Enterprise Architecture (EA) aligns business and Information Technology (IT) by laying out how information, business and technology interrelate and flow together. This integrated business and IT perspective is intended to guide the planning and designing of IT capabilities to achieve desired business results.
Architectural principles are general rules and guidelines important for business and relevant for IT. They embody the spirit and thinking of enterprise architecture and reflect a level of consensus across the organization. Architecture principles relate back to business objectives and key architecture drivers, forming the basis for making IT decisions.
Notre Dame’s enterprise architectural principles are informed by the IT Governance Guiding Principles. The architectural principles are organized around four domains: Business, Data, Solutions and Infrastructure. These are based on The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) with slight modification.
For more information, please contact the enterprise architects at enterprise-architecture-list@nd.edu or see
- Enterprise architecture principles - summary version
- Enterprise architecture principles - full version
Business Architecture
|
Principle |
Statement |
IT is aligned with university mission |
IT as a strategic business function is aligned to enable, support and stimulate business strategies, and to help achieve the University’s mission. |
IT is driven by University needs |
IT is directed by University’s goals and strategic objectives and addresses stakeholders’ concerns. |
IT utilizes emerging technologies |
Monitor and evaluate emerging technologies, building expertise and communities and implementing the most appropriate solutions. |
Govern IT Investments |
Operate a shared governance framework that recommends and coordinates priorities in the creation and use of IT across the University. |
Manage institutional risks |
Identify, evaluate, and prioritize IT related risks. Monitor and plan to mitigate the probability or impact of identified risks. |
Optimize use of University resources |
Maximize University investments and achieve the desired results with minimum usage of human and financial resources. |
Data Architecture
|
Principle |
Statement |
Data is an asset |
Treat data as an asset to the University. Maintain contextualized, accurate data and leverage it to discover actionable insights, patterns, and trends. |
Data is secure |
Ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of data throughout its lifecycle. |
Data is available |
Make data available to enable business operations, teaching, and research without compromising security. |
Data is governed |
Operate a campus-wide data governance framework that assigns decision-related rights and duties and ensures consistency and control in the management and use of data. |
Data is analyzable |
Define data consistently across the University, and collect and store data in ways that can be examined, cross-referenced and interpreted methodically. |
Solutions Architecture
|
Principle |
Statement |
Design Cloud First |
Start solution design by evaluating what we have, then preferring SaaS before building custom solutions on cloud infrastructure using cloud services. |
Design for value |
Factor lifecycle costs of developing, supporting, and maintaining a solution into its design, balancing performance, quality and total cost of delivery. |
Design for usability |
Design solutions that are consistent and user-friendly, even when bridging multiple systems. |
Design for security |
Design solutions that mitigate risks to university data and business processes, appropriate to the probability and impact of the risks. |
Design for lifecycle |
Design for agility, loosely coupling components to facilitate future decommission, deprecation, or decomposition. |
Design for resilience |
Plan for business continuity and make sure that IT services can withstand and recover from interruptions. |
Infrastructure Architecture
|
Principle |
Statement |
Infrastructure is Cloud First |
Minimize on-premises installation of hardware. |
Infrastructure is standardized |
Use common platforms, lower complexity, and avoid customizations. |
Infrastructure is reliable and resilient |
Infrastructure is capable of ensuring the integrity and availability of supported services. |
Infrastructure is code |
Infrastructure is defined in version-controlled code, increasing consistency, auditability, and repeatability. |
Infrastructure is cost effective |
Provide the most stable and viable infrastructure, while controlling the overall costs. |