An Enterprise Architecture is a "model" or a "framework" which represents an enterprise at one point in its life cycle. This framework can be used to assist with planning and analysis of the enterprise, to select hardware and software products, to design organizational "reporting structures", and to study flow of materials and information through the enterprise. Without an Enterprise Architectural model, executives, managers, and technologists in an enterprise are essentially "running blind"; making decisions based on their personal perception of the enterprise which is often not shared with the rest of the organization.
| Until the multitude of providers of software tools adopts a common Enterprise Model (such as PERA), information integration between their tools will remain difficult if not impossible. |
Many tools are available for modelling each of the three enterprise components individually, some of which are discussed elsewhere in this web site. However, no tools effectively model all three, let alone all of the interfaces between them. This is the great challenge facing the next generation of enterprise architects, and it will require a fundamentally different approach to modelling, and software interfacing. Perhaps the new generation of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and LLMs (Large Language Models) can help. However, until the providers of such tools adopt a GERAM (General Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology such as PERA), interfaces between their industry-specific and phase-specific modelling tools will be difficult or impossible.
In addition to modelling all phases of an Enterprise, PERA is designed to do this for any Enterprise in any industry sector.
The following headings describe the Systems, People and Facilities Architectures of PERA.