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IT Architecture @ UW–Madison. Lessons from the first four years Keith Hazelton (hazelton@doit.wisc.edu) IT Architect, Division of Information Technology. IT Architecture @ UW–Madison: Lessons from the first four years. IT Architecture ver. 1.0, 1995 Typical products What hasn’t worked
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IT Architecture @ UW–Madison Lessons from the first four years Keith Hazelton (hazelton@doit.wisc.edu) IT Architect, Division of Information Technology
IT Architecture @ UW–Madison: Lessons from the first four years • IT Architecture ver. 1.0, 1995 • Typical products • What hasn’t worked • What has worked • 1999 activities and plans • Questions for those without IT architects... CSG: IT Architecture @ UW-Madison
IT Architecture ver. 1.0, 1995 • Architects (1. – 2.5 FTE) and advisory group, Committee on Information Technology Architecture (CITA) • Process: CITA prioritizes issues, teams formed, guidelines drafted, reviewed, approved • All processes, work in progress and results documented on web site (http://www.wisc.edu/arch) CSG: IT Architecture @ UW-Madison
Typical products • Guidelines on shared authentication, directory services • Campus forums on PeopleSoft, MS & Novell Contracts, E-forms/workflow • Interoperability info: quick lookup guides, research reports (E-commerce, E-mail) CSG: IT Architecture @ UW-Madison
What hasn’t worked • Limited impact on applications development • “Big book of standards” a pipe-dream • Some non-converts see as a budget-cut target • Big IT changes often happen outside the architecture process • Consensus-based standards-like efforts take lots of time and resources CSG: IT Architecture @ UW-Madison
What has worked • Growing recognition that architects & friends represent a valuable and rare global perspective • Architects have become trusted colleagues of some key planners and decision-makers • Flexibility to redefine tactics as landscape shifts • From authors of “building code” to JIT honest info brokers • Adjustable mix of slow crafting of infrastructure guidelines and quick results for low-hanging interoperability fruit. CSG: IT Architecture @ UW-Madison
1999 activities and plans • Bring CITA & architects into policy arena as advisers • Target info brokering at the groups and individuals making the big decisions • Web-based learning systems guideline • Secure server best practices • Rollout of architecture-shaped directory and authentication services CSG: IT Architecture @ UW-Madison
Questions for those without IT architects... • Who represents the interests of the whole versus the interests of the pro-activist dept. or unit with money? • Who mediates between central IS and departmental IT? • By what processes are institution-level IT issues resolved? • Who is charged to look over the horizon, over the wall? To whom do they report? CSG: IT Architecture @ UW-Madison