GAO issues new EA maturity framework

The Government Accountability Office released August 5 a major revision to its framework for assessing the maturity of agency enterprise architectures.

Enterprise architecture is a technology management discipline that seeks to match resources with business needs. At its most basic, EA is a snapshot of an agency's current IT infrastructure (known in enterprise architecture as the "as is" state) along with a vision of a more rationalized and modernized infrastructure (the "to be" state) and a plan for getting from here to there.

Enterprise architecture tends to suffer from a tendency toward esoteric jargon and has a reputation for being a headquarters chief information officer budget enforcement tool. Nonetheless, when utilized correctly, it can make organizations considerably more effective, writes Randy Hite, GAO director for information technology architecture and systems issues in the preface to the new maturity assessment framework.

The new framework differs from the previous one--which was last updated in 2003--by introducing more finely gradated maturity stages and by allowing four different ways to represent attributes critical to program success. See this chart for a GAO graphic representation of the new maturity framework.

In addition, the new framework consists of 59 practices that should be met along the road to EA maturity, versus the 31 elements included in the old framework.

For more:
- download version 2.0 of the GAO EA maturity framework (.pdf)

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