Business architect
Find out what a business architect in government does and the skills you need to do the role at each level.
Last updated 30 November 2024 — See all updates
Contents
- — What a business architect does
- — Business architect role levels
- — 1. Trainee business architect
- — 2. Associate business architect
- — 3. Business architect
- — 4. Lead business architect
- — Roles that share business architect skills
What a business architect does
A business architect develops an integrated view of an enterprise, such as a business area or organisation. They use this view to help their organisation put its strategy in place.
In this role, you will:
- understand and apply business architectural principles, techniques, and tools to business challenges
- ensure design work from projects and programmes aligns with strategy
- ensure business change is implemented effectively to meet strategy
- aggregate and disaggregate complex information from across your organisation
- communicate complex information about the organisation to stakeholders
Business architect role levels
There are 4 business architect role levels, from trainee business architect to lead business architect.
The typical responsibilities and skills for each role level are described in the sections below. You can use this to identify the skills you need to progress in your career, or simply to learn more about each role in the Government Digital and Data profession.
1. Trainee business architect
A trainee business architect supports the more senior business architect roles. They also receive training on the tasks they support so they can work on their own.
At this role level, you will:
- develop your knowledge of the frameworks, practice, and principles of business architecture
- work with other business architects to support the production of clear business architecture outputs
- support during workshops and meetings with stakeholders in the organisation
Skill | Description |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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2. Associate business architect
An associate business architect uses their knowledge and experience to address business scenarios. They continue to get support and training for their role.
At this role level, you will:
- apply architectural methods following direction and wider strategy to produce outputs
- break down complexity and produce clear outputs
- explain complex business problems using clear language and artefacts
- bring together disconnected information to inform decision making
- recognise issues that cut across different areas of the organisation and present opportunities for improvement
Skill | Description |
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Stakeholder relationship management Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
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3. Business architect
A business architect uses their knowledge and experience to understand business scenarios, communicate the issues and recommend next steps. They support and guide other business architects.
At this role level, you will:
- support executive level work and management of the business architecture practice
- guide others in using appropriate business architectural tools and methods
- understand and apply business architectural principles, techniques, and tools to business scenarios
- create business architecture artefacts, including abstract representations of the organisation, knowing when to apply them
- develop standard and scalable models to collect, aggregate, or disaggregate complex information
Skill | Description |
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Stakeholder relationship management Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Strategic design and business change Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
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4. Lead business architect
A lead business architect uses their expert knowledge and experience to direct the work addressing high level and complex business scenarios. They support and lead other business architects.
At this role level, you will:
- be accountable for outputs produced by the business architecture team
- lead and direct the application of architectural principles, methods, and tools to business scenarios
- use architectural methods to form a view of the whole enterprise in a way that is easily understood by stakeholders
- work with stakeholders at executive levels
- provide overall direction, guidance, and definition of business architecture to support strategy
- develop and maintain a strong business architecture capability through coaching, mentoring, and training
Skill | Description |
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Stakeholder relationship management Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Strategic design and business change Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Roles that share business architect skills
Role | Shared skills |
---|---|
Accessibility specialist | |
Business analyst | |
Content strategist | |
Data governance manager | |
Digital portfolio manager |
Updates
Published 28 November 2023
Last updated 30 November 2024
30 November 2024
- In the 'practitioner' level description of the 'consultancy' skill, the first requirement was updated to allow for the skill to be shared with roles previously using the 'consultancy (business analysis)' skill.
28 November 2023
- First published