Alright, my first Udemy summary and review! As I mentioned in another post I’ve taken a lot of Udemy courses courtesy of our company’s enterprise account, and my intent is to summarize the notes of my favorite courses I’ve taken. In cases where I’ve used tools to summarize my notes (like chatGPT) – I will make it perfectly clear. The raw notes are always there if someone is interested in the gore. Just shoot me an email and I’m happy to provide more context if it’s helpful!
So onto the first one. This is a summary of my notes (an outline in bullet form) that chatGPT made for this course.
Enterprise Architecture: How to Design Models & Diagrams
https://www.udemy.com/course/enterprise-architecture-how-to-design-models-diagrams
There is a book referenced in the course too
Here is the summary of my notes. Not sure I really like this format, I might try it more, might abandon it. More of an experiment I guess.
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The course, paired with a recommended book, offered a solid foundation on how to design effective EA models and diagrams for any organization. While some of the learning came through visual examples (which I can’t reproduce here), the core concepts stood strong on their own. Here’s what I learned:
What Is Enterprise Architecture?
At its core, Enterprise Architecture is about alignment—specifically aligning people, processes, governance, and technology to drive optimal outcomes for the organization. EA provides a structured approach to evaluating the current (“As-Is”) state and designing a strategic, future (“To-Be”) state.
Common EA Frameworks
The course gave a quick overview of frameworks, each suited to different industries and use cases:
- TOGAF: The most widely used general-purpose framework.
- Zachman: Popular in the early 2000s, now less commonly used.
- DoDAF: Tailored for defense-related organizations.
- BIAN: Specific to the banking industry, offering pre-defined services and standards.
Key Advice on Using EA Effectively
Some wisdom that stuck with me:
- Only build artifacts to solve a real problem—don’t create diagrams just to create them.
- Ensure stakeholder buy-in before you start. Don’t waste time building models no one will use.
- Design EA to test future-state ideas, not to implement them directly.
- Focus on gaps—EA should highlight missing capabilities or inefficiencies.
Business Architecture
This layer explores the strategy, organization, and operational model:
- Business Strategy View: The top-level document. What are we trying to do in the next 2–3 years?
- Organization View: Describes roles and teams (not people), useful for governance and reducing redundancy.
- Operational Model: Shows what’s being done and where. A clear, big-picture view.
- Business Services View: Labor-intensive but critical to understand which teams do what.
Bonus: The Business Interaction Matrix and Center of Gravity analysis help identify high-impact groups supporting many business units.
Process Architecture
Covers how work gets done:
- Process Catalog: A repository of core business processes. Tools and frameworks like APQC are helpful.
- Process Models: Start-to-end diagrams showing how value flows through the organization.
- BPMN 2.0: Worth learning properly rather than just copying templates.
Data Architecture
Data is the second most important asset after people.
- Understand the company’s data lifecycle, including governance, security, and flow.
- Models covered include:
- Logical/Physical Data Models
- Data Flow Diagrams
- Information Requirements and Hierarchy
- Data Security Models
EA plays a major role once a certain level of data maturity is reached.
Infrastructure Architecture
Describes the logical view of software and hardware needed to support services.
- Start with a Service Catalog.
- Use models like:
- Infrastructure Requirements View
- Resource Needs Model
- System-to-App/Data/Business Cross References
Visuals (icons, logos, etc.) are better than spreadsheets—make it dynamic.
Application Architecture
Focuses on the applications needed to run the business:
- Application Architecture Framework (H-Model)
- Application Business Requirements View (built on top of service/org models)
- App-to-App and App-to-Data Cross References
- Application Security Models (pro tip: work directly with vendors, not Google)
Tools: Visio vs. Lucidchart
While the course used Microsoft Visio, the concepts are transferable to tools like Lucidchart or others. Key tips:
- Use landscape orientation, grids, and professional formatting.
- Start with a clear canvas: title, author, version, date.
- Use BPMN color coding: orange for events, yellow for decisions, blue for start/stop.