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The purpose of enterprise architecture is to optimize across the enterprise the often fragmented legacy of processes (both manual and automated) into an integrated environment that is responsive to change and supportive of the delivery of the business strategy. [The Open Group Architecture Framework, Version 9.1. ISBN 9789087536794]
The Enterprise Architecture consists of four key layers and is driven by the needs of the organization, not the IT department:
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Share Best Practices, Data and Services across University IT.
- University IT is our term for the federation of IT service providers at Columbia University. Columbia operates under a Coordination [low standardization, high integration. See Chapter 2 of Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution. Harvard Business School Press. 2006. ISBN 9781422148174] business model, sharing some customers, and services while having independent business units (schools, divisions, departments). The primary objective of the EA Working Group is to share knowledge, practices, data and services (where applicable) that meet the collective business needs of our individual and shared constituencies at Columbia.
Identify Business Stakeholders and Communicate Value of EA.
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Enterprise Architecture is a formal practice and approach to developing, communicating and delivering business goals and, in the case of this Working Group, how those goals can be supported by IT. This work will involve joint learning and sharing a standard methodology [TOGAF: The Open Group Architecture Framework. http://www3.opengroup.org/subjectareas/enterprise/togaf] including training for key staff in the practice of EA and how it coordinates with ITIL Service Strategy and Design processes.
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