Short Programs

Architecting the Future Enterprise [PI.28s]

Date: June 14-15, 2010 | Tuition: $1,595 | Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 1.2

Course Summary  |  Learning Objectives  |  Who Should Attend  |  Program Outline  | 
Participants' Comments  |  On-Site Courses  |  About the Lecturers  |  Updates

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Course Summary

With the growing complexity of technological systems of this century, we see a corresponding increase in the complexity of the enterprises that develop, operate, and sustain such systems in an increasingly global environment. This drives the need to take a broad view of enterprises as systems in themselves, resulting in an evolution of enterprise architecting from a narrow focus on IT infrastructure to focusing on the full set of enterprise elements and their interrelationships. These enterprise elements include strategy, organization, policies, processes, knowledge, information, products, and services. Enterprises often evolve in a somewhat ad hoc and suboptimal manner with decisions on various enterprise elements made by subgroups within the organization, without consideration of the enterprise and its elements as a whole system. Enterprise architecting, as defined in this course, looks at the enterprise as a holistic and highly networked structure wherein planning and decisions must be accomplished by applying a systems perspective and architecting principles, encompassing all of the facets of the enterprise.
The course will look at the enterprise in context of multiple perspectives or views, and discuss the interrelationships of these views. The course also examines how the principles, practices and heuristics of systems architecting may be extended and adapted for enterprise architecting, and will discuss the role of leadership in designing new enterprise concepts and transformation plans.

Learning Objectives

The participants of this course will be able to:

1. Understand the motivation for and increasing importance of designing and transforming enterprises to meet contemporary challenges.
2. Have an appreciation for the emerging field of holistic enterprise architecting as distinguished from the traditional IT-centric field.
3. Understand how strategic drivers (business model, strategic focus, enterprise performance objectives, etc.) and desired enterprise “itlities” (flexibility, scalability, agility, etc.) influence the enterprise architecture.
4. Describe the different views (policy, organizational structure, processes, knowledge, product system, enabling technologies, etc.) that comprise an enterprise architecture, and how they interrelate.
5. Recognize the key enterprise properties and lenses through which enterprises can be viewed.
6. Understand how evaluation methods can be employed to assess and select preferred architectures.
7. Recognize leadership challenges, barriers, and enablers in designing and planning enterprise transformations.
8. Discuss strategic issues leaders face in planning and undertaking enterprise re-designs and transformation.
9. Have knowledge of the latest published literature in the field and insight into ongoing research.

Who Should Attend

This course is targeted for executives and professionals who lead and implement design and transformation efforts within and across an enterprise. The course will be of particular benefit to professionals who must make strategic decisions in the face of a dynamic environment involving complex enterprise factors including business strategy, organizations, processes, policies, enabling infrastructure, and product/service architectures.

Program Outline

Day 1: Principles and Practices for Holistic Enterprise Architecting Participants will be introduced to the fundamental concepts related to enterprises, and challenges faced in their design and transformation. The motivations for and challenges of architecting and designing an enterprise will be discussed with regard to the contemporary environment. Some innovative practices and constructs will be introduced.
Topics will include:

• Enterprise Concepts
• Motivations, Drivers, Challenges
• Value Driven Perspective of Enterprises
• Framework for Holistic Enterprise Architecting
• Views and interrelationships
• Useful constructs
• Methods and Heuristics for Defining Candidate Architectures
• Case Study 1: Application of Framework to an Enterprise
• Class Exercise: Using the Framework to Understand Your Enterprise
  

Day 2: Applications of Holistic Enterprise Architecting
The second day of the course will discuss application of the practices introduced in the prior day, including some of the challenges and considerations.Real world examples will be used to demonstrate the application of the principles and practices. Challenges and important considerations will be discussed, and highlights of emerging research will be shared.

• Challenges for leadership and enterprise architecting teams
• Methods and heuristics for evaluation of candidate architectures
• Class Exercise: Defining and applying evaluation criteria
• Case Study 2: Evaluating and Selecting an Enterprise Architecture
• Developing an enterprise transformation plan
• Highlights of emerging research
• Summary and class perspectives

Note: Various case studies and examples are used throughout the course to highlight concepts or demonstrate application of a holistic approach to enterprise design, evaluation, and transformation planning. These include simple illustrative cases using technology companies, healthcare organizations, and transportation sectors. Participants do not require in-depth domain knowledge for lectures or the exercises, but basic knowledge of enterprises' business processes and how these operate from a strategic level is assumed.

Daily Schedule:

9:00am - 10:00am - First Session
10:00am - 10:30am - Break
10:30am - 12:00pm - Second Session
12:00pm - 1:00pm - Lunch
1:00pm - 2:30pm - Third Session
2:30pm - 3:00pm - Break
3:00pm - 4:30pm - Fourth Session
4:30pm - 5:00pm - Daily Summary and Wrap-up

Registration is on Monday morning from 7:45 - 8:30 am.

Participants' Comments

Senior Director Provider Operations, NaviNet
"The lecturers had an impressive amount of practical knowledge about the field and the lectures were engaging - even after two straight days."

Software Architect, SAIC
"The second day after I tried to map my enterprise to their architecture [it] made everything come to life."

Founder/Chief Editor, Editora ao Vivo Ltda
"I had considered going to Harvard or Stanford this summer, but only at MIT I have found a kind of knowledge built from scratch in a creative way that I would not find correlative in Brazil."

On-site Courses

We can also offer this course for groups of employees at your location. Please contact the Short Programs office for further details.

About The Lecturers

Dr. Donna H. Rhodes
Donna Rhodes is currently a Senior Lecturer in the MIT Engineering Systems Division and a Principal Research Scientist in the MIT Center for Technology Policy and Industrial Development (CTPID). She is a research scientist in the Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI) and the co-founder and research director of the MIT Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative (SEAri). Dr. Rhodes has research interests and advises ongoing research projects in the following areas: advanced systems engineering methods; systems engineering leading indicators; defense and commercial systems practices and case studies; value based decision analysis; systems principles and practices applied to enterprises; managing for complexity and uncertainty; systems-of-systems engineering; and strategies for high performing enterprises in the engineering systems context. Prior to joining MIT, Dr. Rhodes had 20 years of experience in the aerospace/defense systems, systems integration, and commercial product industries, where she held senior management positions at IBM Federal Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Lucent Technologies. Dr. Rhodes has been very involved in the evolution of the systems engineering field, as well as the development of several university graduate programs. She has served on a number of boards and study panels to advance systems practice and education and to address issues of national and international importance. She has published numerous papers and research reports in the field of systems, and has co-authored industry and corporate engineering policies, standards, and reports. She has been an invited speaker for numerous international and national events in the field of systems. Dr. Rhodes received her Ph.D. in Systems Science from the T.J. Watson School of Engineering at SUNY Binghamton. She is a Past President and Fellow of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and is a recipient of the INCOSE Founders Award and several INCOSE Distinguished Service Awards. She is also member of IEEE, AIAA and ASME.

For more information on MIT Lean Advancement Initiative, please see http://lean.mit.edu. For more information on the MIT Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative (SEAri), please visit http://seari.mit.edu

Professor Deborah J. Nightingale
Professor Deborah Nightingale has over 35 years of broad-based experience with academia, the private sector and the government. Professor Nightingale joined the MIT faculty in 1997 and holds a dual appointment in the Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Engineering Systems Division. At MIT she serves as the Co-Director of the Lean Advancement Initiative, a joint industry, government, and MIT consortium. Her research interests are focused on lean enterprise integration, enterprise architecting, lean healthcare, and organizational transformation. She has led several executive lean transformation engagements in both industry and government. Prior to joining MIT, Professor Nightingale headed up Strategic Planning and Global Business Development for AlliedSignal Engines. While at AlliedSignal she also held a number of executive leadership positions in operations, engineering, and program management, participating in enterprise-wide operations from concept development to customer support. Prior to joining AlliedSignal, she worked at Wright-Patterson AFB where she served as program manager for computer simulation modeling research, design, and development in support of advanced man-machine design concepts. Professor Nightingale has a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in Industrial and Systems Engineering. In addition, she holds MS and BS degrees in Computer and Information Science from The Ohio State and University of Dayton, respectively. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Past President and Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers. She is a co-author of the book Lean Enterprise Value: Insights from MIT’s Lean Aerospace Initiative. Prof. Nightingale serves on a number of boards and national committees, where she interacts extensively with industry, government and academic leaders.

Updates

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