www.monash.edu

www.monash.edu

Enterprise Architecture in Higher Education, CSUNathan Bailey, Enterprise Architect, Monash University ITS1st November 2006

Top-down and bottom-up -- our story

Monash IT Architecture

Identifying and adopting ‘reusable best practice’

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Defining the outcome

• Why architecture?

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The dode

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Architecture

• reduce implementation and maintenance costs

• improve responsiveness and service• align university-wide activity (economies

of scale)• define growth paths (dept => fac => uni-

wide)

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Is architecture about…

• the design activity (‘design’)• the implementation activity

(‘engineering’)• the maintenance activity (‘service

management’)• all + more?

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Top-down

• Governance (Okay)• Strategic Planning (Good)• Capital Projects (Good-ish)• Procurement / acquisition (Good)• Changing 30 major and 300 minor

fiefdoms (Mmm…)• => Ensuring consistency

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Bottom-up

• Source code control• Design and maintenance documents• Service management documents (ITIL)• => Improving reproducibility

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In the middle

• Information management• Application portfolio

– Duplication of solutions (shared services)

– Technology and skills register

– “as is” => “to be” impact

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Data

• RQF• LTPF• AUQA• => Increased focus

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Data

• Unified and cleansed• Building data-mart approach (client

facing)• Building BPEL/SOA approach (back end)• Still need data model, data dictionary,

data business owners and rules, etc. (eg. who owns ID numbers and how can they be used?)

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How are we doing?

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Measuring maturity

• By CMMI• By artifacts (roadmaps,

blueprints, etc.)• By activity (eg. review +

sign offs, consults, sponsorships, proposals, etc.)

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Still worry about

• Getting ITS to change (silos and control)• Identity management• Data governance

– Risks in compliance (records, IP management, etc.)

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We have thousands (tens of thousands?) of these bespoke solutions…• A dozen or more groups managing networks• Dozens of storage management solutions• Over 100 groups managing servers• Hundreds of separate data models stored in

hundreds of separate databases• Hundreds of application servers running hundreds

of separate application frameworks• Thousands of separate applications written in a

dozen or more separate languages• Dozens of different ways of identifying, analysing,

designing, building, implementing and maintaining solutions to business problems

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Preferred architecture…

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Focus: Consolidation and reuse

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Changing our modus operandi

•Commoditise everything•Create value in discrete business components (not bespoke silos)

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Big picture

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Big picture

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Commoditise compute and storage (cf. ‘grid’)

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Commoditise data models

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Build discrete, reusable business components

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Deploy in user-centred, audience targeted, homogeneous environment