Page History

What is your name and title?

Louis King, Enterprise Architect
Andrew Newman, Director-Design Services , Enterprise Architecture 

See also: 
Yale's EA practice website, Yale University Enterprise Architecture, for more information.

See also: 
Yale University EA Maturity Review - 2020, Yale University EA Maturity Review - 2019, Yale University EA Maturity Review - 2018

How did your architecture practice get started?

Yale's CIO established the inaugural position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in 2013. The Office of the CTO was established one year later, in 2014. The Office was charged to lead architectural governance and technology strategy development within Information Technology Services (ITS) and where possible, across the University. Staffed with three, full-time, enterprise architects the office focused on strategy development, architecture reviews, technology roadmap development, portfolio lifecycle management, and architecture consultation.

In response to budgetary pressures on ITS the size of the office was reduced in subsequent years and upon the departure of the CTO, the remaining capability resource was moved to the Infrastructure Design Services team. It currently operates there and works Under design services the EA practice continued to deliver its capabilities and also began working closely with a newly established Technology Architecture Standards Team that together will recommend future directions.

In July of 2018 the IT architecture resources were reorganized to a distributed model in which EA (2 FTE) are housed in the IT Shared Services department and IT solution architects (12+ FTE), the Architecture Group, report directly to departments based on their domain expertise. Members of the Architecture Group contribute a fraction of their effort towards EA activities of design, governance and professional development.

What is the focus of your practice – e.g., enterprise, business, technical, solution, data architecture?

The Enterprise Architecture and Design Services capability focuses primarily on the application, data, and technology architecture of enterprise services, architectural governance of solution architecture, and digital transformation in a few areas that the team has deep expertise in the business functions of the University.

Enterprise Architecture supports ITS Organizational Priorities through an organization-wide approach to designing, planning, and governing the fundamental IT architecture used to deliver ITS services.

• EA supports One IT at Yale by ensuring essential interoperability, reduced redundancy and architectural collaboration across ITS departments and IT Partners. 

• EA improves Service Quality and reduces technical debt through reviewed solution designs, technology standards, and multi-year technology planning.

• EA contributes to the Workplace of Choice through an engaging program for architects and solution designers to exchange knowledge, advance professional collaboration, and learn new skills.

EA Capabilities

The EA Team provides direct services, facilitates IT architecture governance, and leads a program to advance the professional community of architects, solution designers, and related specialists. It also coordinates the EA contributions of architects embedded in ITS departments and IT Partners in a distributed approach to EA.

See also: A Federated Approach to Enterprise Architecture.

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How big is your practice and where is it located in the organization?

Yale's EA capabilities are led through the Infrastructure Design Services team. While Yale does not explicitly call this an EA practice, the capabilities of the office align closely to EA. The office has the director, one full-time enterprise architect, and four full-time senior solution architects.The EA capability consists of 2 FTE housed in the IT Shared Services department within ITS. IT Shared Services also houses portfolio management, IT service management, quality assurance and training. Synergy across these capabilities is beneficial. 

What is your practice model for working with related teams – e.g., federated architecture practice?

The Design Services Team leads a federated approach to delivering EA capabilities. It works closely with 5-10 other architects and solution designers in ITS. It also works closely with IT Partners across campus. The Technology Architecture Committee (TAC) (Yale's architecture review board) includes architects and technology leaders from key departments of the Universityand coordinates certain EA activities of the Architecture Group, consisting of departmental and IT partner architects and design oriented professionals (12+ FTE). Each member of the Architecture Group contributes a fraction of their effort toward EA activities.

How would you describe the maturity of your architecture practice in terms of:

See the Higher Education Enterprise Architecture Maturity Model for more about:

• • Scope definition - 23
  • Engagement - 2
  • Impact assessment - 12
  • Delivery - 3-24
  • Management - 2

What are major trends you see in your practice and your enterprise?

• Improved alignment to organizational processes
• Tighter focus on operational excellence and debt reduction
• Beginning engagements in longer-term road maps and planning 
• Continued automation of infrastructure and application deployment
• The use of Software Defined Networking in cloud and local environments
• Increased awareness and investment in data governance 

How does your team manage its work internally and on projects?

• Each architect manages their own projects
• The Technology Architecture Committee allows for cross domain discussion and inclusion
• EA annually allocates a percent of effort towards specific capabilities. In capabilities where there is overlap, one EA is assigned the lead.
• Work and communications are managed on Wikis, Teams and Sharepoint repositories.
• Kanban boards and spreadsheets are utilized where appropriate.Time is recorded in an ITS project tracking and effort reporting system

What are your major challenges?

• Earning full buy-in from the Senior Leadership Team in ITS
• Portfolio projects demanding exceptions to architectural best practices for expedience
• Refresh projects side-stepping the governance process
• Identifying and implementing architecture opportunities in debt reductionIdentifying architecture opportunities

What projects have been your major focus lately?

• Next generation networkAzure cloud development
• Operations and security monitoring
• Business IntelligenceTechnology Road Map development
• Standards developmentCultural and Natural Heritage shared infrastructure