Strategy in Project Organization

This article discusses the role of strategic planning and enterprise architecture in project organization. It explains how enterprise architecture ensures that projects add value and examines the case of Tesla Factory's Model S production assembly. The article also highlights the need for organizations to have a dedicated team for enterprise architecture.

Strategy in Project Organization

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
What Is Enterprise Architecture (EA)?......................................................................................3
Review this organization and assess: Using the concept of Enterprise Architecture, how does
this company ensure that its projects add value?.......................................................................4
Tesla Factory - Model S Production Assembly.........................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
Reference....................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
Strategic planning helps in coordinating the entire working of an organisation. It is easy to
explain the word “strategic planning” in layman language. In an organization activities such
that setting priorities, strengthening operations, ensuring that the stakeholders and the
company employees are working towards a common goal and more of these operational
adjustments encounter the strategic planning in an organization. It is easily understandable
that an organization needs to setup in the While setting up an organization there are certain
questions that should be easily answered. Those are the 5W’s of communication – who is it
serving? What is it doing? Where is the focus for the futures? Why is it taking the specific
step?
Therefore, when it comes to effective strategic planning, it includes not only the aspect of
whether the organization is working in complete swing and that the actions are implemented
effectively but also on its successful running in the long run.
Two major elements on which an individual project or the project strategy depends on are:
- Goals
- Plans
These two elements are independent of the complete organization planning. If there is a
dependency, such project strategies are marked as static rather than dynamic in nature.
What Is Enterprise Architecture (EA)?
Enterprise architecture includes the practice of analysing, designing, planning, and
implementing. These four elements uphold to form a conceptual blueprint, which defines the
framework and operations of the organization. All these four elements together ensure the
successful execution of the strategies. Enterprise architectural planning enables IT projects to
yield desired outputs and maintain a top position in the industry trends (White, 2018).

Source: (BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, 2016)
According to studies, EA came in the picture in 1960s. It was a response to the evolving
business technology. There was a time where the computer systems had just taken some leads
and turned into reality. This was the most crucial time when the organizations most needed a
long-term plan along with proper strategy to follow up the-then evolving technology.
Technology is a giant feature, which was buried as a seed in the management foundation of
any organization growth (Rouse, 2019).
Thereafter, with the increasing technology EA strategies had spread its roots in the entire
business ecosystem, where it began with IT. Along with it, it ensured a balance between both
rapid digital transformation and evolving technological growth.
Review this organization and assess: Using the concept of Enterprise
Architecture, how does this company ensure that its projects add value?
Now, that we have been able to get through the birth of EA in the organization, we must also
question as to why it was needed, apart from keeping up with the rapid technology growth.
Every organization, when started has a success level pre-decided by its founders. However,

the success rate depends on their planning and execution. But the question is – has EA been
able to add to the projects add value?
There are basically two reasons why an organization requires EA:
1 - Understanding the risk along with accessing the returns of EA
2 - Aligning the stakeholders with different value expectations
There are several arguments put forth where it is ensured that Enterprise Architecture has
played a key role in ensuring added values. A layman will only know that there was a need of
EA in order to follow the technological drift. But a core member of the organization will have
ideas to establish and use the concepts of EA. One of the major reasons is that how badly the
digital transformation can affect its organization. Enterprise Architecture helps the
organizations to work more efficiently and to deliver the desired output in the form of
innovative products and services to its customers (McCarthy & Halawi, 2018).
(Malan & Bredemeyer, 2005)
For example, Press Industry. From the beginning of the printing press era, where there has
been a major change brought by technology in not just the size, handling, and working of the
machine but a complete sweep of the working style of the people working in the media
industry as well. There is no rocket science to understand that technology has taken up the
press industry by blow. There is a constant need to cope with the evolution and therefore, any

organization to deliver its output and maintain its stakes in the market need to be efficient
enough among its competitors. Earlier, the paper used for printing was different and today
there are varieties brought up for the same. Initially, there was a primary paper that was
printed by hand and if occurs a single mistake the complete process was repeated. However,
today, lakhs of editions are printed using machines. This has also brought a major change in
the production of the output which has resulted in high rising sales (Gong & Janssen, 2019).
Additionally, research says that about 70% of the top-level members of organizations believe
that the digital trends will not only help in generating the desired outputs but will also add-on
to the top revenues in their businesses as well (Bossert & Laartz, 2016). Along with the
profit, comes the risks associated with the plans. However, the technological advancement
and the infrastructure they have been able to build all-through the tenure is what differentiates
a top-notch company from a start-up.
Therefore, the Enterprise Architecture plays an important role in reducing the complex
equations involved with the evolving digital transformation. This is why most of the top
companies have a dedicated team associated with EA. They look after the specification
associated with the IT infrastructure. This enables them to foresee the pitfalls that could be
avoided (White, 2018).
Tesla Factory - Model S Production Assembly
The basic element that any customer sees in their product is the technology upgradation and
how is the present product or service better than the previous one, which he has been using all
this while. One of the key examples is the Tesla Model S, which is a premium sedan (Passin,
2010).
The Tesla Model S has raised the bar when it comes to the vehicle efficiency and meeting the
standards of safety and also provides the cargo space, which every sedan owner eye on. The

Tesla S model was then introduced with the concept of being technology advancement and
also be able to set environmental benchmarks by being energy efficient and controlling the
emission levels (Passin, 2010).
In the early 2000’s to now, almost two decades later, there has been a major change brought
out by Tesla. The stamping being done manually, checked with the help of human help is
now a programmed work by the machines. The robotic machines are primarily programmed
to do five major steps: stamping, framing, paint, final assembly, and the quality check. There
is a human force needed in order to handle the machines as well as the quality checking.
However, the majorly a lot has been shifted to machinery. It is very amusing to see a scratch
metal to be built into a finely finished car by Tesla with specifically designed machines.
Conclusion
Technology is an ever-evolving process not just in routine life, but it is basically needed in
the management, IT, and every other core organization. Therefore, EA plays a very crucial
role. An organization needs to have a specific team, and they do have one to look after the
techniques required to boast up the technical grounds of the organization.
Reference
BiZZdesign Enterprise Studio, 2016. Enterprise Architecture: Key to Successful Business
Transformations. [Online] Available at: https://bizzdesign.com/blog/enterprise-architecture-
key-to-successful-business-transformations/ [Accessed 11 May 2019].
Bossert, O. & Laartz, J., 2016. How enterprise architects can help ensure success with digital
transformations. [Online] Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/how-enterprise-
architects-can-help-ensure-success-with-digital-transformations [Accessed 10 May 2019].
Gong, Y. & Janssen, M., 2019. The value of and myths about enterprise architecture.
International Journal of Information Management, 46, pp.1-9.
Malan, R. & Bredemeyer, D., 2005. Enterprise Architecture as Strategic Differentiator.
[Online] Available at: https://www.cutter.com/article/enterprise-architecture-strategic-

differentiator-388826 [Accessed 11 May 2019].
McCarthy, R. & Halawi, L., 2018. Foundations of EA. [Online] Available at:
http://eabok.org/foundation_of_ea/historical_perspectives.html [Accessed 10 May 2019].
Passin, G., 2010. The Tesla Factory: Birthplace of the Model S. [Online] Available at:
https://www.tesla.com/blog/tesla-factory-birthplace-model-s [Accessed 10 May 2019].
Rouse, M., 2019. EA in transition: Guide to keeping up with disruptive technologies. [Online]
Available at: https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/enterprise-architecture [Accessed 10
May 2019].
White, S.K., 2018. What is enterprise architecture? A framework for transformation.
[Online] Available at: https://www.cio.com/article/3313657/what-is-enterprise-architecture-
a-framework-for-transformation.html [Accessed 10 May 2019].