterprise, and that acts as a consistent frame for all the other models that we need in our architectures. Yet it’s also simple enough to scribble on the back of a napkin - and engage all of our stakeholders in the enterprise-scale conversations we need.

This extended edition includes a new appendix on a simplified notation for Enterprise Canvas, suitable for use in enterprise-architecture toolsets.

Topics covered include:

• how to use architecture techniques to describe any aspect of the enterprise
• how to identify the business-reasons and business-value for every activity
• how to align strategy, tactics and operations to enterprise vision and values
• how to identify risks and opportunities in the enterprise and its market
• how to link strategy and execution via enterprise models
• how to improve communication between different departments and disciplines
• how to use concepts of service to enhance agility, adaptability and resilience
• how to enhance efficiency and effectiveness throughout the enterprise

If you want to understand and explain how your enterprise really works, this is one book you'll definitely need.

The Tetradian Enterprise Architecture Series presents new developments on theory, principles and practice of enterprise architecture – moving beyond IT to the whole enterprise.