Black Belt Certified Enterprise Architect (CEA)

The FEAC Institute is an interesting organization with an interesting focus aimed at a variety of different enterprise-level communities: commercial/business, government, and branches of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as well as the contractors who support them. This can make finding your way around the organization’s website occasionally challenging, as its credentials are categorized and compartmentalized along these lines.

We include the commercial Black Belt Enterprise Architecture Certification (CEA), but also cover the organization’s 10-week certification program that includes both this credential and the Federal Enterprise Architect (FEA), along with the DoDAF (Department of Defense Architecture Framework), which defines a special structure for visualizing, understanding and assimilating architecture descriptions through a variety of different models and means.

The FEAC program includes various workshops and training classes, as well as custom course content or related short courses (taught at colleges or universities around the U.S., including UVA in northern Virginia and California State University- East Bay). In general, there are four core courses involved in pursuing the Commercial Black Belt CEA, along with a practicum project in which the goal is to help students gain practice and to produce actual work product for their parent employers or home organizations. Core content may be covered in individual modules or in a five day workshop (priced at $11,000, with a $1,000 discount for government employees). The practicum is scheduled over a three- to six-month period. John Zachman, represented on the company site as “the father of Enterprise Architecture and author of numerous EA publications,” is a keystone member of the faculty, along with other notables in the field.

This credential (and its companion federal government and DoD equivalents) is aimed at teaching a specific methodology for practicing enterprise architecture and creating projects in this subject area. Technical coverage is supplemented with ties into organizational budgeting processes, developing realistic statements of work (SOWs), internal promotion and approval, implementing and integrating program elements and capabilities, and measuring progress. For government projects, specific mandates, deliverables and milestones are covered to ensure compliance with OMB initiatives or departmental or legislative requirements.

This is clearly a certification program with strong government and defense connections, but given the size and scope of the work this embraces, many IT professionals will want to (or be required to) follow this path toward developing appropriate enterprise architecture skills and knowledge.

Certification Name

Black Belt Certified Enterprise Architect (CEA)

Prerequisites & Required Courses

None specifically stated; workshop attendance appears to be required for taking written exam and oral practicum (14 to 16 hours)

Number of Exams

One written exam, one oral practicum presentation and defense

Certification Fees

FEAC Commercial Black Belt Certified Enterprise Architect (CEA) costs $11,000 ($10,000 for government employees), inclusive of classroom training and exams, both written and practicum; support for the practicum appears to be included in this fee

URL

http://www.feacinstitute.org/feac-training/feac-training-type/feaf

Self-Study Materials

FEAC Certified Enterprise Architect CEA Study Guide by Prakash Rao, Dr. Ann Reedy and Beryl Bellman