THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES ON ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE EFFECTIVENESS: A CASE STUDY

We study how differences between organizational subcultures influence the effectiveness of the Enterprise Architecture (EA) function for steering the enterprise. In this paper, we contribute findings from a case study in a governmental organization. We derive seven propositions concerning the relation between cultural differences and EA effectiveness. For one, we suggest that cultural differences among the architects have a negative impact on the architects’ communication towards the management. In addition, our data suggest that the influence of cultural differences is indirect: communication defects and disagreement within the architecture board act as important intermediary factor

Enterprise Modeling Support for SOA Migration

The migration to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a complex undertaking in terms of aligning business and IT concerns as well as analysis of technical aspects, such as identifying legacy systems in need of wrapping. Conceptual modeling can be particularly helpful for supporting SOA migration in terms of (1) bridging the gap between business and IT concerns, and (2) analyzing the as-is and to-be IT infrastructures. In this paper, based on the identified requirements, we extend a language for IT infrastructure modeling, called ITML. Using an extensively documented SOA migration scenario we show how extended ITML, in tandem with other languages from the MEMO language family, can be used for SOA migration analysis. Finally, we provide a scenario-based comparison between the extended ITML and ArchiMate

A Multilevel Model of IT Platforms for the Needs of Enterprise IT Landscape Analyses

Conceptual modeling supports analyses of IT artifacts and the enterprise action system they are embedded in. However, in this paper it is argued that for IT landscape analyses existing modeling approaches fall short due to, among others, (a) problems with accounting for specifics of the IT domain, e.g., an elaborate technical terminology with various hierarchy levels, and (b) inadequate support for automated analyses within and across those different levels. In this paper, the authors discuss how a designed multilevel model of IT platforms created using the multilevel modeling language FMMLx can help overcome these problems. To this end, limitations of IT platform models created with conventional, two-level modeling languages are shown. Furthermore, benefits resulting from the application of the selected multilevel modeling language are discussed

Social Media Users\u27 Guide

Mass Communication Professor Susan Currie Sivek shares ideas and suggestions for how to take control of social media and use it to your advantage

Matching Complex Consumer Needs with e-Service Bundles

e-Services are commercial services that can be ordered and provisioned via the Internet, satisfying a consumer need. Sometimes, such services are provisioned by a constellation of enterprises, and consist of multiple elementary services. A problem is then how to configure such a constellation, satisfying a complex consumer need. To this end, we extend the notion of consumer need in the e3value methodology, as originally intended for designing value constellations. We also show how needs can be (automatically) matched with services provisioned by suppliers. As such, our contribution can be seen as a first step towards on-demand dynamic value constellations, provisioning e-services

Towards Cybersecurity by Design: A multi-level reference model for requirements-driven smart grid cybersecurity

This paper provides a first step towards a reference model for end-to-end cybersecurity by design in the electricity sector. The envisioned reference model relies, among others, on the integrated consideration of two currently fragmented, but complementary, reference models: NISTIR 7628 and powerLang. As an underlying language architecture of choice, we rely on multi-level modeling, specifically on the Flexible Meta Modeling and Execution Language (FMMLx), as multi-level modeling supports a natural integration across different abstraction levels inherent to reference models. This paper’s contributions are a result of one full consideration of Wieringa’s engineering cycle: for problem investigation, we describe the problems the reference model should address; for treatment design, we contribute the requirements the reference model should fulfill; for treatment implementation, we provide reference model’s fragments implemented in an integrated modeling and programming environment. Finally, for treatment evaluation, we perform expert interviews to check, among others, the artefact’s relevance and utility

Leveraging the power of formal methods in the realm of enterprise modeling:On the example of extending the (meta) model verification possibilities of ADOxx with Alloy

peer reviewedVerification in the realm of enterprise modeling (EM) ensures both the consistency of EM language specifications (i.e., meta models and additional well-formedness constraints), as well as of enterprise models. The consistency of enterprise models, which integrate different perspectives on an enterprise, ensures that they contain the necessary, in line with domain-specific rules, information for carrying out a variety of model-driven enterprise analyses. Meta modeling platforms are instrumental in carrying out such verification, especially when multiple languages are applied in tandem, as is inherent to enterprise modeling. This paper reports on our practical experiences of using formal methods for verification in the context of EM. Motivated by the required verification capabilities, we show for one example platform, ADOxx, how it can be chained together with Alloy, an example of lightweight formal method, to capitalize on complementary platform strengths. Namely, ADOxx for language specification and use, and Alloy for verification capabilities. We show the verification, both, on the meta model level, in terms of checking the consistency of language specifications, and on the model level, in terms of checking models against well-formedness constraints. We illustrate the chaining of ADOxx and Alloy on the basis of consistency checks of two languages applied in tandem, namely the value modeling language e3value and the IT infrastructure modeling language, ITML. We also carry out experiments with three further languages to reflect upon the performance of Alloy, and its capability to uncover inconsistencies

Towards An Analysis Driven Approach for Adapting Enterprise Architecture Languages

Abstract: Enterprise Architecture (EA) modeling languages are increasingly used for various enterprise wide analyses. In most cases one needs to adapt EA languages to an appropriate level of detail. However such an adaptation is not straightforward. Language engineers currently deal with analysis driven language adaptation in an ad-hoc manner, adapting languages from scratch. This introduces various problems, such as a tendency to add uninteresting and/or unnecessary details to languages, while important enterprise details are not documented. Moreover, adding detail increases the complexity of languages, which in turn inhibits a language's communication capabilities. Yet experience from practice shows that architects often are communicators, next to analysts. As a result, one needs to find a balance between a model's communication and analysis capabilities. In this position paper we argue for an approach for assisting language engineers in adapting, in a controlled manner, EA languages for model-driven enterprise analyses. Furthermore, we present the key ingredients of such an approach, and use these as a starting point for a research outlook