Assignment: Develop an Enterprise Architecture final design and provide the major steps to get to this final state. Your deliverable should include diagrams and 1-2 pages of description of your solution, including a sequence of events between As Is and To Be.
Assume your budget is unlimited, but you can not hire consultants to make it go faster. (The goal of this assignment is to construct an EA deliverable with a realistic timeline, not a complete project proposal with budgets).
Assume you have the necessary subject matter expertise for each system within the current IT group.
Assume your project timeline must be completed in 6 9 months, but if needed you can describe a phase beyond this time frame.
Situation
You are the Enterprise architect for a brand company. You have IT assets in digital marketing, data warehousing and back office applications. You company has 2 copackers (3rd party manufacturers).
Your larger co-packer has approached you for help building their IT portfolio. The co-packer just purchased moveable robots from Fetch and Vecna. As part of their move to automation, they been installing sensors on their conveyors to track goods movements. There are some sensors in other manufacturing equipment, but the data is not being captured. The robots are capable of delivering multiple sensor readouts every 10 seconds. As part of this discussion, your CEO has proposed an equity investment in the co-packer, if the IT project can deliver necessary improvements of cost reduction and better cycle time. Thus, there is a lot riding on this project.
Within your own company, you have a fully implemented version of NetSuite, although you havent turned on the manufacturing/distribution modules. You have a 500Mbps connection from Verizon to your offices.
The co-packer has a data center (really just a secure closet with extra power and air conditioning). Your co-packer has a fully implemented JDEwards ERP last upgraded in 2016 on Windows. The co-packer has 2 pairs of bonded T1s for connection; fiber is not available
Your marketing and sales teams are deep users of SalesForce and you have some Force.com applications to support these groups. Your website is hosted and you have Shopify for your shopping cart.
You have 6 months ideally to implement your vision. The projects absolute deadline is in 9 months, which is the start of the busy season for your brand. Thus, whatever changes you propose, they must be completed before the busy season.
