Carla Marques Pereira

A method to define an Enterprise Architecture using the Zachman Framework

The proliferation of IT and its consequent dispersion is an enterprise reality, however, most organizations do not have adequate tools and/or methodologies that enable the management and coordination of their Information Systems. The Zachman Framework provides a structured way for any organization to acquire the necessary knowledge about itself with respect to the Enterprise Architecture. Zachman proposes a logical structure for classifying and organizing the descriptive representations of an enterprise, in different dimensions, and each dimension can be perceived in different perspectives.In this paper, we propose a method for achieving an Enterprise Architecture Framework, based on the Zachman Framework Business and IS perspectives, that defines the several artifacts for each cell, and a method which defines the sequence of filling up each cell in a top-down and incremental approach. We also present a tool developed for the purpose of supporting the Zachman Framework concepts. The tool: (i) behaves as an information repository for the frameworks concepts; (ii) produces the proposed artifacts that represent each cell contents, (iii) allows multi-dimensional analysis among cells elements, which is concerned with perspectives (rows) and/or dimensions (columns) dependency; and (iv) finally, evaluate the integrity, dependency and, business and information systems alignment level, through the answers defined for each framework dimension.

Enterprise architecture: business and IT alignment

Organizations have existing systems infrastructure that are the result of decades of one-by-one implementations of specific solutions. As organizations, products, customers and technologies continue to change at an increasingly rapid rate, managers have sought overviews that will allow them to understand how Business and IT within their organization fits together. Enterprise Architecture is a representation of the organization to enable the planning of the organization changes. It includes the current and future business objectives, goals, visions, strategies, informational entities, business processes, people, organization structures, application systems, technological infrastructures, and so on.In this paper, we show how the alignment between Business and IT can be disaggregated into four different dimensions and we present some heuristics to ensure such alignment.

An Approach for Creating and Managing Enterprise Blueprints: A Case for IT Blueprints

One important role of Enterprise Architecture aims at modeling enterprise artifacts and their relationships, ranging from the high-level concepts to physical ones such as communication networks and enterprise premises. As it is well known, these artifacts evolve over time, as well as their relationships. The dynamic nature of such artifacts has been a difficulty not only in modeling but also in keeping enterprise blueprints updated. This paper presents our approach to handle blueprints of the Enterprise Architecture, based on several years and projects in large organizations, both in the financial and telecommunication industry.

Applying the Zachman Framework Dimensions to Support Business Process Modeling

Pedro Sousa, Carla Pereira, Rute Vendeirinho, Artur Caetano, Jose Tribolet 1 Department of Information Systems and Computer Engineering, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal 2 Organizational Engineering Center, INESC INOV, Lisboa, Portugal 3 Link Consulting, S.A , Lisboa, Portugal 4 Sogrupo SI, Grupo CGD, Lisboa, Portugal {pedro.sousa, carla.pereira}@link.pt, rute.felix@cgd.pt, {artur.caetano, jose.tribolet}@inov.pt

Using a Controlled Vocabulary to Support Business Process Design

Rapid business change demands the ability to adapt, rearrange and reinvent business processes while keeping the alignment with supporting information systems. However, such tasks require a business process to be consistently specified and modelled. To address this issue, this paper describes an organizational taxonomy that defines a controlled vocabulary to design business processes using the concepts of information entity, business process, organizational unit, actor, business schedule and business goal.

Ontology-Driven Business Process Design

Rapid business change demands the ability to adapt, rearrange and reinvent business processes while keeping the alignment with supporting information systems. However, such tasks require a business process to be consistently specified and modelled. To address this issue, this paper describes an organizational taxonomy that defines a controlled vocabulary to design business processes using the concepts of information entity, business process, organizational unit, actor, business schedule and business goal.