Cox Enterprises: From Start to Success with Enterprise Architecture and MEGA International.

EA and SOA Lead to Improved Resource Management

RAYNHAM, Mass. -- MEGA International announced that Cox Enterprises, a $13 billion media enterprise, is using the MEGA Modeling Suite for its enterprise architecture and business process modeling program.

Cox Enterprises is one of the nation's leading media companies, with more than 80,000 employees in 300 companies. Major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications, Cox Newspapers, Cox Television, Cox Radio, and Cox Auto Trader.

As the company grew into a $13 billion enterprise, important information on business processes, technology, and corporate resources became more decentralized. It was a growing challenge for all departments, and the IT staff in particular, to have essential information when it was needed.

Cox Enterprises evaluated several options to find an EA solution with a great deal of flexibility to cater to its specific business needs and grow with the company. The IT staff evaluated several tools that were powerful; many were complicated and not very flexible. The team found that MEGA International offered a strong technology solution, and more than 16 years of expertise in helping customers begin and build successful EA programs.

"With the MEGA Modeling Suite's out-of-the-box capabilities and long track record of success, we felt MEGA International was the best choice," explained Patrick Cooper, senior enterprise architect.

The company set up a pilot program as the Cox Enterprises Logistical Enterprise Architecture Repository (CLEAR) and conducted an internal branding and marketing campaign to educate employees on how it would be integrated with everyday business.

The company uses several modules of the MEGA Modeling Suite, including MEGA Process, MEGA Architecture, and MEGA Business Data, as well as advanced reporting and Web features.

Seven enterprise architects at Cox Enterprises use the MEGA software for modeling. Others in the business intelligence group, as well as a number of people in several areas, use the output of the data repository. Functional areas supported by CLEAR include communications, marketing, applications, Web infrastructure, and identity and security management.

The company developed an identity management system using CLEAR, and all identity management is SOA-based. Cox Enterprises used custom tools and software such as BEA and Stellant for this, and created an SOA infrastructure to interface with different organizations for identity management purposes. It uses the MEGA software to set up and model all reference issues, all based on the SOA foundation.

After successful deployment by the corporate IT group, other company divisions wanted to gain similar advantages. Cox Enterprises Radio asked for CLEAR to manage their Web site. The Atlanta Constitution wanted it for human resources, finance, and security. As a result of the great strides made by CLEAR, the requests for the EA group to model processes for various business units doubled in just a year.

CLEAR has also advanced the corporate goal of improved collaboration significantly. With information transparency made possible by the MEGA Modeling Suite, employees can better understand the IT infrastructure and how it relates to business processes. This lets them communicate more effectively across the company, and reduces unknowns, delays, and costs.

"Individuals and departments now work in concert using similar methods and can rely on information in a single place. Access is easier, information is known to be correct, and there is no need to search to find answers," noted Cooper. "We have accomplished our objectives and more with the MEGA Modeling Suite."

MEGA International (www.mega.com) offers the MEGA Modeling Suite for business process analysis (BPA) and enterprise architecture (EA), and the MEGA GRC Suite for governance, risk, and compliance (GRC). It is a privately-held company, founded in 1991, with 50,000 software licenses worldwide. Clients include AT&T, DirecTV, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Morgan Stanley, NASA, Nissan, Wyeth, and the US Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Transportation.