www.sdtimes.com July 2017 SD Times 19

BY DAVID RUBINSTEIN

The growth and evolution of businesshas required a growth and evolution inmodeling, which has emerged as a wayto communicate ideas and minimizecomplexity across the enterprise.Modeling is used to get a handle onbusiness processes, database design,code engineering — and even theenterprise itself, through organiza-tional charts, workflows and enter-prise frameworks.

Sparx Systems, whose EnterpriseArchitect modeling platform enablesteams to collaborate on business rules,requirements and more to create UML2.5-based models, last month came outwith Pro Cloud Server, a web-basedplatform that gives all project stake-holders a way to create, review, com-ment on and edit models, diagrams andprocesses from any browser anddevice.

According to Geoffrey Sparks,founder and CEO of Sparx Systems,“The ability to dynamically create, col-laborate and integrate models overmultiple domains and technical plat-forms is a remarkable and highly agile

solution that has the capacity to radi-cally improve the quality, accuracy andeffectiveness of model-based projects.”

Sparx has 580,000 registered usersof Enterprise Architect, and was listedin the Challenger category of the latestGartner Enterprise Architecture Mag-ic Quadrant.

The Pro Cloud Server currentlyboasts three main areas. The first is acomprehensive RESTful API forOSLC (Open Services for Life-cycleCollaboration.) This is the platformthat provides access to the back-endEnterprise Architect repository. Thesecond is WebEA, WebEA builds offthe RESTful API and provides a

mobile interface into the model allow-ing the model to be consumed, com-mented and discussed from any devicewith a web browser. The third is a URLbased approach to connecting to boththese services allowing a secure http(s)connection without the need for data-base specific drivers or configurationsfor each platform.

Having the ability act quickly andcollaboratively reflects a radical changein enterprise architecture, according toa presentation at a Gartner EnterpriseArchitecture Summit conference.Organizations need to address businessdisruptions coming from all angles byembracing digital technologies such ascloud computing, intelligent machinesand more. “EA success in the digital age is

fueled by a spirit of alignment and col-laboration with business and IT stake-holders throughout the enterprise,”Gartner wrote in a summary of thesummit. “EA practitioners must bewilling and able to reimagine tradition-al EA roles and responsibilities anddevelop a new business acumen anddigital skill sets.”

Focus on the business analystAlong with the release of Pro CloudServer, Sparx worked with the Interna-

EA in the cloud drives digital shiftModels that can be shared collaboratively speed creation of business value

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTUREINDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

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‘The ability to dynamically create,collaborate and integrate modelsover multiple domains and technicalplatforms is... remarkable.’

—Geoffrey Sparks

With Pro Cloud Server and WebEA, remote users can get a real-time view of project content

within Enterprise Architect, at any time, from any device.

SD Times July 2017 www.sdtimes.com20

tional Institute of Business Analysis tocreate and release a public beta of atoolkit for the Business Analysis Bodyof Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide v3).The model, when implemented withinPro Cloud Server, is designed to givebusiness analysts the ability to collabo-rate on requirements and businessmodels, to provide better business out-comes.

“It is the first time business analysistechniques have been actualized in thisway and we are excited with the out-

come,” said Sparx Systems COO TomO’Reilly. “The solution… has the capac-ity to revolutionize the way the BABOKGuide v3 is applied within the enter-prise.”

The Tools and Techniques forBABOK Guide v3 instructs the profes-sional on implementing business analy-sis standards that offer reliability,repeatability and improved productivity,according to Sparks. Better require-ments capture and management resultin better project outcomes.

Analysts have to reach out to various

departments to assess their needs, thenwrite it out, analyze it and deliver it intechnical language to the developmentteam. Without adequate tooling to han-dle requirements, this task alone canadd months to a software project.

Especially in today’s software devel-opment environment of agile practicesand continuous integration/deliver, theneed to respond quickly to customerfeedback as well as the needs of thebusiness requires that collaborativetools be in place to let stakeholderswork through their needs while provid-ing transparency into the changeprocess.

As Sparks noted in a recent blogpost: “These examples are a reflection ofthe changes in the Requirements Man-agement process, which in the develop-ment model of today, supports iterativerequirements gathering and continuousdelivery of software. It has become anAgile practice approach, being adoptedto address the challenge of digital trans-formation. This collaborative, iterationbased business lifecycle, betweenrequirements and stakeholders, has giv-en rise to DevOps, a strategy for manag-ing continuous change.

Enterprise Architect is unique in itsability to support requirementsthroughout the development lifecycleand to deliver the benefits of the Agilepractice approach. Requirements canbe defined in the model, or importedfrom other tools including Visio.”

An organization using the WebEAview into the Enterprise ArchitectCloud could have a business analyst orproject manager create requirements,use cases, tests and more right in themobile browser. This ability to capturetask assets remotely for use in a modellater on helps make the process moreagile. More detailed information on Sparx,

Enterprise Architect, Pro Cloud Serverand WebEA can be found atwww.sparxsystems.com. z

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTUREINDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

EA in the cloud helps drive digital transformations< continued from page 19

For a younger generation of developers and business analysts, the term ‘enterprisearchitecture’ might not be totally understood. Yet EA could very well help them – andtheir organizations – better compete in a world that is changing ever more rapidly.

In fact, according to a paper titled “A Common Perspective on Enterprise Architec-ture” produced by the Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organiza-tions, EA was first developed to help companies deal with the shifting, sliding technol-ogy landscape and with diversity in operating systems.

Today, enterprise architecture continues to be implemented, but instead of helping organizations deal with a migration off mainframes onto distributed systems,for example, it is being used to help organizations make a digital transformation.Through the use of models, EA gives adopters repeatable techniques to map out theirfuture – whether that’s a migration to the cloud, or implementing a strategy formobile device access to data – and ensure its success.

According to the paper, “Organizational changes can be dramatic, with large-scalereorganization of people, systems and accountabilities. They can also be gradual andsteady, involving hundreds of small, non-disruptive steps. Regardless of the approachtaken, change is often complex and error-prone. Enterprise Architecture, throughcontinuous evaluation and adaptation of the enterprise, reduces the cost of changeand improves the chances for success.”

–David Rubinstein

What Exactly IS Enterprise Architecture?