Introducting an Architecture Repository is an opportunity to professionalize the architecture modeling process and products. There a publication is prepared  for supporting an approach for introducing Sparx Enterprise Architect as An Architecture Repository. This book focuses on introducing an architecture repository. An architecture repository contributes to a more mature approach to introducing architecture into an organization. This is a combination package of a book, online training and a sample repository.

The book, training and sample repository are prepared based on the following subjects

• Document driven approach as baseline architecture
• Architecture Repository as target architecture
• Solution architecture for the transfer from baseline to architecture
• Step by step guides
• Aids for successfully introducing an architecture repository

The combination package is available from Leanpub. Please follow the link where you see some sample pages of the book and a sample video of the online training. For more information please visit:

https://leanpub.com/architecturerepository

The sample repository included in the combination package is used to write the book, a nice example of the power of Sparx Enterprise Architect and an approach also know as "Eat you own Dogfood". However it gives you an option to make a jumpstart in introducing an architecture repository.

Panorama 360 for Insurance and Wealth Management has a new website with new offerings and services. InsuranceFrameworks.com offers the most complete set of reference material, called Panorama 360, to the Insurance and Wealth Management industry, globally. Panorama 360 allows organizations to plan, design, develop and manage organizations, processes and technology.

On the website, we provide an import file to Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect with Enterprise Capability model, Enterprise Business Architecture Framework, information Models, an Organizational Integration map and more than 35 core business processes. Not only do we have an import file for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, we have added online courses that explain how Panorama 360 works so you can get the most out of your Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect tool. 

1. Architecture Frameworks (4.5 hours)
2. Business Process Models (4.5 hours)

The Panorama 360 Enterprise Business Architecture Framework and Business Process Models courses are also offered live-online or on your premises. 

For more information, go to https://www.insuranceframeworks.com. I can also be contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Join my network on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-gagn%C3%A9-fcip-fpaa-077701/.

You can also join the Insurance Frameworks Group on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7418443/ to get the latest news.

Sign up for the upcoming Sparx Sytems webinar!

Enterprise Architecture using Prolaborate

A Case study driven illustration of Enterprise Architecture Capabilities in Prolaborate

The CEO of a leading utility firm intends to leverage an EA tool, to help them with the planning and decision-making required for his digital transformation strategy.

The organization identified three use cases as its primary needs for an EA tool, this article will give an high level overview of how Prolaborate helps them realize the use cases.

Use Case 1 – Smarter Decision Making

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect tool is populated by architects, analysts and other users across the organization. The information represents the length and breadth of the architecture landscape using industry standards as TOGAF or ArchiMate or Zachman framework.

However for maximizing the real value of Architecture practice is possible only when the broader organization) can use the information collaboratively on a regular basis for analysis and decision support that real value is realized.

Use Case 2 –innovation Through Collaboration

Ability to innovate is key for successful digital transformation. To enable innovation the teams must evaluate the current state and emerging technologies.  Prolaborate enables innovation with a structured yet flexible and iterative collaboration and review capability.

Prolaborate enables a state-of-art platform to enable seamless collaboration between the Architecture team, strategy team, innovation team, product team, and infrastructure team.

Use Case 3 – Application Portfolio Management

The CEO was also recommended that there are several duplications of IT assets as a result of several mergers and acquisitions.  To enable a lean, agile organization, the CEO has set his priority to clean up duplicate IT assets.

Prolaborate lets architects create views that will allow the organization to gain the ability to make more conscious investment choices for application landscape to reduce complexity. The Prolaborate views would allow applications with overlapping functionalities to be visible, outdated applications identified, strategic importance assessed, to foster teams to manage applications seamlessly.

Explore the incredible advancements in Enterprise Architecture views in Prolaborate, visualize an organizations IT landscape from Strategy to Implementation. Check out the New and improved capabilities of Prolaborate to perform Value chain analysis, Capability alignment, Application Portfolio Management, Process Optimization to facilitate rapid decisions, quickly.

In this webinar, we'll show you how to:

• Effective Enterprise Architecture using Prolaborate – creating views ranging from Vision and Objectives tracking down to Applications and Servers.
• Learn new utilities to simplify analysis – Relationship Matrix, Spreadsheet interface, Landscape Diagrams.
• Enhanced Charts and Reporting - Heatmaps, Treemaps, Burst charts, Bubble charts etc to efficiently leverage Architecture Data.

For more information and registration please visit https://sparxsystems.com/resources/webinar/sparxservices/prolaborate1909/index.html/index.html

Or Click Register Now. To know more about Prolaborate or request a demo please visit https://prolaborate.sparxsystems.com 

Enterprise Architects are now being reported as the highest paid discipline in IT, however with this realization organizations need to ensure they are getting the most out of these highly-skilled professionals. The skills and experience of Enterprise Architects combined with the right tools like Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect can support business agility with a lowered exposure to risk.

Glassdoor, the job posting and company feedback website, recently published its annual 25 Highest Paying Jobs in America list with the technology sector boasting 65% of highest-paying jobs. The title of 'Enterprise Architect' however did best, coming in at #4 overall. This annual list from Glassdoor is produced using employee-submitted salary reports, which are then used to rank them according to their annual base salary and the job openings/listings posted that year.

It's gratifying to see organizations are better-valuing the contribution of technically-skilled workers - especially given that IT capabilities are increasingly the wellspring of organizational growth. According to the list, Enterprise Architects are now the highest paid IT discipline and are highly sort-after in the workplace. This also bears out in last year's Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey which found enterprise architecture is the fastest-growing technology skill; up a "massive" 26 per cent compared with the previous year. All this begs the question - what is it about Enterprise Architects in particular that are commanding such wages and enjoying such standing in the workplace?

We know that Enterprise Architects are at the nexus of business and technology, working to align business strategy and IT execution. They are also increasingly responsible for envisioning and supporting future business capabilities by anticipating and evaluating IT investments and development. This all requires excellent strategic thinking, communication and problem-solving skills, along with a wide range of technical capabilities.

However, like many change-agents, Enterprise Architects encounter resistance and are required to continually prove the value and viability of their solutions. To this end, Enterprise Architects must demonstrably connect their work with long-term business strategy in a compelling fashion, otherwise the many competing elements at play within an organization - such as short-term vs. long-term business interests and business vs. IT prerogatives - can inhibit an architect's ability to get anything done. The ability to connect strategy and execution is essential for buy-in from the right business and IT stakeholders.

Wally McLaughlin, Director of Sales at Sparx Services North America notes, “We encounter leaders every day who have skilled and experienced architects on their teams – some really talented people. But in-spite of all of that knowledge, their teams are struggling to explain to business leaders and decision makers how to affect real transformational change. Companies are complex, but with the right modeling tools like Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, Architects can help leaders break down the complexity into manageable parts that the rest of the organization can understand and act upon.”

Ideally by drawing a line between business strategy, architectures and outcomes like business processes, databases and source code, Enterprise Architects can hope to create clear demonstrable links between strategy and execution. Of course, extracting corporate strategy itself can be difficult (especially in cases where it's non-existent), but by referencing documented roadmaps and consulting executive staff, Enterprise Architects can at least begin to model the corporate strategies that should guide IT strategy. In fact, by allowing business executives to view the business roadmaps while they are defined, Enterprise Architects can prompt some useful discussions that help organizations identify opportunities for growth.

When IT silos develop within an organization, often it can mean IT initiatives continue for some time without a cohesive approach. Enterprise Architects can help bring IT strategy back into focus by reviewing current processes, products and initiatives and their links to corporate strategy. This is especially simple where organizations are already using modeling platforms like Enterprise Architect to model their software and systems. With enterprise-wide collaborative tools, Enterprise Architects can begin to break down silos across business architecture, IT architecture and systems to better direct the organization's development priorities.

With all this investment, Enterprise Architects need the right tools to get the job done. Why offer the wages being reported by Glassdoor and Harvey Nash/KPMG and then give them a spreadsheet? There is a lot on the line. Not only is software and systems increasingly critical to both day-to-day operations and growth, there is a large financial investment in Enterprise Architects themselves. A platform like Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect equips Enterprise Architects with the tools to effectively execute corporate strategy whilst keeping teams connected and collaborating toward a shared vision.

If you would like a trial of Enterprise Architect, please visit: http://www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/trial/request.html

To learn more, Sparx Systems has released a new Enterprise Architecture Guidebook.

SparxSystems CE: Belgian Railway relies on Enterprise Architect

In order to prepare itself for the liberalisation of national railway markets in 2023, the Belgian National Railway Company SNCB has developed an architecture continuum using Enterprise Architect over the last three years. With more than 1000 applications in use and a huge volume of data, this was not an easy task. Today, IT decisions can be made more easily based on reliable information, and the company is now able to move toward a modern IT landscape.

 Luc Alix (left), Head of Enterprise Architecture and Alain Garsoux (right) in charge of Architecture Governance at Ypto, a subsidiary of the Belgian National Railway Company

Vienna/Brussels – In 2005, the Belgian National Railway Company was divided into three public companies, in accordance with European and Belgian regulations. This naturally had considerable consequences for the common IT: Thousands of components (applications, servers, networks, etc.) had to be recorded, analysed and reassigned. To ease this IT transformation, SNCB decided to create a new IT company called “YPTO”, a 100% subsidiary. Ypto started to invest in its enterprise architecture with Enterprise Architect from Sparx Systems. Luc Alix, Head of Enterprise Architecture, hired Alain Garsoux to promote and improve Ypto’s architectural knowledge database (continuum). Alix: "We very soon decided to define our own architecture framework by adopting and integrating major architecture standards like Archimate™, TOGAF™, BPMN, SAFe, etc.. The adopted prescriptive language helps the decision-making process by forcing us to address the important concerns and not getting lost in details.”

Enterprise Architect: Cost-effective and adaptable

Since a suitable tool is naturally required for the construction of such a complex IT landscape, the decision was made to purchase based on specificity. Enterprise Architect proved to be the cheapest and most adaptable solution. A. Garsoux explains: "Being active in the public sector forces us to regularly reconfirm the purchase, the good price of the platform has so far always made it possible to extend the licenses and to avoid migration tasks. This allows us to continuously work with the tool, which has now been ideally adapted and makes our architecture work much easier and more productive.” Hans Bartmann, Managing Director of SparxSystems Central Europe: "We are pleased that Enterprise Architect has so far overcome the hurdle of tenders so well due to its excellent price-performance ratio, adaptability and openness to many languages and standards. At the same time we congratulate SNCB on their state-of-the-art IT architectural solution, which can also serve as a very good example for other companies!”

The EA Shared Model Repository provides an overview The EA Shared Model Repository provides an overview of the mapped areas and guidelines for modeling

Open tool to reduce complexity

During the embedding phase for the modeling platform, Ypto specified precise guidelines for solution architects. Standard architectural views were defined to support the work of 12 Enterprise Architects and 50 Solution Architects. "Thanks to pre-fab architecture diagrams, we are able to easily capture our current complex IT landscape into the architecture knowledge database (Continuum). The captured raw data is then transformed into actionable information to support decision making”, says A. Garsoux. With this capture, a continuous documentation is automatically updated, which is of decisive importance for traceability and further developments.

The analysis of the existing applications showed for example that currently up to 20 applications are necessary for the handling of a single business activity. Since each of these applications (currently over 1.000) has to be maintained, the declared goal is to significantly reduce this number. "For any new request for change, we always start by specifying the impacted business activities and the impacted applications. From this we can very quickly see - thanks to our architectural knowledge database - what things we want to keep and what needs to be renewed,” says the IT architect.

The Architecture Framework provides an overall view of the IT architecture

New applications are subject to precise specifications

"Precise architectural principles have been defined for all applications, which must be adhered to. Only in this way can we ensure that we achieve a uniform architecture. The framework also helps us to make very efficient decisions on certain developments," explains A. Garsoux. The IT architect now describes the structure as mature and ready for roll-out in the company, which is already ongoing. But he also knows that this will require a lot of internal persuasion: "The commitment to this forward-looking IT architecture must now spread throughout the company, because this of course entails changes. Our delivered information convinced our management and we prove every day that we are taking a decisive step towards a prosperous future for SNCB!"

The SNCB

SNCB is Belgium’s national railway company. It is a public company which provides the operation and marketing of railway services for national and international passenger and freight transport. It is also responsible for the maintenance of the rolling stock. SNCB employs around 21,000 people and has a turnover of 2.2 billion euros. It also owns shares in Eurostar and Thalys, as well as in the IFB and TRW branches. SNCB plays a crucial role in the development of sustainable mobility by providing a quality, reliable service that is in line with the market.

About Sparx Systems

Enterprise Architect is the world’s premiere UML/SysML modeling platform. Produced in Australia by Sparx Systems since 1996, it has been implemented by over 730,000 users worldwide, due not only to its high performance at an unbeatable price. Enterprise Architect is a powerful yet intuitive modeling tool that facilitates any desired level of explicitness and precision in the development, analysis and documentation of even the most complex systems and architectures. Individuals and teams can use EA to design and produce software systems, perform business process modeling, handle requirements or model any process or system using standardized or custom modeling languages and frameworks with maximum reuse and traceability throughout. Pro Cloud Server and WebEA allow geographically-distributed model-based development and engineering teams to actively collaborate on any number of ongoing projects in real time. SparxSystems Software Central Europe was founded in 2004 in Vienna, Austria to provide individuals and organizations in Europe's core German-speaking and other economically-aligned markets with Enterprise Architect software licenses, training and support in their own language and time zone.

Sparx Services North America launches new offerings to support the BIZBOK® Guide for Business Architecture

Sparx Services North America is pleased to announce a new set of training, consulting and technology offerings aligned to the BIZBOK Guide to support the Business Architecture discipline.  Business Architecture is an essential part of companies’ digital transformation and operational excellence strategies - weaving together people, processes, information and technology in support of strategic vision and operational objectives. A Guide to the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge® (BIZBOK Guide) from the Business Architecture Guild® represents the generally accepted standards of practice for the Business Architecture discipline.

BIZBOK Training Offerings

Whether you are a new or aspiring Business Architect seeking to learn the fundamentals of the role; a seasoned Enterprise, Business, Information or Systems Architect looking to add the BIZBOK methodology to your toolbox; or a company that uses Sparx Enterprise Architect today and are looking to bring best-practices into your architecture function – the BIZBOK training offerings from Sparx Services North America, a Guild Accredited Training Provider®, can help provide the skills you need to succeed.

BIZBOK Foundation: A 3-day course covering the core framework content of the BIZBOK to help students prepare for the Certified Business Architect® exam from the Business Architecture Guild.

Sparx Enterprise Architect BIZBOK: A 2-day course to help students understand how to use Sparx Enterprise Architect (the industry leading EA tool) to support Business Architecture activities as outlined in the BIZBOK.

BIZBOK Essentials: A 5-day course that combines the framework and essential concepts from the BIZBOK Foundation course with the practical application and tooling guidance from the implementation course into an intensive overview to give students the knowledge and skills to apply the BIZBOK in their daily work. 

Business Architecture Alignment and Integration: A 2-day course focused on leveraging the BIZBOK concepts to integrate Business Architecture with existing EA, Business Analysis and Solution Delivery functions.

BIZBOK Consulting Offerings

As active contributors to the Business Architecture Guild, the architects from Sparx Services North America understand how to apply the BIZBOK framework and methods within the context of a company’s EA/BA practice along with best-practices for configuring and using Sparx Enterprise Architect to support the BIZBOK methods.

Coming Soon! BIZBOK Extension for Sparx Enterprise Architect

Sparx Services North America will soon be releasing a new BIZBOK Extension (MDG Technology) for the Sparx Enterprise Architect platform - providing pre-configured objects, data models and templates to enable Business Architects to quickly perform techniques direct from the BIZBOK using the industry leading EA tool, Sparx Enterprise Architect.

To learn more about the BIZBOK offerings from Sparx Services North America, visit www.sparxsystems.us/bizbok or contact one of our BIZBOK experts at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Business Architecture Guild, BIZBOK, A Guide to the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge, Certified Business Architect, CBA, Guild Accredited Training Program, and GATP are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Business Architecture Guild. Sparx Systems, Enterprise Architect, MDG Integration, and MDG Technology are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sparx Systems Pty Ltd

David Rubinstein, Editor in Chief at SD Times, recently interviewed Geoffrey Sparks regarding Enterprise Architecture and how effective collaboration platforms assist in delivery of business value.

In this month's SD Times, Sparx Systems is in the industry spotlight, discussing the new Pro-Cloud Server, WebEA and RESTful API for OSLC, as well as the role of dynamic collaboration in digital transformation.

In the interview, Geoffrey Sparks, CEO of Sparx Systems, comments "The ability to dynamically create models, collaborate and integrate models over multiple domains and technical platforms is a remarkable and highly agile solution that has the capacity to radically improve the quality, accuracy and effectiveness of model-based project."

The article also calls attention to the collaboration between Sparx Systems and the IIBA, resulting in the development of a toolkit for IIBA's Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide v3). On the collaboration Sparx Systems COO, Tom O'Reilly commented " It is the first time business analysis techniques have been actualized in this way and we are excited about the outcome."

Read the full article on the Sparx Systems website (PDF, 1.4Mb)

We recently published Panorama 360 Insurance and Wealth Management Enterprise Business Architecture Framework as a book (456 pages) which is globally available on Amazon. It covers all functional  (Capabilities) and informational aspects of the industry. This enterprise business model is also available on Sparx Enterprise Architect.

Here is a link to an article that was published by Insurance Innovation Reporter's Anthony R. O'Donnell relative to the value of Panorama 360.

http://iireporter.com/panorama-360-insurance-enterprise-business-model-qa-with-author-pierre-gagne/

For any questions on the Panorama 360 Enterprise Business Model and the Sparx Enterprise Architect version, contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

ArchiMate 3.0

by Phil Chudley, Principal Consultant at Dunstan Thomas Consulting

  The Open Group released the official specification of ArchiMate 3.0 in June 2016, and this new specification is supported in Enterprise Architect version 13. This article summarises the new features and changes within ArchiMate 3.0 and provides an example of how to migrate an existing ArchiMate 2.0 model to ArchiMate 3.0 model using Enterprise Architect v.13.

Summary of Changes

The following is a summary of the changes made within ArchiMate 3.0:

• Motivation Extension;
  • New element for modelling Outcomes.
  • New set of Strategy Elements, Resource, Capability, Course of Action.
• Business Layer;
  • Representation of the Contract element modified so as to be different from the Business Object Element.
  • Location element removed (although Enterprise Architect has re-located this element to the Technology Layer – Physical Extension).
• Application Layer;
  • Two new elements added, Application Process and Application Event
• Technology layer;
  • Elements called Infrastructure in ArchiMate 2.0 are now called Technology in ArchiMate 3.0.
  • Four new elements added, Technology Process, Technology Interaction, Technology Event and Technology Collaboration.
  • New set of Physical Elements, Equipment, Facility, Distribution Network and Material. These elements are known as the Physical Extension.
• Implementation and Migration Extension;
  • One new element added, Implementation Event.
• Relationships;
  • Representation of Assignment modified to have a directional arrow.
  • Bi-directional Access relationship added.
  • Plus (positive) and Minus (negative) symbols added to Influence Relationship.
  • New relationship, Serving.

Detail of Changes

The following tables provided an example of the changes for each of the sections listed in the Summary of Changes above.

Motivation Extension

Element	Definition	Notation
Outcome	An end result that has been achieved.
Resource	An asset owned or controlled by an individual or organisation.
Capability	An ability that an active structure element, such as an organisation, person, or system possesses.
Course of Action	An approach or plan for configuring some capabilities and resources of the enterprise, undertaken to achieve a goal.

Business Layer

Element	Definition	Notation
Contract	A formal or informal specification of an agreement between a provided and consumer that specifies the rights and obligations associated with a product.

Application Layer

Element	Definition	Notation
Application Process	A sequence of application behaviours that achieves a specific outcome.
Application Event	An application behaviour element that denotes a state change.

Technology Layer

Element	Definition	Notation
Technology Collaboration	An aggregate of two or more nodes that work together to perform collective technology behaviour.
Technology Process	A sequence of technology behaviours that achieves a specific outcome.
Technology Event	A technology behaviour element that denotes a state of change.
Technology Interaction	A unit of collective technology behaviour performed by (a collaboration of) two or more nodes.
Equipment	One or more physical machines, tools, or instruments that can create, use, store, move, or transform materials.
Facility	A physical structure or environment.
Distribution Network	A physical network used to transport materials or energy.
Material	Tangible physical matter or physical elements.

Implementation & Migration Extension

Element	Definition	Notation
Implementation Event	A behaviour element that denotes a change of state related to an implementation or migration.

Relationships

Element	Definition	Notation
Assignment	Expresses the allocation of responsibility, performance of behaviour, or execution.
Serving	Models that an element provides its functionality to another element.
Access	Models the ability of behaviour and active structure elements to observe or act upon passive structure elements.
Influence	Models that an element affects the implementation or achievement of some motivation element.

Implications to existing ArchiMate models

If an organisation has modelled their Enterprise Architecture using Enterprise Architect and ArchiMate 2, and are now using Version 13 of Enterprise Architect, they have two courses of action:

1. Continue to model using ArchiMate 2.0. In this case no action is required either for Enterprise Architect or the model repository. An organisation would continue to model using ArchiMate 2.0 if they do not wish to make use of any of the new features in ArchiMate 3.0.
2. Migrate their existing ArchiMate 2.0 model to ArchiMate 3.0, and then continue to model using ArchiMate 3.0. An organisation would continue to model using ArchiMate 2.0 if they wish to make use of any of the new features in ArchiMate 3.0.

My own personal opinion is that an organisation should consider moving to Enterprise Architect version 13 (mainly due its new feature of “Time Aware Modelling”) and ArchiMate 3.0. One of the main reasons, is due to inherent ambiguity (due to the lack of direction indication) in the assigns relationship in ArchiMate 2.0, which has been eliminated in ArchiMate 3.0 by making the assigns relationship directional.

Migrating an ArchiMate 2.0 model to ArchiMate 3.0

Enterprise Architect version 13 provides a migration script for this purpose. The following steps are used to perform the migration:

1. Take a backup copy of the existing model repository.
2. Using the Configure | Manage Technology ribbon, ensure that both ArchiMate 2.0 and ArchiMate 3.0 MDG technologies are enabled.
3. Using the Code | Scripting ribbon, make the scripting window visible:
   
4. Select the topmost package (or view) that contains the model to migrate:
   
5. Select the script Migrate ArchiMate 2 to ArchiMate 3 in the scripting window.
6. Right-click and select Run Script from the menu.
7. The progress of the migration, together with any errors / warnings will be displayed in the system output window.
8. Review the diagrams (you may have to tidy some of the relationships).
9. Turn off the MDG ArchiMate 2.0 using the Configure | Manage Technology ribbon.

NOTE: It appears that composition relationships are NOT HIDDEN, when using nested structures in ArchiMate 3.0. I suspect this is an Enterprise Architect version 13 issue. This is likely to be fixed and should not deter migration, as these relationships can always be hidden using the Visible Relations function in Enterprise Architect. (Layout | Manage ribbon and select Show and Hide Relationships… from the menu).

Phil Chudley
Principal Consultant
Dunstan Thomas Consulting
@SparxEAGuru

You'll find lots of useful Enterprise Architect videos on our YouTube Channel.

In a candid interview with Arun Kant from CIOReview, Sparx Systems' CEO Geoffrey Sparks highlights how Enterprise Architecture has become an imperative for survival in the ever-changing and globalized corporate landscape.

CIOReview has also included Sparx Systems in their '20 Most Promising Enterprise Architecture Technology Providers 2016' list, resulting from a robust selection process actioned by a highly qualified panel of domain experts. The in-depth interview with Geoffrey Sparks is the featured article in this month's edition of CIOReview, where Geoffrey discusses the Sparx Systems tradition of continual development of the Enterprise Architect platform, while maintaining the highly competitive price-point that enables affordable outfitting for all project stakeholders.

Geoffrey Sparx, Founder and CEO, Sparx Systems

To read the full featured article, simply download the PDF attachment at the top of this article.