> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/gea/module-1-why-a-paera-anchored-ea/1.2-what-an-ea-actually-is-in-one-breath.md). # 1.2 What an EA actually is, in one breath An EA is the picture everyone agrees describes your government — minister, ministry CIO, donor, vendor. With it, you can lead the conversation. Without it, others lead it for you. {% embed url="" %} What is Enterprise Architecture, really? A 3-minute explanation for government leaders (\~3 min) {% endembed %} **Watch first (\~3 min).** Then come back for the play. The video's recap slide carries an on-screen practice box — it is not narrated — and this page is where that box points. > **Single message.** An EA is the picture everyone agrees describes your government — minister, ministry CIO, donor, vendor. With it, you can lead the conversation. Without it, others lead it for you. ## The concept An Enterprise Architecture is a set of documents and diagrams that together describe how your government works: what services it delivers and to whom, what data it holds and who owns it, what software supports those services, and what infrastructure runs underneath. An EA is not software, not a vendor product, not a tool you buy. It is the agreed picture. Why does it matter that everyone has the same picture? Because every important conversation in your ministry breaks down on this point. Your minister uses the picture to brief cabinet — they cannot describe what the country's digital spend is buying without it. The donor uses it before funding the next programme, to see how their investment fits with the others. The vendor uses it when proposing a system, because they must match what is already there. And you use it to keep all three aligned. Every EA looks at government in four parts. **Services:** what your government does and for whom; the layer the public sees and the minister talks about most. **Data:** the information your government holds, who owns it, where the authoritative copy lives; the longest-lived part of any government, outlasting every application and every technology cycle. **Applications:** the software that uses that data to deliver those services; what gets bought, built, integrated and replaced. **Technology:** networks, hosting, identity, security; the basics that must run for anything else to work. When you write down all four parts, your digital landscape stops being a list of unrelated projects and starts looking like a system — one you can change deliberately, plan investments against, and discuss across ministries, with donors and with vendors, without re-explaining the basics every time. That is what an EA is: the agreed picture of your government, and the tool that lets you, rather than the vendor or the donor, lead the conversation about what comes next. ## Do this on your own sector — Draft a one-slide 'what is EA' explainer for ministers {% hint style="success" %} **✍️ Drafting play · produces A2 Ministerial explainer slide** **Bring:** The audience (minister / cabinet / CIO), the country name, optionally one or two named institutions or services. From **A0 §1 Digital-landscape brief (the named institutions and services)** (see [Play 0](/experience-digital-transformation/gea/start-here/play-0-build-your-country-context.md)). **Get:** A one-slide structure ready to paste into the country's slide template. As text in the chat, not a file or a chart. **Time:** \~10 min · **Assistant:** any; the plays are tool-neutral. **With the kit:** no skill in this release, so the prompt runs bare in any assistant. **Watch for:** Have a domain colleague (a sector CIO or chief architect) sanity-check the BDAT examples for the country before the briefing — generic examples may sound generic to ministers who expect specifics. {% endhint %} ✍️ **Drafting play.** You give a few facts; the play produces a first draft of a document you will edit. **What it does.** A Strategist who has watched this video may need to brief their minister, cabinet or sector CIO on what an EA is, in one slide, in non-technical language. This play produces a country-tailored explainer. **When to run it.** Before the first briefing in which you use the word 'architecture' with a non-technical audience. {% tabs %} {% tab title="Prompt" %} Copy the prompt, replace the bracketed parts with your own context, and run it in the AI assistant of your choice. Never paste personal data or unpublished documents — see [How to use the plays](/experience-digital-transformation/gea/start-here/how-to-use-the-plays.md). ``` Draft a one-slide explainer titled 'What is Enterprise Architecture' for a [Cabinet briefing / ministerial induction / sector CIO onboarding] in [country X]. The slide should include: a one-sentence definition; the four BDAT layers (Business, Data, Application, Technology) with one-line examples specific to [country X]'s public-sector context — e.g. mention a real sector ministry, a known state registry, a known service]; a single concluding line on why this matters for digital service delivery. Tone: factual, non-technical, suitable for ministers. Output as plain text formatted as: TITLE, then four BODY bullets, then CONCLUSION. ``` [Open in Claude](https://claude.ai/new?q=Draft%20a%20one-slide%20explainer%20titled%20%27What%20is%20Enterprise%20Architecture%27%20for%20a%20%5BCabinet%20briefing%20%2F%20ministerial%20induction%20%2F%20sector%20CIO%20onboarding%5D%20in%20%5Bcountry%20X%5D.%20The%20slide%20should%20include%3A%20a%20one-sentence%20definition%3B%20the%20four%20BDAT%20layers%20%28Business%2C%20Data%2C%20Application%2C%20Technology%29%20with%20one-line%20examples%20specific%20to%20%5Bcountry%20X%5D%27s%20public-sector%20context%20%E2%80%94%20e.g.%20mention%20a%20real%20sector%20ministry%2C%20a%20known%20state%20registry%2C%20a%20known%20service%5D%3B%20a%20single%20concluding%20line%20on%20why%20this%20matters%20for%20digital%20service%20delivery.%20Tone%3A%20factual%2C%20non-technical%2C%20suitable%20for%20ministers.%20Output%20as%20plain%20text%20formatted%20as%3A%20TITLE%2C%20then%20four%20BODY%20bullets%2C%20then%20CONCLUSION.) *(experimental deep link: pre-fills the prompt in a new claude.ai chat; check the bracketed parts before sending)* *Input, output and the kit skill are in the box above.* {% endtab %} {% tab title="Example input" %} {% hint style="warning" %} **Draft worked example.** Progressa is the fictional demonstration country used across all four Knowledge Products. This input and the output in the next tab are drafts: generated for this knowledge base and not yet re-run under the worked-example procedure. {% endhint %} The bracketed context in the prompt was replaced with the following: Also in the session: A1 Fragmentation diagnostic was in the session above the prompt. A bare run with only the input below will differ where the annotations say so. Audience: Cabinet briefing. Country: Progressa. Named institutions and services to use: the Ministry of Education, Youth and Skills (MoEYS); the National ID register run by PNIA; Linkup (the national data-exchange layer); the planned National Learner Registry; school enrolment as a citizen-facing service. {% endtab %} {% tab title="Example output" %} {% hint style="warning" %} **Draft: model output, unverified.** Read it with the annotations in the next tab, not on its own. {% endhint %} TITLE: What is Enterprise Architecture * BUSINESS — the services Progressa delivers and to whom. Example: enrolling a child in a public school, from the parent's first contact to the learner's first credential. * DATA — the information the state holds, who owns it, and where the authoritative copy lives. Example: the National ID register owned by PNIA; the planned National Learner Registry owned by MoEYS — one learner, one record. * APPLICATION — the software that uses that data to deliver those services. Example: district EMIS today; the National Learner Registry and the examinations platform tomorrow. * TECHNOLOGY — the shared foundations everything runs on. Example: Linkup, the national data-exchange layer, and the PNIA e-KYC service that lets any ministry verify an identity. CONCLUSION: With the picture written down, every new programme — donor-funded or state-funded — builds on what Progressa already has instead of rebuilding it. Without it, the same plumbing is paid for again in every sector. {% endtab %} {% tab title="Reading the output" %} This is the teaching part of the play. Work through the output the way a chief architect would — what is earned, what is invented, what is missing.
1. The definition sentence is missing The prompt asked for a one-sentence definition before the four bullets and the model went straight to the layers. Add it: 'An EA is the agreed description of how the government works — its services, data, software and infrastructure — written down once so every decision can refer to it.'
2. The examples are specific because the input was specific Compare this to the same play run with only 'Progressa' as input — you would get 'e.g. the Ministry of Health' and 'e.g. a citizen registry'. The specificity comes from the six named things you pasted, not from the model.
3. 'One learner, one record' is a political phrase It appeared because the Minister uses it; the model picked it up from context elsewhere in this course. Check with MoEYS that it is safe to repeat in cabinet before it is on a slide.
4. The conclusion re-uses the 1.1 argument That is deliberate and good: the explainer should land on the same cost-of-fragmentation point the cabinet heard in the diagnostic (A1).
{% hint style="danger" %} **Safeguard for this play.** Have a domain colleague (a sector CIO or chief architect) sanity-check the BDAT examples for the country before the briefing — generic examples may sound generic to ministers who expect specifics. {% endhint %} {% endtab %} {% tab title="What next" %} Send the slide to your MoEYS ICT Director or chief architect for the sanity check the safeguard asks for. Then keep the four example lines — they become the shared vocabulary you will need when you convene business and IT together in [1.4](/experience-digital-transformation/gea/module-1-why-a-paera-anchored-ea/1.4-why-an-ea-matters-more-now-and-what-it-lets-your-minister-actually-do.md). Workbook artefact **A2**. **This artefact feeds:** [1.4 Translate an operating-model question into a business-IT joint agenda](/experience-digital-transformation/gea/module-1-why-a-paera-anchored-ea/1.4-why-an-ea-matters-more-now-and-what-it-lets-your-minister-actually-do.md) See the full chain in [Your country workbook](/experience-digital-transformation/gea/your-country-workbook.md). {% endtab %} {% endtabs %} ## Sources * PAERA v1.0 §2.3 Role of Enterprise Architecture — * TOGAF Standard, 10th Edition — Architecture Content — --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the following URL with the `ask` and `goal` query parameters: ``` GET https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/gea/module-1-why-a-paera-anchored-ea/1.2-what-an-ea-actually-is-in-one-breath.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is what the user is ultimately trying to achieve, the reason they need the answer. Sharing it helps GitBook give you a better, more relevant answer. A goal is most helpful when it describes the outcome the user wants rather than restating the question. For example, with `ask=how do I create an API token`, a goal like `automate deployments from our CI pipeline` lets GitBook tailor the answer to that use case. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.