An industry architecture: No one said it would be easy

Computerworld - An enterprise architecture is vital to business success, but it's time-consuming, expensive and complex to develop. Establishing an industrywide architecture is even more difficult. The hotel industry was the first to create an industry architecture (IA), through its Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) consortium.

As I outlined in a previous column, standardization across the industry will facilitate data-sharing, streamline hotel processes, reduce costs and improve customer service. HTNG has recently approved the initial release of its IA for hotels and resorts.

Here are some of the challenges to be addressed:

The difficulty of securing buy-in. Achieving consensus for an IA is similar to getting European voters to ratify the EU constitution. Although no single company has veto power, companies will support the IA only if they believe it will further their own interests. Getting buy-in can be a lengthy process. It took HTNG more than three years to develop and approve the initial IA business-process model.

The need for extreme flexibility. An IA must support every reasonable business-process variation. But conflicting needs must be accommodated without making the final architecture too abstract to be useful. For example, some companies use monthly financial reporting; others use 13-period accounting. The only way to accommodate all accounting calendars is to standardize on daily financial reporting.

The lack of a tiebreaker mechanism. Getting even internal stakeholders to agree on business processes can be very difficult. One multinational company debated its expense account process for four months. Each division agreed that a common process made sense -- as long as its preferred choice was adopted. The CFO had to break the gridlock and mandate a particular process.

An IA requires consensus among companies with very different business models, and an industry consortium can't mandate solutions.

The lack of simplifying assumptions. Most enterprise architectures assume that certain business processes or legacy applications can't be changed. For simplicity, these processes are merely incorporated into the architecture fully intact. Such assumptions are almost impossible in an IA, and compromises must be reached. Even technology suppliers whose megaproducts span multiple business processes may be forced to redefine product boundaries and interfaces.

A reliance on volunteers. Contributors to HTNG's industry architecture are volunteers who must juggle consortium efforts with their job responsibilities. HTNG had to ensure that the final architecture design wasn't overly influenced by the companies that supplied the most volunteers.

The enormous scope.An IA's stakeholders have widely differing business needs. Stakeholders' opinions regarding which business processes and systems are most important also differ widely. For example, hotel developers need design tools and project management systems. Hotel chains need systems to attract, serve and retain travelers. Technology companies support business models that require their own products. Moreover, many technology companies support multiple industries and resist constraints from a single vertical industry. An IA must address all stakeholders' business concerns.

Legal constraints. An IA can't favor specific products or stakeholders, and it must not violate restraint-of-trade guidelines.

As other industries consider building industry architectures, they can benefit from the experiences of the hotel industry. Be realistic about the challenges -- developing an industry architecture is far more time-consuming and complex than building an enterprise architecture. But an IA is ultimately both practical and idealistic. Despite the obstacles that must be overcome, an industry architecture can provide the leverage to transform an entire industry.

Bart Perkins is managing partner at Louisville, Ky.-based Leverage Partners Inc., which helps organizations invest well in IT. Contact him at BartPerkins@LeveragePartners.com.

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