Enterprise Architecture — A Value Proposition for Records Professionals

Modern institutions operate hundreds of business systems or applications to support their institutional activities. Among the key players or actors within any institution are records professionals, whose mandate is the management of records/archives or potential records/archives generated by these hundreds of business systems or applications. Records professionals need to make sense of the vast array of software applications and technological infrastructure, as well as how they relate to one another in supporting the institution's functions and activities. Unfortunately, there is often misalignment between various institutional actors, including business actors, information technology (IT) actors, and records professionals. Enterprise architecture (EA) proponents see it as a promising concept to address this fundamental issue. This article draws from a research study exploring the utility of EA frameworks for records professionals.