Enterprise Architecture At HUD Is Crucial. Essay.

Describe about the architecture at HUD, how this architecture supports the business as well as governance and change management procedures.

The paper is a case study that discusses on enterprise architecture (EA) of the United State Department of Housing and urban Development (HUD). The enterprise architecture is a plan that describes the operation and structure of a company or organization. The purpose of the enterprise architecture is to explain how the organization can be able to achieve both the future and the current objectives in an effective manner. According to Niemi & Pekkola  (2015), the EA organizes logic in IT infrastructure and business processes to ensure that the company meets the standard requirements in the operation model.  The HUD in the United States is in the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. The main purpose of this department is to initiate and execute the policies on metropolises and housing. The department ensures that it creates a quality affordable home in addition to developing a strong and inclusive community. According to Daniel (2016), the importance of enterprise architecture cannot be underestimated as it assists a company to achieve both long-term and short-term goals. Several organizations have therefore embraced enterprise architecture to facilitate business optimization by addressing process architecture, performance management as well as business architecture. The paper reveals how the HUD department of the United States have embraced enterprise architecture and how this has enhanced governance, supported the organization and changed management procedures.

Discussion

The architecture at HUD department of the united state includes:

1. Enterprise architecture practice
2. HUD performance management and strategic direction architecture
3. Current environment architecture
4. Target state architecture
5. Transition architecture
6. Enterprise Architecture Practice

1. The enterprise architectural practice directs the architect to follow the principles which are suitable for the implementation team, business people and developers (Schekkerman, 2008). The people are more ready to embrace the enterprise architecture practice when there is value gained after incorporating it in the organization. The HUD has incorporated enterprise architecture practice to assist in its business transformation. The enterprise architecture practices are developed by Office of management and budget (OMB) and executed by the chief architect. The EA practice is important as it helps in the identification of the desired states in application and services, HUD’s performance, data and information, security architecture as well as technology. The EA practice assists the HUD in adhering to standards, procedures, enterprise architecture principles, reference models and guidelines that support objectives and goals of HUD. The importance of enterprise architecture practices that has been adopted by the HUD department of the United States includes the following:

Support of HUD Strategy

Support of HUD Strategy

According to Simon, Fischbach,  & Schoder  (2014), the goals and the objectives of the EA practice is to assist in  the achievement of the corporate strategies. The EA practice facilitates better decision making by providing relevant and reliable information that enhances effective management, proper planning, and decisions on funding and investments. The EA practice objectives ensure accountability and transparency by sharing of information with the public through websites.

Guiding Principle and Governance

The EA practices act as a guiding principle and assists in governance at HUD. According to Glazner (2011), The EA acts as guiding principles that provide the direction to take in making decisions and developing enterprise solutions.

2. HUD Performance Management and Strategic Direction Architecture

The performance management and the strategic vision form part of the Enterprise architecture of the HUD department in the United States. The HUD has a mission and vision and the mission aims at the creation of affordable homes in addition to a strong and sustainable communities. The vision is to deliver America dreams by improving and strengthening the lives of the community. The HUD has incorporated the following in its enterprise architecture in order to attain its’ strategic direction.

HUDs Strategic Vision and Mission

The HUD has established its’ strategic direction by focusing on its’ vision and mission. The focus on the vision and mission has enabled the HUD to improve its management by delivering better services to the customers. According to Enterprise Architecture – HUD (2016), the following are the mission and vision goals and objectives at United State department of HUD.

Goal1: Protecting consumers and boosting the economy by reinforcing nations house market

The objectives under this goal are  to establish a sustainable housing finance and ensuring that there is balance housing by promoting equality in accessing sustainable housing financing.

Goal 2: Provision Of Rental Homes That Are Affordable And Of Good Quality

The objectives under this goal are to ensure that there are affordable rental housing through sustainable investment and ensuring that the rental homes are of good quality through rental housing programs

Goal 3: Improvement Of Quality Of Life Through Housing

The objective is to eradicate homelessness for families, veterans and other citizens who experience chronic homelessness by making sure that the vulnerable population access houses that are stable and healthy.

Goal 4: Creation Of A Strong And Inclusive Community

The objective of this goal is to reduce housing discrimination through fair housing and also to ensure that the homes are safe for all the communities.

Guiding Principle and Governance

The IT strategic Alignment should aim at   reinventing and modernizing technology policy and process to improve the delivery of services to the customers.(Scheer, 2012).The IT strategic alignment is vital in the HUD as it reduces waste and fraud, improves control hence reducing house discrimination, facilitate the financial controls of HUD, simplify the access of information, improve the services provided to the citizens and participate in initiatives for improving the government.

HUD Performance Management

The HUD monitors and reports its’ performance outcomes and post it on the government website to promote accountability and transparency Enterprise Architecture – HUD (2016). The annual performance report is vital as it provides detailed information about the performance, which allows the American Public, congress, and the president to assess the HUD’s performance and planned activities for the next fiscal year.  The preparation of performance and planned activities helps the management in determining whether it is achieving it strategic goals need for change in management styles and procedures.

3) Current Environment Architecture

The enterprise architecture also involves evaluation and collection of information and data regarding the HUD existing environment. The information is collected on maintenance and management processes, IT infrastructure, existing business activities, and data and information structure and security components.

Existing Business Activities/ Business View

The HUD’s business architecture helps in addressing its core mission areas, business services, and enterprise services. According to Enterprise Architecture – HUD (2016), the core mission areas of the HUD include regional and community development, house assistance, and home ownership. The business services include mortgage insurance, public affairs, controls and oversight, disaster management, financial management among others. The enterprise services include data management services, digital asset services, business analytical service among others.  The collection of the data on the business models provides significant information on cost reduction and discloses opportunities for reengineering of business processes.

Data and Information

The Enterprise information management permits the retrieval and integration of various programs in HUD business areas. The HUD is making a step forward in improving its data on quality, data definition standards, and metadata management. Holm, Buschle, Lagerström & Ekstedt (2014) claims that establishment of standard that includes data exchange standards, geospatial standards, and data documentation standards help to improve the value and management of the collected data. Appropriate standards when dealing with data is essential in yielding effective HUD programs and management process.

Network and Infrastructure

The HUD has network and infrastructure to aid in running its’ day to day activities. The various networking infrastructure used by HUD includes HUD’s mainframe, end user computing, networking equipment and help desk network infrastructure which is key component for the success of technical architecture. The HUD has also   four data centers which are managed by the service contractor. The assessment of the HUD infrastructure has found the need of improvement of the infrastructure as the infrastructure is redundant and most of the IT products are obsolete and keep on being maintained (“Enterprise Architecture – HUD,” 2016).The assessment on the infrastructure has made HUD commence the IT modernization initiative whose purpose is to provide a solution for the next infrastructure for HUD.

HUD Performance Management and Strategic Direction Architecture

4. Target State Architecture

Target state is a tool for business functions and IT that ensure that the needs of the business are dealt with by use of the capabilities of the IT in an effective manner (Booch, 2010).The target state is written and approved by stakeholders of the organization. The application of target architecture in an organization provides the foundation for transforming to the desired future state. The HUD can, therefore, convert to the target state if target architecture aligns to the performance goals and the mission of HUD. The HUD is targeting to move towards a customer focused and mission driven environment, and provide the information that external agencies and business users require on a timely basis.

Target Business Function

The target state can be achieved if the company focuses on the way it can enhance better business functions. According to Whittle & Myrick (2016), the desired state is achieved through business modernization that changes the business processes. The change in business processes will require new technologies and improvement in management capabilities to drive the organization to the target state.

Target Business Vision

The target business vision will assist in the process improvement, business process reengineering, creation of business modernization plan, Upholding best practices in all departments and also ensuring that business resources are shared to sustain multiple business functions (Iacob, 2014).

IT Service Management

To reach the desired target state the IT management practices need to be strengthened and improved (Booch, 2010). The IT requires being modernized in its infrastructure to serve the customers in a more effective manner. The HUD plans to modernize the IT to fully benefit the customers.

Target Data Architecture

The HUD plans to evolve its’ data architecture to a mature data management process and data integration. Roth, Hauder, Farwick, Breu  & Matthes (2013) reveals that mature data management process minimizes cost on the information system and provide  a better return on data investments.

5. Transition Architecture

The HUD Transition strategy outlines how it will achieve the target state from its’ current state. Whittle & Myrick (2016) assets that the transition strategy describes the major projects and initiatives that can bridge the gap between the current states to the target state. The transitioning strategy at HUD aims at.

HUD IT Management Improvement

The transitioning to the target state will require updating of the HUD IT governance processes and management and integrate it with IT strategic planning, customer relationship management and project management and planning. According to Chorafas (2016), the improvement In IT management will be realized when IT investment project offices are properly managed and staffed

Current Environment Architecture

Workforce Development at HUD

The transitioning to the target state will not only require the improvement of the IT but also the development of the human capital. Gulledge (2008) argues that the improvement of the human capital will be made possible when the management follows the best processes of hiring, employee retention practices and employee development.

Improving Customer Services

The transitioning of any business to the target state will involve improving the customer services and relations (Handley, 2008). The HUD is engaging the customers in the management process and has launched multimedia channels which allow the customers to access information and at the same time to give their opinions and comments. The opinions are reviewed and analyzed and some implemented by the management for the benefits of the customers.

Conclusion

 The enterprise architecture of an organization is important for it to realize its’ strategic goals, improve business processes and change management procedures to serve the customers better. The enterprise architecture mainly focuses on four areas in an organization and this includes connection, customers, communication, and collaboration. The United State HUD has embraced enterprise architecture which has ensured improvement in the business operations, Information technology, processes, and performance. The main enterprise architecture at HUD includes Enterprise architecture practice, HUD performance management, and strategic direction architecture, Current environment architecture, Target state architecture and Transition architecture.

References

Booch, G. (2010). Enterprise Architecture and Technical Architecture. IEEE Softw., 27(2), 96-96. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ms.2010.42

Chorafas, D. N. (2016). Enterprise architecture and new generation information systems. CRC Press.

Daniel, D. (2016). The Rising Importance of the Enterprise Architect. CIO. Retrieved 20 July 2016, from https://www.cio.com/article/2439397/it-organization/the-rising-importance-of-the-enterprise-architect.html

Enterprise Architecture - HUD. (2016). Portal.hud.gov. Retrieved 20 July 2016, from https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?data-src=/program_offices/cio/ea/newea

Glazner, C. (2011). Enterprise Transformation using a Simulation of Enterprise Architecture. Journal Of Enterprise Transformation, 1(3), 231-260. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19488289.2011.601398

Gulledge, T. (2008). Architecture-driven Enterprise Integration. International Journal Of Management And Enterprise Development, 5(3), 265. https://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijmed.2008.017433

Handley, J. (2008). Enterprise architecture best practice handbook. [Brisbane]: [Art of Service].

Holm, H., Buschle, M., Lagerström, R., & Ekstedt, M. (2014). Automatic data collection for enterprise architecture models. Software & Systems Modeling, 13(2), 825-841.

Iacob, M. E., Meertens, L. O., Jonkers, H., Quartel, D. A., Nieuwenhuis, L. J., & Van Sinderen, M. J. (2014). From enterprise architecture to business models and back. Software & Systems Modeling, 13(3), 1059-1083.

Niemi, E. & Pekkola, S. (2015). Using enterprise architecture artefacts in an organisation.Enterprise Information Systems, 1-26. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17517575.2015.1048831

Roth, S., Hauder, M., Farwick, M., Breu, R., & Matthes, F. (2013). Enterprise Architecture Documentation: Current Practices and Future Directions. InWirtschaftsinformatik (p. 58).

Scheer, A. W. (2012). Architecture of integrated information systems: foundations of enterprise modelling. Springer Science & Business Media

Schekkerman, J. (2008). Enterprise architecture good practices guide. Victoria, BC: Trafford Pub.  

Simon, D., Fischbach, K., & Schoder, D. (2014). Enterprise architecture management and its role in corporate strategic management. Information Systems and e-Business Management, 12(1), 5-42.

Whittle, R., & Myrick, C. B. (2016). Enterprise business architecture: The formal link between strategy and results. CRC Press.