Capco Institute Blog

Architecture alignment is one of the biggest challenges that financial institutions’ Enterprise Architecture teams face. One of the tools that Capco can bring to bear as part of its Architecture as a Service (AaaS) offering is the engage-validate-approve (EVA) governance framework. Enterprise Architecture teams use these guiding principles only when the Capco AaaS team is working with the financial institution’s Review Committee/Architecture Review Board.

The EVA governance principles assist with that the organization’s Review Committee carries out a uniform and objective review of its architecture alignment irrespective of who is performing the review or the nature of the proposed architectural change (i.e., data, business, application or security). The EVA framework establishes an Enterprise Architecture Matrix that provides the various principles for review based on the nature of the architectural change as mentioned above. These principles help the reviewer with the various areas that need to be assessed to review the change.

Figure 1: Architecture as a Service – The EVA Framework

Second, the Review Committee/Architecture Review Board might benefit from on the EVA framework with the help of its Change Assessment Tool to assess whether the proposed architecture is in full alignment with the regulatory compliance requirements identified by the client organization’s Risk and Compliance committee. Based on a primary and secondary scoring scale, the change assessment tool provides a score that helps the committee assess the appropriate level of review required. This tool is helpful in differentiating the potential impact that large architectural changes may have on an organization’s IT alignment compared with smaller changes.

Third, the EVA framework includes the Principal Scoring Criteria and Standard Questions, which provide guidelines to help the Review Committee/Architecture Review Board conduct the review and measure how the proposed architectural change aligns with the organization’s target state architecture. These criteria and questions also help the committee adopt a uniform review process across different IT architectural reviews and changes, align any proposed changes with the organization’s software development life cycle, and ensure adherence to compliance-related controls.

Finally, the governance component of the EVA framework helps the financial institution’s Review Committee/Architecture Review Board define the Metrics required to assess and measure the organization’s overall IT alignment. These metrics are important from an organizational perspective as they help define the road map for the institution’s overall IT strategy and alignment with the business.

What review methods do you follow to ensure IT architecture alignment? Join the discussion. Click here to comment on this blog post.

This series of blogs discusses how Capco’s Architecture as a Service model is applying the EVA framework to help organizations align their architecture. The next blog in the AaaS EVA framework series will focus on the facilitation of architecture alignment.