Gartner
The scope of the enterprise architecture includes the people, processes, information and technology of the enterprise, and their relationships to one another and to the external environment.
Enterprise architects compose holistic solutions that address the business
challenges of the enterprise and support the governance needed to implement them.
Enterprise architecture is the process of translating business vision and strategy into effective enterprise change by creating, communicating and improving the key requirements, principles and models that describe the enterprise's future state and enable its evolution.
The EA team members must persuade the enterprise to believe and share the enterprise vision by communicating, advocating and planning. Their primary role is to facilitate the enterprise change agenda.
Processes consume EA output:
Management disciplines (like business process management and enterprise information management) use the future-state vision to identify strategic objectives and the requirements, principles and models to constrain implementation.
Executing disciplines (such as program management) use the requirements, principles and models to constrain and bound the implementation of change initiatives.
Planning processes (such as portfolio management) use the requirements, principles and models to evaluate items in the portfolio for strategic alignment.
Governance processes measure compliance and the degree to which the enterprise has evolved against the requirements, principles and models that represent the future-state vision.
Actionable Nature of EA work
Models of the future state, which illustrate what the enterprise should look like across all EA viewpoints in support of the business strategy
A road map of the change initiatives required to reach that future state
An articulation of the strategic requirements of the enterprise
The requirements, principles, standards and guidelines that will steer the implementation of change initiatives
Analysis
What the result is: What do you get when you're done?
What the scope is: What does it cover?
What it is: What does it comprise?
What the benefit is: Why do organizations do this?
Recommendations
Ensure that enterprise architecture guidance is actionable
Clearly articulate who in the enterprise uses EA guidance - and how
Distinguish between the role of EA team and the process of enterprise architecture
Remember that an EA process must effect change in the enterprise - all the deliverables in the world make no difference if change continues to be chaotic and inefficient.
Focus on the process of EA rather than on the deliverables that are produced
Refine the EA definition to communicate what EA is in your enterprise.