A state-owned water and wastewater utility engaged Fragile to Agile to address growing challenges within its data network and enterprise architecture capability. Responsible for operating and maintaining critical infrastructure across a geographically dispersed environment, the organisation required a more resilient, future-ready network design alongside a deeper, more structured approach to enterprise architecture to support ongoing operational reliability and long-term planning.
What Prompted Change?
As the organisation continued to operate and expand critical water and wastewater services across the state, its underlying data network infrastructure was showing signs of age. Incremental upgrades over time had resulted in a network that was increasingly complex to manage and less well aligned to emerging operational, security, and resilience requirements.
At the same time, there was recognition that existing enterprise architecture practices were not providing sufficient depth, consistency, or visibility to support informed planning and investment decisions. With significant infrastructure renewal on the horizon, the organisation identified the need to modernise its data network design and strengthen its enterprise architecture capability to ensure future initiatives were well governed, coordinated, and aligned with long-term service outcomes.
Strategy in Action
Fragile to Agile partnered with the organisation and its delivery partner to define a clear roadmap for refreshing the data network infrastructure. This began with the development of a concise statement of intent, articulating the business outcomes the future network needed to support. These outcomes provided a strong foundation for reviewing the existing environment and shaping a target state design capable of meeting future operational, resilience, and scalability requirements.
Throughout the process, Fragile to Agile provided assurance that the proposed target state remained aligned with agreed business outcomes and adhered to a set of strategic design principles. Architecture governance mechanisms were established to ensure traceability between intent, design decisions, and implementation planning.
In parallel, Fragile to Agile supported the uplift of the organisation’s enterprise architecture capability. This included training the architecture team, developing a planning-level Business Capability Model, and assisting with the selection of an enterprise architecture tool to support ongoing practice maturity. Additional support was provided through the development of an investment case for a key legacy platform, strengthening the organisation’s ability to plan and justify future technology renewal.
Delivering Meaningful Impact
The engagement resulted in a significant uplift in enterprise architecture capability, providing the organisation with stronger structure, confidence, and consistency in how technology decisions are made. Clear, outcomes-based guidance helped shape the data network refresh program, ensuring that design and delivery remained aligned with operational priorities and long-term service needs.
The accelerated selection of an enterprise architecture tool, supported by structured stakeholder input and weighted evaluation criteria, enabled faster adoption of a shared platform for managing architecture artefacts. A planning-level Business Capability Model was established across the enterprise, creating a common reference point for strategy, investment planning, and solution design.
Complex legacy platforms were decomposed into capability-aligned logical solutions, enabling clearer comparison of replacement options and supporting the development of a robust, multi-period investment case. Together, these outcomes strengthened governance, reduced risk, and supported the successful execution of the network refresh, positioning the organisation for more resilient and future-ready operations.
