Skip to main content
CAEAP Logo

PPG Workstream Blog

Go Search
PPG Blog
PPG Home
PPG Tools
CAEAP Newsletter
  

Professional Practice Guide: Standard EA Competency
How does the CAEAP 3P founding principles of "Practice" by the "Profession" for the "Public" fit into operations of the worlds most effective EA competencies?  ~MarkS
Accreditation of Enterprise Architecture Plans; From Mark G.

A Complete Enterprise Architecture Plan requires the following.

a.       Every plan needs to know the scope. 

b.      Every plan has a vision

c.       Every plan has identified stakeholders.

d.      The domains in a plan relate to the architectural domains and not the business domains.

e.      Every plan identifies the appropriate domains and is compliant with any domains policies or restrictions.

                                                               i.      A typical domain is security which addresses policies.

f.        Plans have requirements that represent the rational expectations of the stakeholders

                                                               i.      Requirements can be tracked by stakeholder and by requirement type

g.       Plans have blueprints that are precise logical models. 

                                                               i.      The current state is represented as a blueprint

                                                             ii.      The future state is represented as a blueprint

                                                            iii.      Roadmaps connect the current and future states with transformational states.

h.      Plans determine future milestones and/or permits that need to be reached but also represent go/no go points (checkpoints).

                                                               i.      Exceptions are addressed against permits as are remediation steps where appropriate.

i.         Plans have work streams where a work stream is a set of design guidelines and instructions for implementation.

j.        Each plan contains references to other related plans, resources, and other information.

k.       A plan is structured as a package of deliverables

l.         The resultant actions of a plan are programs and projects where the milestones are used to determine compliance to a vision.

Technical Writing and Publishing Best Practices
Katy,
 
The CAEAP is producing the Enterprise Architecture Professional Practice Guide (PPG). Could you take a shot at producing a PPG Authoring Guide to help address the below need? MarkITS will compensate you at your standard editorial and publisher services rates previously leveraged if that is agreeable with you? Below is a suggestion from one of our members which we feel is a great idea. We would very much appreciate your expertise and assistance in this area!
 
"I think we need to have a document template/style guide to send out to the authors and editors.  This template could accomplish two items.  First, it would provide a style sheet for the authors to use (e.g.. font type and sizes, chapter/section/paragraph numbering, headers and footers, footnotes and reference citations, etc).  This will make integrating the various inputs into a single document with a uniform look and feel much easier.  The template could also include writing guidelines for the authors.  These guidelines could include things like including an intro paragraph at the start of a section and summary at the end, guidance on writing style (e.g. writing in third person vs. first person), etc.  I am hoping that one of our group would have access to an existing template/style guide that we could use as-is or with minor modification.."
 
Maybe you could for example key up top 10 do's and don'ts from the MLA or something like that as I know you already have been generating these types of guides for your publications and community. This is just one idea, you might envision something better. Could you let me know if you would be able to provide us some assistance in the form of a template and authoring guide?
 

Regards,

 

Mark Sternberger cEA, cPMP

Mark & Associates ITS - MarkITS
Global Enterprise Architecture Org. - GEAO
Assoc. of Open Group Enterprise Architects - AOGEA
Center for the Advancement of the Enterprise Architecture Profession - CAEAP
 
Creating and Maintaining a Reference Work
 
Hello all,
 
In our call today, I mentioned an article by David Crystal that talks about the task of creating and maintaining a large reference work, such as the PPG.  That article is on the PPG SharePoint at:
 
 
I recommend a quick read through of this article, and that we take to heart its advice.
 
Regards,
 
Don Hirst
CAEAP Community Relations
moving forward on accreditation
There are three areas where we are moving forward on accreditation:

1.        Frameworks – What does it mean for a framework to be accredited?  Only then can we start to think about how we go about this.  It may be as simple as refining a meta-enterprise architecture framework like GERAM or that might only be a part of the puzzle.  At this point we do not have any idea.

2.       Registered Architects – Let us assume that the name can stay, what does it mean to be a registered architect.  This is the question that has to be asked even before listing competencies.  It might be nice for an architect to have political skills, but it is worthless to accredit this without understanding the context around what it means for an architect to operate within the political landscape.  We need to not start with the competencies and totally forget the context where these competencies make sense.

3.       Accredit providers – What does it mean to be an accredited provider?  Not how do we do it.  The CFA, for example, tests people on language, concepts, and practical usage.  Each one is a separate exam.   They then look at what fields should be included and why. 

Framework Accreditation

Frameworks are critical as a transformation method from the rational expectations and vision to the logical models needed for execution.  A framework, at a minimum, should assure that common understanding of the logical elements of an enterprise architecture can be traced back to rational statements.  There are certain minimum functions that a framework needs to have to accomplish this (such as a method to proceed from contextual to conceptual, logical, and physical views) as well as using terminology that is consistent with the profession as a whole. 

 

Accrediting a framework needs a reference structure or architecture to determine that other enterprise architecture frameworks meet the needs of the profession.  There will be a number of frameworks that will meet different situations (government, corporate, and industries).  Finding the right “meta”-framework to use will be critical (TOGAF, DODAF, FEAF, Zachman, Cap Gemini, and DYA are not meta-frameworks but implementations that need to all be compliant to the same meta-framework). 

 

One framework that we have considered is GERAM developed by Peter Bernus.  This is currently being published as an ISO standard and has reference implementations for Zachman, TOGAF, and FEAF already.  This will still have to be tailored since GERAM was developed from an engineering and manufacturing perspective and has not evolved into some of the other areas of enterprise architecture.  The base meta-framework of GERAM is complete in many other ways and will shorten our time of adoption across the profession.

Professional Practice Guide
The Enterprise Architecture Professional Practice Guide is being created as the leading business practice document for enterprise architects to advance their own practices, as well as forming a crucial reference set of information for education bodies.

Furthermore, this guide will be utilized in the Registered Enterprise Architect exam preparation and will cover a range of ethical, legal, financial, management, marketing and administrative issues.  The essential knowledge needed for planning a thriving Enterprise Architecture practice under a vast set of scenarios will be created and maintained by industry leaders for the industry and the public.

 PPG General Discussion Area

General Discussion AreaUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).
Professional Practice GuideUse SHIFT+ENTER to open the menu (new window).

 ‭(Hidden)‬ Admin Links