“What is the actual job of an IT Data Architect?”, “What are you actually doing?” are the most common questions I receive when speaking with the new IT or other colleagues from business departments. This is a very reasonable question considering the fact that Data Architecture (as a part of Enterprise Architecture) is the field where very few people from respective enterprise work on.
So, in a few sentences below, I’ll try to answer to those questions and maybe to motivate other colleagues to involve themselves in Data or Enterprise Architecture.
IT Data Architect has central responsibility for the IT Data Architecture in the Enterprise, meaning he or she is responsible for the development and continuous improvement of the Framework for IT Data Architecture. The IT Data Architecture Framework is a concept that can be understood as a combination of different artifacts, such as a blue print of all technical data flows in the company; data development standards; or even IT data responsibility matrix.
His or her work in the context above also includes continuous analysis, evaluation, optimization and improvement of existing IT Data Architecture. The examples of appropriate activities are: (i) analysis of existing data flows in IT environment from technical, legal and business perspectives; (ii) development of new the concepts to achieve optimization and improvement – based on analysis; (iii) translation of previously defined concepts into functional requirements and technical artifacts; (iv) communication of defined requirements and technical artifacts to technical teams.
Third aspect of his or her job is design, development, organization and implementation of appropriate IT Data Strategy. The examples of appropriate activities include: (i) analysis of the status quo within existing IT data environment; (ii) design of appropriate IT Data Strategy based of previous analysis, and taking into consideration existing structure and the culture of the company, legal framework, technical environment, etc.; (iii) translation of strategy concepts to functional and technical steps; and (iv) communication of the strategy to the relevant technical teams, business departments and management.
It is a responsibility of an IT Data Architect to consult and provide relevant specifications when introducing new data-relevant software, or technical concepts in the company. Examples of activities include: (i) specification of requirements and steps to introduce Meta data or Master data management concepts, and appropriate systems/software in the enterprise; or (ii) consulting role to develop self-service Business Intelligence.
IT Data Architect provides technical consulting to business departments in data-relevant processes. For example, consulting of business departments from technical perspective during definition and implementation of new requirements, which have or may have an impact on IT data architecture.
IT Data Architect has an active role in any project or initiative that has, or potentially could have an impact on existing IT data architecture. Depending on the scope of the initiative, he could play consulting, responsible, or accountable role.
A motivated IT Data Architect should always seek to identify and promote data relevant technologies, trends and innovations that could help company against competitors. He or she would also take responsibility to promote the idea of collaboration, information exchange and know-how transfer between all technical data-relevant key players. In this context, it is his task to establish an interdisciplinary and cross-functional group made of IT experts and IT decision-makers whose job focus are data (for example IT Data Competency Center). This group should meet every two to four weeks to discuss issues that are, or could be potentially relevant to IT data architecture.
As a person responsible for strategic and conceptual definition of IT data architecture, IT Data Architect is a contact person for technical staff, such as database architects or database developers, in issues of IT Data Architecture and IT Data Strategy. It is his responsibility to support technical personal whenever possible through consulting and informing. However, database or application architecture is not a responsibility of an IT Data Architect! Those are responsibilities of respective database, application, or solution architects.
IT Data Architect should train and educate other employees in relevant topics, such as IT Data Architecture, IT Data Strategy, Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, or Big Data. The education and training are additional tasks of IT Data Architect and are only to be carried out occasionally and by the need. In the case of the need for specific training, IT Data Architect is responsible for the development or coordination of the development of appropriate curriculum.
This, of course, is not an exhaustive list of IT Data Architect activities, meaning it can include many others, such as working as a deputy Enterprise Architect – taking into consideration his or her holistic knowledge of an enterprise, or as a product owner for specific data-relevant products.
I hope I clarified a role of an IT Data Architect at least a little bit, and maybe motivated you to define this role as your career path 🙂