14 November 2025 - The Architecture Exchange 2025 virtual event series – Week 6
Week 6 of the UCISA Architecture Exchange
The UCISA Enterprise Architecture Exchange last week put forward another excellent line-up of sessions, exploring a broad spectrum of strategic, operational, and technical topics within enterprise architecture.
Across the four presentations, colleagues from the sector provided valuable perspectives, actionable models, and practical case studies that further encourage ongoing knowledge exchange and cooperation throughout the community
HERM Models Discussion
The UCISA Architecture Exchange community convened on Tuesday morning to discuss the implementation and application of HERM models within their organisations, and to share feedback on how HERM models are being utilised in practice. Participants completed an interactive Mentimeter survey exploring the format recipe card templates should take and which types of recipes would be most valuable to the community. Participants described their experiences implementing Business Capability Models, with many organisations piloting multiple HERM models simultaneously to assess their value across different institutional contexts.
Two significant challenges were identified: securing stakeholder buy-in for capability-driven transformation, and mapping capabilities to data and application architectures (a critical linkage for solution architects and technology teams).
The community determined that recipe cards should adopt a step-by-step methodology format, offering practical guidance on assessing, mapping, and implementing capabilities. Community feedback highlighted three priority recipes: Mapping Your Institution to HERM, Capability Assessment & Maturity Modelling, and Embedding HERM in Architecture Decision-Making. These practical, evidence-based resources will be developed iteratively, drawing upon continued community engagement and real-world implementation experiences across UK higher education institutions.
This feedback will be used in planning next year's Architecture Exchange.
Architecture Driven Requirement Management
Jonathan Harrison (Edinburgh Napier University) shared their journey in realising the value of architecture through project demand, showing how it bridges gaps in understanding the university’s IT landscape and aligns it with business needs.
Nick Gleed (University of the West of England) demonstrated how a Business Capability Model can strengthen awareness of capability maturity and importance, helping embed architecture into everyday ways of working.
Abduljaber Abdulqader (University of Newcastle) presented ongoing work using an Initiative Scope Diagram (ISD) to explore project scope, change implications, and alignment with architectural reference models.
Option Analysis Using Business Scenarios
Paul McDermott (Newcastle University) delivered an insightful session exploring options analysis through the lens of business scenarios. He highlighted the theoretical foundations of options analysis and emphasised the critical role of the enterprise architect as a trusted advisor, supporting stakeholders in evaluating and selecting target architecture solutions. The session introduced a range of practical techniques for shaping and assessing options, including futures thinking, design thinking, and trade‑off analysis.
Consultation on entry-level EA Training
Discussion of a proposed entry-level Enterprise Architecture (EA) training initiative for UK higher education institutions. The session involved architects and EA practitioners from multiple universities evaluating the initiative and providing feedback on course design, governance coverage, practical application, and target audience suitability.
Participants broadly supported the entry-level Smart Start EA initiative, valuing practical, hands-on elements and proposing mentorship from experienced HE architects. Views differed on balance: some felt governance (TDA/ARB, standards, policy) was underplayed, others saw design as light; security architecture should be embedded as a cross-cutting theme. Governance maturity varies widely across institutions, so a modular approach and HE-specific case studies were encouraged. Clear prerequisites, target roles (including non-EA specialists and BAs), communication skills for senior audiences, and guidance for non-architects consuming EA outputs were requested. Debate continued over anchoring in TOGAF, ISO, or BCS, and several attendees expressed interest in costs and next steps.
This feedback will be used as part of the planning for the EA Smart Start, and next steps will be shared in the coming weeks.
Looking Ahead
Many thanks to all the speakers and facilitators for sharing their time, knowledge, and perspectives. The breadth of themes and the engaging, collaborative conversations continue to make the UCISA Enterprise Architecture Exchange an invaluable forum. We look forward to gathering again in December for the final sessions of the year, carrying forward the strong momentum and collective spirit of this dynamic community.
