{"id":719,"date":"2025-05-13T01:13:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T00:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.avolutionsoftware.com\/?p=719"},"modified":"2025-07-09T13:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T12:51:10","slug":"how-to-build-an-enterprise-architecture-roadmap-4-styles-to-consider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.avolutionsoftware.com\/news\/how-to-build-an-enterprise-architecture-roadmap-4-styles-to-consider\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build an Enterprise Architecture Roadmap"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Here we run through a few best-practices when building an enterprise architecture roadmap, and provide a structure to set your course.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You\u2019ve decided to go to Hawaii for some sun and seafood. You\u2019ve put a picture of your \u201ctarget state\u201d \u2013 Hawaii \u2013 on your wall. What you now need is a detailed plan which sets out the best path to take on each leg of your journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the world of enterprise architecture, we call this process \u201croadmapping\u201d. Of course, the destination isn\u2019t Hawaii, but a future state your business is aiming to achieve.<\/p>\n

The most effective roadmaps also consider the multiple ways of completing the entire journey, not just one leg. They consider multiple options for each of the transfers, whether to fly or take a cruise, stopovers along the way, etc. Likewise for a business.<\/p>\n

Holding all of these permutations in your head is, of course, impossible. And you\u2019ll quickly outgrow basic business tools such as Excel and PowerPoint.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you turn to your\u00a0Enterprise Architect.<\/p>\n

Their role is to chart these multiple options and weigh which are best in order to navigate with confidence towards the desired business endpoint.<\/p>\n

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Features of Enterprise Architecture Roadmap<\/h2>\n

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The long game<\/h3>\n

The most effective enterprise architecture roadmap<\/a> involves thinking about the long game. It\u2019s not just setting strategy and budget for next year. By considering the forks in the road well in advance, a business will have time to choose the optimal route.<\/p>\n

Also, don\u2019t underestimate the importance of understanding your current state. Tempting as it may be to simply picture your ideal \u2018green field\u2019 or \u2018blue sky\u2019 state and start working towards it, this rarely works.<\/p>\n

To put it more succinctly: to get where you\u2019re going you have to know where you\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n

Avoiding obsolescence<\/h3>\n

Make sure it is efficient and easy to keep the data in your roadmapping tool up to date<\/a>. If not, it will quickly become obsolete. This means that you will need a tool which you can plug into your other information sources (including at least your ERP and CMDB), and automatically run any algorithms, so that key business information is readily available within your roadmapping tool.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0ABACUS<\/a> toolset, we do this by providing an open API, configurable repository, and select adapters and integrations. \u00a0You can map and then synchronize any external data source into ABACUS.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tailoring your metrics<\/h3>\n

Of course, not everyone wants to go to Hawaii for sun and seafood.\u00a0 Perhaps snow and schnapps in the Swiss Alps is more your style?\u00a0 Similarly, each business has a different destination in mind and a different set of core metrics to guide them there. If what you primarily care about is using high-cost resources efficiently you will need quite a different set of roadmapping priorities to an FMCG company, which is likely focused on time-to-market.<\/p>\n

In ABACUS you can set any number of goals and then use the tool\u2019s powerful analytics to quantitatively assess potential options.\u00a0 This includes\u00a0no-code algorithms<\/a>. You can run these using a range of metrics including Financial (e.g. TCO, ROI, NPV), Technical (e.g. resource utilization, response times, availability, reliability, etc) and Sustainability (e.g. carbon footprint, resource re-use).<\/p>\n

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Setting the course: Enterprise Architecture Roadmap Design<\/h2>\n

We find that a useful way to provide structure to your planning is to work through the questions below:<\/p>\n