An Enterprise Life Cycle integrates the management, business, and engineering life cycle processes that span the enterprise to align its business and IT activities. Enterprise Life Cycle refers generally to an organization’s approach for managing activities and making decisions during ongoing refreshment of business and technical practices to support its enterprise mission. These activities include investment management, project definition, configuration management, accountability, and guidance for systems development according to a System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The Enterprise Life Cycle applies to enterprise-wide planning activities and decision making. By contrast, a System Development Life Cycle generally refers to practices for building individual systems. Determining what systems to build is an enterprise-level decision.
The figure on the right depicts notional activities of an Enterprise Life Cycle methodology. Within the context of this document, Enterprise Life Cycle does not refer to a specific methodology or a specific bureau’s approach. Each organization needs to follow a documented Enterprise Life Cycle methodology appropriate to its size, the complexity of its enterprise, and the scope of its needs.