Showing posts with label UK Office of Government Commerce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK Office of Government Commerce. Show all posts

August 9, 2007

What can ITIL teach us about EA

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and User-Centric Enterprise Architecture are both customer driven and focused on providing users what they need to carry out the mission of the organization. Both are about achieving results.

ITIL and user-centric EA look like they compete, but really are mutually supportive. Here’s how:

  • ITIL is a framework of best practices that seek to provide information technology service support and delivery to the end-user; User-centric EA focuses on the end-user and seeks to provide them useful and usable products and services.
  • ITIL looks to match service levels to user requirements; user-centric EA looks to match technology solutions to business and information requirements.
  • The ITIL framework has both a business perspective and an IT perspective — sounds familiar to EA? EA synthesizes business and technology information for enhancing decision making.
  • ITIL looks at all the following: business, applications, infrastructure, security, service, and planning; EA’s views include business, performance, information, service components, technology, security, and develops the plans for these.
  • ITIL is an outgrowth of the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce; EA is rooted in the United States Clinger-Cohen Act and the Office of Management and Budget’s Federal Enterprise Architecture.
  • ITIL provides goals and activities for all types of IT processes including: the management of configuration, incidents, problems, change, service levels, finance, availability, security, capacity, and continuity; EA provides an as-is, to-be, and transition plan for information systems and technologies in relation to performance, business, and information requirements. Both ITIL and EA are looking to enhance mission execution.

At the end of the day, both ITIL and user-centric EA provide a framework and structure for IT to better service the business and its end-users. ITIL will provide for the process side and EA will do the same for the planning and governance.


Share/Save/Bookmark