Understanding the Business Context
As part of creating the vision, we discussed the importance of gathering information about the business objectives and goals. That's a crucial first step in creating a business context within which the IMA can be fashioned.
When I was the CTO for http://iMall.com, I knew exactly what we did: we created specialty hosting solutions, including e-commerce tools, for small and medium-sized businesses. What's more, I knew exactly who was doing what, because I'd hired most of the 125 employees myself. I had, for all intents and purposes, perfect knowledge of iMall's business model.
Later, when I was CIO for the State of Utah, I had a much tougher time getting my arms around the business. First, governments are large, even the governments of relatively small states. Second, they do a lot of things. At first it seemed impossible, but there are specific things you can do to understand an organization, even one that's complex and loosely coupled.
Our model of the business will provide us with two important results: a business function matrix and a set of guiding principles for the IMA effort. Both of these are important to creating an IMA that is sensitive to business objectives.
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