Solutions Architecture … what does it look like?

 enterprise architecture  No Responses »
Nov 232007
 

I am in the process of creating a new role for our Institute called a Solutions Architect. In the past few years, we have put together a strong Business Analysis practice to gather requirements at the front end and a solid Project Management practice to deliver at the back end. What has been missing is the middle … solutions architecture.

I tried to take my Enterprise Architect job description and morph it but am not satisfied. So I did what everyone else does … Google for some help. Here are some great posts I found.

Karthik Vijayakumar posted a great diagram of where solutions architects fit.  This is a great picture of how the various architectures fit together.  EA has overall governance while SA delivers in a narrow band of architecture – over and over with each project.

Adrian Campbell built on Karthik’s post and spoke about how Enterprise Architects work in the top 2 rows of the Zachman Framework (broad and shallow) and the Solutions architects work in the bottom 3 rows (narrow and deep).

If anyone wants to share their job descriptions for a solutions architect, I would be very grateful.  Also I will post the job desc that I come up with for your consideration.

Thanks Karthik and Adrian!

Followup on Sleepless in Seattle … the presentations from MS

 conference, enterprise architecture, higher education, strategic planning  No Responses »
Nov 192007
 

Here is an update to my earlier post about the Higher Education Technology Symposium at Microsoft on Oct 22nd … I received the link to the presentations from the day … enjoy!

Presentations

  • Microsoft Public Sector and Higher Education (Microsoft Office PowerPoint file, 1.6 MB) Ralph Young, Vice President, Microsoft World Wide Public Sector
  • The Collaborative Campus (Microsoft PowerPoint file, 13.5 MB) Olaf Hubel, Enterprise Technology Strategist, Microsoft Corporation Walter Harp, Group Product Manager, Windows Live@Edu
  • Disruption in the Academy: A Case for Catalytic Innovation (Microsoft Office PowerPoint file, 3.1 MB) Anoop Gupta, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Education Products Group
  • New World of Work (Microsoft Office PowerPoint file, 34 MB) Daniel Rasmus, Director of Information Work Vision, Microsoft Corporation
  • Campus Infrastructure Platform (Microsoft Office PowerPoint file, 6 MB) Patrick Hevesi, Enterprise Technology Strategist, Microsoft Corporation
  • A Look into Microsoft Research and Innovation (Microsoft PowerPoint file, 9.5 MB) Behrooz Chitsaz, Director, Microsoft IP Strategy, MS Research
  • How I Learned to be a Better Teacher from Halo (Microsoft Office PowerPoint file, 5.5 MB) Dr. Jim Ptaszynski, Senior Director, World Wide Higher Education Strategy, Microsoft Corporation

The future is already here … can we keep up?

 enterprise architecture, higher education  No Responses »
Nov 152007
 

I ran into two excellent videos in the past couple of weeks … both force us to think and talk about the challenges today, globally and locally at our institutions.

For Enterprise Architects, the videos provide a clear imperative that we need a broad vision, an ability to manage change and the agility to deliver technology to serve the needs of our constituents … particularly in Higher Education.

Shift Happens - by Karl Fisch, modified by Scott McLeod – speaks to globalization and the impact it will have on the world – How can North America and Europe keep up with the growth in China and India?

A Vision of Students Today – by Michael Wesch and the students of Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Class of Spring 2007, Kansas State University – speaks to the challenges and lives of students in Higher Education – Are we really delivering education to suit our students’ needs?
After looking at the videos several times over, I am inspired and daunted by what our future brings. How about you?

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