Charter Version 1.0, Adopted on 2 March 2007

Background

Enterprise Architecture (E.A.) has grown in importance as more functions are pushed into the middleware layer and as more systems are being orchestrated and integrated to carry out business processes. Higher Education processes have expanded beyond the traditional silo functions within enterprise. Security risks are distributed with every flat-file transfer and every integration point. The cost of maintaining, upgrading and integrating systems has risen as the complexity of the environments has increased. The need for enterprise-wide principles, business process driven designs and holistic requirements is driving the need for enterprise-wide architectures.

Mission

ITANA is focused on developing the skills, tools and a suite of products to assist institutions with their enterprise architectural needs. ITANA is focused on serving higher education but drawing on expertise outside of higher education. ITANA will draw from other Enterprise Architecture groups (The Open Group, Microsoft, etc.) where suitable and will augment their work to maximize the fit with higher education.

ITANA is not a marketing opportunity. We believe that if vendor products are well architected, they will be easier to sell to higher educations institutions. We do want participation from vendors and open discussions about their products' architectures.

Activities

There are six major areas of activities for ITANA:

• Outreach and Education within Higher Education - this includes papers, presentations and other activities explaining the role of I.T. Architects in the enterprise, how various institutions have implemented architecture and lessons learned.
• Outreach and Education outside of Higher Education - this includes outreach to Enterprise Architects outside of the higher education space and product architects for vendors who serve higher education.
• Act as a liaison to other groups of interest such as other Architecture groups, middleware groups and software projects.
• Professional Development - this includes sharing of tricks, tools and success (and failure) stories between architects; reviews and assessments of various software packages; and support and therapy as needed.
• Working Groups - this includes formation of working groups that will focus on key topics.
• Development of  "common practice" - this includes: frameworks,  base requirement documents, and other such things.

Goals

• Increase the awareness of the role of I.T. Architects in the enterprise and their value to the organization.
• Grow new I.T. Architects that are well founded in their skills.
• Provide a space for new architects to get their feet wet, ask questions, get help and guidance.
• Share the workload on large projects among several institutions  and by doing so, deliver a more universal solution.
• Develop common artifacts that are useful to many institutions rather than hidden away in a single institution.
• Provide a pool of expertise from a range of institutions and areas of interest for other projects that are looking for participation and input. 
• Provide a point of contact for other groups regarding EA and act as a conduit for collaboration on architectural efforts with vendors.

Members

Jim Phelps, Chair How to join ITANA

NOTE WELL: All ITANA activities are governed by the Internet2 Intellectual Property Framework. Participation in ITANA is separate and distinct from membership in Internet2 and EDUCAUSE.