{"id":161,"date":"2022-11-06T23:46:07","date_gmt":"2022-11-06T23:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.psu.edu\/jaredmcuevas\/?p=161"},"modified":"2022-11-06T23:46:07","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T23:46:07","slug":"post-6-2-the-business-architect-landscape-bal-concept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/?p=161","title":{"rendered":"Post 6.2 – The Business Architecture Landscape (BAL) Concept"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction \/ Definition:\u00a0 Business Architecture Landscape.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Blosch, Brand, & Osmond in their April 2022 article propose a grouping of business models they title the \u2018Business Architecture Landscape\u2019, or BAL.\u00a0 The BAL is not an architecture framework such as the TOGAF or older Zachman framework but rather a \u201cset of interrelated models that make up an organization\u201d and include both internal and external factors of the enterprise.\u00a0 The BAL consists of various models that combine to provide a holistic view of the organization\u2019s strategies, business activities and internal operations, and external factors. The BAL construct consists of three main parts:\u00a0 the strategic core, the ecosystem perspective, and the financial perspective.<\/p>\n

Key Personal Take-Aways.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

The authors place an emphasis on importance of connections and relationships between models, can be as significant or more significant than the objects themselves.\u00a0 For example, the relationship between design and production within an enterprise can be more critical to product success than the capabilities of either department considered independently. In another example, the authors note that \u201cwhen an organization fails, it is almost always at the point of \u2018executing\u2019 its strategy \u2014 the part of the process where the operating model is actually defined and created.\u201d\u00a0 In this example, while a strategy may be solid and an operating model by itself is practical, the links between them are often the cause of failure for organizations.\u00a0 This point serves to highlight an important concept in a previous post (6.1) \u2013 diverse, cross-functional models are important for decision-making.\u00a0 Architects provide a better wholistic picture of the enterprise when their models are diverse.\u00a0 The risk of a miscommunication or break-down in performance between functions or layers (i.e., between strategy and execution as mentioned above) increases when models are highly distinct or separate and do not account for other functional areas of the business.<\/p>\n

The BAL Strategic Core.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u2018strategic core\u2019 of the BAL consists of (a) strategy<\/u>, (b) business<\/u>, and (c) operating<\/u> models.\u00a0 This correlates roughly to the (a) why, (b) what, and (c) how of the enterprise achieves it\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

The BAL Ecosystem Perspective.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ecosystem perspective is composed of two additional models of external and environmental factors.<\/p>\n

The first of these is the \u201cecosystem model<\/u>\u201d which represents the full supply chain of suppliers, customers, competitors, and regulators (governmental and intergovernmental organizations, for example).\u00a0 This provides a primarily externally-focused view which is critical to understanding and shaping the strategic core. Because no companies today operate in a disconnected environment \u2013 every business is reliant upon external supply chains and are regulated to some extent \u2013 modeling the business ecosystem is an important aspect of developing strategy and maintaining the ability to flex operations.\u00a0 The primary challenge for architects in this model is understand and choose the most important aspects of the nearly boundless external environment.<\/p>\n

The second part of the BAL ecosystem in the \u201cservice model<\/u>\u201d which documents the services and\/or products the enterprises produces for customers.<\/p>\n

The BAL Financial Perspective.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Blosch, Brand, & Osmond note, \u201cin many cases, business strategy is shaped by the opportunities and disruptions of the macroeconomic environment.\u201d\u00a0 The financial perspectives consists of the \u201cfinancial model\u201d<\/u> (primarily internal factors such as budgeting, profit margins, taxes, investment, and financial goals) and the \u201ceconomic model<\/u>\u201d (external factors such as the status and general direction of the economy and markets, inflation, local unemployment, price elasticity, and future forecasts for supply and demand).<\/p>\n

Conclusions\/Recommendations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Blosch, Brand, & Osmond make two key recommendations which I think are worth noting.\u00a0 Firstly, they recommend to select only the most important aspects of the BAL to start with, and don\u2019t become over-invested in completing each part of the landscape methodically.\u00a0 This recommendation mirrors other EA opines which recommend starting with quick wins and modeling critical parts of the business which can have tangible, early results rather than systemically attempting to model the entire business at the first iteration.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the Gartner team recommends beginning the BAL modeling with the strategic core:\u00a0 strategy, business, and operations.\u00a0 According to their team, \u201cmost organizations will get the greatest benefit by understanding the relationship between strategies and goals, and business and operating models.\u201d\u00a0 This approach can help to alleviate the organizational disconnect some enterprises see between senior management, operational management teams, and the execution or technical teams.<\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>:\u00a0 “Design a Better Digital Business With the Business Architecture Landscape<\/em>“, Blosch, Brand, & Osmond, Gartner, 29 April 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction \/ Definition:\u00a0 Business Architecture Landscape.\u00a0 Blosch, Brand, & Osmond in their April 2022 article propose a grouping of business models they title the \u2018Business Architecture Landscape\u2019, or BAL.\u00a0 The BAL is not an architecture framework such as the TOGAF or older Zachman framework but rather a \u201cset of interrelated models that make up an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaredmcuevas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}