The question that led to this blog posting is “how much data is moved between applications in a perfect portfolio”. A perfect application portfolio is one that has no functional overlaps and has been optimized to minimize the need for integration by ensuring that tightly-coupled functions are grouped in the same application. The answer is... more
For St. Joseph Health, improving health and quality of life of the people is the ultimate mission. It requires a number of considerations, or, “dimensions of performance” as it was introduced by the organization at this year’s MDM & Data Governance Summit in San Francisco: Cost of the care – including the current and projected... more
I enjoyed reading this story this week in the WSJ talking about data and how it is being used by startups with an example of how the company Chubbies is using modern data management tools. Unlike the story my belief is that the new era of data management tools is net job creator and not a job eliminator... more
Communicating a complex topic like Enterprise Architecture in a simple way that avoids technical terms and buzzwords is not easy. This blog builds on earlier articles by Rob Karel than explains Big Data and Metadata to Mom and by John Schmidt that explains Integration to kids by focusing on Enterprise Architecture for an audience of... more
Just exactly how do your move from a “Just a Bunch of Data” (JBOD) architecture to a coherent enterprise data architecture? The white paper, “The Great Rethink: Building a Highly Responsive and Evolving Data Integration Architecture” by Claudia Imhoff and Joe McKendrick provides an interesting view of what such an architecture might look like. The... more
We are way past the point where the architecture needs to be aligned with business goals and value delivery. That is necessary but no longer sufficient. We are now at the point where architecture needs to be central to the creation of an organization’s strategy process. Not to get hyperbolic, but anything less is risky for your... more
To determine what is the appropriate sensitive data protection method to use, you should first answer the following questions regarding the requirements: Do you need to protect data at rest (in storage), during transmission, and/or when accessed? Do some privileged users still need the ability to view the original sensitive data or does sensitive data... more
I’m often asked to share my thoughts about protecting sensitive data. The questions that typically come up include: Which types of data should be protected? Which data should be classified as “sensitive?” Where is this sensitive data located? Which groups of users should have access to this data? Because these questions come up frequently, it... more
I have been re-reading Enterprise Architecture as Strategy from the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR).* One concept that they talk about that jumped out at me was the idea of a “Foundation for Execution.” Everybody is working to drive new business initiatives, to digitize their businesses, and to thrive in an era of... more
The conversation at the Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit was very interesting last week. They central them for years had been idea of closely linking enterprise architecture with the goals and strategy. This year, Gartner added another layer to that conversation. They are now actively promoting the idea of enterprise architects as strategists. The reason why... more