Award of the Enterprise Architecture Certificate requires successful completion of four core and three specialty courses. The four core courses are Enterprise Architecture for Managers (ARC), Information Management Planning (IMP), Strategies for Process Improvement (PRI), and Data Management Strategies and Technologies (DMS). ARC must be successfully completed before enrolling in PMA, GIG or FAC. Specialty courses required for award of the certificate are Planning and Managing Enterprise Architecture Programs (PMA) and either the DoD-oriented Global Information Grid Architecture (GIG) course or the civilian agency-oriented Federal Enterprise Architecture course (FAC). As the final course in the Enterprise Architecture certificate, students complete the Enterprise Architecture Practicum (EAP), integrating knowledge and skills acquired in their prior courses through application in an organizational setting.
The EA Certificate Program has been designed to complement the College's other certificate programs. Each of the foundation prerequisite courses also satisfies a primary competency requirement for the Chief Information Officer Certificate. The Information Resources Management (IRM) College currently has cooperative agreements with a number of civilian universities that grant academic credit towards master's or doctoral degrees for its certificate programs. We anticipate that graduate credit will also be granted for completion of the EA Certificate.
Methodology
Most courses are taught as both five-day intensive offerings in residence at the IRM College in Washington, D.C., and in distributed learning form on the
web. (All prerequisite courses are available by distributed learning.) Students undertaking IRM College courses should expect challenging graduate-level coursework. Significant research and writing or other activities are required in preparation for each course and as an element of course assessment.
Descriptions of Courses Comprising the Enterprise Architecture Certificate Program
Enterprise Architectures for Managers (ARC)
Examines EA as a management tool to facilitate implementation of strategic direction. This includes exploring the integration of EA with strategic and resource planning, information assurance, and acquisition management. It introduces the use of EA frameworks to improve the capability maturity level of the EA to meet its intended purpose. Other topics include the role of the CIO in EA management, the use of models and standards, implementation issues, and an overview of enterprise information assurance/security architecture. Strategies are also discussed for using EA to address enterprise problems such as interoperability and information sharing with the intent of improving enterprise performance of mission or business operations
Prerequisites: None
Data Management Strategies and Technologies: A Managerial Perspective (DMS)
Explores data
management, data architectures and their enabling technologies as key components
for improving mission effectiveness. It examines management issues such as the
implementation of the data component of the EA specified by
OMB. In addition, the course covers key data management strategies and their
enabling information technologies, including data warehousing, electronic
records management and archiving, data mining, neural networks, knowledge
discovery methodologies and data quality strategies.
Prerequisites:
None
Enterprise Architecture Practicum (EAP)
Engages
students in the synthesis and application of the cumulative course lessons.
Students will apply their learning to solve real-world EA
challenges. Students will conduct research, identify critical issues,
hypothesize solution strategies, develop business cases for the strategy and
then present the executed strategies for an intensive case-study taken from
today’s agencies.
Prerequisites: either GIG or FAC
Federal Enterprise Architecture and Advanced Concepts (FAC)
Examines issues
involved in determining compliance and application of the OMB's Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) Reference Models and
OMB Circular A-130. The architecture's role in contributing to the success of
the agency’s mission is examined. Topics include an assessment of techniques to
leverage the EA repository to develop business-line strategic strategies;
determine the critical success factors for institutionalizing governance
processes; examine and interpret GAO and OMB EA management maturity frameworks;
success strategies for phasing in an EA; and integrate security and privacy
requirements. Other topics include the development of business cases and
integration of the Information Technology (IT) portfolio budget cycle (i.e., OMB
A-11), data management, and interoperability in the Information
Age.
Prerequisites: ARC
Global Information Grid Architecture and Advanced Concepts (GIG)
Examines issues involved in assessing
compliance with DoD's Global Information Grid (GIG) Architecture. The GIG
Architecture's role in facilitating the DoD's Net- Centric Operations and
Warfare (NCOW) is examined. Topics include an examination of net-centric
concepts, the scope and management of the GIG Architecture; the relationship
between the GIG Architecture and the NCOW Reference Model; the structure, scope,
and purpose of the NCOW Reference Model; and the content and purpose of the DoD
Net-Centric Data Management Strategy: Metadata Registration. Other topics are
examination of actual and potential uses of the architecture including its use
in the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) and
developing capabilities requirements packages.
Prerequisites: ARC
Information Management Planning (IMP)
Presents an
approach to planning that integrates agency strategic planning, performance
planning, information management planning, and the agency budget. This course
examines a comprehensive mission-driven planning framework that combines
explicit and implicit planning requirements of current legislation (e.g.,
Government Performance and Results Act, Paperwork Reduction Act, Clinger-Cohen
Act, etc) and regulations. This course uses a comprehensive framework that
integrates agency strategic planning, agency IRM strategic planning, EA planning, and IT capital planning, and
investment management to link investment in information resources to improved
mission performance.
Prerequisites: None
Planning and Managing Enterprise Architecture Programs (PMA)
Provides practical experience
in creating EA plans and products from a management
perspective. Hands-on exercises implementing the DoD Architecture Framework
(DoDAF) challenge managers to think critically about how to put theory into
practice. These exercises involve developing an EA project
plan and using tools to create and manage DoDAF architecture products. The
course also explores how to use EA to analyze operational
or business requirements and capabilities, identify optimal solutions, and
determine transition strategies. This course builds upon the fundamentals
presented in Enterprise Architectures for Managers (ARC) course.
Prerequisites: ARC
Strategies for Process Improvement (PRI)
Examines strategies, management processes, and
resources for process improvement within and across federal agencies. The course
contrasts discontinuous, automation-focused business process re-engineering with
the expanding focus on continuous process customization and managed improvement.
An executive-level perspective is provided on the tools, techniques (for
example, benchmarking, quality improvement programs, activity-based costing),
and technologies that enable process-centric performance improvements to achieve
agency missions. The course also contrasts the industrial age function-centric
enterprise with the information age process-centric enterprise and broader
process-centered partnerships, coalitions, and alliances. Attention is given to
the leadership challenges of initiation, collaboration, design, implementation,
and portfolio project management of process-centric improvements within and
across agencies.
Prerequisites: None
Students enrolled in the certificate program may take courses for Professional Development (PD); however, for courses to count toward the certificate or as a prerequisite, students must take them for credit.