Extend Enterprise Architecture to Operational Technology for Utilities

IT and OT are unique and have conflicting design priorities.
Innovation roadmaps are disjointed. OT assets have a longer lifecycle than IT assets, causing siloed approaches to planning.
Regulations are evolving and utilities are subjected to more scrutiny in terms of data, privacy, and security – areas where OT traditionally is less mature.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

The future of enterprise architecture for utilities will be hybrid and must evolve to model, govern, and guide both IT and OT environments. To survive and remain competitive, utilities must have visibility into their IT/OT architecture to meet the demands for technology innovation, regulatory compliance, customer experience, and operational efficiency.

Impact and Result

EA supports the planning across all layers, leading to lower operating costs, improved security, and streamlined data.
Integrate planning and investments to enable agility in your organization and quickly meet complex business demands.

Extend Enterprise Architecture to Operational Technology for Utilities Research & Tools

1. Extend Enterprise Architecture to Operational Technology for Utilities Deck – A three-phase methodology to help utility organizations identify, assess, and apply enterprise architecture practices to OT, using AMI as an example.

This blueprints helps utilities avoid piecemeal integration efforts, establish EA as the bridge between IT and OT, and unlock enterprise-wide benefits ranging from data-driven decision-making to regulatory resilience, and position themselves to thrive as a digitally enabled organization of the future.

2. EA for OT Maturity Assessment and Gap Analysis – An Excel template to evaluate how well EA currently supports OT capabilities, identifying where gaps exist to strengthen or develop EA practices.

Use this template to assess the maturity of your current EA practices for OT and determine the target state. The tool will help you conduct a gap analysis and will provide suggested recommendations to reach your intended maturity level across each architectural domain.

3. Prioritization and Roadmap Planning Tool for OT EA Practices – A recommendation prioritization template to structure the suggested recommendations and drive toward the target-state maturity.

Use this template to support the planning of the suggested recommendations from the gap analysis. The tool will help conduct cost/benefit analysis across each recommendation and help identify the core recommendations that will drive the greatest value.

From strategy to grid: A practical walkthrough of EA for AMI.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 7 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Evaluate OT capabilities and organizational context

Call 1: Explore existing role of EA and OT in your organization.
Call 2: Augment the business reference architecture to align with organizational strategy.
Call 3: Highlight OT capabilities in the business reference architecture.

Guided Implementation 2: Assess EA practices’ applicability to OT

Call 1: Assess the current and target state of EA practices for OT. Determine the gaps where EA practices need to be developed or improved.
Call 2: Prioritize OT capabilities and EA practices for extension.

Guided Implementation 3: Walkthrough of EA practices for AMI

Call 1: Walk through leveraging EA for AMI rollout.
Call 2: Replicate applying EA practices to other OT capabilities.

Author

Bevin Chau

Contributors

Jeff Breci, Director, Information Security, Metropolitan Utilities District
Jonathan Jakub, Manager, Enterprise Solutions, Lincoln Electric System
Nate Bird, Manager, Communications Infrastructure, Lincoln Electric System