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Aspiring enterprise architects learn
concept from its creator

John Zachman methodically migrated from one box to another on his overhead display of a Framework for Enterprise Architecture Tuesday afternoon.

Considered the “father of Enterprise Architecture,” Zachman explained the relationship of the 56 boxes and how the job functions and concepts become building blocks for an entirely new way of structuring a business organization.

Or, in this case, the Idaho Transportation Department.

Zachman was the featured speaker on the first day of a four-day Enterprise Architecture “boot camp” this week. It was designed to help the 31 applicants attending become better positioned to compete for one of the department’s new enterprise architect positions.

Liza Fox, ITD’s Chief Technology Officer, anticipates the creation of 6-8 architect positions that will represent data, technology, systems and solutions in the new operational model.

ITD administrators narrowed a field of 12 applicants for a new Enterprise Architect Manager position to six and conducted interviews this week. The new manager, expected to be named the week of Dec. 10, will be responsible for setting up an Enterprise Architecture office by the first week of January and will help select the enterprise architects later this month, Fox said.

Fox was encouraged by the broad range of ITD disciplines represented at the boot camp. Nominated by their immediate supervisors, participants came from the divisions of Highways, Motor Vehicles and Administrative Services. The boot camp culminated with an exam Friday to determine how much participants learned about enterprise architecture.

Zachman is the founder of the enterprise architecture movement, which has received broad acceptance around the world as an integrated framework (or periodic table) of descriptive representations for enterprises.

He has been focusing on information strategy and architecture for nearly 35 years. He retired from IBM in 1990 to begin the Zachman Institute for Framework Advancement, an organization dedicated to advancing the conceptual and implementation states of the “art in Enterprise Architecture.”

He also operates his own education and consulting business, Zachman International, and has presented workshops, seminars and lectures internationally on the topic.

Before joining IBM, he was a line officer in the Navy and is a retired commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve. The U.S. Federal Chief Information Officers Council has adopted his enterprise architecture structure as part of the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework Standard.

The boot camp, including Zachman’s presentation, was delivered by Intervista Institute for Enterprise Architecture Education, based in Miami (http://www.intervista-institute.com/).

The first day focused on Understanding Enterprise Architecture, including implementation practicalities. The second day covered business architecture fundamentals. The final day-and-a-half included discussions on using business strategies to drive architecture and the concluding exam.