Irina Rychkova

Business and IT Alignment with SEAM for Enterprise Architecture

To align an IT system with an organizations needs, it is necessary to understand the organization s position within its environment as well as its internal configuration. In SEAM for enterprise architecture the organization is considered as a hierarchy of systems that span from business down to IT. The alignment process addresses the complete hierarchy. We illustrate the use of SEAM for enterprise architecture with an example in which a new hiring process and an IT system are developed. With this approach it is possible to train new engineers in the design of business and IT alignment. It is also possible to scope projects in a way that integrate both business and IT strategies. This enables the consideration of IT developments in an enterprise-wide context.

Early Requirements and Business-IT Alignment with SEAM for Business

The early requirements of an IT system should be aligned with the organizations business imperatives. To understand these imperatives it is necessary to understand the organizations position within its environment. SEAM for Business is a method designed for analyzing the competitive environment of an organization, including its relationships with its customers, partners, and market regulators. From this analysis, the main requirements of the IT systems can be inferred. We illustrate the use of SEAM for Business with a real project aimed at redesigning the website of a consulting company.

Towards the Definition, Implementation and Communication of an IT Strategy: The Case of IT Strategy at EPFL

Large enterprises need to coordinate the IT initiatives that exist in different organisational units of the enterprise. If these initiatives are not coordinated, the resulting IT system is likely to become difficult to use and expensive to develop/maintain. Enterprise architecture methods are designed for that purpose. We report on the use of a service-oriented enterprise architecture method, called SEAM, in the context of a mid-size university. The originality of SEAM is its service orientation and the recursive modeling from business down to systems. Using SEAM, we develop a service model of the overall organisation. The model is stored in a web-based tool. We also propose a concrete implementation of architectural principles described in the literature. This principles help build an integrated IT system. The paper explains the background of this project and the current progresses. This approach illustrates how enterprises can build a common view for their IT resources.

Preface BUSITAL 2011

Continuous growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide organizations with new efficient mechanisms for a sustainable competitive advantage and ICT-enabled innovations. Information systems have to support these evolutionary challenges while preserving the alignment between business strategies, business processes, and application portfolios.