The ICMG Enterprise Strategy & Architecture Awards are prestigious recognitions that highlight outstanding achievements in the fields of enterprise strategy and architecture. These awards celebrate projects that showcase innovative and impactful approaches to aligning business strategy with architectural excellence, driving significant business outcomes.
As you prepare your submission, it’s essential to follow best practices to ensure your work stands out and meets the rigorous evaluation criteria.
1.Understand the Criteria:
Review the submission guidelines thoroughly.
Ensure you understand the evaluation criteria, especially the emphasis on strategy and architecture.
2.Clear and Concise Writing:
Use simple and straightforward language.
Avoid jargon unless necessary, and if used, provide explanations.
3. Use the nomination form
Organize your submission with clear headings and subheadings as detailed in the nomination form
Use bullet points and numbered lists for clarity.
Avoid submitting any brochure
4. Highlight Key Points for each questions in tjhe form
Emphasize and detail the various aspects of your project based on the questions in teh form
Make sure your unique contributions and innovations stand out.
5.Use Visuals Extensively:
Architecture is visual logic: Focus on creating visual models that represent your strategy and architecture.
Incorporate diagrams, and flowcharts to illustrate your points. These visuals are more impactful than lengthy text and paragraphs.
Ensure visuals are clear, relevant, and add significant value to your submission. They should convey complex information in an easily understandable format.
6.Provide Necessary Samples:
Include samples for each perspective as required by the submission guidelines.
Ensure these samples are well-documented and clearly demonstrate your approach and solutions.
7.Ensure Privacy and Confidentiality:
If necessary, reach out to us to sign an NDA to ensure the privacy of your submission.
Clearly indicate any confidential information in your submission.
8. Allocate Time for Queries:
Make provisions for time allocation as the jury might request more detailed information once the evaluation starts.
Be prepared to respond promptly and thoroughly to any queries.
9. Utilize the Architecture Portal:
My Architecture Portal will be used for all communications. Look for notes, discussions, and enable notifications to stay updated.
Identify and provide access to the team members who will be responsible for managing communications through the My Architecture portal.
10.Identify Key Contacts:
Ensure there are at least two key people identified as contacts for this program.
These contacts should be knowledgeable about the submission and available to answer any questions that may arise during the evaluation process.
11.Select the Appropriate Award Classification:
The selection of award classification (e.g., Regional Appreciation, Regional Excellence) is crucial as it determines the depth of further evaluations and the associated fee.
Ensure you have necessary permissions and approvals for the selected classification to avoid any issues during the evaluation process.
12. Be Specific with Award Categories:
Avoid selecting multiple award categories with the hope that more categories mean a higher chance of winning. In fact, the opposite is true.
Be precise and choose the category that best fits your project. This increases the clarity and focus of your submission.
Note that there is a separate nomination form fee and evaluation fee for each award category.
Reach out to ICMG team with project summary if you are unsure about the right match.
Seek Feedback:
Get feedback from colleagues or managers before submitting.
Use their input to refine and improve your submission.
Adhere to Deadlines:
Ensure you submit all required documents on time.
Double-check submission requirements to avoid last-minute issues.
By following these tips and best practices, and focusing on providing necessary samples, ensuring confidentiality, allocating time for queries, effectively using the architecture portal, identifying key contacts, selecting the appropriate award classification, and being specific with award categories, you can create a compelling and impactful submission that aligns with the evaluation criteria.