7 Steps for Building a Technology Portfolio

by Jeff Tash

How do you build a technology portfolio? One way is to use a simple commonsense approach called “XEA -- eXtreme Enterprise Architecture”. XEA is a lightweight 7-step methodology for creating an adaptive technology portfolio. A technology portfolio provides the foundation upon which rests your traditional, much more complex, Zachman Framework-like enterprise architecture.

The seven eXtreme Enterprise Architecture steps are:

1. Taxonomy
2. Repository
3. Standards
4. Integration
5. Version Control
6. Portfolio Maintenance
7. IT Value

You need a TAXONOMY to organize, classify and categorize your technology assets so that people throughout your enterprise can share information using common models and common vocabularies.

A taxonomy is similar to an XML document (i.e., an XML vocabulary) in that both are represented by a hierarchical tree structure. A taxonomy, like an XML document, begins with a single root that decomposes into branches -- where each branch corresponds to a category. Branches can further split into sub-branches and sub-sub-branches -- just as categories can be divided into sub-categories and sub-sub-categories. Branches can also spawn childless leaves.

It’s hard to get a taxonomy “right.” It requires a special talent to organize information in such a way that other people can readily find what they’re looking for. The very essence of a taxonomy is its ability to provide “context.” Context facilitates understanding and comprehension. It also enables meaningful comparisons.

The biggest problem with taxonomy may be it’s first three letters which stir such negative connotations. That’s why I decided to name the taxonomies I developed “roadmaps.” My “ITscout roadmaps” are visual taxonomies that depict the kinds of technology assets you’ll likely discover in your own IT environment. These include: (1) IT infrastructure; (2) application development; (3) commercial-off-the-shelf applications; and (4) business intelligence.

The 2nd step in XEA is probably the most difficult -- initially populating your technology portfolio’s REPOSITORY. People keep searching for some magic silver bullet that will painlessly capture data. The truth is, “garbage in, garbage out.” The repository doesn’t have to be perfect all-at-once. It can evolve organically over time. Start with any existing inventories of your technology assets. Next, examine major applications one-by-one. For each, identify the key underlying interoperating parts. Be careful not to get bogged down by too much detail too soon. What you want to avoid is tracking every single component, every database table, every library call, etc., too early in the capture process. Initially, limit your level of granularity. Focus at first only on major technology assets. Later, you can iterate again, picking up additional details about your applications, business processes, and data.

Step 3 of XEA is called STANDARDS. Once you have a taxonomy and a repository, you can establish and communicate internal corporate standards. It would be wonderful if everyone would always agree on standards. But that’s never going to happen. Instead, standards need to be flexible so that different business units or different geographic regions can adopt different standards. You also need to be able to distinguish between standards that are “current as-is” versus “future to-be”.

XEA’s 4th step, called INTEGRATION, concentrates on tracking which particular tools actually get used together in combination. Enterprises need custom designed integration models to organize information pertaining to applications, business processes, design patterns and configurations. From a technology portfolio perspective, integration is about collections of interoperating products.

Step 5, VERSION CONTROL, deals with all the necessary technology portfolio housekeeping required to manage change. Vendors are constantly releasing new versions of products. That information must be managed by your technology portfolio. In terms of integration, your technology portfolio must also track which specific versions of what particular products do, in fact, interoperate.

Step 6 of XEA is called PORTFOLIO MAINTENANCE. The only way a technology portfolio can succeed is if its repository is constantly kept up-to-date. The only way to ensure that will happen is by integrating portfolio maintenance into larger IT business processes. For instance, when an IT organization supports standards, those standards must be periodically reviewed. That activity must be incorporated directly into IT workflows.

XEA’s 7th and final step, IT VALUE, isn’t so much a step as a statement on how to prepare for the future. Once steps 1 - 6 are completed, you’re ready to evaluate your technology portfolio. Focus on “value.” Not “cost.” Identify both your valuable technology assets along with your underperforming technology investments. Try to measure IT’s contribution to the enterprise’s value chain.

XEA provides seven steps for building a technology portfolio. XEA is simple, concrete, and inexpensive. XEA helps IT achieve simplicity, standards, modularity, and integration. The ultimate benefit is an agile enterprise.