Architecting the IT Organization: Clarifying the Contributions of Enterprise Architecture, IT Governance, and ITSM to the IT Value Chain

by Debbie Carraway, Piet Niederhausen and Beth Schaefer Thursday, October 10, 2019

Collection(s): EDUCAUSE Working Group

Architecting the IT Organization: Clarifying the Contributions of Enterprise Architecture, IT Governance, and ITSM to the IT Value Chain

by Debbie Carraway, Piet Niederhausen and Beth Schaefer Thursday, October 10, 2019

Collection(s): EDUCAUSE Working Group

Next Steps in Your Organization

To clarify the mission of EA, IT governance, and ITSM as they grow, we suggest a joint management conversation about your IT organization's future needs for the capabilities these practice areas can provide, especially where they typically intersect. This conversation can also benefit from including non-IT stakeholders. Table 3 shows sample topics for discussion.

Table 3. Sample questions for joint conversation, based on state

State	Sample Questions
Current State	What is the current scope of EA, IT governance, and ITSM practices in our organization? How are the capabilities described in table 2 met today? Which activities in each capability are most important to us? In which activities do we currently experience bottlenecks, competing approaches, or other issues?
Future State	Based on our organizational strategy, do we intend to carry out these capabilities centrally, delegate responsibility for them, or some of both? What are our priorities and goals for improvement in these capabilities? Based on the needs of the organization and the readiness of each practice area, who should lead, manage, or contribute to recurring work and continuous improvement in each capability? Are our EA, IT governance, or ITSM practice areas well situated to contribute, or should other actors in the IT organization take this responsibility? Do we have a long-term need to formalize EA, IT governance, or ITSM as programs (if they are not today)?
Planning	Are they aware of their role and its intended scope? Are they empowered to carry it out? What are the organization's expectations for success? Do they have what they need now? What more will they need over time? How will senior management sponsor, guide, and evaluate the activity?