1. introduction

The State of Arizona’s Enterprise Architecture (EA) describes a comprehensive framework for information technology (IT)[1] and business that supports the Arizona State government strategic plan. EA facilitates the application of information technology to business initiatives and objectives and subsequent change in an orderly, efficient manner by describing a direction for current and future activities, supported by underlying principles, standards, and best practices.

EA effectively supports and enhances the business of government and improves the ability to deliver responsive, cost-effective government functions, and services. Effective utilization of technology to achieve business functions and services, increasing citizen access to those services, sharing information and resources at all levels of government, and maximizing IT resources investment are major motivating factors for the development and implementation of EA. The implementation of EA presents opportunities for State agencies to interoperate together to deliver a higher level of courteous, efficient, responsive, and cost-effective service to the citizen owners and employees of State government. Individually, each State agency can independently implement EA components that are interoperable, however, e-government initiatives, economies of scale, consolidation, and cross-agency savings may best be realized not just through interoperability, but also by working together in partnership and sharing.

EA includes important business, governance, and technical components. The adjacent framework diagram, adopted from the NASCIO EA program, illustrates how the various components interact and influence each other.

A Governance Framework and foundation is critical to ensure the implementation and management of EA achieves its objectives.

The Business Architecture Framework consists of State government functions and services, aligned with statute and rule, supported by business strategies, drivers, processes, principles, best practices, and industry trends.

The Technical Architecture Framework, collectively referred to as Enterprise Wide Technical Architecture (EWTA), provides technical guidance to State agencies. That guidance is supported by principles correlated to agency business functions, recommended standards, and applicable recommended best practices. Each component of the EWTA, commonly referred to as domains, is a separate, but interrelated, architectural discipline and EA is the glue that integrates each of these technical disciplines, the business architecture, and governance into a cohesive framework.

EA applies to all agencies. The agency director, working in conjunction with the agency CIO, is responsible for ensuring the implementation of EA within the agency’s “sphere of influence,” as designated by statute or rule. The EA Target Domain Architecture documents define an overall strategy and technical framework; however, by design, the capital planning, process approach and timeframes for transition, project management, and investment control for the implementation of the target architectures are the responsibility of the agency. Implementing EA requires significant capital investments. Arizona, like most states, does not have unlimited capital to invest in implementing EA, therefore, migrating to EA within available budgets is the only viable method.

2. Enterprise Architecture Vision

Arizona’s EA outlines a strategy for e-Government. e-Government benefits citizens, business partners, other levels of government, and State employees. e-Government is defined as the use of:

Ø Internet-based technology to improve government services, reduce operational costs, enhance citizen participation, and rethink government processes; and

Ø Digital technologies to transform government business operations in order to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and service delivery.

Technology, incorporated into business and aligned with EA, has the potential to transform government by improving service delivery, reducing costs, simplifying and streamlining requirements and services, and increasing efficiency and effectiveness. AZ State Government, other state governments, the federal government, the private sector, and citizens currently embrace e-government as an essential strategy to achieve market-based, citizen- and result-oriented government services. e-Government and strategic business initiatives and programs should be designed to:

Ø Make it easy for citizens and businesses to obtain service and interact with government;

Ø Improve government efficiency and effectiveness; and

Ø Improve government’s responsiveness to citizens, businesses, political sub-divisions, and the federal government.

Utilizing these themes to align e-government and strategic business initiatives with their primary beneficiaries classifies service programs into four major strategic portfolios:

Ø Government-to-Citizen initiatives to fulfill a vision of one-stop online access to government services.

Ø Government-to-Business initiatives to reduce government burden on businesses, reduce redundant data collection and reporting, and enable digital communication with businesses.

Ø Government-to-Government initiatives to enable sharing and integration of information with all levels of government, and integrate key government operations such as disaster response.

Ø Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness initiatives utilizing technology to reduce costs and improve internal operations by adopting commercial best practices and processes.

Numerous communities of interest exist within state government that affords opportunities to develop realistic and attainable e-government solutions that support strategic initiatives. Business processes, supported by technologies that are aligned with open, pervasive industry-wide standards, interoperability, portability, and adaptability foster a common, compatible environment conducive to extending the State’s communities of interest to all levels of government and the private business sector.

3. Enterprise Architecture Purpose

The primary purpose of Information Technology (IT) is to enhance and support business and administrative requirements and processes. The purpose of Enterprise Architecture (EA) is to provide a comprehensive framework of business principles, best practices, technical standards, migration and implementation strategies, that direct the design, construction, deployment and management of information technology (IT) for the State. EA facilitates the application of IT to business initiatives and objectives and subsequent change in an orderly, efficient, and cost-effective manner by describing a direction for current and future activities, supported by underlying principles, standards, and best practices.

4. Target Enterprise Architecture

The State of Arizona’s EA is an ongoing, renewable process that describes a comprehensive, interoperable, business-driven framework for IT that aligns with, and supports the Arizona State government strategic plan. EA, based on open- and pervasive-industry-standard principles, standards, and best practices, is the strategic context that provides vision, guidance, and structure for information technology, which is an enabler of agency business processes. Arizona’s EA is a strategic marriage of business and information technology designed to achieve the State’s business initiatives and objectives, while maximizing IT investments in resources and technology to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government services.

4.1 Architecture Framework

Arizona's initial IT Conceptual Architecture document explains the overall strategic alignment of Arizona’s EA with the State's goals and objectives, the principles behind the architecture, the EWTA domains to be addressed, the plans for addressing domains, and the technology trends[2] to be taken into consideration. It was presented to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council, the Information Technology Authorization Committee (ITAC), and other stakeholders in late 2001.

This document, Enterprise Architecture Framework and Strategies expands the initial document to include important governance structure, roles and responsibilities, the renewable EA lifecycle process, guidelines for implementation, the EWTA Reference Model, and the composite Target EWTA amalgamated from the individual domain documents.

Enterprise Architectures must enable business transformation, rather than stand in the way. The Business Architecture Framework underscores and emphasizes the principle that business must drive architecture. The Business Architecture Framework includes the strategies and processes, along with drivers, that support the direction, goals, and objectives of Arizona State Government, budgets, the organizational structure of government, and its business services.

Arizona’s EWTA provides the strategic technical guidance and definitions to create an interoperable, adaptive IT framework that facilitates and supports the economical and efficient development and implementation of e-government and strategic business solutions that improve government services, eliminate redundancies, and reduce costs.

The EWTA domains[3] consisting of network, security, platform, software, and data/information identify principles, standards, and best practices that provide a comprehensive view of the State’s approach to information technology deployment. Collectively, the domains characterize a target technology environment (table)[4] for information technology. The target environment portray four levels of information technology lifecycle maturity from emerging, to target or strategic, and finally to transitional and obsolete. The target environment describes the technical components of Arizona EWTA relative to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model to furnish a common ground for analysis, discussion, and standards development. While each domain is a separate discipline, they all share and build upon the basic, fundamental principles of secure interoperability, flexibility, adaptability, scalability, and common, secure, industry-wide, open-standards-based technologies.

Arizona’s EWTA Domains
Infrastructure	Application
Platform	Data/Information
Network	Software
Security
Basic, Fundamental Principles of Arizona’s EA Business Focus and Alignment Secure Interoperability, Flexibility, Adaptability, Scalability, Portability, common, secure, pervasive, industry-wide, open-standards-based technologies

Network Architecture defines network infrastructures providing reliable and ubiquitous communication for the State's distributed information processing environment. It defines various technologies required to enable secure connections among its citizens, federal government, cities, counties, and local governments, as well as the private business sector.

Security Architecture defines technologies required to enable secure and efficient transaction of the State’s business, delivery of services, and communications among its citizens, federal government, cities, counties, and local governments, as well as the private business sector. It allows the State and individual agencies to incorporate technology security improvements for business requirements without compromising the security, integrity, and performance of the enterprise and its information resources.

Platform Architecture describes devices facilitating the reliable and pervasive availability of, access interfaces with, and processing for the State's distributed information processing environment. It defines various technologies required to deliver individual agencies’ and the State’s business application systems and services to its citizens. It allows the State and individual agencies to deploy and support effective and efficient end-user access interfaces to business application systems, as well as providing the processing capability to execute business application systems, while increasing the use of e-government solutions and maintaining traditional methods of service delivery to citizens.

Software Architecture delineates technologies (methodologies, tools, principles, etc.) facilitating the design, development, and purchase of software to automate and maintain State and agency business processes, and provides a foundation for interoperability, integration, collaboration, and communication. Arizona’s Software Architecture consists of:

1. Software Applications -- systems comprised of programming, productivity, and database software designed to automate and perform specific business functions such as payroll, accounts payable, MVD vehicle registration, etc.

2. Programming Software -- enabling technologies and products used to develop and maintain Software Applications, including programming languages (COBOL, C++, Java^TM, HTML, etc.), middleware technologies to facilitate inter-application communication and interchange of information, report writers, etc.

3. Database Software -- primarily database management systems to organize and manage data storage, facilitate access to and provide security for, and assure the integrity of the data in database storage.

4. Productivity Software -- office automation and collaborative software products and tools, such as collaborative groupware, email, calendaring and scheduling, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, graphic applications, report writers, personal databases, etc. and productivity software components.

5. Utility Software -- consists of those necessary and appropriate software tools used to maintain and enhance Target Network and Platform Architectures, and more specifically, applicable device operating systems.

Data/Information Architecture focuses on the process of modeling the information needed to support the business processes and functions of agencies, and more strategically, of communities of interest. Where applicable, it spans traditional agency organizational boundaries to address interoperability, integration, consolidation, and sharing of resources by correlating agency business processes to common government services through the identification and definition of data/information relationships and dependencies. Data/Information Architecture provides a common framework to converge certain individual agency business processes into community-of-interest-based, realistic, attainable e-government solutions and strategic business initiatives that eliminate unnecessary, redundant, and overlapping individual agency activities.

4.2 Governance

Governance provides the structure and support for implementation and management of EA as necessary to ensure it achieves its objectives. Governance consists of the leadership, organizational structures, direction, and processes that ensure IT supports and enhances agency and the State enterprise’s mission, strategies and objectives in a planned manner.

Establishing roles and responsibilities for Architecture Governance is an essential element for a successful EA program. Roles and responsibilities[5] are specific to the functions performed. Arizona has distributed roles among individuals, groups, and committees according to Statute and as best meets the needs of the State.

Recognizing the benefits of direct involvement and widespread collaboration, GITA and the CIO Council established a Technology Government Working Group[6] (TGOV). TGOV supports the Governor’s strategic plan for e-government and the implementation of strategic business initiatives by assisting agencies to achieve success in areas of EA implementation, technology selection, and the adoption of recommended standards and best practices. TGOV leverages the knowledge and expertise of existing IT personnel to provide agencies with architectural guidance, technology recommendations and approaches that support the adoption and implementation of Arizona’s EA. Agencies having representation on the CIO Council are encouraged to participate and provide appropriate technical staff representation in the working group.

To maximize the State’s business and IT investments, increase efficiency and effectiveness, and improve service delivery, EA must become institutionalized into the very framework of State government. To that end, Arizona’s EA is aligned with the Governor’s Strategic Plan, Agency Strategic Plans, and existing statutes, policies, standards, and procedures already in place.

Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) 41-3504 “Powers and duties of the agency” requires the Government Information Technology Agency (GITA) to "Develop, implement and maintain a coordinated statewide plan for information technology." GITA collaborates with individual agencies utilizing the Planning Application for Reporting IT Strategy (PARIS) tool to develop and analyze Agency IT Plans. Agency IT Plans should:

Ø Ensure the agency’s IT direction supports its business direction,

Ø Improve communication between the agency’s IT and business units, and

Ø Communicate to the agency’s constituents, employees, and stakeholders how IT adds value to the products and services.

Additionally, Agency IT Plans should support the State IT Plan by:

Ø Aligning with the State IT Plan,

Ø Leveraging shared statewide IT resources, and

Ø Ensuring agency IT implementations adhere to Arizona’s EA.

The Governor’s Office for Strategic Planning and Budgeting (OSPB) provides detailed information regarding the creation of a strategic plan in Managing for Results: 1998 Strategic Planning and

Performance Measurement Handbook. Agency IT Plans along with IT Security Assessments are continually updated, and submitted to GITA on a yearly basis.

A.R.S. 41-3504 requires GITA to “Develop a detailed list of information technology assets owned, leased, or employed by the State.” The Information Services Inventory System (ISIS) tool allows agencies to enter and maintain the three components of IT inventory: personnel, software applications, and hardware/software inventory. ISIS encourages agencies to maintain their information continuously as assets are acquired, modified, or retired.

A.R.S. 41-3504 also requires GITA to “Evaluate and monitor Information Technology (IT) projects, including expenditure, activity reports, and periodic review.” The Project Investment Justification (PIJ) document provides the Agencies a standardized method to report new or enhanced IT projects and investments. The document is structured to report meaningful business and technical requirements, value to the public, costs, scope, risks, and information on the Agency’s management and technical skills. Statewide Policy P340 Project Investment Justification (PIJ) implements the PIJ process, while Statewide Standard P340-P340 Project Investment Justification (PIJ) describes the statewide standard form and the review criteria used for the process.

GITA evaluates the PIJ documents and makes recommendations. The GITA Director determines disposition for projects under $1 million in development cost. For Projects of $1 million or more in development cost, the Information Technology Authorization Committee (ITAC) determines disposition. In addition, GITA forwards the evaluations to the Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting, and Joint Legislative Budget Committee staff.

A.R.S. 41-3504 requires GITA to “Adopt statewide technical, coordination, and security standards for information technology.” Recommended standards, and best practices established in the EWTA domain architecture documents are codified in Statewide Policies, Standards, and Procedures (PSP). Statewide PSPs view State government as a single enterprise made up of entities, which share the common goal for public service and the management of public resources rather than individual, autonomous organizations.

4.3 Enterprise Architecture Lifecycle

Existing policies and processes are coupled with the development and implementation of Arizona’s EA to create the AZ Enterprise Architecture Lifecycle illustrated below. The AZ EA Lifecycle indicates how the various components and processes interact and portrays the vitality and continuous renewal of EA within the State enterprise.

The vitality of the EA Target Framework depicted in the renewable lifecycle process is maintained through planned reviews. The more static components, such as the Architecture Governance Framework, are scheduled for annual or biennial reviews. Components of the EWTA are reviewed and refreshed continuously to address major shifts in technology, as well as the emergence and adoption of new technology-related industry standards.

4.4 Implementation

An important step in the implementation of EA is the alignment of statewide and agency IT contracts with the standards and best practices of Arizona’s EWTA. Arizona’s EWTA is intentionally designed to be as product/vendor agnostic as possible to maximize current investments in technology, provide a workable transition path to targeted technologies, maintain flexibility, enhance interoperability and sharing, and to promote fair competition. GITA, working in conjunction with the State Procurement Office (SPO) has developed a project plan[7] to examine and align existing statewide and agency IT contracts, as well as to assist with the development of guidelines, terms and conditions, and other deliverables to ensure products and services acquired by State agencies conform to the established architecture.

Gaps exist between the current environment and the established EA Target Framework. The capital planning, process approach and timeframes for transition, project management, and investment control for the implementation of the established target architectures are the responsibility of each agency. Implementing EA requires significant capital investments. Arizona, like most states, does not have unlimited capital to invest in implementing EA, therefore, migrating to EA within available agency budgets is the only viable method.

Within the context of the Arizona Enterprise Architecture Implementation Process Flow, agencies assess their existing “as-is” technology relative to the business needs associated with a given project, development of a positive business case, and overall agency business requirements. Where gaps exist based on overall agency business requirements, the agency develops a gap analysis implementation plan, including necessary funding, incorporating the plan into the Agency IT Plan.

Agencies are responsible for the execution of any gap analysis/implementation plan as well as for submitting a standard PIJ for project approval and implementation based on Statewide Policy P340, Project Investment Justification (PIJ). The specific business functions and processes, along with the proposed technological solutions, aligned with Arizona’s EWTA and supported by a positive business case, are detailed in the PIJ as specified in Statewide Standard P340-S340, Project Investment Justification (PIJ).

To realize the benefits of a standards-based architecture, all information technology investments must ensure compliance with the established EWTA. Architecture support and review structures embedded in the PIJ process, depicted above, are designed to ensure the integrity of the architecture is maintained as software and infrastructure are acquired, developed, and enhanced.

4.5 EWTA Reference Model

The EWTA Reference Model provides a functional depiction of the desired target environment designed to support the State’s business functions. It captures the fundamental components of the network, security, platform, software, and data/information domains and presents the aggregate relative to an e-government framework. The model presents a consistent, industry-aligned framework having the ability to accommodate a variety of viable e-government and other strategic business solutions that is flexible and capable of adapting to new and improved technologies as they become available.

The reference model provides the foundation for agencies to analyze and identify interoperability and integration opportunities. This interoperable, scalable target environment fully embraces open- and de-facto-industry standards and best practices. The practical application of this target environment should minimize point or proprietary approaches and maximize the interoperability of future e-government and other strategic business solutions.

5. Enterprise Architecture general Principles

General principles guide the planning, design, and development of EA and must support the State’s strategic business goals and objectives.

Principle 1

Executive Branch Agencies must adopt and implement Arizona’s EA.

Rationale:

Ø Arizona’s EA facilitates the goals and objectives of the Governor’s Strategic Plan and the Statewide IT Plan. EA supports the use of information technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of State agencies. EA leverages existing technology infrastructure investment and uses advances in technology that are open, scalable, reliable, and cost-effective. EA supports the increased access to information and services, while protecting privacy and addressing security considerations.

Ø The implementation of adopted architecture principles, standards, and best practices Statewide assures the most effective and efficient use of information and resources.

Ø Citizens typically request service from more than a single agency; therefore, focusing on interoperability and sharing beyond the individual agency level to a community of interest or statewide level is in the best interest of all stakeholders.

Ø A comprehensive, interoperable, business-driven approach accommodates even the most highly focused agency perspectives within the context and parameters of EA.

Ø The widespread adoption of collaboratively established principles, standards, and best practices enables Arizona State Government to transform service delivery, reduce costs, simplify, and streamline services, and increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Ø Agencies must incorporate EA into their 3-year IT plans and the PIJ-approved projects that enact those plans.

Ø Agencies must adopt and implement EA as soon as reasonably possible, given legislative mandates, priorities, and budgetary considerations.

Principle 2

Business and Information Technology (IT) must have common vision.

Rationale:

Ø The primary purpose of IT is to automate, enhance, and support business and administrative processes.

Ø IT must understand business processes in order to implement software applications and infrastructure that allow agencies to function optimally within their environment.

Ø Business must understand the architecture in order to take full advantage of technology.

Ø IT must align with major state and agency objectives and business drivers.

Ø Business and IT should mutually agree to develop and implement proven, effective processes and practices rather than create one-of-a-kind, custom solutions for business requirements.

Ø The adoption of proven, effective business processes and practices aligned with EA simplifies the implementation and support of agency services, resulting in improved service delivery, reduced costs, and increased efficiency and effectiveness.

Ø Proven, effective processes and practices address legal privacy and confidentiality data and information requirements, as well as interoperability issues.

Ø The implementation of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software applications without customization supports proven, effective processes and practices and reduces implementation and support costs, simplifies and streamlines requirements and services, and increases internal efficiency and effectiveness.

Principle 3

Architecture must address and facilitate business continuity, security, and disaster recovery.

Rationale:

Ø Business continuity ensures the required availability of business processes, services, and resources.

Ø Security architecture protects resources and information from unauthorized access and use.

Ø Security enhances public trust and the proper stewardship over public information.

Ø Security must ensure confidentiality and integrity of information.

Ø Ongoing education relative to the issues and requirements of security, privacy, and confidentiality must become a routine function of agencies.

Ø Business continuity and disaster recovery ensures that vital services remain operational and that agencies are able to re-establish business processes, services, and resources in a timely manner.

Principle 4

Business requirements and processes must drive architecture.

Rationale:

Ø Business and administrative requirements drive the software architecture.

Ø Software architecture drives technical infrastructure.

Ø Technical infrastructure and software architecture are enablers of business processes.

Ø Increases in efficiencies within the technical infrastructure may be driven by changes in technology.

Principle 5

Architecture must provide for interoperability.

Rationale:

Ø Interoperability facilitates the sharing of information and resources across the state enterprise and agency boundaries.

Ø The cost-effective and efficient sharing of information and resources requires communication between agency and community of interest software applications.

Ø Widespread citizen access to the State’s information and resources requires a secure, interoperable infrastructure.

Ø Diversity issues in existing software and infrastructure must be addressed to achieve interoperability and manageability.

Principle 6

Architecture must be extensible, scalable, and adaptive.

Rationale:

Ø The architecture must be adaptive in order to enable rapid change in business processes.

Ø As new processes and services are developed and new information becomes available, the architecture must scale to allow for increased demand.

Ø Adaptive software must easily allow for and accommodate changes in business processes.

Principle 7

Architecture must facilitate change.

Rationale:

Ø Federal requirements, legislative mandates, and strategic initiatives drive business process change.

Ø Budgetary constraints, increasing demand for government services, and higher citizen expectations for government services affect rates of change and shrinking cycle times for implementation.

Ø Rapid changes in business processes are enabled, in part, by a technical infrastructure that is secure, interoperable, and broader than that which is required by any individual software application.

Ø Agency services modeled after comparable public- and private-sector initiatives and proven, effective processes and practices create a cost-effective, efficient, and responsive business environment conducive to change.

Principle 8

Architecture must reduce the complexity of integration and business process improvements.

Rationale:

Ø The implementation of established architecture principles, standards, and best practices provides an open, common, interoperable IT framework that facilitates adaptability, change, and improvements in business processes.

Ø The implementation of documented methodologies and models provide the guidance for improving business processes and provide the ability to manage the development, acquisition, and maintenance of products and services. Applying new technologies to old, inefficient processes does not provide real value to the State. Documented methodologies and models allow business functions, processes, and associated business rules to be well understood and aligned with business drivers.

Ø The adoption of EA along with proven, effective business processes and practices facilitates the sharing of information and resources across the state enterprise and agency boundaries.

Ø Proven, effective processes and practices address legal privacy and confidentiality data and information requirements, as well as interoperability issues.

Ø The implementation of COTS software applications without extensive customization reduces the complexity of change by utilizing proven, effective processes and practices to reduce implementation and support costs, simplify and streamline requirements and services, and increase internal efficiency and effectiveness.

Ø Minimizing configurations of architectural components and maintaining compliance with standards reduces costs and facilitates business process improvements.

Principle 9

Market forces must be considered in the design of the infrastructure architecture.

Rationale:

Ø Infrastructure architecture must align with open- and pervasive-industry standards to deliver an interoperable, scalable, and adaptive IT environment that supports and maintains business processes, services, and requirements.

Ø While the overall EA plan provides a framework for the future, specific technical design and planning should not extend more than 3 to 5 years.

Ø Overall interoperability must take precedence over individual product technical design.

Ø Infrastructure architecture should allow for maximum innovation and flexibility within its framework to achieve cost-effective and efficient business process improvements, enhanced service delivery, and reduced implementation and support costs.

6. Enterprise Architecture standards

The development and use of common, open- and de-facto-industry standards creates a solid foundation of industry-aligned, interoperable, adaptive commonality, increasing the State enterprise’s ability to provide cost-effective, efficient functions and services, and reducing the costs of providing those services. Standards should not be viewed as constraints or hindering the ability to provide services. Standards guide the transition from incompatible, component-based systems and independent infrastructures to more integrated, interoperable systems of networked infrastructure and shared information and resources.

Standards help to identify and mitigate project risks, increase project success, and facilitate interoperability and sharing of information and resources. Incorporating adopted standards into the procurement process and subsequent contracts provides significant benefits to agencies and the State by requiring all products and services purchased to comply and adhere to a published, prescribed set of standards. Contractors must comply with contractual requirements and, therefore, are accountable for their performance, based on the standards that are consistent with Arizona’s EA.

Applicable recommended standards are developed and introduced as part of the EWTA domain documents. Recommended standards are developed and promulgated into statewide standards under the coordination of the Policies, Standards, and Procedures (PSP) Program.

7. Enterprise Architecture best practices

Best Practices are approaches, techniques, or methodologies that have consistently been demonstrated by diverse organizations or through experience and research to achieve similar, desired results. Arizona’s EA Best Practices align with business drivers and support the principles and purpose of enterprise architecture. Arizona’s EA Best Practices are compiled from business and industry, National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), the federal government, and other states. Utilizing best practices that are well defined and industry-aligned reduces project risk and increases project success while improving the State enterprise’s ability to provide cost-effective, efficient functions and services, and reducing the costs of providing those services. Processes that conflict with recommended best practices may be the interpretive result of existing legal mandates and requirements. Implementing best practices may require State enterprise or agency business process re-design and improvements to align processes with best practices.

Applicable recommended best practices are compiled and introduced as part of the EWTA domain documents. Where appropriate, certain recommended best practices are developed and promulgated into statewide standards under the coordination of the PSP Program.

Appendix A. EA Governance Roles & Responsibilities

Enterprise Architecture (EA) for the State of Arizona describes a comprehensive framework for information technology that supports the Arizona State government strategic plan. Enterprise Architecture includes important business, governance, and technical components. Governance provides the structure and support for implementation and management of EA as necessary to ensure it achieves its objectives. Governance consists of the leadership, organizational structures, direction, and processes that ensure IT supports and enhances agency and the State enterprise’s mission, strategies and objectives in a planned manner.
AZ Governance Function		Description	Governance Role (NASCIO defined)
Governor, staff		Provides direction, goals, and objectives to the State Agencies	State Executive
State CIO		The Chief Information Officer for information technology, reports to the Governor. Oversees developing and implementing strategic IT directions, policies, and standards. Champions the EA effort, promotes architecture value, ensure architecture success and alignment with Governor’s Strategic Plan.	Champion, Manager, Advisor, Communicator
ITAC		A executive, legislative, judicial, and private sector committee, which have planning and oversight responsibility for IT projects over $1 million in all three branches of State government. ITAC provides advice and counsel on major technology issues while reviewing and approving major technology projects and procurements.	Advisor, Overseer, Audience
GITA		The Arizona State Government Executive Branch agency responsible for statewide IT planning, coordination, and consulting. Administers Enterprise Architecture project. Determines IT project alignment with EA. Participates and advises on statewide procurement alignment and coordination with EA.	Reviewer, Procurement Advisor, Project/Service Teams
CIO Council		A working technical advisory committee made up of Agency CIOs organized to provide advice and support for statewide IT issues and to develop statewide Policies, Standards and Procedures.	Advisor, Communicator, Reviewer
Enterprise Architecture Manager		Manages architecture project; manages implementation plan; manages and develops architecture domain contents, policies and procedures, administers and facilitates review teams.	Manager Communicator
Enterprise Architecture Project Team		Researches and develops architecture domain contents; recommended policies, standards and best practices, aligns architecture with State’s strategic plan. Advises and recommends architecture alignment with procurement activities.	Subject Matter Experts, Documenter
TGOV EA Domain Review Teams		Technical agency staff that reviews and reaches consensus on architecture domain recommended standards and best practices	Reviewer, Subject Matter Experts, Project Teams
Agency CIO		Responsible for aligning EA with agency strategic plan and IT projects.	Communicator, Audience
Role (NASCIO defined)	Definition (standardized to NASCIO format)			AZ Governance Function
Champion (Primary role)	Responsible for ensuring the enterprise goals and objectives established by the EA efforts are fulfilled. Also, continuously promoting, advertising, and marketing EA.			State CIO All participants
Overseer (Primary role)	Responsible for ensuring that business and IT plans and projects follow the proper direction for the State and that the associated budgets are well spent.			ITAC
Manager (Primary role)	Responsible for the coordination of the overall EA program. Seeks guidance and support from the Champion. Receives clarity and support from Advisor. Directs the efforts of the Reviewer and Documenter. Provides information to the Communicator to promote EA, identify EA process steps.			State CIO, EA Manager
Documenter (Primary role)	Maintains the architectural framework elements, including Governance Architecture, Business Architecture, Technical Architecture Domains, and the EA Architecture Blueprint.			EA Project Team
Communicator (Primary role)	The conduit for EA information into the State enterprise and individual agencies.			State CIO, EA Manager, CIO Council, Agency CIO
Advisor (Primary role)	Provides clarity and support to the EA Manager. Serves as a representative of strategic business and IT elements.			State CIO, ITAC, CIO Council
Reviewer (Primary role)	Responsible for recommending and evaluating the suggested EA revisions and changes. May need advice and clarity from Subject Matter Experts and Documenter.			GITA, CIO Council, TGOV
Audience (Primary role)	Stakeholders including executives, agency business leaders, external and internal IT staff, vendors, EA team members.			ITAC, Agency CIO Agency IT staff
Subject Matter Experts (Supportive role)	Provides knowledge on a given subject.			CIO Council, TGOV, EA Project Team
Service/Project Teams (Supportive role)	Support existing IT business functions. Review strategic initiatives to best determine technology-related solutions. Align appropriate initiatives with EA			GITA, Agency IT staff
Procurement Manager (Supportive role)	Responsible for procurement policies and procedures. Coordinates alignment of procurements with EA-related Statewide policies, standards, and procedures.			SPO
Project/Services Methodology Communicator (Supportive role)	Responsible for communicating the methodologies and procedural steps to be followed when providing services and project support.			GITA Oversight

Appendix B. Technology Government working group (TGOV)

BACKGROUND

There is a definite need and business case for the standardization of technologies, requirements, and methodologies used to design, build, and implement solutions to accomplish the Governor’s e-government initiatives and programs. Without standardization and the recommendation of consistent standards-driven technologies, agencies risk deploying solutions that:

Ø utilize proprietary technologies,

Ø are not aligned with Enterprise Architecture (EA) strategies, and

Ø are isolated from other initiatives and cross-agency business functions.

To mitigate these risks, the Information Technology Authorization Committee (ITAC) and Arizona’s CIO Council have reviewed and approved a technical Enterprise Architecture (EA) that defines a set of standards and best practices to utilize to achieve the Governor’s strategic plans for e-government initiatives and subsequent business solutions.

To assist with the coordination and adoption of EA, a multi-disciplinary technical working group is necessary and beneficial.

INTRODUCTION

Under the direction of the Government Information Technology Agency (GITA) and the CIO Council, TGOV has been established to support the Governor’s strategic plan for e-government and to assist agencies to achieve success in areas of Enterprise Architecture implementation, technology selection, and the adoption of recommended standards and best practices that can be leveraged on a statewide scale. TGOV is supported by the State CIO, agency CIO’s and IT architecture personnel statewide.

TGOV leverages the knowledge and expertise of existing agency IT personnel to provide agencies with architectural guidance, technology recommendations and approaches that support the adoption and implementation of Arizona’s EA. Agencies having representation on the CIO Council are encouraged to participate and provide applicable technical staff representation.

Specifically, the TGOV:

Ø Provides technology and process expertise to assist in defining e-government blueprints aligned with EA domains (Network, Security, Platform, Software, and Data/Information) to support the e-government implementations.

Ø Utilizes relationships and lines of communication between relevant statewide entities (i.e., ITAC, CIO Council, GITA, ADOA/ISD/ITSD, ADOA/SPO, and affected agencies) to ensure that standards, best practices and lessons learned in the implementation of e-government solutions are leveraged Statewide.

Ø Recommends and assists with the deployment of e-government technologies, aligned with EA, that are proven, stable, interoperable, portable, secure, and scalable.

Ø Recommends strategies for transition from legacy and “agency-driven” solutions to e-government technologies.

Ø Identifies and makes recommendations to capitalize quickly on opportunities to leverage, share, and reuse technologies to support common business requirements, activities, and operations across State government.

KEY OBJECTIVES

The TGOV has defined several key objectives to assist state agencies in leveraging the skills and capabilities of the working group. They are:

1. Governor’s e-Government Initiatives. Analyze and review the Governor’s e-government initiatives to develop implementation strategies and goals for direction, expectations, and impact on Arizona’s IT systems and infrastructures.

2. Architecture Assessments. Provide recommendations on existing agency architecture and technology plans and implementations to plan for target EA solutions and strategies focused on interoperability, extensibility, and security.

3. Communication and Outreach: Prepare reports, review findings, technical direction, and proposed recommendations with ITAC, GITA, CIO Council, and other statewide entities as necessary.

Appendix C. EA/Statewide IT Contract Alignment

The following project plan has been developed in working with the State Procurement Office (SPO) on Enterprise Architecture/Statewide IT Contracts Alignment. The significant milestones are:

1. Project Plan – Develop project milestones and garner project support from SPO.

2. Contract List – Create a list of existing statewide IT contracts and map them to the Enterprise Architecture domains. Update the list of contracts as contracts terminate, are renewed, and as new contracts are added.

3. Detailed Mapping – Perform detailed mapping of the target architecture portions of each domain (upon approved standards by CIO Council) to the appropriate sections of the related contracts in order to determine which areas are/are not adequately covered by existing contracts.

4. Evaluation of Each Existing Contract – Evaluate the sufficiency of existing related contracts domain by domain and recommend a course of action for each.

5. Recommended Special Terms & Conditions – Develop and recommend to SPO, Special Terms and Condition designed for IT contracts, including Terms & Conditions relating to alignment with IT standards.

6. IT Guidelines – Develop guidelines for statewide IT contracts to ensure life-cycle analysis, best value procurement and future alignment with the EA and related standards.

7. New Contracts - Support SPO (based on resource availability) and encourage support from the CIO Council agencies in regard to the development of new contracts, amendments to existing contracts, and contract extensions as necessary to align statewide IT contracts with the target architecture and related standards.

8. IT Uniform Terms & Conditions – Assist and encourage others to assist SPO with its efforts through SPO’s Spirit Committee to update the Uniform Terms and Conditions for IT projects.

[1] Terminology used throughout this document is defined in the GITA Policies, Standards, and Procedures (PSP) and Enterprise Architecture (EA) Glossary of Terms available at: http://www.azgita.gov/policies_standards/glossary.htm

[2] Trends, economic, governmental, and technical that impact and influence EA are available at: http://www.azgita.gov/enterprise_architecture/

[4] The Arizona Target Technology Table is available at: http://www.azgita.gov/enterprise_architecture/

[5] Specific roles and responsibilities are delineated in Appendix A; EA Roles and Responsibilities.

[6] See Appendix B; Technology Government Working Group (TGOV), for further information.

[7] See Appendix C. EA/Statewide IT Contract Alignment, for additional information.