Top Five Attributes of A World-Class EA Discipline: Key Findings

This research note is restricted to the personal use of rxo4@psu.edu.
Top Five Attributes of a World-Class EA

Discipline
Published: 19 March 2018 ID: G00352046
Analyst(s): Betsy Burton, Marcus Blosch
EA and technology innovation leaders seeking to build a world-class EA

capability must adopt these top five differentiating attributes. All
organizations can benefit from using these attributes to improve the value
proposition and impact of their EA efforts.
Key Findings
Organizations with a world-class EA discipline demonstrate the following differentiating attributes:
■ Active engagement of and use by executives and business leaders, as well as by IT leaders.
■ Create, approve and empower business-driven governance and decision making. They don't
just create committees without authority.
■ Measurement of the quantitative value of EA (EA business value metrics) and the qualitative
value of EA (stakeholder perception metrics at an operational- and transactional-level).
■ Fully integrated with business strategic planning techniques, including scenario planning and
business modeling.
■ Inherently proactive in communicating with stakeholders, training their teams and guiding digital
innovation.
Recommendations
EA and technology innovation leaders seeking to build a world-class EA capability must:
■ Build a world-class EA capability by applying the five attributes described in this research, and
tracking the attributes as they evolve to better support technology-enabled digital business
strategies.
■ Engage business and executive leaders fully from Day 1 of your EA efforts; don't wait until your
organization is at Level 2 or 3 maturity. Once you start with a limited primary focus on either
technology or IT, it is very difficult to change people's perceptions to gain their support.

■ Define a minimum of three to five business-outcome-driven metrics that can be used to

communicate with business and IT leaders. These metrics should be linked to overall business
KPIs and tied to the strategic vision of the organization.
Table of Contents
Analysis.................................................................................................................................................. 3
Attribute No. 1: World-Class EA Initiatives Are Based on Active Engagement of and Use by
Executives and Business Leaders.....................................................................................................3
Attribute No. 2: World-Class EA Efforts Create, Approve and Empower Business-Driven Governance
and Decision Making........................................................................................................................ 7
Attribute No. 3: World-Class EA Programs Measure the Business Value and Stakeholder Perception
of EA................................................................................................................................................ 9
Attribute No. 4: World-Class EA Programs Are Integrated With Business Strategic Planning
Techniques, Including Scenario Planning........................................................................................ 11
Attribute No. 5: World-Class EA Organizations Are Inherently Proactive in Terms of Communication,
Training, and Guiding Digital Innovation...........................................................................................14
Bottom Line....................................................................................................................................17
Gartner Recommended Reading.......................................................................................................... 17
List of Tables
Table 1. IT Management Support and Involvement in EA by EA Maturity Level........................................5

Table 2. Use of EA Tools and Techniques by EA Maturity...................................................................... 13
Table 3. Development of EA Team Members by EA Maturity Level........................................................ 16
List of Figures
Figure 1. CIO and Business Support and Involvement in EA by EA Maturity Level...................................4

Figure 2. Active Use of EA by the Business Leads to a Big Jump Between Level 3 and Level 4 Maturity
.............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Figure 3. Organizations That "Create, Approve and Use" Business-Driven Governance and Decision
Making Can Leap From Level 3 to Level 4.............................................................................................. 8
Figure 4. Business Value Metrics by EA Maturity Level..........................................................................10
Figure 5. Integration With IT and Business Strategy by EA Maturity Level..............................................12
Figure 6. Proactive and Planned Communication by EA Maturity Level................................................. 15
Page 2 of 19 Gartner, Inc. | G00352046

Analysis
The discipline of enterprise architecture (EA) has evolved dramatically over the past five to seven
years. Organizations' businesses and technology investments have become inextricably integrated,
and their technology-enabled businesses are the foundation of a digital business. As a result, EA
has evolved into a strategic planning and investment discipline. Today, business-outcome-driven EA
has become the standard that organizations strive for.
For this reason, clients often ask us about the attributes of organizations with leading or highly
mature EA programs. What are the attributes that differentiate world-class EA programs from
aspiring EA programs? What, specifically, makes them successful? And what are the attributes of
EA that have become commonplace?
To answer these questions, we looked at the responses to Gartner's ITScore for Enterprise
Architecture and Technology Innovation, to see if these attributes emerged (see Evidence section).
Our hypothesis was that there are specific actions the leading EA practices (those at Level 4 and
Level 5 maturity) are taking, thereby setting them apart. There may well be some inherent bias in the
IT score data, as organizations that take Gartner's ITScore maturity assessment may be less
mature. Therefore, our analysis focused on the differential between highly mature organizations
versus less mature organizations, and not on absolute data values.
In this note, we highlight the five "differentiating" attributes that highly mature, leading EA programs
display. Differentiating attributes are the specific actions the leading EA practices (those at Level 4
and Level 5 maturity) are taking, thereby setting them apart. In these cases, the increase in maturity
between levels is significant. We also identify several "common" attributes that are
nondifferentiating attributes across the maturity levels. Common attributes are those that gradually
increase as organizations mature. In other words, all organizations have these attributes to some
degree, and the jump between levels of maturity is relatively small.
To identify these differentiating characteristics, we measured the percentage points of fulfilled

attributes between each maturity level. We have highlighted those attributes that jumped
significantly (for example, more than 30 points) between maturity levels. Each fully realized attribute
that resulted in significant, measurable changes underscores that attribute's importance in
delivering a world-class EA.
Attribute No. 1: World-Class EA Initiatives Are Based on Active Engagement of and

Use by Executives and Business Leaders
The first attribute we find is that more mature organizations meaningfully engage both business and
IT management. Gartner's ITScore assessment asks participants about the level of support and
1
involvement of different roles with the EA program. Among the responses, we found a noticeable
distinction in terms of senior executive and business engagement (see Figure 1).
Gartner, Inc. | G00352046 Page 3 of 19

Figure 1. CIO and Business Support and Involvement in EA by EA Maturity Level
Source: Gartner (March 2018)
The support and involvement of CIOs starts high, even for Level 1 maturity organizations (72%), and
as expected, gradually increased as organizations mature. However, the support and engagement
of corporate executives and business unit managers jumped quickly as organizations evolved from
Level 2 to Level 3 maturity (28%), and from Level 3 to Level 4 maturity (21%).

For program and portfolio managers and other IT roles, we saw a smooth and gradual curve, much
like the CIOs' results shown in Figure 1 (see Table 1).
Table 1. IT Management Support and Involvement in EA by EA Maturity Level
Role Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
Infrastructure Managers 47% 76% 89% 98% 100%
Project/Program Managers 33% 61% 79% 100% 100%
Application Developers 30% 54% 69% 84% 100%
IT Operations Management 33% 56% 73% 88% 100%
The noticeable differentiating attribute that separates those organizations with a world-class EA
program is their support and involvement from corporate executives and business unit managers.
The common attribute is the support and involvement of IT management and the CIO.
The other distinguishing attribute that appears between Level 3 and Level 4 maturity is the degree
2
to which business leaders leverage the efforts and output from EA. We found an average jump of
39 percentage points when organizations move from Level 3 to 4 in terms of the degree to which EA
is used by the business, how it is linked to budget cycle and how it is expressed in business
language (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Active Use of EA by the Business Leads to a Big Jump Between Level 3 and Level 4 Maturity

Actionable recommendations for organizations seeking to deliver world-class EA:
■ Integrate business's efforts into EA's planning and budgeting cycles, and use business
language to gain business support and engagement. To be effective in today's technology-
enabled business environment, it is not enough to focus on only garnering IT leadership support
and engagement.
■ Focus on business and executive leaders' engagement from Day 1 of your EA efforts; don't wait
till your organization is at Level 2 or 3 maturity. Once you start with a technology-only or IT-only
focus, it is very difficult to change people's perceptions to gain their support (see "Must-Read
Research Notes to Start, Restart or Renew Your EA Program").
■ Create valuable EA deliverables with specific stakeholders in mind (business and IT), and
always express the value in terms of business outcomes (see "Five Best Practices to Increase
Stakeholder Engagement and Support in the Digital Era").
Attribute No. 2: World-Class EA Efforts Create, Approve and Empower Business-

Driven Governance and Decision Making
The second attribute we noticed was the degree to which organizations set up and empower their
governance committees.
Regardless of maturity level, it is a common attribute for organizations to define some form of
governance and compliance structures. These committees are set up to deal with management and
compliance issues and understand business-driven future state versus current state. They often
include both business and IT people.
The differentiating attribute that specifically sets world-class organization apart is that they not only
define these governance committees; they also formally approve and use the governance structure
3
to make budget and investment decisions. The critical attributes that set leaders apart is that they
have business and executive support and involvement (see Figure 1 and Table 1), and that they
actively develop and use the governance committee. Figure 3 shows how this attribute helps to
further maturity.

Figure 3. Organizations That "Create, Approve and Use" Business-Driven Governance and Decision Making Can Leap From Level 3 to Level 4

■ Continually ensure your EA program is focused first and foremost on business-outcome-driven

governance, and then on assurance (see "Rethink EA Governance, Assurance and Review
Boards in the Digital Business Era").
■ Develop a plan for getting governance and assurance efforts agreed to and used by creating
specific roles and responsibilities, charters and cross-organization engagement. Revisit these
every six months to ensure that they reflect the current business strategy and priorities.
■ Survey business and IT leaders on the effectiveness and use of governance and assurance
efforts relative to their impact on future-state execution, modernizations, collaboration and cost
optimization (see "Leading Enterprise Architects Use Economic Concepts to Guide Cost
Optimization Efforts and Deliverables").
Attribute No. 3: World-Class EA Programs Measure the Business Value and

Stakeholder Perception of EA
Across the board, effective definition and use of metrics is a distinguishing characteristic of leading
EA organizations. In previous research, we have cited that only 47% of organizations define metrics
for EA (see "EA Business Value Metrics You Must Have Today"). In reviewing the recent Gartner
ITScore responses, we find that 82% of these organizations do not define metrics to measure the
impact of EA on helping the organization deliver targeted business outcomes (see "Define a Value
Proposition for a Winning Business-Outcome-Driven EA Program"). And many EA practitioners still
focus on and propagate operational- and transactional-level metrics about the EA program, with the
primary focus on measuring the internal activities of EA.
Even though "EA metrics and business value" remains one of the three top topics clients are
interested in hearing about at Gartner's EA summit, we still find many lacking the skills, support and
agreement to create effective business-value-based metrics.
Defining EA business value metrics is a glaring distinction between organizations with an EA

practice at Level 3 and Level 4 maturity. As shown in Figure 4, we found a 50 percentage point jump
between Level 3 and 4 maturity in terms of:
■ Defining, agreeing to and reporting business metrics

■ Measuring the impact of EA
■ 4
Stating metrics in business terms

Figure 4. Business Value Metrics by EA Maturity Level

Please note that the results went down between Levels 3 and 4 in Figure 4. This is
because one organization with an overall score at Level 5 (4.75) responded that they
did not have metrics. Looking at this response data more closely, we find that this
specific organization's EA program has been in place for five to 10 years, and it
reported that executives, and business and IT leaders perceived it as "very valuable." It
is possible that this organization has reached a level of visibility that it believes that it
does not need to define and track business value metrics. Our view is that this is a
significant mistake in the long term. Organizations, regardless of maturity level, must
continue to define and track business value metrics to ensure continued support for EA
and to ensure the EA program is delivering business outcomes.
It's interesting to consider the connected picture that emerges from each of these responses:
■ The way organizations gain and retain business and executive management support is to
express the value of their EA in terms of it contributing toward targeted business outcomes.
■ To support effective governance, EA efforts must be integrated with the business and used to
inform business and technology investment decisions, which need to be based on business-
outcome-driven metrics.
The reality is that these attributes are highly interdependent.
■ Every EA program must define a minimum of three to five business-outcome-driven metrics that
can be used to communicate with business and IT leaders. These metrics should be linked to
overall business key performance indicators (KPIs) and tied to the strategic vision of the
organization.
■ EA leaders may also define operational- and transactional-level metrics that measure EA
stakeholder sentiment and perception. However, these should be primarily used within the EA
team management to guide resource allocation decisions, not to demonstrate the business
value of EA.
Attribute No. 4: World-Class EA Programs Are Integrated With Business Strategic

Planning Techniques, Including Scenario Planning
In the past, organizations often developed a business strategy and an IT strategy, and then tried to
"align" them. The reality is, in the era of digital business, this type of thinking is quickly becoming
passé. Today, business and IT strategy are one and the same. Gartner research highlights the
following predictions (see "Predicts 2018: Scaling to Deliver Digital Business Strategy and
Technology Innovation"):

■ By 2020, 55% of organizations will have a continuous, and integrated, business and IT strategy
planning effort.
■ By 2020, 75% of the heads of EA will be a key strategic business and technology advisor for at
least one CxO.
Given this, it was not a surprise to find that one of the key differentiators for world-class EA
organizations was the degree to which they integrate their efforts with strategic planning (see Figure
5
5).
Figure 5. Integration With IT and Business Strategy by EA Maturity Level

The integration between EA and IT strategic planning followed a fairly expected curve that aligned
with maturity. The significant jump in integration with IT strategy shows up at a low level of maturity
(between Level 1 and Level 2 maturity). This is consistent with the mistaken approach that many
organizations take of focusing primarily or only on working across IT as they start EA (see "Avoid the
13 Worst EA Practices and Ensure Your Success in the Digital Business Era").
However, we find a significant jump with respect to integrating EA with business strategy planning
between Levels 2 and 3, and again between Levels 3 and 4. It is also key to note the low
percentage of organizations integrating with business strategy planning at Level 1 (6%). This is likely
to do with a mistaken overfocus on IT and a lack of visibility to the business strategy (see "Deducing
Business Strategy Is a Unique Opportunity for EA Practitioners to Both Drive Execution and Gain
Credibility").
The use of an EA tool repository and the use of EA to support current-state systems is a common
attribute across levels of maturity. This is consistent with advice that Gartner has been providing for
years (see "Hype Cycle for Enterprise Architecture, 2017"). However, use of scenario planning and
business capability modeling are notable differentiating attributes (highlighted in red) for
6
organizations evolving from Level 2 to Level 3 maturity (see Table 2).
Table 2. Use of EA Tools and Techniques by EA Maturity
Use of EA Tool/Technique Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
It is used as a document repository to produce documentation

and presentations 53% 81% 89% 100% 100%
It is used to support the IT technology and help manage the

current-state systems 49% 79% 90% 98% 100%
It is used to model the business and document the business

processes 36% 62% 82% 100% 100%
It is used for scenario planning, to show the IT impact when

decisions are made 20% 48% 78% 92% 100%
It is also used by senior management in strategic business

planning, incorporating not only IT, but also business processes
and capabilities 12% 37% 72% 90% 100%
■ Ensure the effectiveness and business value of your EA program by setting a strong foundation
of integration with the business strategy and a clear connection to the business's targeted
outcomes (see "The Enterprise Architect's First 100 Days").

■ EA teams at all levels of maturity should invest at least 20% of their time on developing and
furthering strategic-planning (see "Strategic Planning Essentials in the Digital Age") and
scenario-planning (see "Use Scenario Planning to Make Business and IT Strategies More
Resilient in an Increasingly Volatile World") skills.
■ Leverage Gartner's EA research to help your stakeholders and sponsors determine the balance
of EA resources between strategic and operational work (see "Toolkit: Determine Your Business
Scope and Focus for EA").
Attribute No. 5: World-Class EA Organizations Are Inherently Proactive in Terms of

Communication, Training, and Guiding Digital Innovation
Last, we find a significant jump between Level 3 and Level 4 maturity where organizations focus
proactively on communication, training and guiding digital innovation.
Organizations with world-class EA programs are differentiated in the degree to which they
proactively communicate. And, in particular the degree to which communication is formally planned
7
and targeted to specific stakeholders (see Figure 6). This is very consistent with research we have
delivered on creating high-impact EA deliverables (see "Best Practices for Delivering Targeted and
High-Impact Reference Architectures" and "Best Practices for Delivering Targeted and High-Impact
Roadmaps"). In that research, we identify the top three best practices for creating effective
deliverables:
1. Target to a clearly defined audience (role, person and team).

2. Focus on the audience's questions and issues in their terms.
3. Illustrate a direct link between business strategic direction and changes.
Consider this differentiating attribute along with the other differentiating attributes: Organizations
with world-class EA initiatives have business and IT leaders' support and engagement, they focus
on business value and outcomes, and they communicate specifically to stakeholders (see Figure 6
and "Define a Value Proposition for a Winning Business-Outcome-Driven EA Program").

Figure 6. Proactive and Planned Communication by EA Maturity Level

We find that is common across levels of maturity for organizations to have people outside EA
actively involved in EA efforts. However, notable differentiating attributes of organizations with
world-class EA programs is that they proactively develop future EA team members and define their
career paths (see Table 3, highlighted in red, and "Maximize the EA Team's Effectiveness by
8
Defining Team Roles" or "Developing a High-Performing EA Team").
Table 3. Development of EA Team Members by EA Maturity Level
Career Path Planning Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
Some people have been assigned enterprise architecture as their 59% 84% 92% 98% 100%
primary responsibility (EA core team).
There are resources in addition to the EA core team who 52% 79% 91% 96% 100%
participate or are involved in enterprise architecture.
A program exists to train and develop future enterprise 5% 12% 28% 70% 100%
architects.
Career paths for enterprise architects have been identified. 6% 15% 39% 78% 100%
The EA team has the confidence and support of business 1% 11% 49% 96% 100%
executives to help drive digital innovation.
We also find a significant differentiating attributed of organizations at Levels 3 and 4 maturity is their
confidence and ability to support digital innovation. In other words, world-class EA organizations are
proactive in developing their teams, garner business and executive support, and integrate with
business planning, all of which enables them to have the ability to drive digital innovation.
■ Create signature-ready deliverables that people actually use to build the value of EA.
Communicating and selling the value of EA by creating targeted and actionable deliverables
focused on business outcomes is critical.
■ Ensure that your team remains focused on the primary audience for a deliverable by writing
the name of the audience on the deliverable.
■ Determine the question (challenge and/or opportunity) the stakeholder audience is facing,
and use this to determine the type and scope of deliverable needed.
■ Deliver business value or achieve target outcomes by leveraging deliverables that align
directly with the scope and focus of your business outcomes.
■ Develop a proactive and continual team career paths as a way to transcend and differentiate
from cross-organizational EA teams already common across maturity levels (see "Maximize the
EA Team's Effectiveness by Defining Team Roles").

■ Find ways to increase the diversity and digital dexterity of the EA team, including rotations,
recruiting different types of people and developing new skills (such as design thinking,
management consultancy; see "Deliver Digital Business Results by Boosting Workforce Digital
Dexterity").
Bottom Line
To advance your EA program's capability and maturity, it is important to understand these five key
attributes. Use them as a guide to improve the business value and perceived value of your EA
efforts. All organizations can benefit from understanding these attributes, as guide for improving the
value of their efforts. For organizations seeking to deliver world-class EA initiative, understand these
attributes today. But also understand that this is not an end state. Clients must stay on top of their
program focus and maturity, as these attributes will continue to evolve as our technology-enabled
businesses continue to evolve.
Gartner Recommended Reading

Some documents may not be available as part of your current Gartner subscription.
"ITScore Overview for Enterprise Architecture and Technology Innovation"
"Build a World-Class EA Capability Primer for 2018"
"Hype Cycle for Enterprise Architecture, 2017"
"Predicts 2018: Scaling to Deliver Digital Business Strategy and Technology Innovation"
Evidence
Methodology: Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) with the following
number of respondents by maturity level:
■ Level 1: n = 402
■ Level 2: n = 772
■ Level 3: n = 365
■ Level 4: n = 50
■ Level 5: n = 4
1 Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) in response to the question,
"What degree of involvement does each of the following stakeholders have in the enterprise
architecture (EA) program for your enterprise?" (Includes "supports, but not directly involved" and
"actively supports and participates.")

2 Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) in response to, "Please indicate
whether each of the following statements relating to EA development is true for your enterprise."
(Only includes those who answered "yes.")
3Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) in response to, "Please indicate
whether each of the following EA-related deliverables has been created, delivered, approved and/or
being used in your enterprise." (Includes "delivered," "approved" and "being used.")
4Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) in response to the question,
"Please indicate whether each of the following statements relating to EA metrics is true for your
enterprise." (Only includes those who answered "yes.")
5Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) in response to the question,
"Please indicate whether each of the following statements relating to the integration of EA is true for
your enterprise." (Only includes those who answered "yes.")
6 Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) in response to, "For each of the
following, please indicate which best characterizes your use of tools by enterprise architecture
within your enterprise." (Only include those who answered "yes.")
7Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) in response to the question, "To
what degree does each of the following EA-related communication activities occur in your
enterprise?" (Only includes responses of "often" and "always.")
8Surveys taken between January 2016 and June 2017 (n = 1,593) in response to, "Please indicate
whether each of the following statements relating to enterprise architecture resources is true for
your enterprise." (Only include those who answered "yes.")

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