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

Research Perspective in Enterprise Architecture

The challenges of aligning IT with business triggered the attention towards Enterprise Architecture (EA). Despite the increase interest of academic scholars in EA, there is scarcity of studies that provide an up to date comprehensive research perspective view. The purpose of this study is to examine the research methodologies and theories utilized in EA studies from 2010 to 2016. The study employed Systematic Literature Review (SLR) as method to explore and analyze the literature of EA. The study revealed the research approaches and data collection methods utilized in EA. It shows that case study approach and interviews are the highly used compared to other research approaches and data collection instruments. Furthermore, it pointed out the low employment of theories in EA studies. The study is contributing to the body of knowledge by providing a foundation for novice researchers in the area of EA through detailed discussions of research methodologies and theories which are expected to support them in designing future studies

An Examination of Fit and the Use of Mobile Devices for Performing Tasks

This research seeks to better understand an individual’s use of mobile devices and the matching fit between type of mobile device and activity. As mobile devices swiftly progress and alter individuals’ ways of interacting with technology, a more comprehensive understanding of how tasks are impacted may help ensure appropriate device selection. The ability for more targeted device selection may increase use and help mobile device users and designers avoid the pitfalls of pre-existing, traditional technology. Building on identified antecedents of success from the DeLone & McLean Information Systems Success Model and focusing on the measurement of hedonic and utilitarian tasks and Goodhue & Thompson’s Task-Technology Fit Model, the study was applied against four defined categories of mobile devices. The primary study used a survey to test a research model which examines task-technology fit in the context of mobile devices. A secondary feasibility study employed neurophysiological tools with a focused experiment to explore the impact of the technology and the nature of the task on fit. At present, this is one of the first studies that attempts to manipulate both task and technology in a study of fit yielding results for practitioner and researcher alike. Specifically, researchers will gain additional insight into users’ engagement with smartphones, tablets and mini-tablets for hedonic and utilitarian tasks. For practitioners, this study hopes to inform them of the types of tasks users are performing regularly and types of devices are being used. This work may assist in forming future device technical designs and specifications

Avaliação da utilização do sistema de gestão de relacionamento com o cliente em uma empresa de telecomunicações através do uso de métodos estatisticos multivariados

Orientadora : Profª. Drª. Sônia I. M. G. MüllerDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Tecnologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção. Defesa: Curitiba, 23/04/2015Inclui referências : f. 72-77Área de concentração: Pesquisa operacionalResumo: No seu início, os sistemas de informações gerenciais (ERP) organizavam os processos internos das empresas. Com o desenvolvimento dos sistemas de gestão do relacionamento com o cliente (CRM), conseguiu-se focar em estratégias de retenção dos melhores clientes. Com a integração dos sistemas de informações buscou-se aumentar ainda mais o desempenho da organização através do compartilhamento de informação, livre de erro, em tempo real e ao longo de toda cadeia produtiva. Entretanto, é importante maximizar a utilização dos recursos disponibilizados pelos sistemas de informação pelos seus usuários. Esta pesquisa foi realizada com o objetivo de avaliar e classificar todos os departamentos de vendas de uma empresa multinacional de telecomunicações quanto à utilização de sistemas de informação (ERP e CRM) integrados pela aplicação de métodos estatísticos multivariados. Através da Análise Fatorial pelo método das Componentes Principais e critério de rotação Varimax, foi possível descartar 5 variáveis e identificar 3 fatores nominados como Preparação de Novas Ofertas, Administração de Contratos e Execução de Contratos. Os escores fatoriais foram estimados pelo método da Regressão, e a partir deles foi computado um índice ponderado que permitiu realizar a classificação dos departamentos de vendas. Aplicando o coeficiente de correlação de postos de Spearman, não se identificou correlação estatisticamente significativa entre este índice e os indicadores utilizados pela empresa. Foi aplicado o método de agrupamento de k-médias, o que permitiu criar 3 grupos de acordo com a intensidade de utilização dos sistemas. Grupos onde a utilização é maior permitem à empresa identificar as boas práticas de trabalho dos departamentos de vendas, que posteriormente, podem ser replicadas nos departamentos onde a utilização precisa ser intensificada. Os resultados mostram que os métodos estatísticos multivariados são ferramentas de apoio viáveis para serem utilizados na gestão dos sistemas de informação integrados. Palavras-chaves: Análise Fatorial. Hierarquização. Utilização. ERP. CRM.Abstract: The information systems provided competitive advantages for organizations that have invested in such solutions. Through the standardization of processes and integration of the enterprise database it could lead one to increase its business performance by a correct system deployment. The main gol of enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) was to organize the internal processes of companies, and customer relationship management (CRM) focused on the retention strategies of the best customers. With the integration of the information systems it was possible to further enhance the business performance by a real-time sharing information, with high data quality through the whole production chain. However, it is important to maximize the use of resources made available by information systems by their users. The main goal of this work is to evaluate and classify all sales departments of a multinational telecom company by applying multivariate statistical methods. Using Factor Analysis via Principal Component and Varimax rotation was possible to discard 5 variables and identify 3 factors labeled as New Offers Preparation, Contract Management and Contract Execution. The factor scores were estimated by Regression method and then a weighted index was calculated in order to rank all sales departments. The Spearman correlation coeficient calculated between the weighted index and the key performance indicators of the company were not statistically significant. Applying the k-means method was possible to cluster the sales departments in 3 groups according to their system utilization rate. The Group which the utilization is high enables the company identify the sales departments where the good working practices can be taken and spread out through those which utilization rate should be increased. The results of this work show that the multivariate statistical methods are a feasible supporting tool to be used in the information system management. Key-words: Factorial Analysis. Ranking. Utilisation. ERP. CRM

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

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

Exploring the roles of different artefacts in enterprise architecture practice

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a coherent whole of principles, standards and models for designing business processes, information systems and IT infrastructure in large organizations. Enterprise architecture consists of multiple EA artefacts that describe and/or model various aspects of an organization including high-level abstract principles, business processes and technical specifications to be used by both IT and business stakeholders for the purposes ranging from strategic planning to IT systems implementation. Using EA artefacts is expected to bring numerous benefits to organizations including improved strategic alignment, increased returns on IT investments and reduced costs of IT operations. The development of EA artefacts requires significant investments of time and money. However, the organizational investments in developing EA artefacts often do not bring the expected benefits because of the usability issues associated with these EA artefacts. For instance, the U.S. Federal Government invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing EA, but the resulting EA artefacts were largely unable to facilitate better decision-making. These common failures of EA efforts call for an investigation into the specific roles of different types of EA artefacts in an EA practice. The role of an EA artefact can be specified based on its informational contents, regular users, typical use cases and resulting organizational benefits. Despite the theoretical and practical importance of studying EA artefacts, the current EA literature offers no comprehensive theories explaining the practical roles of EA artefacts. In order to address this problem, this thesis develops a descriptive theory that explicates the roles of different types of EA artefacts in the context of an EA practice and explains the influence of various organizational and environmental factors on these roles. This exploratory study followed a “case studies-based grounded theory” approach to develop an inductive theory of the roles of EA artefacts. The theory-building process is accomplished via analysing five in-depth case studies of large organizations with established EA practices. In the five cases, 31 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with different EA practitioners and stakeholders, and samples of 39 different types of EA artefacts were studied. The data were analysed using the iterative grounded theory methodology. The practical aspects of the resulting theory were then discussed with ten additional EA experts, including EA practitioners and EA academics, who confirmed its validity and practical utility. The resulting theory articulates six primary roles fulfilled by EA artefacts metaphorically titled as Context Setters, Instrument Providers, Knowledge Repositories, Project Implementers, Strategic Aligners and Value Estimators. Each of these roles is further explained in terms of supporting artefacts, informational contents, involved users, associated use cases and resulting benefits. For example, Context Setters include EA artefacts such as principles, maxims and policies that senior business leaders and architects use to lay out the basic rules, values and aims governing information systems planning for the whole enterprise to ensure consistency of decision-making. Similarly, Value Estimators include EA artefacts such as solution overviews and conceptual architectures used by architects and business leaders to assess the business value of proposed IT initiatives, make informed funding decisions and thereby improve efficiency of IT investments. These six highly EA-specific roles provide a comprehensive explanatory view of the practical roles of EA artefacts and offer an in-depth, detailed and context-specific theoretical understanding that advances the common view of EA artefacts as boundary objects between business and IT communities and elements of an actor-network representing an EA practice. Moreover, the resulting theory explains the relationships between the six identified roles of EA artefacts as well as the impact of internal and external environmental factors on these roles. The results of this exploratory study contribute to the EA discipline a theory describing the roles of EA artefacts that helps refocus future EA research from studying EA as a whole to studying specific types of EA artefacts. The results of this study also provide evidence-based conceptual solutions to the most typical practical problems associated with using EA and can help organizations get more value from EA artefacts. Additionally, this study makes an empirical contribution to the EA discipline by demonstrating important empirical facts that question established theories, assumptions and beliefs existing in the EA discipline