Feds should formalize architecture, chief architect says

Public or private sector, every agency and organization has an enterprise architecture, and the federal government's chief enterprise architect believes these strategic plans should be formalized to improve the government's ability to share services between agencies.

"Architecture is nothing if not applied," said Federal Chief Enterprise Architect Scott Bernard, speaking at a conference Oct. 29 in Washington.

Enterprise architecture has gained steam in federal agencies since a 2012 White House directive mandated agency heads to create agency-wide enterprise architectures that meld strategic drivers, business requirements and technology in hopes of reducing duplication and enhancing engagement between agencies and the public sector.

And its importance continues to grow, Bernard said.

Enterprise architecture, which Bernard defined simply as the combination of strategic, business and technology planning, plays a major role in several key agency-wide initiatives. PortfolioStat, the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, the White House's digital strategy and cloud computing could all yield better results when run by agencies with sound enterprise architectures in place, he said.

And, unlike many processes in IT, Bernard said agencies should not operate with more than one enterprise architecture. This is one time, he said, when you don't want a backup.

"Centralized or decentralized, [agencies] should not be using competing architectures," Bernard said.

The government has room to improve in using enterprise architecture to promote shared services, with the first step simply accepting it as a priority, Bernard said.

It makes little sense for agencies to have multiple e-mail systems, IT help desks and different methodologies and systems to deliver accounting, travel or finance services. Yet those "low-hanging fruit" are still hanging in many agency trees.

"I think we can be more efficient with a few instances, but it requires agencies to be aware – they have to understand shared services is a priority and pursue it," Bernard said.