Reference no: EM132397922

Melbourne Institute of Technology
Unit Code - BN315
Unit Title - Enterprise Architecture
Assessment Title - Enterprise Architecture Concepts

Purpose of the assessment

The purpose of this assignment is to develop skills in working with Enterprise Architecture (EA) and to gain understanding of EA model development.
On completion of this assignment students will be able to:
c. Describe enterprise-level architectural views for the business, information, technology, and application domains.
d. Report on the relationship between EA and other architectures such as system, solution, data, application and technology.
e. Investigate the appropriate use of industry EA methods and frameworks.
f. Report on the current and future state for a portfolio of IT applications.

Assignment Description

Write a report (minimum 3 A4 pages) and conduct a presentation (10 - 15 minutes) on one of the topics of the given Enterprise Architecture (EA) contexts. The presentation will be held on week 7 during lab time and students need to upload presentation slides on Moodle, a day earlier than the presentation day. The report is due in week 7, before midnight. The report and presentation must provide a detailed overview of the topic related to one of the listed contexts.

What must your report include?
• All reports must include a detailed introduction to the topic.
• The report must be written in a specified context and for a specific audience, as indicated below.
• You will be required to select your context and topic in week 4.
• Once chosen, you are required to complete all the questions related to the chosen topic.
• Must include references.

Context A: Phoenix Logistics

For this set of topic your context is Phoenix Logistics, a global freight forwarding company, whose head office is based in Melbourne with branch offices located worldwide. You are a member of a consulting team who is bidding for the project of implementing an Enterprise Architecture for Phoenix Logistics.

You need to include information about Phoenix Logistics' business strategy and its information technology requirements. You need to include present IT systems and systems that will be required in the future. Your report and your presentation should aim to convince Phoenix Logistics that they need to invest on Enterprise Architecture, and that your team is the right team for the job.

Include examples and information that are specific to this context. The audience will be the CEO, the General Manager, and the Manager of IT Resources at Phoenix Logistics.

TOPIC A1. Explain what an EA is. Why EA is important? How EA is similar to city planning? What are the benefits of EA? What are the key challenges in EA? How could Phoenix Logistics utilize EA? Provide concrete examples.

TOPIC A2. Role and relationship of EA and Solution (System) Architecture (SA): Describe EA and SA. What are the key differences between EA and SA? How are EA and SA related? How could the company utilize EA and SA? Provide concrete examples.

TOPIC A3. EA principles, standards and reference models: Describe what is an EA principle, an EA standard and an EA reference model. Why EA principles and standards are important? How do reference models support reuse? How could Phoenix Logistics utilize reference models? Provide concrete examples.

Context B: Job Interview

For this set of topics, your context is a job interview for a position as a Software Architect. The details of the job description can be found on course homepage on Moodle. As part of your application for this position, you are required to submit a written report on the following topics. At your interview, you are required to give your presentation. You should include information that is relevant to the multi-platform marketing technology. You should include information that is specific to the j ob description.

Include examples and information that are specific to this context. The audience will be the selection panel foryour job interview, including the Chief Information Officer for the organization, and the senior IT Manager along with HR Manager.

TOPIC B1. EA domains: What are the business, information, applications and technology domains? What is the relationship between the business, information, applications and technology domains? Why do we need to develop models for the business, information, applications and technology domains? Provide concrete examples.

TOPIC B2. What is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)? Why are standards required for an SOA? What standards exist for SOA? How would a marketing company utilize an SOA? Provide concrete examples of how a multi-platform marketing company could utilize an SOA.

TOPIC B3. IT Planning: What is IT planning? Why IT planning is important? What is the relationship between business strategy, EA, and IT planning? Provide concrete examples of how these issues relate to the marketing domains.

TOPIC B4. Change Management: What is change management? Why is change management important? What is the relationship between EA, IT planning and change management? Provide concrete examples of how these issues are important to marketingdomains.

Context C:

For this set of topics, your context is the reading Different Approaches to Enterprise Architecture. The Different kind of EA and some short case studies are presented in the article. You are expected to learn these different kinds of approaches and given a scenario, report which of these will be most suitable. Your audience is CEO of a company and you need to describe briefly the different approaches to EA, compare them with each other and answer the following questions.

TOPIC C1. EA domains: What is EA? How is EA developed and who is it developed by?

TOPIC C2. What was the motivation to study alternatives approaches to EA? Briefly describe MIT approach and DYA approach.

TOPIC C3. Appropriate industry EA methods: What is ABS and what is its purpose? What challenge did they face? Did they overcome it? Why/ why not?

TOPIC C4. What is FEA and what is its purpose? What challenge did they face? How did they overcome it? Why did it not help them build a long-term strategy?

TOPIC C5. Report on the current and future state for a portfolio of IT applications. Which approach would you suggest (MIT or DYA) for ABS scenario? Do you recommend a different solution?