The Business Architect Role definition as well as the business architecture discipline are evolving. The scope, span, power, goals, and outcomes desired from a business architect varies across countries, industries, and firms. Indeed, the role and the responsibilities of a business architect – what they do, who they report into, what is the nature of the deliverables, and how they are used from strategic decision making to operational improvements – varies from firm to firm. And of course, the salaries of business architects diverge a great deal.

Before asking the question, what is the Business Architect Role Definition, let’s get the definition of Business Architecture out of the way. While there are many definitions, most of them similar and complementary here is the description from OMG.

Object Management Group defines business architecture as follows: “Business Architecture is a blueprint of the enterprise that provides a common understanding of the organization and is used to align strategic objectives and tactical demands. The blueprint deals with the structure of the enterprise concerning its governance structure, business processes, and business information. As such, the profession of business architecture primarily focuses on the motivational, operational, and analysis frameworks that link these aspects of the enterprise together.”

What is the definition of a Business Architect’s role? Here are some views of industry experts about the role definition of a business architect.

Capstera’s business architect role definition: “A business architect models the essence of an enterprise by defining the what, how, who, when, where and with what, to influence and impact the strategic decisions, operational improvements, and capability realization thru IT enablement.”

Wikipedia defines the role of a business architect as follows:

Capstera’s business architect role definition: “A business architect models the essence of an enterprise by defining the what, how, who, when, where and with what, to influence and impact the strategic decisions, operational improvements, and capability realization thru IT enablement.”

“A business architect is a practitioner of business architecture, a discipline concerned with developing and maintaining business capabilities of the enterprise in line with the corporate strategy as well as contributing to the business strategy and plans.”

Geoffrey Balmes defines the business architect role as: “The Business Architect plays a key role in structuring the enterprise regarding its governance structure, business processes, and business information. This person aligns strategic goals and objectives with decisions regarding products and services; partners and suppliers; organization; capabilities; and key business and IT initiatives. The primary focus is the business motivations, business operations, and business analysis frameworks and related networks that link these aspects of the enterprise together. The Business Architect works to develop an integrated view of the enterprise using a repeatable approach, cohesive framework, and available industry standard techniques.”

Business Architect Role Definition by Nick Malik:

“A role within various types of enterprises (business, government, non-profit) that is focused on collecting information on the strategic positioning of an area of activity (line of business, business unit, department, team, etc.) and creating a clear picture of the capability gaps that may impede that area from reaching its full and required potential.”

The folks at Trissential defined the Business Architect role, among several other responsibilities, as: “Provides overall direction, guidance, and definition of business architecture to effectively support business strategy. Apply and utilize business modeling methods to ensure results-oriented deliverables in a way that can be recreated and used as a corporate knowledge resource available to project level initiatives and for executive decision making.”

Forrester Analysts define the business architect role to includes three key responsibilities:

Developing the “to-be” operating model of the organization.

Developing the roadmap to implement the future operating model.

Managing the business technology governance process.”

What is your version of the Business Architect Role definition? Please share with us.

Here are some products from Capstera which may help a business architect.