ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE EVALUATION: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

By being holistically preoccupied with coherency among organizational elements such as organizational strategy, business needs and the IT functions role in supporting the business, enterprise architecture (EA) has grown to become a core competitive advantage. Though EA is a maturing research area, little has been done to understand how e.g. projects, application or other organizational elements contribute to the overall EA. The current paper presents a literature review on EA evaluation. Different types of evaluation are a necessity in order to ensure that EA demands are being met by disparate IT initiatives. Still, EA evaluation has attracted little attention within academic literature. Thus, the aim of the current review is to get an overview of the topic, which can serve as a foundation for further development of the field. Overall, the study shows that while little research has been done within this area, research is especially lacking regarding empirical studies of how EA evaluation unfolds in practice, while holistic views on EA evaluation is almost non-existin

Towards a classification framework for approaches to enterprise architecture analysis

Analysis is an important part of the Enterprise Architecture Management Process. Prior to decisions regarding transformation of the Enterprise Architecture, the current situation and the outcomes of alternative action plans have to be analyzed. Many analysis approaches have been proposed by researchers and current Enterprise Architecture Management tools implement Analysis functionalities. However, few work has been done structuring and classifying Enterprise Architecture Analysis approaches. This paper collects and extends existing classification schemes, presenting a framework for Enterprise Architecture Analysis classification. For evaluation, a collection of Enterprise Architecture Analysis approaches has been classified based on this framework. As a result, the description of these approaches has been assessed, a common set of important categories for Enterprise Architecture Analysis classification has been derived and suggestions for further development are drawn

Artifacts, Activities, Benefits and Blockers: Exploring Enterprise Architecture Practice in Depth

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a collection of artifacts describing an organization from an integrated business and IT perspective and intended to improve business and IT alignment. The purpose of this study is to identify benefits and blockers associated with specific EA-related activities and respective artifacts. Most existing studies discuss the benefits and problems of EA practice in general without relating them to specific activities constituting EA practice. This study is based on 18 interviews with architects and leverages the grounded theory approach. As a result of our analysis, we identify eight consistent activity areas constituting EA practice. Each activity area implies certain activities supported by some EA artifacts leading to specific benefits often impeded by some blockers. Our analysis indicates that EA practice includes many diverse activities usually, though not always, closely associated with specific types of EA artifacts. Moreover, benefits and blockers of EA practice are also very activity-specific

The Effects of the Quantification of Faculty Productivity: Perspectives from the Design Science Research Community

In recent years, efforts to assess faculty research productivity have focused more on the measurable quantification of academic outcomes. For benchmarking academic performance, researchers have developed different ranking and rating lists that define so-called high-quality research. While many scholars in IS consider lists such as the Senior Scholar’s basket (SSB) to provide good guidance, others who belong to less-mainstream groups in the IS discipline could perceive these lists as constraining. Thus, we analyzed the perceived impact of the SSB on information systems (IS) academics working in design science research (DSR) and, in particular, how it has affected their research behavior. We found the DSR community felt a strong normative influence from the SSB. We conducted a content analysis of the SSB and found evidence that some of its journals have come to accept DSR more. We note the emergence of papers in the SSB that outline the role of theory in DSR and describe DSR methodologies, which indicates that the DSR community has rallied to describe what to expect from a DSR manuscript to the broader IS community and to guide the DSR community on how to organize papers for publication in the SSB

The Research Method we Need or Deserve? A Literature Review of the Design Science Research Landscape

Senior Scholars have made a concerted effort to help researchers adopt and top-ranked IS journals publish design science research (DSR). However, DSR continues to underperform, and the support that Senior Scholars have provided to it in editorials and exemplars has created both confusion and clarity. In this study, we report on a descriptive literature review that we conducted to bring empirical context and insight to the many discussions that Senior Scholars have had on presenting, implementing, and contributing to DSR. In particular, we reviewed 111 papers in the AIS Senior Scholars’ basket of eight journals and found significant transparency issues that have led to methodological slurring. We also found that, while DSR has produced research with a strong focus on utility and usefulness, it has done so through generalized problems and solutions and, thus, overlooked the messy complexity of real IS problems and the actual use of proposed solutions. Finally, we found little evidence to support theory obsession in DSR, a topic of concern for the wider IS research community

The research method we need or deserve? A literature review of the design science research landscape

Senior Scholars have made a concerted effort to help researchers adopt and top-ranked IS journals publish design science research (DSR). However, DSR continues to underperform, and the support that Senior Scholars have provided to it in editorials and exemplars has created both confusion and clarity. In this study, we report on a descriptive literature review that we conducted to bring empirical context and insight to the many discussions that Senior Scholars have had on presenting, implementing, and contributing to DSR. In particular, we reviewed 111 papers in the AIS Senior Scholars’ basket of eight journals and found significant transparency issues that have led to methodological slurring. We also found that, while DSR has produced research with a strong focus on utility and usefulness, it has done so through generalized problems and solutions and, thus, overlooked the messy complexity of real IS problems and the actual use of proposed solutions. Finally, we found little evidence to support theory obsession in DSR, a topic of concern for the wider IS research community

Desenho de serviços de apoio ao cliente numa rede colaborativa de comércio electrónico: o caso vortal - teleperformance

O desenvolvimento das Tecnologias de Informação e da Internet permitiu a criação de um ambiente de negócios global, no qual as empresas prestadoras de serviços enfrentam situações de elevado risco. O presente projeto empresa aborda a temática da melhoria da qualidade e desempenho dos serviços de apoio ao cliente prestados pela Vortal. Para tal foi efetuado um estudo onde se identificaram os constrangimentos que afetam as diversas atividades e processos interdepartamentais envolvidos na realização dos serviços chave. O objetivo consiste na análise da forma como os diferentes departamentos se relacionam entre si e que implementações ou melhorias nos processos poderão ser programadas de forma a melhorar a qualidade e eficiência do serviço prestado pela empresa aos seus clientes. No âmbito da identificação dos serviços críticos de suporte ao cliente, foi adotado o service design toolkit. A análise destes serviços foi realizada com recurso à análise documental, reuniões semidirectivas e à observação direta. Uma Vision and Scope Table foi utilizada de forma a projetar a visão proposta relativamente às soluções de melhoria que são apresentadas. Por fim, é exposto um plano de ações que pretende oferecer um método de implementação para as mudanças apresentadas, assim como uma proposta de gestão de risco num ambiente de rede colaborativa, a ter em consideração aquando da implementação das soluções de melhoria.The Internet and IT development allowed the creation of a global business environment, in which service providers face high risk situations. The current project addresses the issue of improving the quality and performance of customer support services provided by Vortal. For such, a study was carried in order to identify the constraints that affect the various activities and interdepartmental processes involved in the realization of key services. The aim is to examine how different departments relate to each other and which implementations and process improvements can be programmed in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the service provided by the company to its customers. Within the context of the identification of critical customer support services, it was adopted the service design toolkit. The evaluation of these services was conducted using documentary analysis, semi directive meetings and direct observation. A Vision and Scope Table was used to project the proposed vision regarding the solutions presented. Finally, it`s displayed an action plan which aims to provide a method of implementation for the changes proposed, as well as a plan for risk management in an extended enterprise in order to take into consideration when implementing improvement solutions

Innovation-Driven Enterprise Architecture

Organizations don't use Enterprise Architecture (EA) to leverage innovation as much as they should. And this while the organization's ability to innovate is an essential capability in a competitive market. IT can enable business innovation and EA is rooted in IT. Therefore, IT is considered the common denominator between EA and business innovation. This exploratory research provides new insight to bridge a knowledge gap on how EA can enhance an organization‘s ability in IT-enabled business innovation. It reveals that organizational learning is critical to the innovative capabilities of organizations. With this in mind, the most important capability domains have been determined: Knowledge, Collaboration & communication, Information processing & coordination, and Ideation. To facilitate these capabilities, several technological and organizational assets are identified: Key stakeholders, Collaborative organizational culture, Web technologies, Knowledge management systems, and Data Analytics. We developed a conceptual model which positions the capability domains and key assets. This model has been validated through a case study, conducted within a global manufacturing company. Conclusion is that EA is a viable approach to systematically address and facilitate IT-enabled business innovation. By focusing on the capabilities and facilitating these through organizational and technical assets, organizations can enhance their ability in IT-enabled business innovation

A Reference Architecture for Service Lifecycle Management – Construction and Application to Designing and Analyzing IT Support

Service-orientation and the underlying concept of service-oriented architectures are a means to successfully address the need for flexibility and interoperability of software applications, which in turn leads to improved IT support of business processes. With a growing level of diffusion, sophistication and maturity, the number of services and interdependencies is gradually rising. This increasingly requires companies to implement a systematic management of services along their entire lifecycle. Service lifecycle management (SLM), i.e., the management of services from the initiating idea to their disposal, is becoming a crucial success factor. Not surprisingly, the academic and practice communities increasingly postulate comprehensive IT support for SLM to counteract the inherent complexity. The topic is still in its infancy, with no comprehensive models available that help evaluating and designing IT support in SLM. This thesis presents a reference architecture for SLM and applies it to the evaluation and designing of SLM IT support in companies. The artifact, which largely resulted from consortium research efforts, draws from an extensive analysis of existing SLM applications, case studies, focus group discussions, bilateral interviews and existing literature. Formal procedure models and a configuration terminology allow adapting and applying the reference architecture to a company’s individual setting. Corresponding usage examples prove its applicability and demonstrate the arising benefits within various SLM IT support design and evaluation tasks. A statistical analysis of the knowledge embodied within the reference data leads to novel, highly significant findings. For example, contemporary standard applications do not yet emphasize the lifecycle concept but rather tend to focus on small parts of the lifecycle, especially on service operation. This forces user companies either into a best-of-breed or a custom-development strategy if they are to implement integrated IT support for their SLM activities. SLM software vendors and internal software development units need to undergo a paradigm shift in order to better reflect the numerous interdependencies and increasing intertwining within services’ lifecycles. The SLM architecture is a first step towards achieving this goal.:Content Overview List of Figures....................................................................................... xi List of Tables ...................................................................................... xiv List of Abbreviations.......................................................................xviii 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 1 2 Foundations ................................................................................... 13 3 Architecture Structure and Strategy Layer .............................. 57 4 Process Layer ................................................................................ 75 5 Information Systems Layer ....................................................... 103 6 Architecture Application and Extension ................................. 137 7 Results, Evaluation and Outlook .............................................. 195 Appendix ..........................................................................................203 References .......................................................................................... 463 Curriculum Vitae.............................................................................. 498 Bibliographic Data............................................................................ 49

Investigation of the lack of common understanding in the discipline of enterprise architecture

Despite growing interest in the discipline of Enterprise Architecture (EA) around the world in recent years, EA suffers from a lack of common understanding because researchers and practitioners do not use a shared approach and terminology when describing EA, its application, methodology, process or outcomes. A few studies have conducted a deep analysis on the extent of this situation but they all have methodological limitations. The objective of this thesis was to fill this gap in applying well know methodological design and techniques to shed some light on the lack of common understanding in the discipline of EA. To achieve this objective, this thesis is subdivided in three complementary studies which treat each a specific aspect. The first study conducts a Systematic Mapping Study and identifies, and classifies, sources of variety in the literature which could be on the basis of the lack of common understanding in the discipline of EA. The second study conducts a Systematic Literature Review using concepts from the academic field of terminology and thematic analysis techniques and identifies sources of implicitness, incompleteness, complexity and incoherence in the definitions of EA which could be on the basis of the lack of common understanding. The third study conducts an opinion survey with EA practitioners analyzed with the help of exploratory data analysis techniques, and identifies different EA practitioners’ major worldviews regarding organizations and the people within them. The findings of this thesis contribute to a better knowledge of the lack of common understanding in the discipline of EA and provide a better possibility to deal with this lack, as implication for practitioners. These findings also provide relevant directions to researchers for future studies concerning this topic or using the methodological design and techniques applied. To continue clarifying the characteristics of the lack of common understanding of EA, this thesis recommends both researcher and practitioner to support more descriptive and experimental research which prioritize the practice of EA (EA evolution, EA measurement, practitioners’ role, practitioners’ worldviews, etc.), to pay more attention to the definition of EA they provide when they produce a new article, and to integrate all ways of approaching EA into a shared reference, even if they seem to be divergent and conflictual sometimes