The NASA Policy Requirements (NPR) 2830.1 outlines and defines the specific tasks and activities that must be performed under the NPD 2830.1 authority. This NPR provides instruction for EA reviews to examine and quantify the Cost/Benefit Analysis (CBA) and benefits to the Agency for IT investments.

This document focuses on required Enterprise Architecture (EA) processes, products, roles, and responsibilities. While this NPR broadly addresses the entire enterprise life cycle, it describes how EA processes relate to enterprise engineering, program management, and the capital planning and investment control processes. The extent of the EA collection effort is proportional to the cost and impact of a new project and subject to the EA inclusion criteria as described in Chapter 7. This NPR addresses systems at all levels of maturity, including significant technical or budget cycle changes. The NASA Chief Information Officer (CIO), via an appointed Chief Enterprise Architect (CEA), shall disseminate and/or make available the contents of the NASA EA. Personnel responsible for IT planning, development, and implementation shall periodically review the NASA EA to ensure that their IT projects are in compliance with the EA and that it supports the strategic goals of the Agency.

PURPOSE

The purpose of Enterprise Architecture (EA) is to inform and optimize the information technology (IT) investment decision process and, therefore, maximize the contribution of IT to Agency success. Effective EA management shall ensure that IT expenditures are aligned with Center, Mission Directorate, and Agency goals while reducing unnecessary duplication of both material expenditures and efforts. EA shall also provide a vision of the future state of new capabilities that will allow detailed planning to occur in conjunction with Agency and Federal Government-level initiatives and mandates.

EA leverages existing, required project management work products and harnesses them so they can be leveraged by the entire Agency. EA is both a source and a consumer of project management artifacts and, therefore, forms an information bridge and repository between the enterprise current state and future state. This document defines the management body of work required to construct and populate the EA and define the role the EA will fulfill in decision support. Finally, EA is a Federal-level mandate with associated reporting requirements. Data collection efforts will support and leverage these reporting requirements as well.

APPLICABILITY

This NPR is applicable to NASA Headquarters and NASA Centers, including Component Facilities.