Roger Fournier of InformationWeek spent great time culling the following best practices in Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP).

1. Ensure EA is business-driven. The EAP process must be driven by key business imperatives. If there is to be EA vision, it must be based on the business vision. According to Michel Sawyer, director of architecture and infrastructure development at Desjardins, the largest financial-services organization in Quebec, "EAP is an ongoing process that must be closely aligned with business needs."

2. Communicate plans and benefits. The plans, goals, and benefits of EA efforts must be successfully communicated across all IT organizations and lines of business. "It is very important to communicate, on an ongoing basis, your architecture strategy, goals, and objectives to increase awareness throughout the enterprise," says Serge Pepin, senior technical architect in the technology architecture group of Hydro-Quebec.

3. Publicize shared architecture values. A key component of EA is an official decree documenting the set of architecture values that the enterprise embraces. The document covers major technology positions that are not, or are no longer, open for discussion. It is a statement of shared values, endorsed by management, and must be distributed to all IT and line-of-business staff to ensure proper alignment.

4. Regularly publish progress updates. Once you have communicated your EA goals and objectives, it is important to keep management and workers updated with the latest architecture-related project developments. To promote awareness among users, some companies use their Intranets to publish announcements on their latest successes.

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