Business Information Driven Approach for EA Development in Practice

In this paper, we extrapolate findings of using the Genre and Ontology based Business Information Architecture Framework (GOBIAF) as a methodology to approach enterprise architecture (EA) development from business perspective. GOBIAF seems to contribute as the first business critical information driven framework for EA development, addressing the importance on integrating (information creation) context to (information) content. GOBIAF was developed for and applied in a knowledge intensive, heterogeneous, and geographically dispersed environment in process industries. In the context, GOBIAF increased our knowledge of complex relationships between business, information, and technical domains. Further, GOBIAF provided needed structure for evaluating and developing difficult and heterogeneous issues in relation to organizational strategies

Applying Genre-Based Ontologies to Enterprise Architecture

This paper elaborates the approach of using ontologies as a conceptual base for enterprise architecture (EA) descriptions. The method focuses on recognising and modelling business critical information concepts, their content, and semantics used to operate the business. Communication genres and open and semi-structured information need interviews are used as a domain analysis method. Ontologies aim to explicate the results of domain analysis and to provide a common reference model for Business Information Architecture (BIA) descriptions. The results are generalised to model further aspects of EA

From Genre-based Ontologies to Business Information Architecture Descriptions

A high cohesion of business and information needed to operate the business provide the fundamental basis for approaching Enterprise Architecture (EA) development. The aim of the Business Information Architecture (BIA) presented in this paper is to support the development of holistic information management principles in geographically dispersed environments. BIA contributes as a shared mechanism to support business information based strategic and operational thinking, forcing isolated business units to become aware of, understand, structure, and present local business critical information using ontologies and communication genres to aid EA development, implementation, and management to support business objectives

Genre and ontology based business information architecture framework (GOBIAF)

Tiedon määrän kasvu on johtanut organisaatioiden tehokkuuteen kielteisesti vaikuttavaan tietotulvaan. Liiketoiminnan kannalta kriittisen tiedon asianmukainen hallinta on keskeistä organisaatioiden päätöksenteossa. Turo Kilpeläinen tarkastelee väitöstutkimuksessaan organisaatioiden strategisen päätöksenteon tukena käytetyn kokonaisarkkitehtuurin kehitystä liiketoimintaprosesseissa välittyvän kriittisen tiedon näkökulmasta.- Liiketoimintaprosesseissa käytettävä ja välittyvä tieto on yksi organisaatioiden pysyvä ja keskeinen hallittava kokonaisuus. Tiedon saatavuus halutaan varmistaa koko organisaatiossa. Esimerkiksi tuotantoprosessien aikana tiedon, tai sen puutteen merkitys konkretisoituu ongelmanratkaisuvaihtoehtojen uudelleen ”keksimisenä” sekä niin sanottujen tyyppivirheiden toistumisena, Kilpeläinen toteaa. - Varsinkin maantieteellisesti hajautuneissa organisaatioissa kontekstin yhdistäminen liiketoiminnan kannalta keskeisimpien tietoelementtien yhteyteen on lähtökohta tiedon yhdenmukaiselle ymmärrettävyydelle. Ilman tätä linkitystä käsitteelliset ristiriidat voivat aiheuttaa virheellisiä tulkintoja. Virheelliset tulkinnat johtavat puolestaan vääriin päätöksiin ja toimenpiteisiin.In process industries especially, there is a growing acceptance of a domain-specific view in which business units within organizations are seen as an organ-ized whole, functioning and developing as a totality. Business units within geo-graphically dispersed business processes often diverge significantly from each other, leading to a situation where daily collaboration becomes difficult. To pursue integration between these units, a holistic but still comprehensive view distinguishing the fundamental characteristics of process industries is needed. The objective of this thesis is to provide a business information driven approach for enterprise architecture (EA) development, building upon high cohesion of business (processes) and information needed to operate the business. We use communication genres and information need interviews as a domain analysis method. Ontologies are used as a representation mechanism for the results to represent not only the existing resources but also the organizational require-ments in Business Information Architecture (BIA) descriptions. Thus, GOBIAF satisfies the need for approaching EA development from a specific viewpoint with limited resources. Contributions and experiences of the Genre and Ontol-ogy based Business Information Architecture Framework (GOBIAF) application are described in the research articles, illustrating the phases of action research cycles in a long-term research collaboration in a process industry organization. The results suggest that GOBIAF brings independent business information forth for strategic decision making. Because 50 % of information flowing in business processes takes place outside information systems, only a half of total business critical information to be modeled in information architectures is taken into consideration when system architecture biased EA frameworks are ap-plied. Thus, the use of GOBIAF can be rationalized for environments where the role of information and its management form an instrumental success factor of an enterprise. From a research viewpoint, GOBIAF brings closer the practical utility and the (initial) goals of the total EA development approach

Business Information driven Approach for EA Development in Practice’, paper presented to 18

In this paper, we extrapolate findings of using the Genre and Ontology based Business Information Architecture Framework (GOBIAF) as a methodology to approach enterprise architecture (EA) development from business perspective. GOBIAF seems to contribute as the first business critical information driven framework for EA development, addressing the importance on integrating (information creation) context to (information) content. GOBIAF was developed for and applied in a knowledge intensive, heterogeneous, and geographically dispersed environment in process industries. In the context, GOBIAF increased our knowledge of complex relationships between business, information, and technical domains. Further, GOBIAF provided needed structure for evaluating and developing difficult and heterogeneous issues in relation to organizational strategies