Enterprise Architecture

	Enterprise: The fabric of a human organization, including all of its elements and the relationships among them
	Architecture: The design of the parts of a system and the relationships among them

Because human organizations are complex there is no single view that can be considered the "Enterprise Architecture". Rather, an Enterprise Architecture is the composite of many different views. This quickly leads to complexity in the architectural framework. However, beneath all of the complexity are three fundamental elements from which spring all the complexity of human organizations, and therefore of Enterprise Architectures. These three fundamental elements are People, Information, and Action. This perspective provides the basis for IKS's Whole Systems Design approach to Enterprise Architecture.

Our approach to Enterprise Architecture is model-based. We distinguish between logical and physical models. Logical models represent the abstract components and relationships of a system. Physical models represent a particular implementation, using physical structures such as specific people, hardware, software, and materials. Both types of models are important; it is vital to distinguish between them and to keep them separate.

Some of the key architectures that are critical to ongoing success include:

	Action: what must be done to produce business results in the most efficient and effective manner; this should reflect functions, processes, workflows, and human interactions
	Data: the information needed to support the action architecture
	Technology: the physical implementation of various aspects of the action and data architectures
	Organization: the structure of the organization that best supports the action architecture
	Geographic Location: where the facilities of the organization are located and how they must interact to support the action architecture

We work closely with our customers to determine which architectures are important to study. All of our Enterprise Architecture work is done in a highly interactive and integrated environment, so that the relationships among the various architectures can be fully understood, coordinated and integrated.