Visions are part of the [[CSVLOD]] model, representing **business-focused structures**. They're a result of [[A Plan is Not a Strategy|strategic planning]]. They help achieve overall [[IT-Business Alignment]] by documenting a shared view of how an organization works today, and how it needs to work in the future. They are dual-natured, aiming to be consumed by IT and business stakeholders alike. > [!question] Questions > - What does an organization do? > - What are the activities and capabilities of an organization? > - What is the relationship between main customers, processes, data, & systems? Visions are typically _graphical_ in nature, often using generic drawing tools like Visio (or the much better [[DrawIO]]). # Concerns Visions fall into a trap of becoming **overly detailed**, diluting their usefulness as a communication tool and making them prone to [[Documentation Rot]]. Your artifacts should only be as detailed as necessary to make your next prioritization decisions for where to spend resources _next_, but no more detailed than that. # Types ## [[Business Capability Models]] Commonality: **Essential** [[Business Capability Models]] seem like the bread and butter of [[Enterprise Architecture]]. They were important enough to get [[Business Capability Models|their own dedicated note]]. > [!note] Example > ![[Pasted image 20240531143307.png]] ## Roadmaps Commonality: **Essential** Graphical representation of planned IT initiatives. In the form of [[Gantt Charts]] or graduated [[Flow Charts]] going out ~3 years. Roadmaps can be used at different scales, and give smaller teams planning smaller initiatives a chance to have their plans vetted for alignment with the larger initiative. In this way, roadmaps are a _critical_ means of communication between business & IT. As with essentially all [[Enterprise Architecture Artifacts]], color coding can be used in a variety of ways. Typically with Roadmaps the coding scheme is tied in with some aspect of the initiative lifecycle (e.g. planned, approved, funded, active) or by size, or risk. Also like most EA Artifacts, roadmaps are often [[Hierarchy|hierarchical]]. Broad scoped roadmaps decompose into multiple more granular ones. > [!NOTE] Example > ![[IMG_2145 Large.jpeg]] ## Target States Commonality: Common Target states describe literally that, an upcoming stable-_ish_ mode of operating that represents some meaningful improvement over the current status quo. These are typically achievable within the next 3 years, but may go out beyond that. They are a midpoint between the very high level business capability models and the more detailed roadmaps. Target states may be _iterative_ or _transformative_. > [!note] Example > ![[Pasted image 20240601013449.png]] ## Value Chains Commonality: Uncommon Value Chain diagrams overview a business from the perspective of its value-adding activities. They briefly describe all primary & supporting activities a business performs to deliver its product. Personally I don't see how value chains can be useful. ## Context Diagrams Commonality: Uncommon Provide high-level graphical descriptions of the current **conceptual operational flows** of a business. These are meant to be easy-to-digest pictures illustrating the as-is state. These map the data & physical flows between stakeholders, systems, and system components. My thoughts: These have high _educational_ value, and help build common [[Mental Models]]. Look a lot like [[Data Flow Diagram]]s. > [!note] Example > ![[Pasted image 20240601224115.png]] ## Others In addition to those above, the source also lists: - **Process Models** - not really detailed, but I imagine something similar to [[IDEF0]] - **[[Core EA Diagrams]]** - which depict the [[Company Operating Model]] - **Business Model Canvases** - this is likely some very specific suggestion from some other source he's including, relates to "nine key elements" - **Product Catalogs** - or other industry-specific items **** ## Source - [[The Practice of Enterprise Architecture]] - https://eaonapage.com/ ## Related - [[CSVLOD]] - [[Enterprise Architecture of the PDW]] - [[Diagram Types (index)]]