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The Importance of an EA Charter

A charter is a vital artifact deliverable for any EA start-up process. It sets out explicitly what EA is and what it can do for the organization, specifying these clearly within the organization's current culture and level of EA maturity. The charter can help reduce political friction, allowing management, stakeholders and peer groups to understand the role of EA and how it will be delivered in the organization. Having a charter that clearly defines the value proposition of EA and describes how it operates can be very useful in educating IT and business leaders about what EA is and how the team works.

Developing an EA Charter

The charter should be created at the beginning of your practice and revised at the beginning of each architecture iteration or project engagement. Revisions at regular intervals will ensure that the definition, function, and scope described in the charter are still accurate as your practice matures and your organization's needs change.

Referring to one of the templates or samples below will give you a good start on a first draft. Make sure that the scope of the practice described in your charter is challenging and of true value to your organization, but not overly ambitious at first; failure to reach clearly stated and formally approved goals would be too great a set-back. Make sure also that your charter's is written in the language of your stakeholders, not in architect-speak. It must reflect the local culture and politics of your organization and communicate clearly both within your team and throughout the organization. Circulate the draft among your key stakeholders for comments and corrections to make sure it represents a shared understanding of your practice's mission, goals, structure, and scope. The final, revised version should then be formally approved by the governing body or executive sponsoring your practice.

EA Charter Templates

The following two examples are taken from the readings referred to below. The first, from the Gartner Group, results in a substantial document of 10-20 pages and is meant for annual review. The second, from a book published by Springer, results in a "vision statement" of 3-5 pages and is intended to be written as a first step in every architectural engagement.

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