Fimea

Enterprise architecture strengthens Fimea’s ability to lead and renew

Fimea’s aim is to prepare for tomorrow’s needs. Enterprise architecture strengthens the Finnish Medicines Agency’s ability to anticipate change and lead through information. Collaboration with Gofore Lead also laid the foundation for the preparation of the national medicines data repository.

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Objective

A shared situational picture to support decision-making

Fimea sought to strengthen its ability to manage development as a whole and to support decision-making through enterprise architecture. The objective was to create a unified view of the organisation’s operations, services, processes, roles, systems and data, and to determine how development should be taken forward in a controlled manner.

“We wanted a clear understanding of where Fimea currently stands and where we are heading. We decided to rebuild our enterprise architecture from the ground up, specifically with development in mind,” says Joonas Tuominen, Head of Technology and Information Security at Fimea.

The goal of the enterprise architecture work was to establish a shared way of understanding the current state and the target state, and to support development prioritisation and decision-making across the organisation. A key objective was to ensure that the enterprise architecture serves day-to-day work across different responsibility areas, not just management or IT.

Solution

Enterprise architecture built on everyday work

Gofore Lead’s architects first defined shared principles, target levels and governance models for the enterprise architecture together with Fimea’s experts. Based on these, the overall view was built using the Archi modelling tool, through which the enterprise architecture is shared across the organisation.

At the heart of the work was close collaboration with experts from Fimea’s different responsibility areas. Enterprise architecture does not emerge as a detached modelling exercise, but through understanding and describing how work at Fimea is actually carried out and how different functions are interconnected. The work began with descriptions of Fimea’s core tasks and statutory obligations, such as the information management model, and the results quickly spoke for themselves. As the work progressed, development needs were raised by the responsibility areas, including requests for situational views to support transformation initiatives.

“Enterprise architecture work would not have been possible without the Gofore Lead team. The collaboration has been extremely smooth and transparent. Thanks to Gofore’s strong expertise and proactive approach, the work has progressed efficiently even in complex areas,” Tuominen says.

Enterprise architecture work would not have been possible without the Gofore Lead team. The collaboration has been extremely smooth and open. Thanks to Gofore’s strong expertise and proactive approach, the work has progressed efficiently even in complex areas.

Joonas Tuominen, Head of Technology and Information Security at Fimea

Result

A holistic view that supports everyday work, leadership and renewal

Enterprise architecture has provided Fimea with a concrete management tool. Development is now based on a shared understanding of where Fimea is and the direction in which operations are to be taken.

The current state and target state have been purposefully described in Archi, and the process hierarchy and capability map support development prioritisation across the organisation. At the same time, enterprise architecture has become a permanent part of Fimea’s everyday work and is continuously utilised and developed to support new initiatives and preliminary studies.

“Enterprise architecture work has been an excellent framework for structuring our development. It is extremely helpful both in day-to-day development work and in the renewal of the entire organisation. Within IT management, enterprise architecture has already clarified and streamlined upcoming procurements and made it easier to launch new projects,” Tuominen summarises.

Enterprise architecture work has been an excellent organiser of development for us. It is extremely helpful both in day-to-day development work and in the renewal of the entire organisation. Within IT management, enterprise architecture has already clarified and streamlined upcoming procurements and made it easier to launch new projects.

Joonas Tuominen, Head of Technology and Information Security at Fimea

The target architecture clarified the preparation of Farmasto

One of the most significant focus areas of Fimea’s enterprise architecture work has been the preparation of the national medicines data repository, Farmasto. In this multi-stakeholder initiative launched by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Fimea coordinates and develops a new centralised medicines data repository in cooperation with Kela, THL and Hila. Target architecture enabled the creation of a shared situational picture of how different actors are connected to the whole and what the preparation of Farmasto requires within a broad stakeholder network.

“The preliminary study of the medicines data repository has received widespread praise beyond public authorities. The analyses produced by Gofore Lead were exceptionally high-quality and thorough, and they carefully took into account the roles, needs and technical prerequisites of the various stakeholders.”

Joonas Tuominen, Head of Technology and Information Security, Fimea

Project highlights

Object

Fimea wanted to strengthen its ability to manage development as a whole and to support decision-making with an up-to-date situational picture. The aim was to create an enterprise architecture that serves the entire organisation and helps to clearly define the current state, target state and development priorities in a controlled manner.

Solution

Gofore Lead built an enterprise architecture for Fimea together with the organisation’s experts, based on everyday work. Shared principles, governance models and the Archi modelling tool created a shared overall view of operations that evolves alongside the organisation’s needs.

Result

Enterprise architecture has become a concrete management and development tool for Fimea. It supports development prioritisation, facilitates the launch of initiatives and has become a permanent part of everyday operations, supporting Fimea’s renewal and new projects.

Important figures

300+ subject matter experts
5 responsibility areas
10 capability areas and 30 capabilities
3 core processes and 150 operational processes
200+ systems
< 10 major annual IT initiatives
1 enterprise architecture

Expertise

Skills and competencies used in the project

Strategy-driven enterprise architecture
Capability-based development
Enterprise architecture structure, principles and modelling environment (Archi and the ArchiMate modelling language)
Information management model as part of enterprise architecture
Target and solution architectures and project preliminary studies
Information production planning and support for data-driven management
Architecture governance models and steering
Embedding architecture into initiatives
Interoperability in multi-stakeholder environments
Understanding of the public authority environment and regulation