Enterprise architecture · Tools and repositories
EA Tool Selection, Repository Design & Implementation
Independent EA tool selection with trials on your own data, a repository designed to stay cheap to update, and implementation proven by your own people before handover. We sell no licences and take no commission from any vendor, so the recommendation has one customer.
The engagements at a glance
Definition
What is EA tool selection and repository design?
EA tool selection is the structured choice of an enterprise architecture tool against the questions your organisation needs answered, tested through trials on your own data rather than vendor demonstrations. Repository design is what makes the tool worth owning: a metamodel sized to those questions, loading wired to real sources, and an update rhythm owned by named people, so the repository is still alive in a year.
Intelance runs selection from £12,500 + VAT in three to four weeks, repository design and implementation from £28,000 + VAT in six to twelve weeks, and full programmes typically from £40,000 + VAT. Every fee is fixed and agreed in writing before work starts.
The market for enterprise architecture tools runs from Sparx and Orbus to SAP LeanIX, Ardoq, Bizzdesign and Avolution, and the right answer depends on your size, your questions and your budget. Intelance sells no licences, resells nothing and takes no commission from any of them, which is rarer in this market than it should be. The wider practice is described under enterprise architecture consulting.
Questions before tools
The question list comes first. Every tool is scored against it.
Trials on your own data
Entered by your people, so the winner works on your estate instead of the demo.
A metamodel that stays cheap
Sized to the questions the business asks, because update cost is what kills repositories.
Handover to named owners
Your people run the pilot and keep the rhythm. The handover is the deliverable.
The failure modes
Six reasons EA repositories die
Most EA tools are not bad tools. They are good tools bought badly, modelled too wide and owned by nobody. Each card shows the fix built into this service.
Bought before questioned
The tool is chosen before anyone writes down the questions it must answer, so it answers the questions the vendor designed it around.
InsteadThe question list comes first, and every tool is scored against it.The famous tool by default
The quadrant leader is bought because it is famous, then spends a year fighting how your organisation works.
InsteadA shortlist built from your needs, your size and your budget instead of the analyst quadrant.Decisions made on demo data
Vendor demonstrations run on polished sample data, and the tool that shines in the demo dies on your estate.
InsteadTrials on your own data, entered by your own people, scored on the record.The metamodel swamp
The repository is designed to model everything, so keeping it current costs more than the value it returns.
InsteadA metamodel sized to the questions the business asks, so updates stay cheap.Your estate is loaded once and kept current
Consultants populate the repository, leave, and the data decays until nobody trusts a single view.
InsteadLoading wired to real sources, with an update rhythm owned by named people.A repository without an audience
No owner, no cadence and no forum that relies on it, so keeping it current is nobody’s job.
InsteadThe repository plugged into the operating model, with an owner and a standing audience.How it works
Selection in a month and a living repository in a quarter
Selection stands alone and ends in a decision you can defend. Implementation follows only if the decision says it should.
Questions and needs
The questions the repository must answer, written down and weighted with the people who will ask them. The tool is scored against this list, nothing else.
Trials on your own data
A shortlist tested on your estate data, entered by your people. Selection ends in a decision you can defend, with the scoring kept on the record.
Design and configure
The metamodel sized to the questions, views built for the forums that will use them, and nothing modelled that does not earn its keep.
Load and pilot
Loading wired to real sources, then a pilot run by your own people on live questions, because that is the only proof that matters.
Yours to run
Named owners, an update rhythm and a repository the operating model uses. The handover is the main deliverable.
The repository only lives if the operating model uses it. Where the forums and decision rights do not yet exist, the EA Operating Model builds them, and the Virtual EA Department can run the register month by month.
Published fees
Three fixed price engagements
Start with selection. It stands alone by design, and if the right recommendation is not to buy a tool at all, the engagement still ends in a decision you can defend.
EA tool selection
Three to four weeks from question list to a decision you can defend: needs weighted, shortlist built, trials run on your own data, scoring on the record. If the right answer is a spreadsheet and a wiki, that is the recommendation.Best whenA tool is being considered, or being pushed, and the choice needs to be defensible. FeeFrom £12,500 + VATThree to four weeks
Repository design and implementation
Six to twelve weeks: the metamodel sized to your questions, the tool configured, loading wired to real sources, and a pilot run by your own people before handover.Best whenThe tool is chosen and the repository has to be alive in a year. FeeFrom £28,000 + VATSix to twelve weeks
Full programme
Selection and implementation as one engagement, from the question list to a running repository with named owners and an update rhythm.Best whenNothing exists yet and the function wants one accountable team end to end. FeeTypically from £40,000 + VATLarger estates take longer
The alternatives
Your options side by side
Three ways organisations buy an EA tool. The difference is which repository is still alive a year later.
The quadrant leader bought on reputation, sized for enterprises twice your size
The licence tier you happened to buy
Shelfware with a renewal nobody can defend
Organisations that want the safe logo whatever the fit
The tool vendor’s services team configures what it sells
The vendor’s reference metamodel
A repository modelled the vendor’s way that only consultants update
Teams whose needs match the vendor’s reference case exactly
A clean selection and build from £12,500 + VAT, by a firm selling no licences
The questions your organisation needs answered
A living repository your people update, because updating it is cheap
Organisations that want the repository alive in a year
Scope
What this includes and what it does not
You get
A question list and weighted needs agreed with the people who will use the answers.
Trials on your own data, entered by your people, instead of vendor demonstrations.
A decision you can defend, with the scoring kept on the record for the board and the renewal.
A metamodel sized to the questions, configured views for the forums, loading wired to real sources.
A piloted, handed-over repository with named owners and an update rhythm your people run.
This is not
A licence deal. We sell no tools, resell nothing and take no commission from any EA tool vendor.
The famous tool by default. If the right answer is a spreadsheet, a wiki and discipline, that is the recommendation.
A modelling exercise. The metamodel covers what earns its keep rather than everything that can be drawn.
A dependency. Your people load the pilot and run the rhythm before we leave. The handover is the point.
Related services
When to do this work
A repository serves a function. These are the services that usually come before the tool or run around it.
Why Intelance
The commitments we put in writing
We sell no licences and take no commission
Intelance sells no EA tool, resells nothing and takes no commission from any vendor, which is rarer in this market than it should be. The recommendation has one customer.
Trials on your data
The decision is made on your estate data, entered by your people, because a tool that only shines in the vendor demo will die in your hands.
Honest about small
If the right answer for your size is a spreadsheet, a wiki and discipline, that is the recommendation, and the selection fee stays from £12,500 + VAT either way.
Built to stay cheap to update
Repositories die of update cost rather than missing features. The metamodel is sized to the questions the business asks, and nothing else.
Handover is the deliverable
Your people run the pilot and the rhythm before we leave, and the Virtual EA Department exists only if you want the register run for you.
Who you will work with
Every engagement is led by a senior partner. Nothing is offshored and nothing is handed to a junior bench.
Case studies
All case studiesReady to talk?
Tell us what the repository should answer
Thirty minutes with a senior architect on the questions your organisation keeps asking and cannot answer. If a vendor is already pitching, say so. The selection is designed to land before the renewal or the signature.
FAQs
Questions about tool selection and repositories
What is EA tool selection?
The structured choice of an enterprise architecture tool against the questions your organisation needs answered: needs weighted with the people who will ask them, a shortlist built from your size and budget, trials run on your own data, and a decision recorded well enough to defend at the board and at every renewal.
How much does EA tool selection cost?
With Intelance, selection is from £12,500 + VAT and runs three to four weeks. Repository design and implementation is from £28,000 + VAT over six to twelve weeks, and full programmes typically land from £40,000 + VAT. Every fee is fixed and agreed in writing before work starts, and no licence revenue or vendor commission sits behind any of it.
Which enterprise architecture tools do you cover?
The whole market: Sparx Enterprise Architect and Orbus at one end, SAP LeanIX, Ardoq, Bizzdesign, Avolution and the ServiceNow route at the other. Intelance holds no alliance with any of them, so the shortlist is built from your needs rather than a partnership. The right tool depends on your size, your questions and your budget, and sometimes the right tool is none of them.
Do we need an EA tool at all?
Not always. Below a certain estate size and team size, a disciplined spreadsheet and a wiki answer the questions at a fraction of the cost, and that recommendation is on the table from day one. The selection starts with that question, and the fee does not depend on the answer being yes.
What is an EA repository?
The maintained model of your systems, capabilities, data and dependencies that answers the questions the business keeps asking: what do we run, what does it cost, what talks to what, and what breaks if this changes. A repository is only worth owning while it is current, which is why update cost decides whether it lives.
Why do EA repositories die?
Update cost, almost every time. The metamodel is built too wide, keeping it current costs more than the value it returns, the data decays, and trust goes with it. The fix is designed in: a metamodel sized to the questions, loading wired to real sources, and an owner with a standing audience in the operating model.
What does enterprise architecture tool implementation involve?
The metamodel configured to your questions, views built for the forums that will use them, loading wired to sources such as the CMDB, finance and HR systems, and a pilot run by your own people on live questions. Implementation ends at handover: named owners, an update rhythm, and a repository the operating model uses.
We already own a tool nobody uses. Can it be rescued?
Often, yes. The usual rescue is the second half of this service: re-scope the metamodel to the questions that matter, rewire the loading, plug the repository into the forums, and hand it to a named owner. Where the tool is genuinely wrong for your size, the recommendation is to walk away at renewal, and we will put that in writing.
Who keeps the repository up to date after handover?
Your people, by design: named owners and an update rhythm they ran themselves during the pilot. Where the function is not ready, the Virtual EA Department keeps the register alive from £6,500 + VAT per month, with the exit designed in.