Enterprise Architecture at
Curtin University
Maureen Murray
Why did we need it?
Good ideas acted on independently
 Duplication of projects and
infrastructure
 “Solutions” rather than strategies
 No common standards
 Projects not connected to what we
were doing
 IT driven

How will we use it?
The architecture provides a framework for:
Investment decisions
 Evaluation and prioritisation of
projects
 Design and development of systems
and infrastructure
 Evaluation and acquisition
 Management and use of assets,
including data

How did we go about it?
Developed and agreed a framework
 Did lots of research, developed from
first principles
 Guiding principle was “How are we
going to use it?”
 Added detail to the framework
 Kept it simple, limited detail
 Already had lots of stuff

Challenges
Resources
 Hard to get IT people involved
 Hard to get IT staff to “abstract”
 Hard to justify our approach
 Hard to get people to contribute

Curtin’s Enterprise Architecture Framework
Business Context
 Guidelines and Design Principles
 Enterprise Information Architecture
 Systems Architecture
 Technical Architecture

Research
Collaborators
Community
Prospective
Staff
Students
Students
Competition
Social Climate
States the business strategy,
the services provided by the
university and the
information required to meet
the objectives of the
university Strategic Plans
Defines how information is
used and managed through
its lifecycle to support the
business
Defines the systems that
store and manage the
information
Defines the infrastructure
required to support the
systems and the business
Emerging
Technology
CHANGE
Policy/Legislation
Partners
Economic Climate
Business
Context
Information
Architecture
Systems Architecture
Technical Architecture
Industry
Alumni
Business Context
Business Guidelines and Principles
 Business Environment
 ICT Strategies to Meet Business
Objectives
 Business Architecture

Business Architecture
Clients
Students, Staff, Alumni, Prospective Students, Research Collaborators, Partners, Community,
Industry, Vendors/Suppliers
User Interface
Applications
Portal
Face-to-Face
Mobile
Devices
Websites
Publications
Correspondence
Learning
Support
Communication
Teaching
Support
Marketing &
Public
Relations
Staff
Management
Financial
Management
Student
Support
Payroll
Planning
Relationship
Management
Facilities
Management
Procurement
Information
Service
ICT Support
Data and Integration Layer
Student
Information
Research
Information
Identity
Information
Learning
Information
Client
Relationship
Information
Facilities
Information
Marketing
Information
Finance
Information
Staff
Information
Scholarly
Information
Procurement
Information
ICT Support
Information
Governance
Research &
Development
Security and Identity Management
Business Services
ICT Enterprise Guidelines
and Design Principles
Information systems for business needs
 Shared access
 Defined authoritative sources
 Secure information
 Proven standards and technology
 Lifecycle cost
 Agility
 Allow exceptions sometimes

Enterprise Information Architecture
Information Guidelines and Principles
 Classification and Categorisation
 Unstructured Content
 Structured Data

Information Management Strategy
User Interfaces
Business Processes, Reporting, Business Intelligence
Analytics
Information Integration
Data Quality
Data and System Integration
Content Management
Metadata Management
Taxonomy
Data
Files
Web
Pages
DB
Data
warehouse
DB
Document
Repositories
Email
Store
Security
Unstructured Content
Collaboration
Structured Data
Information Quality processes / standards
Enterprise Search
Systems Architecture
Objectives of the architecture
 Business Systems and Services
 Recommended Architecture





N-tier
Web services and web enabled
Standards for integration/interoperability
SOA
Business Systems and Services
Business Services
Research &
Development
Learning
Support
Communication
Teaching
Support
Staff
Management
Marketing &
Public
Relations
Financial
Management
Student
Support
Payroll
Facilities
Management
Planning
Relationship
Management
Procurement
Information
Service
ICT Support
Student
Systems
Facilities
Management
Systems
Finance
System
Library
Systems
Productivity
Software
ICT Service
Management
Systems
Marketing and
CRM Systems
Purchasing
Systems
Research
Systems
Planning
Systems
Communication
Systems
Learning
Management
Systems
Data and Integration Layer
Student
Information
Research
Information
Identity
Information
Learning
Information
Client
Relationship
Information
Facilities
Information
Marketing
Information
Finance
Information
Staff
Information
Scholarly
Information
Procurement
Information
ICT Support
Information
Human
Resources
Systems
Governance
Management
Reporting System
Security and Identity Management
Software Systems
Technical Architecture
Objectives of the architecture
 Key technology strategies to achieve
objectives
 Recommended Architecture






Virtualisation
Advanced use of storage technology
Use of clustered commodity servers
Capacity management
Appendix containing more technical
information
Technical Architecture
User Interface (desktop, web browser, mobile device)
Applications and Systems Services
Middleware and Database Support and Services
Hosting, Operating Systems Support and Services
Technology architecture
Agin
g
Technology
life Cycle
Planning
Tier 2 Servers
Agin
g
Tier 1 Servers
IMS Storage Services (FIBRE channel, iSCSI, NAS)
SAN Management Services and capabilities
Agile Switch/DR of Applications
between Nodes
SAN
Disaster recovery/Remote mirroring/capacity on Demand
Network and Operations (computer room) Services
Security and Access
Tier 3 Servers
Capacity Planning and Measurement
Compute Services and Capabilties
Policy/ Compliance/ Governance and Process
Virtualisation and Clustering Services
Security and IM
User Interfaces
Authentication, authorisation
Business processes and policies
Software Systems
Limit access through menu system
Authentication/Access controls
Anti-spam, anti-virus
Storage Layer
Backup regime
Access controls
Network
Secure protocols/VPN/Vlans
Firewall/Intrusion Detection Systems
Content filtering/monitoring
Identity Management
Governance and Audit
Server Layer
Access Controls
Antivirus/Patch management
Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery/High Availability
Physical Security
Data Layer
Firewall
Encryption
File management
Database privileges
Auditing
Where to from here?
Need to develop a governance
framework
 Distribute it widely and educate the
university
 Start using it and see if it works
 Identify the next steps in further
development of the architecture

What did we learn??
Need to develop an information
management strategy
 Technical areas need to focus on
services rather than technologies
 Don’t document for the sake of it
 It will never be finished!!
