Reflection: Remember this is Business and IT!

I fear I've subliminally focused on IT centric thoughts these last few posts... Which is quite wrong!  Everything I've said applies as equally to Business Architecture as it does IT Architecture:

• "Standard Actors" may be IT, but they have to be grounded in Business Architecture's "Standard Roles", whether they be roles in the business or roles in IT.
   
• A reference IT design might be to do with data distribution; but there is equal need for reference Business Process Models or Entity Relationship Diagrams. And only when the BA's data models and process models are understood, particularly their non-functional characteristics, can IT focused design decisions be made on data placement in the first place!

I know there are some who, while enthusiastically advocating the need for both, describe it as "Enterprise Architecture supporting Business Architecture", implying EA is wholly focused on IT. While there may be a historic truth in that - that EA was a wholly IT centric thing - you have to go back quite a few years to find that narrower view.  Today, EA "is" an integrated blend of IT and Business concerns and considerations.