Architecture descriptions and definitions
The architecture descriptions for public administration are descriptions of the target state and current state of public administration activities, the public administration's information needs and technological solutions, all of which will help guarantee that the different areas of public administration and especially operational needs are taken into account consistently in all activities and the development of IT solutions. In practice, the content of the EA for public administration is made up of models, analyses, description templates and the architecture descriptions compiled with these.
The purpose of the current state descriptions is to help in the better understanding of the links between public administration organisations and improve the management of the existing environment. The current state is described first by concrete descriptions and then more by conceptual i.e. generalised descriptions. It is easier to identify what concrete parts the current state is made up of than recognise the planning principles which have led to it.
Especially the key shared service, the higher level processes that produce these and the shared general concepts are described for the current state of public administration.
The target state's architecture is a tool of both strategic and operative management. On the basis of the starting points and the objectives for core activities this architecture will be used to facilitate integrated development of activities. Enterprise architecture improves the ability of public administration organisations to achieve the desired future. It allows development of IT solutions to be proactive, and it can be linked to the development of core activities.
The target state for the public administration's EA describes the core architecture principles and the policies that influence architectural planning and the implementation of architecture-based solutions as well as the higher level reference architecture for the implementation of nationally developed targets. Target state descriptions steer decision-making and development activities in public administration organisations. The public administration's EA is at the highest abstract level of architecture descriptions. Thus, the descriptions are quite general, and they do not form a detailed chain that reaches implementation. These comprehensive descriptions are compiled at the organisation level.
An operating-technological environment can be planned and implemented using the policies and descriptions for the target state of enterprise architecture. This environment can be managed and adjusted according to the changing needs of activities and all its parts fit together and its central components are only implemented once.
The reference architectures for the public administration's target state reflect the objectives for many years to come, and their realisation will require both architectural descriptions that will guide the implementation of numerous more limited target areas (more specific reference and specified target architecture) as well as the realisation of these.
The map for shared services in public administration describes the general purpose services on the basis of which authorities can plan and realise their own net services.