Enterprise Architecture Certification

,,,,,

'Enterprise' Architects Certification, Rules & Criteria

The number and variety of certification initiatives and schemes is increasing all the time. This section covers some of the most popular schemes and aims to clarify what the different letters stand for and give a brief description of what knowledge and skills someone with that certification is likely to have. For less common certification schemes, links are provided to the relevant web pages. The software architects & system designers subsection is the result of an effort of the Institute For Enterprise Architecture Developments and the Oxford University Computing Services.

This architects certification overview is intended to be a resource both for architects wanting to gain a certification and for potential architects showing their career possibilities.

Master of Enterprise Architecture

RMIT University one of Australia’s leading educational institutions is proud to annouce their Enterprise Architecture Master program.

Following extensive consultation with companies represented on the school’s industry advisory committee and other Australian and international organisations, the school is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for this exciting new program commencing semester 1, 2006.

The Master of Technology (Enterprise Architecture) is a high-level IT postgraduate by coursework program, specifically designed for ICT professionals who wish to advance their career to the role of Enterprise Architect within an organisation.

Download here the RMIT Enterprise Architecture flyer.

Characteristics of an Effective Enterprise Architect
By: Scott Bittler
Meta Group (18 May 2005)

Read the whole article at

What personal characteristics, knowledge, and skills are most commonly found in effective enterprise architects? Although not at all intuitive, several traits are even more important than knowledge of enterprise architecture.

To select the right people, hiring managers and EA team leaders must understand the most important competencies to seek in enterprise architect candidates. We have observed that the wrong people attempting to apply the right process will still struggle to make it work. It is critical to spend time engaging the right people for this important function. As the META Trend states, by 2008, 40% of enterprise architects will have primary expertise in business strategy or process engineering and may no longer be found within the IT organization. This reflects the rising importance of the enterprise business architecture and the need for a more balanced skill set (beyond technical architecture).

Key Characteristics of Enterprise Architects
• Enthusiastic: A passion for life, work, and EA goes a long way. Far too many architects are rendered much less effective simply due to a lack of enthusiasm in their communication about EA.
• Technology-agnostic: Unfortunately, many strong technical people are also quite biased in their views toward vendors/products and tend to “go with what they know.” Architects must be vendor/product-neutral and maintain an objective perspective.
• General in technology outlook: It is important to understand enough about the broad range of technologies that an architect can engage in discussion with technical experts and not be swayed by inappropriately biased personal agendas in technical decisions.
• Well-respected and influential: Architects need the support of senior IT and business managers and the ability to influence them as well as the IT organization at large. Those that are already well respected and have influence have an advantage. New hires must establish this credibility early. It should be noted that influential persons are not always in management positions.
• Able to represent a constituency: Members of an EA team have a constituency - part of the organization they represent in the process. Some individuals are too focused on their own agenda to properly represent others. Although it is fine to assertively share an individual opinion, he or she must yield to the position that best represents and serves his or her constituents.
• Articulate and persuasive: Enterprise architects must spend substantial time communicating and educating. Therefore, it is important that they have the skills to clearly communicate ideas in a persuasive, compelling manner.
• Persistent: Enterprise architects are strategically inspired change agents. People tend to resist change (in most areas), and we certainly find this with the behavioral change being introduced by an EA program. Therefore, it is critical to be persistent in pursuit of positive transformation.
• Good at “helicoptering”: Effective enterprise architects have the rare ability to zoom out and be able to conduct a worthwhile discussion about business strategy with the CEO and, a minute later, be in a technical expert’s office with a zoomed-in mindset discussing technical details without getting lost.
• Strategic: Strategic ideas are, by definition, those that contribute to defining or fulfilling the transformations described in the business strategy of the enterprise while tactical issues pertain to executing well with operations. Architects must be strategically driven, while recognizing the need to have balance in the organization with effective, tactical operations.
• Focused on what is truly best for the organization (limited personal agendas): Although it is human nature to have a personal agenda, the best enterprise architects are leading or participating in an EA process designed to yield whatever will best serve the enterprise (even at the discomfort on one or many along the way).
• Knowledgeable of the business: It is important to avoid the trap of technology for the sake of technology. Enterprise architects are leaders and therefore must have a strong interest in and understanding of the business, its strategic direction, dysfunctions, strengths, etc. It is not good enough to be a superior technologist.
• Able to facilitate: Enterprise architects are frequently counted on to facilitate content development meetings or lead subcommittees. In this capacity, effective group facilitation skills are important.
• Able to negotiate: It is important to seek the win-win positions/solutions on issues as architecture content is developed. There are difficult decisions to be made. Emotion can get in the way. Effective negotiation skills are invaluable for peacefully resolving these situations with powerful decisions to benefit the organization.
• Focused on the long term: The idea is to take a series of short-term steps that not only deliver near-term value, but also contribute toward achieving a longer-term vision for the enterprise. This demands focus on identifying and driving toward that longer-term goal.
• Able to effectively use the whiteboard: Architects are visual people and tend to feel compelled to draw diagrams in their communication. Some people even like to use this reality in interview techniques.
• Able to lead: Taking the initiative to persuade, inspire, motivate, and influence others, plus the ability to make quality decisions with a high level of stakeholder buy-in.
• Able to be taught: It should be noted that a strong understanding of EA is not on this list. This is not an oversight. We have learned that if a person possesses all or most of the aforementioned traits, and he or she is “teachable,” then he or she can learn EA best practices quickly and rapidly become effective.

Bottom Line: Managers/executives must focus on seeking the right mix of knowledge/skills in filling enterprise architecture full-time or part-time roles. Most of these key characteristics are non-technical.
Business Impact: When the right people are selected to fill enterprise architecture roles, the time to business value from enterprise architecture is improved and much more likely sustained.

The Open Group - IT Architect Certification Program

The Open Group’s IT Architect Certification program is the premier, global certification program for certifying skills and experience in the IT architecture community. Based on the proven best practices in the industry, it sets an independent, industry-wide standard for IT Architects and creates a foundation for trust between suppliers and customers.

The IT Architect Certification program was developed by members of The Open Group, a technology- and vendor-neutral consortium, in response to the growing demand for highly experienced IT architects with proven track record of success.

Under the program, practicing IT Architects can achieve the IT Architect Certification based on demonstrating substantial skills, experience and success in architecting solutions across the whole lifecycle.

Certification of Enterprise Architects is a hot issue today.

A lot of organizations are coming up with certification initiatives. However, clear descriptions of the certification criteria are almost always missing. So the value and status of certification is directly related to the terms and conditions of certification. Today we see certification initiaves from regular education institutes like universities and institutes, we see initiatives from consulting and service organisations with their own internal certification program and we can see initiatives from commercial organisations.

The scope of the different certification programs is totally incomparable. We see programs from an 8 - 10 hour course till a 3-year university-based study. Sometimes, you can get a certificate when you pay a lot of money to a certification organisation without clear criteria of your certification.

Some consulting and service organisations have a very clear and regulated certification process, where candidates are tested on their knowledge, skills, capabilities and experiences in dealing with Enterprise Architecture. These people will be certified for a specific time period and after that period they have to make clear that they are still EA practitioners.

The Institute For Enterprise Architecture Developments has started an initiative to develop a set of terms and conditions for EA certification in close co-operation with other parties in this area.

Some examples of Enterprise Architects Certification initiatives:

Federal Enterprise Architecture Certification Institute, USA

Certificate Program for Enterprise Architects

The FEAC Institute provides training and education leading to certification in the Federal Enterprise Architecture, the Department of Defense Architecture Frameworks, and Integrated security Framework.
www.feacinstitute.org

Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

University-based Master study 'Architecture in the Digital World'

A 2,5-year Master study addressing all the elements of Enterprise Architecture, a co-operation of the Radboud University Nijmegen and Capgemini, The Netherlands. End terms of this study will be compliant with the future EA certification criteria defined by NAF.
www.architectuur-in-de-digitale-wereld.nl

Global Enterprise Architecture Organisation

Certificate Program for Enterprise Architects

The Global Enterprise Architecture Organisation (GEAO) is a not-for-profit organisation created by and for professionals who work in the field of Enterprise Architecture.
www.geao.org

Society for the Certification of Information Architects, The Netherlands

Society based own Certification Criteria for different levels

SCIA is the association of certificated (enterprise) information, IT-business and IT architects. It is a non-profit organisation created in 2001. Their certification criteria are based on bodies of knowledge.
www.stichting-cia.org

Netherlands Architecture Forum, The Netherlands

NAF Certification Criteria

NAF is a collaborative forum of research organisations, suppliers and user- organisations working in the architecture domain. One of the goals of NAF is to define the criteria for architect's certification. A working group is doing research on the required terms and conditions for certification.
www.naf.nl

DCI eUniversity

DCI's own certification criteria

8 - 10 hour Enterprise Architecture Certification Course. A Practical Guide to Implementing Enterprise Architecture will provide you with practical strategies for successfully implementing enterprise architecture. Certification is based upon successful completion of the final exam and the course evaluation.
www.netsessions.net/euniversity

Global Enterprise Architecture Organisation

The Global Enterprise Architecture Organisation (GEAO) is a not-for-profit organisation created by and for professionals who work in the field of Enterprise Architecture.

GEAO® - Certification Overview

Why certification?
Enterprise Architecture Certification is a credential that is given to Enterprise Architecture Professionals who meet a defined set of certification criteria. Currently, anyone can claim that they are a professional Enterprise Architect and Enterprise Architects are asking for a mark of excellence that recognises their ability, provides guidance for their career, and will distinguish them in the field of Enterprise Architecture. In response to this, GEAO have started an initiative to develop a certification program through which individuals can apply for a professional designation of GEAO Certified Enterprise Architect.

What value does it provide?
GEAO certification will be associated with a high level of excellence and will show that somebody has demonstrated proficiency in the Enterprise Architecture profession. This will not only provide benefits to the individual but also added value for organisations, such as:

• Increased clarity of the profession
• Ability to identify professional Architects
• Support for minimum competency standards
• Objective evaluation of applicant qualifications
• Increased employer and customer confidence when hiring Enterprise Architects
• Offers a measure of the individual’s commitment to the field of Enterprise Architecture
  
  Vision
  GEAO Certified Enterprise Architects are associated with a high level of excellence and are globally recognised for their significant contribution to the success of organisations.
  
  Assessment guide
  The certification assessment guide provides the criteria for the GEAO certification process. GEAO will assess candidates against these criteria and candidates must convincingly demonstrate that they meet those criteria. The following picture provides an overview of the areas that are part of the assessment:
  
  
  
  Code of professional conduct
  Professional attributes will assessed against the GEAO Enterprise Architecture code of professional conduct.
  
  Who develops the criteria for certification?
  Members of the certification initiative are members from business, government, educational institutions, and independent practitioners. They are responsible for the development of the criteria and the criteria will be continuously monitored for their relevance to the industry.
  
  How do organisations know that somebody is certified?
  GEAO will provide a web-based service allowing organisations to verify whether or not a particular enterprise architect is certified.
  
  For more information please contact certification@geao.org
  

Architects Terminology & Certification Levels

Role & Profile of the Enterprise Architect

• First of all . . . It is not a Saint that can solve all your issues.
• You can’t become an Enterprise Architect after following a course or training.
• Enterprise Architects have a long experience in business as well as in technology areas.
• Enterprise Architects must have different capabilities.
• Enterprise Architects must play different roles.
• Enterprise Architects are familiar with different methodologies & techniques.
• Enterprise Architects are Communicators.

The USA Chief Information Officer Certificate Program

The USA CIO Certificate Program, sponsored by the USA DoD CIO, is a rich up-to-date source of graduate education for federal CIOs to tap in developing their agency personnel. The program responds to the requirements set forth in the Clinger-Cohen Act [of 1996], and establishes an official certificate to recognize that an individual has received education in the federal CIO competencies. The DoD CIO and the Director, IRM College, sign the certificate. Additionally, students may apply their certificates, equivalent to fifteen graduate level credit hours, toward selected Master's or Doctoral degree programs at partner institutions.
The CIO Certificate Program is organized around eleven subject areas directly related to CIO competencies identified by the federal CIO Council

Each subject area is articulated as one or more courses in a particular subject or topic. Some courses are designed to be primary offerings, while others are counted as enrichment courses in student programs.

Certified Enterprise Architect (CEA)

What Does It Mean to Have a Enterprise Architecture Certificate?

An Agency requires every aspect of the organization be considered when creating an integrated Enterprise Architecture.

By utilizing Certified Enterprise Architects (EA's), it will be assured that all oversight agency and congressional requirements are met, especially IT requirements.

A Certified EA will have the skills to initiate, cost-justify, procure, select and manage the right team and necessary toolset to insure success.

The Certified Architect will have what it takes to enable their Agency to manage projected changes, effectuate eGovernment and leverage all other significant investments through every IT project's life cycle from conceptualization, evaluation, implementation, maintenance, steady state through retirement.

www.feacinstitute.org

FEAC Program Details

The FEAC Institute provides training and education leading to certification in the Federal Enterprise Architecture, the Department of Defense Architecture Frameworks, and Integrated security Framework.

Browse our pages to find out details about our exciting new offerings:

FEA(F) [FEDERAL ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE (FRAMEWORK)] CERTIFICATION PROGRAM addresses the FEA Reference Models, how to build business and technology oriented EAs, how to integrate the FEA with the Zachman Framework (FW), describes Clinger-Cohen compliance, CPIC, Exhibit 300 & 53s, governance, performance metrics, and security integration.

DoDAF [DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORK] CERTIFICATION PROGRAM offers hands on experience with the products for the integrated architecture views, and provides an overview on the GIG, Network Centric Warfare, LISI, the CADM and many other Service issues.

New! ENTERPRISE SECURITY PLANNING CERTIFICATION PROGRAM (SEAC) will be taught in the context of the Zachman FW and how it maps to an overall EA, the FEA Reference Models, CPIC, Knowledge Management and many other Security issues. A very advanced Security Knowledge Base will be used as a resource to make this hands-on experience relevant and valuable to the student's environment

'Enterprise' Architects

Vendors / Suppliers Internal Architects Certification Programs

The following Companies have their own internal architects certification program

Capgemini
IBM
HP

Vendors Certification Schemes, Rules & Criteria

Several vendors of software development tools and infrastructure solutions have their own certification schemes. The list below delivers an overview of the most common certification schemes in the market. However it is possible that we are missing some certification programs. In that case, please help us to enhance this list and mail your info to: info@enterprise-architecture.info

Details from Vendors Official Page