Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Toomas Tamm, Peter B. Seddon, Graeme Shanks, Peter Reynolds

Abstract

There is a substantial interest and investment in enterprise architecture worldwide, exemplified by the number of enterprise architecture-related professional bodies, consulting services, frameworks, methodologies, and the increasing prevalence of full-time enterprise architecture teams. It may seem surprising in this context, therefore, that the value of enterprise architecture is still poorly understood. Organizations cite difficulties in justifying their enterprise architecture investments and anecdotal evidence suggests that the existence and funding of the enterprise architecture function is often based more on the beliefs of the incumbent management team than on demonstrated value. Although there is no shortage of enterprise architecture benefit claims, explanations of why and how enterprise architecture leads to the proposed benefits are fragmented and incomplete. This article aims to take a step towards improving the understanding of the value of enterprise architecture by focusing on how it leads to organizational benefits. Through a careful review of the existing practitioner and academic literature, the article consolidates knowledge on enterprise architecture benefits and refines the explanations by drawing on relevant IS and management theory. The resultant EA Benefits Model (EABM) proposes that enterprise architecture leads to organizational benefits through its impact on four key benefit enablers: Organizational Alignment, Information Availability, Resource Portfolio Optimization, and Resource Complementarity. The article concludes with a discussion of some potential avenues for future research, which could build on the findings of this study.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Toomas Tamm is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on understanding if and how organizations can benefit from enterprise architecture planning.

Peter B. Seddon is a Professor in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. His research interests include enterprise systems, IT management, IT outsourcing, business analytics, organizational processes, evaluation and alignment, and accounting information systems.

Graeme Shanks is an Australian Professorial Fellow in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. His research interests focus on business analytics, the implementation and impact of information systems, data quality, and conceptual modeling.

Peter Reynolds is a Research Scientist at MIT CISR. Peter’s research focuses on how firms drive value from IT through business and IT strategy, organizational design, IT-based business transformation, and mergers in IT.

REFERENCES

Alhanasiadis I.N.: Towards a Virtual Enterprise Architecture for the Environmental Sector, in Protogeros N. (Ed.) Agent and Web Service Technologies in Virtual Enterprises, Chapter XV, Hershey, PA: IGI Global, pp256–266 (2008).

Ambler S.W., Nalbone J., Vizdos M.J.: The Enterprise Unified Process: Extending the Rational Unified Process, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR, Chapter 9 (2005).

Amit R., Schoemaker P.J.: Strategic Assets and Organizational Rent, Strategic Management Journal (14)1, pp33–46 (1993).

Armour F.J., Kaisler S., Liu S.: Building an Enterprise Architecture Step by Step, IT Professional (1)4, pp31–39 (1999).

Association for Information Systems (nd), Senior Scholars’ Basket of Journals (current April 5, 2011); refer to: http://home.aisnet.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr =346.

Aziz S., Obitz T.: Enterprise Architecture is Maturing, Infosys Enterprise Architecture Survey 2007, Survey, Infosys (current April 5, 2011); refer to: www.infosys.com/offerings/ITservices/ architecture-services/ea-survey/Documents/eamaturing. pdf.

Barnett W., Presley A., Johnson M., Liles D.H.: An Architecture for the Virtual Enterprise, 1994 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, San Antonio, TX (1), pp506–511 (1994).

Barney J.: Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage, Journal of Management 17(1), pp99–120 (1991).

Bernard S.A.: An Introduction to Enterprise Architecture, 2nd Edition, Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse (2005).

Bernus P., Nemes L.: A Framework to Define a Generic Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology, Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems (9)3, pp179–191 (1996).

Bernus P., Nemes L., Williams T.J. (Eds.): Architectures for Enterprise Integration, London, New York: Chapman & Hall (1996).

Bernus P., Nemes L., Schmidt G. (Eds.): Handbook on Enterprise Architecture, Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag (2003).

Boh W., Yellin D.: Using Enterprise Architecture Standards in Managing Information Technology, Journal of Management Information Systems (23)3, pp163–207 (2006).

Boster M., Liu S., Thomas R.: Getting the Most from your Enterprise Architecture, IT Professional (July–August), pp43– 50 (2000).

Braun C., Winter R.: A Comprehensive Enterprise Architecture Metamodel and its Implementation using a Metamodeling Platform, Proceedings of the Workshop on Enterprise Modeling and Information Systems Architectures, Verlag Ritter, Austria: Klagenfurt 2005, pp64–79 (2005).

Brynjolfsson E., Saunders A.: Wired for Innovation, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (2010).

Carlock P., Fenton R.: System of Systems (SoS) Enterprise Systems Engineering for Information-Intensive Organizations, Systems Engineering (4)4 (2001).

Chan Y.E., Reich B.H.: IT Alignment: What have we Learned?, Journal of Information Technology (22)4, pp297–315 (2007a).

Chan Y.E., Reich B.H.: IT Alignment: An Annotated Bibliography, Journal of Information Technology (22)4, pp316– 396 (2007b).

Chan Y.E., Sabherwal R., Thatcher J.B.: Antecedents and Outcomes of Strategic IS Alignment: An Empirical Investigation, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management (51)3, pp27–47 (2006).

Chen D., Vallespir B., Doumeingts G.: GRAI Integrated Methodology and its Mapping onto Generic Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology, Computers in Industry (33)2–3, pp387–394 (1997).

Chen D., Doumeingts G., Vernadat F.B.: Architectures for Enterprise Integration and Interoperability: Past, Present and Future, Computers in Industry (59)7, pp647–659 (2008).

Cummins F.A.: Enterprise Integration: An Architecture for Enterprise Application and Systems Integration, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons (2002).

Davenport T.H., Harris J.G.: Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press (2007).

Davenport T.H., Harris J.G., Morison, T.: Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Press (2010).

Davenport T.H., Short J.E.: The New Industrial Engineering: Information Technology and Business Process Redesign, Sloan Management Review (31)4, pp11–27 (1990).

El Sawy O.A., Malhotra A., Gosain, S., Young K.M.: ITIntensive Value Innovation in the Electronic Economy: Insights from Marshall Industries, MIS Quarterly (23)3, pp305–335 (1999).

Finney S., Corbett M.: ERP Implementation: A Compilation and Analysis of Critical Success Factors, Business Process Management Journal (13)3, pp329–347 (2007).

Grant R.M.: Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm, Strategic Management Journal (17)Winter Special Issue, pp109–122 (1996).

Gregor S., Hart D., Martin N.: Enterprise Architectures: Enablers of Business Strategy and IS/IT Alignment in Government, Information Technology & People (20)2, pp96– 120 (2007).

Guijarro L.: Interoperability Frameworks and Enterprise Architectures in E-Government Initiatives in Europe and the United States, Government Information Quarterly (24)1, pp89– 101 (2007).

Hammer M., Champy J.: Re-engineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, New York, NY: HarperBusiness (1994).

Harmon P., Rosen M., Guttman M.: Developing E-Business Systems and Architectures: A Manager’s Guide, Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann, Chapter 6, pp141–167 (2001).

Harrington H.J.: Business Process Improvement: The Breakthrough Strategy for Total Quality, Productivity, and Competitiveness, New York: McGraw-Hill Professional (1991).

Hay D.C.: Requirements Analysis: From Business Views to Architecture, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR (2003).

Henderson J.C., Venkatraman N.: Strategic Alignment: Leveraging Information Technology for Transforming Organizations, IBM Systems Journal (32)1, pp4–16 (1993).

Henderson R.M., Clark K.B.: Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms, Administrative Science Quarterly (35)1, pp9–30 (1990).

Hoque F.: E-Enterprise: Business Models, Architecture, and Components, New York: Cambridge University Press, Chapter 6, pp173–201 (2000).

Humphries M., Hawkins M.W., Dy M.C.: Data Warehousing: Architecture and Implementation, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR, Chapter 1 (1999).

Iyer B., Gottlieb R.: The Four-Domain Architecture: An Approach to Support Enterprise Architecture Design, IBM Systems Journal (43)3, pp587–597 (2004).

Janssen M., Hjort-Madsen K.: Analyzing Enterprise Architecture in National Governments: The Cases of Denmark and the Netherlands, Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp218a (2007).

Johnson P., Ekstedt M.: Enterprise Architecture: Models and Analyses for Information Systems Decision-Making, Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur (2007).

Johnson P., Ekstedt M., Silva E., Plazaola L.: Using Enterprise Architecture for CIO Decision-Making: On the Importance of Theory, Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER) (2004).

Johnson P., Lagerström R., Närman P., Simonsson M.: Enterprise Architecture Analysis with Extended Influence Diagrams, Information Systems Frontiers (9)2–3, pp163–180 (2007).

Jonkers H., van Buuren R., Arbab F., de Boer F., Bonsangue M., Bosma H., ter Doest H., Groenewegen L., Scholten J.G., Hoppenbrouwers S., Iacob M.E., Janssen W., Lankhorst M., van Leeuwen D., Proper E., Stam A., van der Torre L., van Zanten G.V.: Towards a Language for Coherent Enterprise Architecture Descriptions, Proceedings of the 7th IEEE International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference (EDOC), pp28–37 (2003).

Jonkers H., Lankhorst M.M., van Buuren R., Hoppenbrouwers S.J.B.A., Bonsangue M., van der Torre L.: Concepts for Modeling Enterprise Architectures, International Journal of Cooperative Information Systems (13)3, pp257–287 (2004).

Kaisler S., Armour F.J., Valivullah M.: Enterprise Architecting: Critical Problems, Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp224b (2005).

Kappelman L.A. (Ed.): The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture, New York, NY: CRC Press (2010).

Kearns G.S., Lederer A.L.: A Resource-Based View of Strategic IT Alignment: How Knowledge Sharing Creates Competitive Advantage, Decision Sciences (34)1, pp1–29 (2003).

Kettinger W.J., Marchand D.A., Davis J.M.: Designing Enterprise IT Architectures to Optimize Flexibility and Standardization in Global Business, MIS Quarterly Executive (9)2, pp95–113 (2010).

King W.R.: Creating a Strategic Capabilities Architecture, Information Systems Management (12)1 (1995).

Kosanke K., Vernadat F.B., Zelm M.: CIMOSA: Enterprise Engineering and Integration, Computers in Industry (40)2–3, pp83–97 (1999).

Lankhorst M.M.: Enterprise Architecture at Work: Modeling, Communication, and Analysis, Heidelberg, Germany: Springer- Verlag (2005).

Lee Y.W., Strong D.M., Kahn B.K., Wang R.Y.: AIMQ: A Methodology for Information Quality Assessment, Information & Management (40)2, pp133–146 (2002).

Liles D., Presley A.: Enterprise Modeling Within an Enterprise Engineering Framework, in Charnes J.M. et al (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1996 Winter Simulation Conference, pp993–999 (1996).

Lindström Å., Johnson P., Johansson E., Ekstedt M., Simonsson M.: A Survey on CIO Concerns—Do Enterprise Architecture Frameworks Support Them?, Information Systems Frontiers (8)2, pp81–90 (2006).

Lippman S.A., Rumelt R.P.: Uncertain Imitability: An Analysis of Interfirm Differences in Efficiency Under Competition, The Bell Journal of Economics (13)2, pp418–438 (1982).

McGovern J., Sims O., Jain A., Little M.: Enterprise Service- Oriented Architectures: Concepts, Challenges, Recommendations, New York, NY: Springer (2006).

McGovern J., Ambler S.W., Stevens M.E., Linn J., Sharan V., Jo E.K.: A Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall (2004).

Miller D.: Configurations of Strategy and Structure: Towards a Synthesis, Strategic Management Journal (7)3, pp233–249 (1986).

Obitz T., Babu K.M.: Enterprise Architecture Expands its Role in Strategic Business Transformation: Infosys Enterprise Architecture Survey 2008/2009, Survey, Infosys (2009); refer to: www.infosys.com/offerings/IT-services/architectureservices/ ea-survey/Pages/index.aspx (current April 5 2011).

O’Rourke C., Fishman N., Selkow W.: Enterprise Architecture Using the Zachman Framework, Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology (2003).

Parr A.N., Shanks G.G., Darke P.: Identification of Necessary Factors for Successful Implementation of ERP Systems, Proceedings of the IFIP TC8 WG8.2, pp99–120 (1999).

Pereira C.M., Sousa P.: A Method to Define an Enterprise Architecture using the Zachman Framework, Proceedings of the 2004 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, pp1366– 1371 (2004).

Peristeras V., Tarabanis K.: Towards an Enterprise Architecture for Public Administration using a Top-Down Approach, European Journal of Information Systems (9)4, pp252–260 (2000).

Perks C., Beveridge T.: Guide to Enterprise IT Architecture, New York: Springer (2003).

Porter M.E.: What Is a Strategy?, Harvard Business Review (74)6, pp61–78 (1996).

Prahalad C., Hamel G.: The Core Competence of the Corporation, Harvard Business Review (68)3, pp79–91 (1990).

Pulkkinen M.: Systemic Management of Architectural Decisions in Enterprise Architecture Planning. Four Dimensions and Three Abstraction Levels, HICSS ’06: Proceedings of the 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp179a–179a (2006).

Reed R., DeFillippi R.J.: Causal Ambiguity, Barriers to Imitation, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage, The Academy of Management Review (15)1, pp88–102 (1990).

Reynolds P., Thorogood A., Yetton P.: Allocation of IT Decision Rights in Multi-Business Organizations: What Decisions, Who Makes them, and When are they Taken?, ICIS 2010 Proceedings, Paper 169 (2010).

Richardson G., Jackson B., Dickson G.: A Principles-Based Enterprise Architecture: Lessons from Texaco and Star Enterprise, MIS Quarterly (14)4, pp385–403 (1990).

Ross J.W.: Creating a Strategic IT Architecture Competency: Learning in Stages, MIS Quarterly Executive (2)1, pp31–43 (2003).

Ross J.W., Westerman G.: Preparing for Utility Computing: The Role of IT Architecture and Relationship Management, IBM Systems Journal (43)1, pp5–19 (2004).

Ross J.W., Weill P., Robertson D.C.: Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press (2006).

Ruh W.A., Maginnis F.X., Brown W.J.: Enterprise Application Integration: A Wiley Tech Brief, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Chapter 7, pp131–151 (2001).

Sabherwal R., Chan Y.E.: Alignment Between Business and IS Strategies: A Study of Prospectors, Analyzers, and Defenders, Information Systems Research (12)1, pp11–33 (2001).

Salmans B., Kappelman L.A.: The State of EA: Progress, Not Perfection, in Kappelman L.A. (Ed.): The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture, pp165–217 (2010).

Schekkerman J.: How to Survive in the Jungle of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks: Creating or Choosing an Enterprise Architecture Framework, 3rd Edition, Bloomington, IN: Trafford (2006).

Segars A.H., Grover V.: Designing Company-Wide Information Systems: Risk Factors and Coping Strategies, Long Range Planning (29)3, pp381–392 (1996).

Sowa J., Zachman J.A.: Extending and Formalizing the Framework for Information-Systems Architecture, IBM Systems Journal (31)3, pp590–616 (1992).

Spewak S.H., Hill S.C.: Enterprise Architecture Planning: Developing a Blueprint for Data, Applications, and Technology, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons (1992).

Tamm T., Seddon P.B., Shanks G., Reynolds P.: How Does Enterprise Architecture Add Value to Organizations?, Communications of the Association for Information Systems (28), Article 10, pp141–168 (2011).

Tapscott D., Caston A.: Paradigm Shift: The New Promise of Information Technology, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill (1993).

The Open Group: The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), Version 9 (2009).

Treacy M., Wiersema F.: Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines, Harvard Business Review (71), pp84–93 (1993).

Venkatesh V., Bala H., Venkatraman S., Bates J.: Enterprise Architecture Maturity: The Story of the Veterans Health Administration, MIS Quarterly Executive (6)2, pp79–90 (2007).

Vernadat F.: Interoperable Enterprise Systems: Principles, Concepts, and Methods, Annual Reviews in Control (31)1, pp137–145 (2007).

Wang R.W., Strong D.M.: Beyond Accuracy: What Data Quality Means to Data Consumers, Journal of Management Information Systems (12)4, pp5–34 (1996).

Wegmann A.: On the Systemic Enterprise Architecture Methodology (SEAM), International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS), pp483–490 (2003).

Weill P., Ross J.W.: IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press (2004).

Whitman L., Ramachandran K., Ketkar V.: A Taxonomy of a Living Model of the Enterprise, Proceedings of the 2001 Winter Simulation Conference, pp848–855 (2001).

Winter R., Fischer R.: Essential Layers, Artifacts, and Dependencies of Enterprise Architecture, Proceedings of the 10th IEEE Conference on International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Workshops, pp30 (2006).

Woods D., Mattern T.: Enterprise SOA: Designing IT for Business Innovation, Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly (2006).

Youngs R., Redmond-Pyle D., Spaas P., Kahan E.: A Standard for Architecture Description, IBM Systems Journal (38)1, pp32– 50 (1999).

Zachman J.A.: A Framework for Information Systems Architecture, IBM Systems Journal (26)3, pp276–292 (1987).

Zachman J.A.: Enterprise Architecture: The Issue of the Century, Database Programming and Design (1997).

Zachman J.A.: You Can’t ‖Cost-Justify‖ Architecture, Zachman International (2001); refer to: www.aeablogs.org/eakd/files/ You_Cant_Justify_Architecture.pdf (current April 5 2011).

Zachman J.A.: Architecture Is Architecture Is Architecture, in Kappelman L.A. (Ed.): The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture, pp37–45 (2010).

Journal of Enterprise Architecture

Leave a Comment