Some IT organizations have the DBA group reporting directly to the head of the
infrastructure group, but I have only seen this work successfully when the database unit is
unusually large and most all mission critical applications are running on sophisticated
databases. Another alternative I have seen work well with large DBA groups is to put the
architecture portion of the group, which is primarily strategic and user oriented, in the
applications development group, and to put the administration portion, which is primarily
tactical and technically oriented, in the infrastructure’s technical services group.