EARN (ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING) is an "Open Source" Methodology that provides guidance and templates for SMEs to practise Enterprise Architecture with least cost and reap potential benefits.

Rationale
Agility and innovation are the necessary condition for an enterprise to survive and prosper. ISO certification in 9000:2000 (Quality Management) or 14000 (Environmental Management) is fundamental in meeting with global competitive challenges. The capabilities in deploying of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), using GTIN (Global Trade Identification Number), participating in EDI, and  mass customization are the norm rather than exception. An enterprise architecture is the road-map for an enterprise to accomplish all the capabilities over time.

Requirements
To address the issues as outlined above, EARN will support the following requirements.

  • Laying a solid foundation upon which a SME can carry out activities incrementally in evolving its Enterprise Architecture (EA).
  • Providing comprehensive guidelines in the form of self-paced study program for an individual to learn and work with the EARN Methodology.
  • Supplying a set of customizable templates for the definition, construction, and implementation of EA.

Elements
EARN consists of the 7 (seven) elements as follows:

  • Foundation.
  • Architectures.
  • Generic Models.
  • Guidelines.
  • Templates.
  • COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) based Technologies.
  • Knowledge Base(s).

The delivery of EARN follows the "Evolutionary Acquisition and Spiral Development" Processes. The current release is a "Prototype Edition". Next release will be an "Enhanced Edition", which will most likely include complete set of models and some "Open Source" software (e.g. BPMN and BPMS or their equivalent). The final release will be "Expert Edition" that will include "Enterprise Ontology" and "Semantic Web" based Knowledge Base(s).

Disclaimer
EARN Methodology is a free resource that you can apply in whole or in part. There is no guarantee that the application of it will be successful in attaining your goals and achieving your objectives. To cope with the constraint on site capacity, a macro version of the EARN is presented.