Bettina Gleichauf

Application of Enterprise Models for Engineering Enterprise Transformation

Enterprise models constitute a valuable basis for enterprise transformation because they usually represent a widely accepted image of an enterprise. Practitioners often put a lot of effort in the creation and maintenance of such models that therefore represent a significant investment. However, so far the information contained in enterprise models is to a large extend ‘dateless’ which means it is hardly used to describe the transformation itself consistently. Therefore we propose a method to systematically derive an enterprise transformation model based on existing models representing enterprise structures at different points in time. The result of the method application is a set of project outlines derived from enterprise models. In order to generalise our approach to a multiperiod transformation model capable of coping with dynamic changes and plan deviations we propose a respective conceptual system. Our research artefact (the method) is finally demonstrated in a case study.

Complexity Levels of Representing Dynamics in EA Planning

Enterprise Architecture (EA) models provide information on the fundamental as-is structure of a company or governmental agency and thus serve as an informational basis for informed decisions in enterprise transformation projects. At the same time EA models provide a means to develop and visualize to-be states in the EA planning process. Results of a literature review and implications from industry practices show that existing EA planning processes do not sufficiently cover dynamic aspects in EA planning. This paper conceptualizes seven levels of complexity for structuring EA planning dynamics by a system of interrelated as-is and to-be models. While level 1 represents the lowest complexity with non-connected as-is and to-be models, level 7 covers a multi-period planning process also taking plan deviations during transformation phases into account. Based on these complexity levels, a multi-stage evolution of EA planning processes is proposed which develops non-dynamic as-is EA modeling into full-scale EA planning.

Towards a Sophisticated Understanding of Service Design for Enterprise Architecture

The service orientation approach emerged form the software engineering community and has now become a widely discussed design paradigm for almost every aspect of an enterprise architecture (EA). However, experience from cases studies has shown that it is necessary to explicitly differentiate service categories in EA, its goals and its resulting design guidelines. This paper derives a sophisticated understanding of different services categories, their respective goals and design guidelines based on empirical research.

Towards a Systematic Approach for Capturing Dynamic Transformation in Enterprise Models

The transparency created by enterprise models is a valuable support for organizational engineering and especially enterprise transformation. However, current approaches are hardly suitable to also create transparency of the enterprise transformation process itself. The paper at hand contributes a systematic approach for capturing dynamics of enterprise transformation in enterprise models. Therefore we differentiate dimensions of time (modeling time, valid time) of enterprise models on a macro level as well as a set of model transformation operations on a micro level. The proposed model transformation operations on a micro level are suitable for describing the differences of as-is and to-be models in an enterprise transformation program.

Applying design research artifacts for building design research artifacts: a process model for enterprise architecture planning

Enterprise architecture (EA) describes the fundamental structure of an organization from business to IT EA as a practice as well as a research topic has been around for several years However, existing methods largely neglect the existence of time which is essential in order to systematically approach EA planning The article at hand builds a process model for EA planning as a design research artifact We therefore use another more general design research artifact – a method for process engineering – in order to systematically build our proposed planning process From a design science research (DSR) perspective we demonstrate how elements of the DSR knowledge base can be applied to create new DSR artifacts and how DSR might build a toolbox as it is available in other mature engineering disciplines.