Enterprise Architecture

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Research Perspective in Enterprise Architecture

The challenges of aligning IT with business triggered the attention towards Enterprise Architecture (EA). Despite the increase interest of academic scholars in EA, there is scarcity of studies that provide an up to date comprehensive research perspective view. The purpose of this study is to examine the research methodologies and theories utilized in EA studies from 2010 to 2016. The study employed Systematic Literature Review (SLR) as method to explore and analyze the literature of EA. The study revealed the research approaches and data collection methods utilized in EA. It shows that case study approach and interviews are the highly used compared to other research approaches and data collection instruments. Furthermore, it pointed out the low employment of theories in EA studies. The study is contributing to the body of knowledge by providing a foundation for novice researchers in the area of EA through detailed discussions of research methodologies and theories which are expected to support them in designing future studies.

Sustainability through Innovations Of Enterprise Architecture (EA) in Public Sector’s Management: Issues and Challenges

Innovations through Enterprise Architecture (EA) require a transformation in public sector’s management. EA has been identified as one of the prime initiatives towards public sector transformation. EA implementation is highly recommended to execute efficient and effective public service delivery. However, building upon several public sector agencies that had implemented these initiatives, EA implementation in Malaysian Public Sector (MPS) was reported as unfavourable. This study aims to identify related issues and challenges towards sustainability of EA implementation. A qualitative research approach was employed in this study. Semi structured interview was held involving five EA experts. From the analysis, six related issues such as (i) absence of the mandate from government to implement EA initiatives (ii) improper EA governance leading to difficulty in managing EA implementation; (iii) absence of EA tool to maintain EA document; (iv) lack of EA awareness (v) lack of EA readiness and (vi) limited knowledge and skills on EA among the team were discerned in sustaining EA practices. With regard to the practical implication, this paper can serve as reference in EA implementation in the public sector.

Enterprise Architects Should Follow the Money

Enterprise architecture (EA) offers ways to steer and guide the design and evolution of the enterprise including its information technology (IT). One of the outputs of EA is improved decision-making about IT. Objective: This study aims to provide EA researchers and practitioners with insights into how IT decision-making actually takes place and what that means for them. Method: A systematic literature review was conducted in order to find and analyze primary studies about IT decision-making. Results: We found that IT investment and prioritization is by far the largest decision category. Money seems much more important than content. The IT decision-making process itself is subject to different variables and factors making every IT decision unique. We also found that both rational and bounded rational approaches are used in IT decision-making. EA has not a prominent role in IT decision-making. Conclusions: IT decision-making is a messy and complex process where money plays a prominent role. We argue that, if enterprise architects want to influence IT decision-making, they should follow the money by combining content with investment planning and prioritization. Further research is required into what distinguishes enterprise architects that are successful in IT decision-making, from those that are less successful.

A Learning Perspective on Enterprise Architecture Management

Enterprise architecture management (EAM) has long been propagated in research and practice as an approach for keeping local information systems projects in line with enterprise-wide, long-term objectives. EAM literature predominantly promotes strictly governed and centralized coordination mechanisms to achieve the promised alignment contributions. Notwithstanding the increasing maturity levels in practice, organizations still struggle with the successful establishment of EAM, mainly due to the inherent challenges of a firmly centralized approach in complex organizational settings. This study opts for cooperative learning as a theoretical lens to afford a distinctive, non-centralized conceptualization of EAM. We empirically demonstrate EAM as a stage-wise learning process in which knowledge acquisition and cooperative interactions among individuals contribute to project performance on the local level. Projects that benefit from this particular learning process, in turn, are found to significantly leverage enterprise-wide performance.

The role of organizational culture for grounding, management, guidance and effectiveness of enterprise architecture principles

Enterprise architecture management (EAM) has become a widely acknowledged approach for guiding the continuous change of increasingly complex organizations. While methods and models for describing and analyzing enterprise architectures (EA) have been extensively discussed, principles guiding an EA’s design and evolution are hardly covered in existing research. The paper at hand therefore analyzes the mechanisms of EA principles (EAP), that is EAP grounding, EAP management, and EAP guidance and their effects on EA consistency and EAM utility. Specifically we aim at understanding the role of organizational culture for the mechanisms and effects of EAP. Based on empirical data we find that all relations describing EAP mechanisms and their effects are significantly moderated by organizational culture. Based on our findings we give recommendations on how to deal with selected design decisions when introducing and developing EA principles in an organization.

Where Do We Find Services in Enterprise Architectures? A Comparative Approach

In recent years, enterprise architecture (EA) has captured growing attention as a means to systematically consolidate and interrelate diverse IT artefacts in order to provide holistic decision support. Since the emergence of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), many attempts have been made to incorporate SOA artefacts in existing EA frameworks. Yet the approaches taken to achieve this goal differ substantially for the most commonly used EA frameworks to date. This paper investigates and compares five widely used EA frameworks in the way they embrace the SOA paradigm. It identifies what SOA artefacts are considered to be in the respective EA frameworks and their relative position in the overall structure. The results show that services and related artefacts are far from being well-integrated constructs in current EA frameworks. The comparison presented in this paper will support practitioners in identifying an EA framework that provides SOA support in a way that matches their requirements and will hopefully inspire the academic EA and SOA communities to work on a closer integration of these architectures.