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Image: Rick Steele

BIG PICTURE: The Interior Department’s Colleen Coggins is using the agency’s enterprise architecture to improve performance; Interior has posted its EA on the Web.

GROWING EA: Vendors expand offerings

As enterprise architectures take hold across government, EA vendors are evolving and expanding their product lines, in effect broadening their EA workspaces.

Last year two major vendors of EA software were purchased by larger companies. Both companies now use EA technology as part of broader offerings.

Troux Technologies Inc. of Austin, Texas, acquired Computas Technology Inc. and its Metis line of modeling software. Similarly, Telelogic AB of Malmo, Sweden, acquired Popkin Software Inc. of New York and its System Architect EA tool.

Prior to the Popkin purchase, Telelogic was perhaps best known for its DOORS requirements management software, which can generate specifications from an architecture. DOORS is popular with complex-platform builders, including those in aerospace and defense.

“System Architect and DOORS were highly paired in the government,” said Jan Popkin, former head of Popkin and now chief strategist for Telelogic. The company also offers software for project visualization and decision support.

By yoking with the Popkin software, all the applications can be enhanced with broader enterprise views, Popkin said. Likewise, the Telelogic tools expand the reach of Popkin to specific applications. This will allow architects and system planners to work more closely together.

An agency upgrading a set of applications could use Telelogic’s collection of tools to build the desired platform using an architecture built in System Architect. From there, the agency could build a request for proposals through DOORS, Popkin said.

Troux has similar plans for Metis, though that company operates in a slightly different field: IT governance software. Troux’s software manages IT inventory data, allowing architects and system managers to evaluate current capabilities, plan for new growth and verify standards compliance.

Computas’ customers are now making fuller use of their EAs, said Pat Motola, president of Troux. They are seeking a greater level of detail through analysis of models and getting the resulting information in front of more users. “Think of it as taking a specific set of the analytics and packaging them around a specific high-value problem area,” Motola said. “Once you have EA information, what are the big problems you can apply it to?”

Troux’s platform includes a workflow engine, portal and data repository, which allow users to easily move EA data into other operational areas.

For instance, most agencies do portfolio management, tracking the many applications across an agency. The EA can provide a high-level overview of these operations, allowing agencies to pick out redundant or outdated apps. EAs could also help agencies refine their service management models, Motola said. A service can range from e-mail to payroll, and may come with some concrete metrics such as required uptime and service costs.

The Office of Management and Budget’s Service Reference Model shows how to define services at an abstract business level. The CIO’s office can use Troux’ Services Portfolio Management software to attach specific services to the reference model.

“This really is an extension of EA, carrying it in the direction that OMB wants to take it,” said Bill Wright, Troux’s chief technology officer.

Even OMB is offering tools to help agencies make more of their EAs. To help agencies to start thinking along these lines, the office released an assessment framework that shows how EAs could be used in decision-making and in aligning IT with mission objectives (find it at www.gcn.com, Quickfind 528).

Said Michael Farber, vice president of consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. of McLean, Va., “That framework is what agencies use to help gauge their progress and set the stage for their future work.”