The development history of enterprise IT architecture
When it comes to IT architecture, everyone is familiar with it. Some people say that IT architecture is a part of enterprise architecture, and it is combined with business architecture to create IT informatization construction suitable for the business. Others say that IT architecture is a methodology and a formulation for enterprises. IT construction strategies, standards, services, products, solutions, and corresponding IT vendors’ recommendations or decisions. No matter what, IT architecture is the foundation of enterprise IT informatization construction. It can effectively guide the development and execution of informatization projects. Today I will talk about the development process of enterprise IT architecture.
In the early days, there was no IT architecture. Information infrastructure and application systems were the so-called IT architecture. Later, with the introduction of the SOA concept, enterprises gradually developed a holistic view of IT construction, and the construction of information facilities began from the overall IT architecture level. Planning, now with the promotion of mobile, big data, cloud computing, and other technologies, new technology models, and business models are constantly emerging, and the IT architecture is evolving towards a more optimized architecture...\
IT architecture definition understanding
Speaking of IT architecture, it is bound to be related to
the two words of enterprise architecture and business architecture. Business
architecture refers to the business operation model, process system,
organizational structure, geographical distribution, etc. of the enterprise. IT
architecture and business architecture belong to enterprise architecture,
and the two support each other cooperation.
1 Data architecture
Data architecture is the core of IT architecture. Data is
the most direct and asset of an enterprise. It can display objective things in
the truest manner. Enterprises will consider various aspects of planning in the
construction of data architecture. Data architecture includes data
inter-relationship. The integration of data, the logical relationship of data,
the governance and application of data, the construction of data architecture
will run through the entire process of enterprise IT architecture, from the
initial simple data governance to the final data decision analysis. The
specific content includes a clear definition of data domain, logic between system
data, system data integration and interaction, data standard formulation, data
security storage access, and control, etc.
2 Application architecture
The application architecture inherits the strategic development direction and business model of the enterprise upwards, plans and guides the positioning and functions of various IT systems of the enterprise downwards, and provides the management of business functions and data assets. The application architecture includes application systems, business processes, and core functions. Generally, when an enterprise builds an application architecture, it plans the value, positioning, use, and construction sequence of the system according to business logic and requirements. The planning content includes: the design of functional modules, the scalability of the system, the degree of satisfaction of functional requirements and non-functional requirements and so on, the application architecture blueprint is finally issued, and the architecture will be continuously revised and improved as the construction progresses.
3 Technical architecture
Technical architecture is a description of the logical software and hardware capabilities required to support business, data, and applications. It is also the technical infrastructure that supports application architecture and data architecture. It mainly includes the underlying IT infrastructure, technical platforms, components, technical standards, and technical logic. Etc., including security management, application software, application platform, physical environment, and system management. With the development of technology, the technical architecture of the enterprise will also make corresponding adjustments. Normally, the service-oriented model, the integration of technology platforms, and the optimization of the system are fixed parts of the architecture.
The evolution of IT architecture
In the full life cycle of IT architecture, when it comes to the development process of IT informatization, there will always be a sentence: enterprise informatization has gone through the process of from scratch to existence, from existence to many, from many to scattered, after information the modernization era is facing a new stage of system integration, optimization of IT architecture, and enhancement of IT value. This sentence indeed speaks to the current IT status quo faced by many companies, but with the development of technology and the continuous improvement of corporate informatization awareness, many companies have gone through the integration period and are moving towards a higher stage, such as data governance analysis, Business process reengineering, artificial intelligence, big data, etc. are shown in the following figure, which introduces the evolution process of IT architecture, which will be divided into 5 stages.
1 System construction period
The system construction period does not appear in the above
figure, because the author does not intend to strictly divide it into the development
process of enterprise IT architecture. As mentioned at the beginning, there is
no IT architecture in the earliest stage. Information infrastructure and
application systems are so-called IT architecture, with the gradual emergence
of the SOA concept, so in this period, the company's concept of IT architecture
is still relatively vague, but the system built during this period has
contributed to the development of subsequent concepts.
The planning of the stage
The reason for this stage is very simple, that is, with the
expansion of enterprise-scale, business growth, and process increase, it is
necessary to rely on information systems to assist business management, reduce
manual error rates, and save work efficiency. In fact, most companies will not
build an information system in the early stage of establishment, because the
number of employees and the number of business opportunities will not be too
much in the early stage. Managers can clearly know the cost, profit,
expenditure, and income of each month.; The number of current customers and
business opportunities; the division of labor, functions, and performance of
employees, and the future planning can be easily estimated.
Based on the above situation, to ensure that enterprises better manage internal operations, the need for system construction has emerged.
Development Stage
For companies that have initially built an information system, they will not build all business systems in one step. They usually build around the most basic operation support system, namely, managing money, managing people, and managing business. It is how much money is spent and who will spend it. Money, how much money you earn, how to get the money, etc. The financial system manages money in and out, the customer management system and business system manage incoming money, and the human system manages people and pays and spends money. The systems involved include the four kings of the system industry: finance, human resource management, customer relationship management, OA office, and core business systems.
Different industries have different core business systems.
Each industry has a corresponding business system, such as the sales system,
procurement system, and planning system in the real estate industry; imaging
system and HIS system in the medical industry; Engineering systems, BIM
systems, video surveillance systems; MES, ERP, project systems in the the manufacturing industry, etc.
2 System integration period
Companies that have reached this stage have usually built information systems in various departments and business areas. In the context of today’s diversified situation, business expansion and demands are constantly changing, followed by information systems. Continued growth and the IT environment is overwhelmed. To solve this phenomenon, the rise of the SOA concept has brought the overall architecture concept to the process of optimizing the IT architecture for enterprises. From the beginning of the system integration period to the subsequent construction phases, it can be said that the SOA concept and technology are fully utilized.
The planning of the stage
As mentioned in the previous article, companies that have
reached this stage have a certain foundation in terms of enterprise-scale and
system construction. They have begun to take shape and continue to consolidate
in terms of network infrastructure, application system construction, and
information management and control systems. From business to informatization, it
has been developing in a good direction, and informatization can continue to
provide support for business. Many managers will be confused when they come to
the stage of system integration. The system has been built in place and has
been at the forefront of information construction. Why do employees still have
low efficiency in handling business lost and forgotten passwords; multiple
users using one account, business errors no one is responsible; the data of a
single department is reported accurately, but the data integrated by each department is not reliable; the system is not used less, and the joint force is
not obvious it produces the illusion that the application system is not in
place and not enough.
Development Stage
For the Department of Information Technology, the work performance is reflected in the development of the IT environment, so that informatization can bring effective help to the enterprise. Therefore, during the system integration period, the implementer will not only solve the problems of the internal system of the enterprise, but also help the enterprise. Managers and IT information departments establish an overall corporate architecture concept, including business architecture and IT architecture, to clarify the current construction content and solve problems, while helping to sort out the development content needed in the later stage, so that they have the overall view of the IT architecture.
Application integration
Realize the sharing of information, data, and functions between various business systems through the ESB Enterprise Service Bus, eliminate technical differences between different systems, such as business and financial integration, realize the document docking between the production business system and the financial system, and the document docking between the procurement and inventory systems and so on, to achieve the integration of application system functions.
Identity management
Through the IDM identity management platform, the unified management of groups, roles, and users is realized. With the manpower or OA system as the source, the unified synchronization of personnel changes is realized, and the unified identity authentication management realizes the single sign-on between multiple systems within the enterprise.
Portal integration
The IDM identity management platform is combined with the portal platform. Through menu integration, the functions of a single system are integrated into the Portal. The page integration is directly linked to the home page of the portal platform through the portlet method and link, and finally, the pages and functions of all systems are integrated in the portal. The same interface blurs the boundaries between systems. Employees only need to log in with their username and password to access the functions and pages of each application system, which feels like operating in one system. The portal platform built is the display window of enterprise IT value, not only for internal employees of the enterprise but also provides supplier portals, dealer portals, visitor portals, etc., for different business personnel to use.
Mobile office
In the mobile office part, some companies use current mobile application systems, such as Microsoft Office Cloud Home, Facebook work, Google Office suite, DingTalk or Enterprise WeChat, to help them realize mobile office. During the system integration period, these mobile applications are often integrated on a unified mobile platform. Below, in addition to the system's own functions, it also includes system mobile functions such as finance, human resources, sales, and procurement, to create a mobile version of the application center.
3 Data governance period
The data governance period is different from the system
integration period. The system integration period does not distinguish between
industries. Any enterprise has this aspect. Data governance has the
characteristics of the industry. According to the different industries of the
customers, the degree of manifestation of the needs is different, and some are
obvious., Some are hidden, but data governance is the only way for every
enterprise to develop informatization.
The Planning of the stage
System integration can help companies strengthen the management of internal operations, while data can help companies sort out business process development issues and make statistics on business results over a period. Data is an important resource for companies. Once they are reasonably and fully utilized, they can play a lot of usefulness. Value, especially in the current data age, almost every company knows this truth, and the effective use of data is data analysis. Many companies are eager to try this project, but they ignore the most basic premise. ——Data governance must stop the project or make a face-saving project, which cannot really bring out the value of the platform.
Some companies have come to this stage because their IT
planning has been built to this stage, and there are indeed internal data
problems that have become increasingly prominent. For example, the internal
data of the system cannot be circulated, the data sources of various systems
are not unified, the data is redundant, missing, the content is inconsistent.
Many data that need to be counted are still collected in manual form, which can
neither guarantee timeliness nor accuracy. The data cannot be used effectively
for the business. Some companies need to build a data analysis platform or
business process. Reengineering and constructing a data governance project.
Development Stage
While deepening the development results of the first phase in this phase, it mainly conducts unified management of the data in the internal system of the enterprise, including the construction of master data management and data analysis platform, to meet the preliminary analysis of the enterprise's business.
Master data governance
Before using the technology platform for master data governance, we must first solve the internal awareness and business problems of the enterprise. Before the project construction, we must help the enterprise to clarify how much data is in the current system, which data is useful, which data is repeated and data. In what form they exist; afterward, conduct business research and combing with various business departments to clarify which data can be used as the source and unify the data caliber.
After the investigation and sorting, use the MDM master data
management platform to model the current main data of the enterprise, such as:
organization, personnel, positions, accounting subjects, customers and other
master data standard modeling, unified coding specifications, historical data
cleaning, etc.
Data decision analysis
Data decision analysis at this stage mainly focuses on internal business application scenarios to realize data decision analysis between internal systems. The source of data is the data in the internal information system of the enterprise. According to the business division of different analysis structures, the managers of any enterprise will care about finances. Aspect data, followed by specific business data, such as: financial cost and profit analysis, output analysis, sales statistics, business opportunity statistics, personnel statistics, etc.
Before the project was launched, the business was still investigated, sorting out the business indicators that need to be analyzed in the enterprise, and then using data analysis platform tools to establish a corporate decision-making analysis platform, combining metadata governance, data warehouse technology, and improving manual data and information statistics It provides real-time, intelligent, multi-dimensional operational data query and statistical analysis for managers. Data decision analysis platform tools are different from BI systems. They could support big data analysis and decision-making, including data collection, storage, processing analysis, forecasting, etc. BI can be integrated under the data decision analysis platform.
4 Process reengineering period
This step of the informatization construction stage of an
enterprise will be accompanied by the emergence of many concepts and
technologies. If the first two stages have helped the enterprise lay a certain
foundation, then at this stage the enterprise is carrying out a comprehensive
process reengineering at the same time, usually According to the technological
development situation, some products, and technologies suitable for the
enterprise construction stage will be integrated to support the development of
informatization together.
The planning of the stage
Nowadays, many companies have begun to conduct data governance analysis, even in the later stage of data governance analysis, and continue to make more in-depth use of data. This stage will also follow the trend of data development and assist companies in deeper data governance and analysis. But when it comes to business process reengineering, companies are generally unfamiliar with this concept or have deviations in understanding. They believe that process management capabilities already exist in the system construction or integration phase. In fact, the process management they refer to is only in a certain system. The workflow function of OA or a small process based on OA collaboration that connects part of the business involved in series is only, and it is not a real sense of cross-heterogeneous system process integration.
Some of the problems of internal process separation in the
enterprise are obvious and some are hidden. The obvious problems are manifested
in the fact that there are online and offline parallel operations in the
processing business within the enterprise or all rely on manual processing,
and cross-approval documents need to be inter-departmental. Paper forms are
passed around, etc.; hidden problems are manifested in the management of internal
responsibilities of the enterprise, such as confusion of the business process
approval nodes, serious multi-person approval or cross-authority approval,
approval operations cannot be traced, and no one asks the phenomenon of
responsibility, to a certain extent, reflects the internal position setting,
division of responsibilities, and performance monitoring issues.
Fusion data center
Recently, the technical concept of China-Taiwan architecture has penetrated the hearts of enterprises. Some companies that attach importance to informatization construction have begun to integrate the concept of data-based management while in-depth data governance analysis. Lay the foundation for the stage. In the data governance part, expand the scope of master data governance items, suppliers, materials, custom accounting items, etc., integrate the architecture and technology of the data center, establish a preliminary big data analysis platform, internal and external data decision-making, from partners, users, etc. data source.
Business process reengineering
Realize the closed-loop management of the enterprise in a
process-driven way and use the process as the driving force to force business
problems. According to the business needs, the existing information system is
integrated with the process, including the unified integration of the
enterprise application center and the process management center of the
construction results of the previous stage. Realize business cross-system
(finance, ERP, portal) tracking management, etc. The implementation tool is the
BPM process integration platform. The integrated content is integrated into the
enterprise application center in a process-centric manner. Through unified
portals, user habits, etc., it provides enterprises with management automation
and comprehensive integrated service capabilities, so that the business can be
standardized and Orderly operation, fundamentally solve the problems of
management inefficiency, disorder, etc., from the original "people looking
for things" to "things looking for people", realizing agile
management.
5 Intelligent Enterprise Period
The so-called intelligent enterprise stage is the stage of
comprehensive realization of intelligent management. The ideal state is
human-machine coordination. The current big data analysis, Internet of Things,
and artificial intelligence are all products of this stage. The stage distance
of the intelligent enterprise stage is not as far as we imagined. So far away,
the times are progressing, and technology is developing. If the integration and
coordination of technology, business processes, management systems,
organizational structures and other aspects are achieved, it is just around the
corner.
The planning of the stage
From the perspective of long-term development of a company,
it is not enough to manage people, money, and business internally. Internal
decision-making can only ensure that the company's short-term operation and
management will be effective but cannot support the company's development and
growth in a changing market environment. If you want to go long-term, you must
have the ability to develop sustainably, prevent risks, predict the future, and
support innovation. At this time, the need to use internal and external data of
the enterprise has emerged. It is necessary to collect, store, and calculate a
series of related data such as government, banks, business partners,
industry/industry upstream and downstream, online social networking, etc., and
find the rules between the data. The mining of policies and user information,
according to different market environments, tailor-made enterprise development
plans, to effectively control market risks, promote decision-making
development, and enhance comprehensive competitiveness.
Development stage
As stated in the premise, to do well in this stage, we must have comprehensive support in all aspects. First, we need to deepen the IT construction results of the previous stages and lay a solid foundation for informatization. Later, under the support of cloud computing, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and computer technology, combined with existing data decision analysis platforms and big data-related technologies Hadoop, HBase, Spark, Storm and other tools, data collection, processing, algorithm prediction, and real-time are realized. Analysis, machine learning, configuration display and other technical links, complete the construction of an ecosystem that traces the past, analyzes the present, and predicts the future, helping companies focus on their main business, achieve intensive cultivation of production capacity, eliminate process production capacity, complement development shortcomings, and enhance core competitiveness.
The informatization of the intelligent enterprise phase will
steadily move towards the stage where the value of the results is continuously
manifested, which is manifested in the deep integration of the whole system,
seamless connection between business systems, effective risk management and
control, and continuous support for informatization construction. At the same
time, it is based on the openness of the construction platform And scalability,
not only can continue to support the smooth access of the enterprise's
subsequent construction of application systems, the iterative advancement of
informatization, but also support the subsequent introduction of new
technologies, leading the simultaneous development of the enterprise's
information age, and the integration of enterprise IT and business , IT
promotes business upgrades and business innovations to ensure the competitive
advantage of enterprises; the rapid development of business in turn places
further demands on IT, thereby promoting the comprehensive and in-depth
development of IT construction.
How to build an IT architecture?
The construction of enterprise IT architecture is a
long-term task. It cannot be effective in a short period of time. It requires
long-term investment and maintenance. Every enterprise should establish an IT architecture
suitable for future development. What kind of IT architecture is needed? It is
suitable for enterprises, and it is a subject that needs in-depth research.
Architecture is not just talking about it, it needs to be combined with a
variety of factors for overall consideration, including development strategy,
planning goals, organizational structure, business processes, data resources,
application systems, infrastructure, etc., start with planning and integration
as the entry point get on.
1 Overall planning and overall consideration
The construction of enterprise informatization cannot be
accomplished overnight, let alone a structure that must be integrated with the
situation (internal and external), starting with the plan, and gradually refined
in the process of planning. Blindly following the trend of the construction
will still have information islands, process fragmentation, unsuitable
architecture, etc., causing the repetition of informatization problems, and
ultimately leading to IT development becoming tasteless.
2 Support business and promote development.
At any time, IT architecture should be premised on
supporting business and assisting innovation. For the business development
environment of an enterprise, change is the main theme, and the only constant
is change. Changes in policies, environments, and businesses will be normal and
strategic changes. It will inevitably lead to changes in the business
architecture, and the IT architecture, as the support of the business
architecture, also needs to change with the change. The two are in a state of
mutual restraint.
In the planning and design of IT architecture, it is necessary to build a unified standard platform, output unified standard specifications and service interfaces, so that the results of informatization construction can continue to provide support for the business. In terms of IT construction planning, the connected system or platform must be able to support subsequent system access, the expansion of new business functions, and the integration of emerging technology concepts; in terms of business development concepts, IT systems must be used to promote business upgrades and continue to collect Provide the latest policies and industry upstream and downstream information and provide strategic guidance and analysis for business innovation.
3 Integrated integration and unified governance
The author has no objection to the concept of "building
an information system based on the current business development situation of
the enterprise", but in the planning of the IT architecture, it is
recommended to start with the integration and integration as the starting
point, and it is not difficult to pass through the several stages of the IT
architecture evolution process. It is found that the amount of application
construction in the system construction period is significantly higher than the
amount of platform construction in the later construction stage. Depending on
the size of the enterprise, there are as few as dozens or as many as hundreds
of systems. If the heterogeneous disconnection between the systems is not
resolved Problems, it is difficult to carry out follow-up construction.
4 Strengthen management and control, and iterative rise.
In the IT architecture planning and subsequent gradual implementation, IT-related management, and control, such as a series of plans for systems, teams, and tools, are required to serve as the basis for the successful construction of IT architecture. The system includes all employees’ awareness of IT informatization, unified standards, and specifications in the use of the system, communication mechanisms for project construction, etc. The team includes the construction of an IT team. In addition to basic technical capabilities, personnel must have forward-looking and IT architecture the overall macroscopic nature can promote the construction and implementation of the architecture; the tools are the application and platform products for the construction of IT architecture, and the evaluation and selection from a series of product quality, scalability, after-sales service, etc.
The construction of an enterprise's IT architecture is a
process that requires long-term investment, involving organization, business,
process, technology, situation, and other aspects. During the construction
process, it will be updated and iterated continuously, discarding the dross,
and constantly innovating. With today’s changing situation and diversified
business development, each enterprise’s strategy and business situation are
different. The IT architecture construction process described in this article
may not be in line with the situation of all enterprises, but it will never
change. The concepts and methods of IT architecture planning can be reused, and
ultimately achieve the value of IT in a unified infrastructure, underlying
applications, platform integration, and data utilization.
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