Jan Saat

Enterprise Architecture Meta Models for IT/Business Alignment Situations

Enterprise Architecture models can be used to support IT/business alignment. However, existing approaches do not distinguish between different IT/business alignment situations. Since companies face diverse challenges in achieving a high degree of IT/business alignment, a universal ‘one size fits all’ approach does not seem appropriate. This paper proposes to decompose the IT/business alignment problem into tangible qualities for business, IT systems, and IT governance. An explorative study among 162 professionals is used to distinguish four IT/business alignment situations, i.e. four clusters of IT/business alignment problems. These situations each represent the current state according to certain qualities and also the priorities for future development. In order to increase IT/business alignment, enterprise architecture meta models are proposed for each identified situation. One core meta model (to reflect common priorities) as well as situation specific extensions are presented.

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.

Enterprise Meta Modeling Methods - Combining a Stakeholder-Oriented and a Causality-Based Approach

Meta models are the core of enterprise architecture, but still few methods are available for the creation of meta models tailored for specific purposes. This paper presents two approaches, one focusing on the stakeholders’ information demand of enterprise architecture and the other driven by causal analysis of enterprise system properties. The two approaches are compared and a combined best-of-breed method is proposed. The combined method has merged the strengths of both approaches, thus combining the stakeholder concerns with causality-driven analysis. Practitioners will, when employing the proposed method, achieve a relevant meta model with strong, and goal-adapted, analytic capabilities.

Systematisierung von Evaluationsmethoden in der gestaltungsorientierten Wirtschaftsinformatik

Unter dem Oberbegriff der gestaltungsorientierten Wirtschaftsinformatik1 wird gegenwartig ein konsensfahiges Forschungsparadigma der Wirtschaftsinformatik diskutiert. Forschungsarbeiten, welche diesem Paradigma folgen, befassen sich vornehmlich mit der Konstruktion generischer Artefakte. Der hierfur notwendige Rahmen wird durch einen bestimmten Realweltausschnitt gebildet. Als eine notwendige Bedingung fur die Auswahl dieses Realweltausschnitts gilt dessen Problemcharakter. Die Orientierung hin zu einer Problemlosung stellt ein konstituierendes Merkmal der gestaltungsorientierten Wirtschaftsinformatik dar. Im Gegensatz dazu befasst sich die behavioristische Forschung hauptsachlich mit der Erklarung von beobachtbaren Phanomenen der Realwelt (March u. Smith 1995; Hevner et al. 2004; Cao et al. 2006).

Analysis of IT/Business Alignment Situations as a Precondition for the Design and Engineering of Situated IT/Business Alignment Solutions

IT/business alignment has constantly been among the top priorities for IT executives. From a prescriptive, design research perspective, our analysis of related work shows that neither is IT/business alignment sufficiently specified to allow systematic artifact construction, nor are existing approaches situational to reflect the diversity of IT/business alignment problems in the real world. We use goal decomposition to characterize IT/business alignment by qualities from (i) the IT systems, (ii) the business, and (iii) the IT governance perspective. A survey-based exploratory study among 174 professionals from various European countries is conducted that helps to identify four distinct IT/business alignment situations. This knowledge can now be used to construct methods and models that do not only operationalize alignment, but also can be adapted to the different situational needs.

Understanding processes for model-based enterprise transformation planning

The aim of this paper is to deliver insight into enterprise transformation planning incorporating Enterprise Architecture (EA) models. The paper is based on analytically developed approaches to model-based enterprise transformation planning and uses six case studies to evaluate and extend the existing planning processes. To understand the planning situations and their respective planning processes, we cluster the observed processes and link them to empirically derived EA realisation forms. Thus, the resulting process model induced from our empirical observations can be tailored to fit specific needs of an organisation depending on its realisation form of EA.

Trends in Enterprise Architecture Practice - a Survey

In recent years, Enterprise Architecture (EA) has become a discipline for business and IT-system management. While much research focuses on theoretical contributions related to EA, very few studies use statistical tools to analyze empirical data. This paper investigates the actual application of EA, by giving a broad overview of the usage of enterprise architecture in Swedish, German, Austrian and Swiss companies. 162 EA professionals answered a survey originally focusing on the relation between IT/business alignment (ITBA) and EA. The dataset provides answers to questions such as: For how many years have companies been using EA models, tools, processes and roles? How is ITBA in relation to EA perceived at companies? In particular, the survey has investigated quality attributes of EA, related to IT-systems, business and IT governance. One important result is some interesting correlations between how these qualities are prioritized. For example, a high concern for interoperability correlates with a high concern for maintainability.

Wertbeitrag serviceorientierter Architekturen

ZusammenfassungenServiceorientierte Architekturen (SOA) werden von vielen als zukunftsweisendes Architekturparadigma gesehen. Jedoch können bisher nur wenige Unternehmen auf profunde Erfahrungen zurückblicken. Unternehmen, die erste SOA-Projekte abgeschlossen haben, stehen vor der Herausforderung, den Wertbeitrag der neuen Lösung zu beurteilen, um Entscheidungen für Folgeprojekte treffen zu können. Unternehmen, die vor ersten SOA-Projekten stehen, müssen evaluieren, welche Vorteile durch SOA realisiert werden können. Diese Unsicherheiten zeigen sich in unterschiedlichen Meinungen von IT- und Fachbereichen, die unterschiedliche Kosten- und Nutzenaspekte in die Bewertung einbeziehen. Im Rahmen einer empirischen Studie mit Organisationen aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum wurde ein Framework zur Bewertung der Wirtschaftlichkeit von SOA erarbeitet. Das Framework beinhaltet quantitative und qualitative Gröβen, um den Wertbeitrag für die Fach- und IT-Seite abzubilden. Um die tatsächlich durch SOA erzielten Ergebnisse zu verdeutlichen, beinhaltet das Framework Berechnungsbeispiele aus den beteiligten Organisationen. Ein weiteres Ergebnis der Studie ist ein Katalog von Risiken, die mit der Einführung von SOA verbunden sind, sowie Strategien, diese Risiken zu minimieren. Die Erfahrungen der Unternehmen zeigen, dass die Entscheidung für oder gegen SOA häufig nicht auf harten Zahlen basiert, gleichzeitig jedoch ein steigendes Bedürfnis nach solider Bewertung und Rechtfertigung besteht. Die Ergebnisse der Studie unterstützen Praktiker aus Fachbereichen und IT bei der Beurteilung von SOA durch konkrete adaptierbare Kosten-, Nutzen- und Risikodimensionen.