Leon Kappelman

SERVCESS: A Parsimonious Instrument to Measure Service Quality and Information System Success

This study proposes and tests a model of information success that shows how information service quality is associated with success. If service quality affects success, then it should be possible to compare information service quality to other variables believed to affect information success. A new instrument, SERVCESS, which is based on elements of SERVQUAL and several information success variables, was evaluated to determine how effectively it measures information service quality and success within the library environment. Responses from 385 end users at two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers libraries were obtained through a mail survey. Results indicate that service quality is best measured with a performance-based instrument, and that service quality is an important factor in success. The findings resulted in the development of a new instrument to more effectively measure information service quality and information service success. These findings, however, also have implications for the development of new models of information service quality and information service success.

The Enterprise and its Architecture: Ontology & Challenges

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a set of concepts and practices based on holistic systems thinking, principles of shared language, and the long-standing disciplines of engineering and architecture. EA represents a change in how we think about and manage information technologies (ITs) and the organizations they serve. Many existing organizational activities are EA-type activities, but done in isolation, by different groups, using different tools, models, and vernaculars. EA is about bridging the chasms among these activities, from strategy to operations, and better aligning, integrating, optimizing, and synergizing the whole organization. This article: (1) posits that EA is about the architecture of the entire enterprise including its ITs; (2) describes an ontology for the information needed to holistically define and represent that architecture; and (3) asserts that this raises significant challenges for information system (IS) professionals, educators, and researchers who, like those in most other disciplines and professions, tend toward reductionist specializations.

The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture

Presenting insights from leading authorities on enterprise architecture, including John Zachman, Larry DeBoever, and George Paras, this book provides organizations with a solid understanding of key concepts. Managers will be able to conduct more effective oversight of enterprise architecture activities, which will lead to more efficient management of resources throughout these organizations. Beginning with a look at current theory and frameworks, the book discusses the practical application of enterprise architecture and best practices, and includes a wealth of resources and references. It contains the SIMs survey of IT organizations enterprise architecture activities which provides important metrics for evaluating progress and success. Enterprise architecture is leading ITs way to the executive boardroom, as CIOs are now taking their place at the management table. Organizations investing their time, money, and talent in enterprise architecture (EA) have realized significant process improvement and competitive advantage. However, as these organizations discovered, it is one thing to acquire a game-changing technology but quite another to discover ways to use it well. A project of the Society for Information Managements Enterprise Architecture Working Group and edited by Leon A. Kappelman, The SIM Guide to Enterprise Architecture provides insights from leading authorities on EA, including John Zachman, Larry DeBoever, George Paras, Jeanne Ross, and Randy Hite. The book supplies a solid understanding of key concepts for effectively leveraging EA to redesign business processes, integrate services, and become an Information Age enterprise. Beginning with a look at current theory and frameworks, the book discusses the practical application of enterprise architecture and includes a wealth of best practices, resources, and references. It contains the SIM survey of IT organizations EA activities, which provides important metrics for evaluating progress and success. Successful businesses exploit synergy among business functions and push the boundaries of process design. ITs cross-functional position uniquely qualifies it to lead process innovation. EA lets CIOs integrate technology with business vision and is the roadmap for implementing new systems, changing behavior, and driving value. This book explores the vision, foundation, and enabling technology required to successfully transform organizations with enterprise architecture.

Enterprise Architecture as Language

Seven years ago the senior leadership at SIL International (see Chart 1), a not-for-profit whose purpose is to facilitate language-based development among the peoples of the world, determined that it was time to build an integrated Enterprise Information System. There were three precipitating factors: mission critical IT systems were almost twenty years old and on the verge of obsolescence, their landscape was dotted with dozens of silo systems, and commitments to new strategic directions demanded significant business re-engineering.

Realizing the Benefits of Enterprise Architecture: An Actor-Network Theory Perspective

There is growing interest among IT practitioners and academics in Enterprise Architecture (EA) as an effective response to increasingly rapid business, economic, and technological change. EA has been proposed as a path towards better achieving and sustaining stronger business-IT alignment and integration, cost reductions, greater agility, reduced time to market, and other important objectives. Yet there is little theoretical basis to explain how EA work can lead to such achievements; moreover, the creation of a holistic and resilient EA remains an elusive goal for most enterprises. In this paper we use concepts from Actor- Network Theory to highlight some important socio-political and socio-technical aspects of EA work in the context of complex organization situations. Specifically, we focus on such challenges as actor identification in EA negotiations, the importance of soft skills, integration and reconciliation of multiple EA representations, discovering hidden interests and reflecting them in EA representations, dealing with misalignments of interests, as well as creating an environment for continuous EA, and thereby enterprise, improvement.