The Enterprise Architecture (EA) Certificate builds competencies to enable agencies to meet their Clinger-Cohen Act responsibilities for “developing, maintaining, and facilitating the implementation of sound and integrated information technology architecture.” The program provides graduate-level education organized around seven core EA competencies determined by the Federal CIO Council.  EA Certificate students develop skills in both policy and technical aspects of developing, implementing, and maintaining an EA. They also are enabled to apply EA concepts and processes to support strategic planning and realize organizational and process transformation.  The EA Certificate is a specialty in the Government Strategic Leader Master of Science Degree .

Students may apply their certificates, equivalent to at least 15 graduate-level credit hours, toward selected master’s or doctoral degree programs at several partner institutions of higher education.

Certificate students learn EA development approaches to achieve mission improvement and business value rapidly, aid development of business cases, and implement strategies to achieve sustained interoperability.

Enterprise Architecture Certificate graduates understand and can implement a variety of approaches, methods, techniques, and work products to facilitate cross-boundary leadership, such as:

• Department of Defense’s Architecture Framework (DODAF), Global Information Grid (GIG), and the Defense Information Enterprise Architecture.
• Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the CIO Council’s Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) Reference Models, the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF)
• Industry-based EA frameworks (e.g., Zachman)

CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENTS

Award of the EA Certificate requires successful completion of four (4) core and three (3) specialty courses.  The four core courses are Information Management Planning (IMP), Strategies for Process Improvement (PRI), Enterprise Architecture for Leaders (ARC), and Data Management Strategies and Technologies (DMS).  Specialty courses required for award of the certificate are Planning and Managing Enterprise Architecture Programs (PMA), and either the DOD-oriented Global Information Grid Architecture (GIG) course or the civilian agency-oriented Federal Enterprise Architecture course (FAC).  ARC must be successfully completed before enrolling in PMA, GIG, or FAC. The final course in the EA Certificate is the Enterprise Architecture Practicum (EAP).  This course integrates knowledge and skills that students acquired in their prior courses through application in an organizational setting.