Whenever I think about IT architecture to any business challenge, I revisit Enterprise Architecture Principles to validate if the architecture fits into the boundary of Enterprise Architecture Principles.

Enterprise Architect Principles define the rules across the business, information, technology, application, security, governance, etc., to enforce strict discipline and provide guidance on how IT resources can be deployed to achieve the business vision. Enterprise Architecture principles guide the direction of IT architecture and also enable the standardization of diverse business processes.  One of the main objectives of the Enterprise Architecture principle is to lower the total cost of ownership by consolidating the processes and reusing IT assets smartly.

EA principles help organizations achieve the target architecture and may influence product selections considering the long-term strategy laid down by the business.

In this article, I will introduce a few of the sample enterprise architecture guidelines principles. Please note that most of the principles hold for enterprises, but every organization is different, and you will see variations in EA principles set by Enterprise Architects.

Traditionally EA principles are categorized into

• Business Principles
• Application Principles
• Technology Principles
• Information Principles

But feel free to add other categories as per the organization’s vision.

For e.g.

• Security Principles
• Governance Principles

Architecture Principle Components

Name: 

Representing the essence of rule in a succinct and unambiguous manner

Statement:  

Clearly stated the definition of the principle

Rationale: 

Highlighting the business benefits of observance of the principle

Implications: 

States about what action needs to be taken to implement the principle

One common thread across all the enterprise architecture principles is that they all ensure the alignment of IT strategies with business strategies and organizational vision.

Presenting a few of the sample Enterprise Architecture Principles for reference:

Business Principles

Maximize Benefits to the Enterprise 

Statement

• IT investment should capitalize to its fullest potential to maximize benefits to the enterprise.

Rationale

• Keep focusing on long-value from IT investment and leverage strategic thinking into Information Management decisions
• Stick to the Enterprise Architecture vision crafted based on Organization’s Vision

Implications

• Architecture Building Blocks and Solution Building Blocks should be shared across the organization
• Priority goes for the benefit of the organization over any departmental preference

Information Principles

Data Security and Compliance

Statement

• Data is secured and compliant, either it is in transit or store in the Salesforce platform.

Rationale

• Data must comply with the organization’s Data  Security Policy standards
• Classify data and define channels by which it gets published
• Data must be protected from unauthorized use and adhering to compliance requirements from countries rules and regulations

Implications

• Set up the data security at the various levels e.g. data architecture, design, and implementation phases.
• Enable various Salesforce security features to protect data from unauthorized access or data manipulations.
• Plant procedures to handle data classification reviews and set up the organization to support the process
• Procedure and policies need to be revised due to the influence of internal or external factors

Privacy By Design

Statement

• Factor in privacy during Architecture and design phases to manage privacy guidelines set up by the organization

Rationale

• Adhere to country-specific data residency requirements and do not store any private data if it is not required
• Provide a mechanism to remove unnecessary data either with the request from the customer or introduction of the newly inducted compliance rules
• Limited data stored in Salesforce avoid risks of any data leakage
• Only provide data access to the relevant group of people and maintain the various data security levels

Implications

• Full traceability of the data in Salesforce
• Respecting user’s data privacy
• Keeping bare minimum PII information of the customers in Salesforce
• Transparency of data in Salesforce

Technology Principles

Minimize Customization

Statement

• Customizing Salesforce should be reduced to a minimum extent as it negatively impacts business agility and operating cost. If customization needs to be implemented, then those customizations must be approved by the Architecture Review Board. Those customizations must adhere to design and implementation standards adopted by the organization.

Rationale

• Being Salesforce as SaaS in nature, more customization might hinder Salesforce Release upgrades.
• In the worst-case scenario, if customization is designed and implemented poorly, it will have a negative impact on performance and may yield scalability and compliance issues

Implications

• Seek approval for any customizations by the Architecture Review Board.
• Implement customization using standards guidelines for design and implementation of Salesforce as well standards laid down by the organization

Design for Change

 Statement          

• The only constant in life is change. – Heraclitus
• Be prepared to design the solutions which are bound to change but make the design so explicit in such a way that with minimal effort to achieve the business vision

Rationale

• IT should be ready to adopt new business processes without delay. Make sure that you can implement changes with minimal effort and minimal cost.

Implications

• Adopt Open standards as much as possible
• Maximize effort on test automation to minimize business and human risks
• Simplify business processes so that changes can be easily incorporated

Adherence to Open Standards 

Statement

• To improve data exchange between applications. Follow open standards for integration which enables the different systems to interoperate and communicate with each other

Rationale

• Avoid vendor lock-in
• More options to provide best-of-breed solutions to fulfill business capabilities

Implications

• Reduce complexity
• Easy to port applications from one platform to other

Application Principles

Decommission obsolete applications or features 

Statement:

• To manage the Salesforce ecosystem, identify features or customizations, or configurations that are no longer required

Rationale

• Easy to manage Salesforce release
• fewer dependencies or chances of breaking during the release cycle of Salesforce
• Manage technical debts
• Reduction in the maintenance efforts
• Responsive application
• Remove customization when Salesforce add a new feature in the release

Implication

• Review Salesforce product portfolio regularly

Security Principles

Least Privilege Access

Statement

• Either external or internal users, they should get the minimum level of access to perform their task/job functions

Rationale

•  It helps to adhere to compliance and audits

Implications

• Audit the Salesforce applications in terms of access levels to the users
• Provide fine-grained access control at various information touchpoint levels

Governance Principle

Architecture Management

Statement

• Periodic review is necessary for the enterprise architecture strategy to accommodate influence by internal or external factors

Rationale

• Architecture is bridging element between business and IT terminology
• Improve Business and IT alignment

Implication

• Maintain Architecture artifacts
• Define architecture roadmap
• Ensure management’s commitment towards enterprise architecture

Expediting the strategy to execution cycle

Statement

• Expediting the strategy to the execution in a shorter period of time gives an organization an edge over its competitor to grow their business

Rationale

• The more delay in making a decision, the more expensive the solution you want to implement. Due to changes in external circumstances, an organization’s strategy becomes absolute, and sometimes it’s too late to add new capabilities.

Implications

• Indecisiveness can be lead to digital debt.
• Make the most of it from Salesforce applications by adopting more out-of-box features and driving the business.

I will revisit this topic to discuss Salesforce-specific architecture principles in one of the upcoming articles.