[is] a blueprint, or road map, of an agency's current and planned operating and systems environment, as well as an IT investment plan for transitioning between the two.[4]
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is a blueprint for organizational change defined in models that describe (in both business and technology terms) how the entity operates today and how it intends to operate in the future; it also includes a plan for transitioning to this future state. Agency enterprise architectures are organized based on functional groupings referred to as segments — core mission areas (e.g., homeland security, health), and business service (e.g., financial management, human capital). IThuman capital planning determines the agency's IT skill needs, analyzes gaps between skills on hand and future needs, and develops a plan to address the needs.[5]
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provides a clear and comprehensive picture of an entity, whether it is an organization (e.g., federal department or agency) or a functional or mission area that cuts across more than one organization (e.g., financial management). This picture consists of snapshots of the enterprise's current and target operational and technological environments and contains a road map for transitioning from the current to the target environment. An enterprise architecture program management plan would, among other things, (1) reflect Environment enterprise architecture program work activities, events, and time frames for improving Environment enterprise architecture management practices and addressing needed architecture content and (2) define accountability mechanisms to help ensure that the plan is implemented.[6]
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Overview[]
Agency enterprise architectures typically contain three components: (1) baseline, or "as-is" architecture, (2) future, or "to-be" architecture and (3) transition plan, or modernization blueprint. The component of the enterprise architecture which presents the existing enterprise strategy, the current business practices and the associated technical infrastructure is defined as a "baseline" or "as-is" architecture. The "as-is" architecture can be used to reduce costs and increase interoperability.
The second component of the enterprise architecture, the "target" or "to-be" architecture, describes the desired, future state for an organization. Like the "as-is" architecture, the "to-be" architecture defines the enterprise in terms of its strategy, business, and technical dimensions.
The third component of an enterprise architecture, the "transition plan" or "modernization blueprint" presents the plan for how an agency will transform from its baseline or "as-is" state to its target or "to-be" state. The transition plan speaks to the lifecycle of the security and privacy controls at each level of the enterprise architecture.
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A well-defined EA provides a clear and comprehensive picture of an entity, whether it is an organization (e.g., federal department or agency) or a functional or mission area that cuts across more than one organization (e.g., homeland security) by documenting the entity's current operational and technological environment and its target environment, as well as a plan for transitioning from the current to the target environment.[7]