ICT

IT Architecture

The IT Architecture is an organized set of consensus decisions on policies & principles, services & common solutions, standards & guidelines as well as specific vendor products used by IT providers both inside and outside the Information Technology Branch (ITB).

One of the major activities associated with producing an IT Architecture will be the process of achieving such consensus decisions. It is understood that reaching consensus may constrain purchase and design options, hopefully in the interest of enhancing interoperability. It is a given that the greater the consensus achieved, the greater the organizational benefits attained.

IT Architecture Objectives

The IT Architecture is guided by the following objectives, which help make decisions for establishing individual standards:

©      Architectural decisions should serve the Department's mission.

©      The architecture serves heterogeneous environments.

©      The greater the consensus achieved for individual architectural decisions, the greater the benefit.

©      The architecture should identify areas of stability without impeding essential innovation.

©      Architectural decisions should describe the tangible results of conformance and non-conformance with the architecture.

©      Architectural decisions should provide sufficient documentation to assess the compliance of a specific implementation.

The purpose of the IT Architecture

The purpose of the IT Architecture is to guide the process of planning, acquiring, building, modifying, interfacing and deploying IT resources throughout the Department.

As such the IT Architecture should offer a means of stable evolution by identifying technologies that work together to satisfy the needs of the Department users.

Some of the benefits of an IT Architecture           

©      It will help to insure interoperability inside and outside ITB and the Department.

©      It's a way to inform developers of Department directions.

©      It will help in making planning, development and purchase decisions.

©      It will be useful in aligning information technology providers for the Department.

©      It is a way to communicate direction (and changes) both inside and outside ITB.

©      It will reduce the maintenance and support requirements.

©      It will help in planning migration to new technologies.

Framework whic is necessary for the IT architecture are

A comprehensive view of an IT Architecture specifies (1) policies and (2) principles that indicate direction, and (3) services and common solutions, (4) standards and guidelines, and (5) products that detail the means of implementation (see Figure 1).

The framework for the IT Architecture is that of a cube sliced into five sections or layers from back to front. Each section or layer represents a type of architectural specification from the most general IT policy layer at the back of the cube to the most specific product layer at the front of the cube.