Students and Citizens Enterprise Architectures for Education and

Students and Citizens: Enterprise Architectures for Education and Government Keith Hazelton

Information Technology (IT) and the Enterprise Mission • A fundamental truth for contemporary {universities, state governments} is that urgent demands for change arrive in a nearly continuous stream. • It is also true that IT plays only a supporting role to the real work of the {university, state government}. • Taken together these two fundamental truths imply that IT management must maximize responsiveness to mission-related needs in the face of constrained resources. • How do we do that?

Operating model as a strategic, enterprise level choice • Enterprise Architecture As Strategy, Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, David Robertson • Architecture should align with and support chosen operating model

Operating Models

Diversified Operating Model

Operating Models

Operating Models

Operating Models

Operating Models

Operating Models

Operating models • Replicated: Web content management systems • Unified: Web SSO, undergrad. admissions, parking, engineering paydata – Does not necessarily imply centralization(!) • Coordinated: data warehouse, enterprise directory, course roster information service • Diversified: siloed processes, data • Senior business and IT leaders must be involved in making the choice

Coordinated Operating Model: A fit for Education and Government? • Shared “customers” • Operationally unique “business units” or functions • Business unit control over business process design • Consensus processes for designing IT infrastructure services • IT application decisions made in business units

Mature coordination model • Provides integrated services • Integration via sharing key data across units • Presents a common face to customer • Allows integration of any number of processes… • Without forcing standardization

Met. Life’s Coordination-oriented Enterprise Architecture • Insurance and other financial services to millions • Integrated view of customer – Extract customer information from individual products – Make it centrally available – Integration hub at the center of their Enterprise Architecture diagram

Met. Life Core Ent. Arch. Diagram Business processes Data Technology Customer types

Translation to Education and Government • “Customer” – Education: Student – Government: Citizen

Principle: Common information model for shared objects • CRIS Team (Course Roster Information Service) • Thirty some business processes that need information on courses and course rosters • Goal: Come up with an information service that meets the needs of a wide variety of processes • Example of the Coordinated operational model: wide adoption of shared information models

Examples in Government • Existing inter-service coordination: • Insurance Agent Search – Optionally followed by payment of license renewal fee • Other candidates for inter-agency information coordination – Someone planning a move, looking at schools, affordable housing, employment… – Personalized Wisconsin. gov portal: Links to ongoing state agency applications, requests, etc. – Others?

Enterprise Architecture as Strategy • Emphasis on shared data emerges as strategic • One element of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is data canonicalization • Shared data on {students, citizens} needs priority attention • Services to allow any number of business processes to access this shared data • Critical guidance on where to start with an SOA initiative

Q&A • hazelton@doit. wisc. edu