Enterprise architecture

Enterprise architecture

The core business activity and processes include the manufacturing of personal computers. Besides, the company provides other infrastructure and hardware solutions in different countries around the world. Regarding the business process, the company is involved in the distribution of its products and services to a different parts of the world as ordered by customers. With several years of business operation, the dynamics of doing business have changed significantly. For any company to survive in a dynamic market, it must have a competitive edge. As such, for Dell to remain relevant in the computing industry, the company started its transformation from being a hardware infrastructure provider to a service and software solution provider. Such a transformation requires careful consideration to ensure the successful incorporation of the necessary enterprise architecture. The move would also help the company to meet the increasing demand from the customers. As such, from the case study, the company is involved in the acquisition business process. And this added layer of additional capabilities to the Dell IT infrastructure. Additional capabilities, of course, come with several challenges, such as excessive burden and duplication. As such, the IT team must ensure the operation of the company are seamless for optimal performance and, thus, profitability. Such activities necessitate enterprise architecture as this would make Dell more agile as it reduces cost. Cost-saving would empower the company to venture into other potentially profitable areas and hence transforming the business.

Enterprise architecture is essential as the company drifts to more complex operations. This means that Dell has to adopt a system that can be used globally to all its subsidiaries. As such, the company has to handle a large number of customers’ data as well as product data in the company data warehouse. To ensure the success of enterprise architecture, standardization, consolidation, as well as globalization are crucial as these elements would ensure company success. The company’s significant activities include the consolidation of the multinational systems. This would ensure effective management of the system. In the case, the Main process is to design and implement a unified IT structure that could be cost-effective and efficient through enforcement of common standards. To ensure the company is flexible enough and can accommodate future opportunities, the company requires an IT system that could accommodate routine planning. Enterprise architecture could help the company address all these issues. some of the key factors that attracted Dell to opt for EA include alignment and governance

Potential information system application

Over the years, there have been numerous EA techniques for this case, the most important are the Zachman framework and open Group Architectural framework. According to Zachman, EA denotes a set of descriptive elements that are relevant in describing an enterprise such that it can aid in requirement management over the useful life period. EA gives a long-term rational perspective on the assets of big business and the way these can be incorporated for responding to big business drivers. It likewise helps in the disposal of excess in business forms while lessening the data multifaceted nature. Dell can use the Zachman Framework, which is a two-dimensional arrangement plan of descriptive representation of a venture (Zachman J., 2006). The vertical element of the framework depicts the perspectives of the individuals who use the models or descriptions, and the top line portrays the conventional view of an association while the lower push is increasingly concrete. It makes a difference in the association to archive the frameworks, procedures, and individuals. Dell can utilize the Zachman Framework for building up a coordinated IT framework all through the association. The main segment will depict the rundown of things that are critical to the association followed up by a model detail and information planning. The subsequent segment will be founded on the capacity of the procedures in Dell, while the third segment will list the areas wherein the business works. The fourth segment will contain the rundown of individuals who are critical to the association and produce a stream graph of an association. The fifth segment will set out the rundown of occasion cycles that are noteworthy to the organizations. Based on these occasion cycles, an ace calendar will be created. The keep going section depends on inspiration in which a rundown of business objectives and systems will be talked about. A marketable strategy and business rule model will be created at the last stage, which will likewise incorporate job particular and rule structures (Zachman J., 2006).

The case deal is more concerned with the organization and integration of software assets. It implies that Model Driven Architecture (MDA) will significantly aid the company in integrating, creating, and maintaining the additional assets for software. The primary objective of MDA is to aid EA in business description and the additional assets of Dell. By developing the architecture using the software tools, the company will be able to a specific application that can help in the implementation of the architecture and modifying them when needed. The shared data driving the above process is product and customer data. These data is critical in designing business and data and technical architect.