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The Role of Business Architecture in Strategic Planning
Business Architecture Information Day
March 21st 2012
About Export Development Canada (EDC)
Canada’s fully self-funded export credit agency
Sole purpose is to develop & expand Canada’s international trade
Operates like a bank & insurance company with about 1100 staff
Serves 8,200 Cdn companies - 80% small & medium sized
Offers financial tools, trade expertise, market connections
Increasingly partnering with other financial institutions
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The Challenge
Siloed lines of business controlling their own IT budgets created custom systems tailored to own processes & data definitions
Shift to customer & process centricity highlighted problems Could not share data in key areas to get consistent customer / corporate views
Legacy systems not built to handle increased demand for flexibility
Built on separate platforms
Increasingly costly to maintain, heavy reliance on inhouse staff
IT budget split across LOBs created redundant support & reinforced LOB tactical rather than corporate strategic investment
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The Approach
Develop EDC Core Value Chain
Align LOB functions
Identify gaps & overlaps in IT support
Reduce redundancy by standardizing on viable single-instance systems or building shared corporate SOA services
Improve information flow through the value chain
Migrate to stable technology platforms
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The Picture – EDC Current-Future States circa 2008
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The Strategy – application refactoring
Current Future
Lean Processes
Data Management
Retire Redundancies
Application Refactoring
Business Services
Roadmaps
Duplicated data sources, redundant capability support,
complex integration, misaligned process design
Rationalized data sources and capability support, SOA
in place of data synchronization, process-
centric design
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What happened?
General support, formation of a Business Architecture Review Committee made up of cross-LOB VPs
Corporate funding secured
What do we do first? System A, B or C?
Uh oh. Despite business transformation driver & support, no traction Functionality focus undermined redundancy - is this really the same as that?
Logical non sequitur: “What is the future state of system A when A is gone?”
No help rationalizing the data
No help knowing which processes to keep, which to reform, which to abandon
Reams of technical roadmaps, no business confidence = no business initiative
Core value chain was incomplete view of organization & too process-oriented
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New Approach
3rd party review: sound strategy, misguided approach
Introduced Business Capabilities Mapping Comprehensive view of EDC business architecture – end-to-end relational view
What the business does not Who or How – cut through d-m paralysis
Connects people, process, tech, info – filled gaps in previous framework
Aligned toolset – Capabilities, Value Streams, Lean processes, Info mapping
Let processes be processes, and business strategies come to the forefront
Leveraged business strategies to reframe the IT strategy From “application refactoring” to “closing gap between existing systems and new
business processes”
Stop talking about IT roadmaps, start talking in consistent business vocabulary
IT roadmaps become the outcome, not the focal point - much less contentious
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Revised Picture (where did IT go?)
Provide Solutions Custom
er, P
artner P
rosp
ect,
Cus
tom
er,
Par
tner
Create Interest &
Awareness
Identify & Qualify Lead
Identify Customer
Need Develop the Solution Secure the
Business
End-to-End EDC Value Stream (aka Core Value Chain)
Administer Policy Define & Confirm Opportunity
Administer Solution
Manage Changes
Retire Solution
LOB Lean Value Streams
Review Buyer File
Request Info & Update Buyer File
Analyze Buyer
Information
Manager Review of
File
Endorse Request
Approve Request
Issue Offer AM Deal Segmentation
Service Deal
Facility Underwriting
Close Deal Facility Monitoring & Surveillance
Assess & Triage Deal
UW Assignment
Analyze Deal
Approve Deal
Disburse Funds Close Loan
Analyze Deal
Approve Deal
Send Offer
Activate Policy
Bonding
Loans
Insurance
- Credit Granting
Business Capabilities invoked by Value Streams
•Solution Pipeline Mgt •Solution Request Mgt •Solution Qualification •Solution Info Mgt
Request for Buyer Credit
•Solution Structuring •Solution Risk Assessment •Solution Pricing •Solution Info Mgt
•Marketing Communications •Lead & Opportunities Management •Customer Information Management
•Solution Fulfillment •Solution Monitoring •Solution Administration •Solution Info Mgt
Marketing LOM
Marketing LOM
Marketing LOM
Expire Facility
Expire Policy
•Claims Management •Capital Management •Finance Management
•Solution Retirement •Solution Offering •Solution Billing Mgt •Solution Info Mgt
What we learned
Talking about IT is an addiction on both sides but IT is a means to a business outcome – is that outcome well understood?
Get out of a comfort zone and force the conversation to be in business language, about the business architecture
Identify the business strategy & business solutions, apply a predictable set of solution principles, and technology issues largely take care of themselves
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