Developing Business Architecture and Operating Model: Steps and Core Elements

Develop Business Architecture

The EA process model consists of seven iterative steps that can be applied to any architectural viewpoint, allowing architects to evolve depth and breadth as business context changes, without a strict waterfall approach.

Figure 1

Building a business architecture is an iterative process; the same EA process can be used when developing an EBA.

1] Define and Scope

To start using EBA, the EA team should:

Establish a clear EBA definition, including overall objectives.

Create a scope statement for this iteration and an out‑of‑scope statement.

Develop a statement of relevant assumptions (e.g., availability of business subject‑matter experts).

Identify the overall business sponsor and business initiators for each iteration.

Determine relationships between EBA activities and other viewpoint activities, dependencies, and relationships.

Draft a statement describing the relationship with the overall EA process.

Identify key constraints (compliance, extended enterprise ecosystem, organizational culture and politics, industry and regional requirements).

2] Organize

Identify and organize the team to complete the iteration's work, detailing leadership and member roles, and ensure formal involvement of key leaders. Collect necessary supporting information, models, and artifacts.

Clear charter based on goals and objectives.

Explicit roles and responsibilities.

3] Future State

Define the EA vision for the future state by establishing requirements, principles, and models that describe long‑term goals and how to achieve them, and understand how business context applies to the EBA iteration.

4] Current State

Establish a baseline of the current state to understand the present business dimensions within the EA/EBA scope and prepare for gap analysis.

5] Gap Analysis

Document the gaps between the current state and the envisioned future state.

6] Migration Plan

Use an EA roadmap as a planning tool to propose a set of changes that move the enterprise from the current to the future state.

EBA team should:

Recommend changes to EBA dimensions (people, processes, organization, finance).

Identify related changes to ETA, EIA, and ESA architectures.

Determine adjustment decisions (organizational changes, re‑defining projects, project initiation).

Identify investment decisions (skills, personnel, technology).

Assess impacts from internal and external factors (compliance, culture, politics, industry, region) and develop scenarios for key areas.

7] Iterate and Optimize

As the organization progresses, the EBA team should consider deeper iterations, especially strengthening dependencies on other architecture viewpoints, to improve relevance and impact analysis and increase agility.

Operating Model

The operating model is an abstract representation of how, where, and with whom an organization operates, encompassing daily decisions that achieve its mission and strategic goals while delivering value to target customers.

Aligning the operating model with the business model tightens execution, enabling lower‑cost, higher‑value delivery; business architects have a significant opportunity to define operating models that create important value.

Figure 2

Five Core Elements for an Effective Operating Model

The five elements essential for defining an operating model are:

Leadership

Governance

Organizational Model

Capabilities

Services

Business architects who focus on the clarity and consistency of these elements support the successful execution of company strategy.