Enterprise Engineering Practice

The central role of a well-designed enterprise architecture (EA) in facilitating, managing, monitoring, and controlling the change that informs enterprise modernization cannot be underestimated. To meet the needs of our customers, CEM established the Enterprise Engineering Practice to:

• Foster and implement EA planning and development practices and methodologies as an intrinsic element within enterprise modernization required by federal mandate
• Nurture the emerging discipline of enterprise modernization
• Provide guidance and direction to the staff members who function as architects

The Practice identifies, develops, and codifies architecture principles—the enduring seminal guidance to which the architecture community adheres. Architecture principles provide a framework within which the enterprise manages its information environment, operations, and organization. They provide guidance for decision-making and action, with the intention of making the information environment as productive and cost-effective as possible. Explicit in each principle is its rationale and motivation as well as its implications for, or impact on, the enterprise.

The Practice also provides opportunities for training, collaboration, data sharing, and the presentation of ideas at forums such as the Federal Architecture Working Group and relevant conferences and symposiums. The Practice is also establishing a laboratory and repository for architecture tools.

The work of the Practice is organized into five key areas, as delineated in the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) and A Practical Guide to Federal Enterprise Architecture:

• Architecture Governance and Roadmap Development
• Architecture Processes and Approach
• Enterprise Architecture Development
• Transition and Sequence Planning
• Use and Maintenance of Architectures

The processes we use are established, mature, repeatable, and customizable for particular circumstances. They comprise architecture development methodologies that several federal agencies have employed repeatedly with great success.

CEM applies its extensive federal architecture experience to help its customer agencies

• Embrace the need to develop an EA
• Formulate a strategy that includes a vision, objectives, and architectural principles
• Obtain executive buy-in and support
• Develop a governance plan that guides the establishment of an architecture organizational structure that includes the Chief Information Officer, the Chief Architect and his or her staff, and a set of governing bodies
• Establish and maintain an architecture team
• Define an EA approach and processes to meet agency-specific needs and generate a roadmap
• Create and document baseline ("As-Is") and target ("To-Be") EAs
• Develop and implement a sequencing plan for transitioning the systems, applications, and associated business practices predicated upon a detailed gap analysis
• Adhere to the EA in the investment management, capital planning, enterprise engineering, and program management processes of the enterprise life cycle through prioritized, incremental projects and insertion of new technologies
• Maintain the EA by continuous modification to reflect an agency's current baseline and target business practices, organizational goals, visions, technology, and infrastructure

Supporting our customers in establishing an EA also involves helping them cultivate the proper culture and mindset within the enterprise. And, beyond developing the baseline "As-Is" architecture from which to progress towards the target "To-Be" architecture, it entails working with prime contractors to generate "Build-To" architectures and designs that lead to desired results.

Related Information

• Systems Engineering and Integration Practice
• Program Strategy and Management Practice

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