mission

The most critical issue facing Government, Defense and Commercial enterprises today is the rapid pace of change in almost every industry. With the rate of technological change increasing, together with today's budget and competitive pressures, enterprises must be able to change rapidly often just to survive - let alone succeed. More and more organizations are turning to the evolving science of Enterprise Architecture to develop solutions to these challenges.

The need for transformation from today's inflexible business environment to an agile enterprise that can change direction rapidly has never been greater. Yet the structures, processes and systems that we have today are inflexible: they are incapable of rapid change. Increasing the amount of computer hardware, software, packages, staff, or outsourcing are not solutions, they are part of the problem. Rapid business change methods and systems that change in lock step are needed by organizations of all sizes and types today. This process requires strategic direction from senior management and strategic planners, with these directions then translated into rapid action by professionals that possess a solid understanding of both enterprise technology and the business. The methods to achieve this organizational agility are being explored by many enterprises today and new methods for business transformation are needed.

The purpose of the Center for Enterprise Architecture (EA) is to gather intellectual resources across Penn State to address open and important research concerns and questions that span the design, functioning, and governance of contemporary, information-driven enterprises. Research includes the underlying information technology architectures, data and application architecture and the complex, enterprise-level systems of systems that make use of these underlying architectures in a legislative and institutional marketplace. The Center applies multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research methods to address large-scale application domains such as healthcare informatics, large service-based and manufacturing firms, non-profit initiatives, federal and state government transformation, and the design of homeland security agencies. The architecture and systems of systems perspective allows for addressing concerns focused on the design and effective functioning of organizations and networks of organizations with results such as enterprise transformation, enterprise and network design, global information infrastructure design and management, and global enterprise presence and competitiveness.

The Center for Enterprise Architecture strives to design, extend, and invent practices, tools, and theories, in partnership with industry, to produce effective outcomes at the intersection of theory and organizational practice. We help organizations understand, utilize, and extend enterprise architecture as a strategic resource. Our goals include:

Achieving efficiencies in operations across company and network activities
Leveraging aligned enterprise technology to drive innovations in products, services and business models
Competing in a networked, global world
Providing advice and support in undergraduate education, graduate education, professional continuing education, and research.

The Center for Enterprise Architecture provides a focused hub of expertise and resources to serve client organizations. We are creating new knowledge, applied research outcomes and new theoretical perspectives, as well as applying established theories in collaboration with industry partners through five key ways:

Conducting projects with industry collaborators, government sponsors and others to confront demanding problems and provide thought leadership around EA-related issues
Developing cross-organizational and cross-industry models to create benchmarks and scorecards that client companies can use for self-assessment
Creating a group of new enterprise architecture professionals who are trained and experienced with the demands of this evolving profession
Providing a neutral meeting place where client organizations can interact with faculty and other advisory group members and to explore possible solutions to common problems
Publish leading-edge collaborative research in a variety of EA-related areas

Click Here to download a flyer on the Center for Enterprise Architecture.

Click Here for information on Dr. Cameron's Career Achievement Award from The Network Professional Association.

Click Here to read a article in Architecture & Governance Magazine on the Center for Enterprise Architecture

Click Here to hear a podcast interview on the Penn State Enterprise Architecture Initiative by the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS).

Click Here to download a article by Gartner on the Penn State EA Initiative

Click Here to view Dr. Cameron's presentation to a meeting of the ExecutiveBiz 4x24 program.

Click Here to hear Dr. Brian Cameron talk about the IST EA Initiative at a Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit.

Click Here to hear an interview with Dr. Brian Cameron on the IST EA initiative for the Metis Strategy's Forum on World Class IT.

Click Here to view a letter of support for the Center for Enterprise Architecture from the Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President of the United States

Here's a short video on "What is Enterprise Architecture?" that we put together from interviews with some of our group members.

Press Releases

5/14/2012 - Dr. Cameron speaks on big data at InformationWeek, Wipro conference

4/18/2012 - Gartner Endorses EA Professional Masters Program

4/12/2012 - CEA Professional Master's Degree in EA officially launched

12/8/2011 - Alfabet makes million dollar donation to EA Center

12/8/2011 - Cameron is invited speaker at World CIO Forum

11/30/2011 - Wirpo conference charts the future of EA Center at Penn State

9/28/2011 - Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations (FEAPO) signs charter

7/29/2011 - Pinnacle Business Group donates $3.2 million to Penn State Center for Enterprise Architecture

6/1/2011 - Armstrong Process Group donates 9 Million to the Center for Enterprise Architecture

5/6/2011 - Dr. Cameron was awarded the Career Achievement Award from The Network Professional Association

4/15/2011 - Architecture & Governance Magazine publishes article on the Center for Enterprise Architecture

mission

Press Releases

Industry Association Partners