18 September 2025 - The Architecture Exchange 2025 virtual event series – Week 4
Week 4 of the UCISA Architecture Exchange
Last week’s UCISA Enterprise Architecture Exchange programme provided another excellent line-up of sessions, exploring a mix of strategic, practical, and technical topics in enterprise architecture. Across the four sessions, colleagues shared valuable insights, frameworks, and real-world experiences that continue to strengthen knowledge exchange within the community.
HERM Data Reference Model
The week began with a session on the HERM Data Reference Model, facilitated by Louw Labuschagne (Newcastle University) with a content presentation from Russell Boyatt (LSE). The discussion provided context around the development of the HERM framework, highlighting its role as a collaborative approach to defining and structuring data reference models. The session reflected on the importance of shared language and standards to support data interoperability and governance across higher education, with participants engaging in lively debate about the opportunities for adoption and alignment within their own institutions.
Enterprise Security Architecture
On Tuesday, Paul McDermott from Newcastle University led a detailed session on enterprise security architecture. Framing the discipline as essential to aligning institutional security strategies with broader business objectives, Paul drew on established frameworks—including TOGAF and the Open Enterprise Security Architecture—as effective foundations for developing maturity in this space. The session also explored the practical value of using architectural tools to bring clarity and structure to security thinking. The presentation concluded with a case study from Les Romans of the University of Lincoln, who shared lessons learned from their own institutional journey in evolving an enterprise security architecture, offering valuable takeaways for universities working on similar challenges.
Using Reference Architectures
Thursday’s session turned attention to reference architectures as a tool for guiding institutional practice. Facilitated by Alan Cecchini (Newcastle University), the conversation began with an overview of reference architecture theory, outlining definitions, benefits, and the constituent parts of a toolkit. Sharvari Andhare (UCL) then shared practical insights into UCL’s approach, focusing on digital principles, architectural blueprints, and how their team supports solution design. Alison Pope (Royal Holloway) rounded out the session by demonstrating how model governance tooling can help manage architecture models, lifecycles, and automate conformance checks. With strong engagement from the community, the session underlined reference architecture as both an area of opportunity and an ongoing challenge within the sector.
Application and Data Modelling with ArchiMate
The week concluded with a comprehensive session on application and data modelling using ArchiMate, facilitated by Louw Labuschagne from Newcastle University. Louw provided the theoretical foundations of ArchiMate, contextualising it within ISO 24748 lifecycle management, and showed how the modelling language communicates effectively across different stakeholders—from business analysts to technical managers. The practical applications were brought to life by Dave Berry and Wilbert Kraan from the University of Edinburgh, who illustrated their meta-model approach linking ArchiMate repositories with ITIL service management. This methodology demonstrates the potential for higher education to catalogue IT assets, align application and business services, and integrate service catalogues in a way that improves stakeholder communication and systems understanding.
Looking Ahead
A huge thank you to all presenters and facilitators for their time, expertise, and generosity in sharing their work. The breadth of topics and the willingness to engage in open dialogue are what make the UCISA Enterprise Architecture Exchange such a valuable series. We look forward to continuing the conversation next month with another set of sessions that will build on the strong momentum and collaborative spirit of this thriving community.
