Strategic planning to build transformational preparedness : an application of enterprise architecture practice

Enterprises are continuously evolving systems; this evolution can be directed or emergent. Enterprise transformation has special aspects due to the enterprise being a socio-technical system whereupon evolution happens on the levels of individuals / humans / organisation, on the level of the technology and on the level of the Information Systems that integrates the activities performed by humans and by technology. Furthermore, changes are typically continuous, due partly to external factors and partly to strategic foresights. Either way, transformation needs to happen so that the enterprise can keep satisfying its objectives. An important transformation mechanism is to perform mergers or acquisitions (M&amp;As). Interestingly, literature reveals that an unacceptably high percentage of M&amp;As do not achieve the aimed objectives and (as we demonstrate) the success of such trajectory depends on several factors. This article proposes a methodology to overcome potential problems by making necessary anticipatory transformations opening up a possibility to perform M&amp;As with a better chance of success.<br /

Improving Digital Decision Making Through Situational Awareness

Technical advances in Information and Communication Technology have enabled the collection and storage of large amounts of data, rising hopes of digitalising and thus potentially improving decision making and related support systems. Unfortunately however, the pre-existing gap between required decision making knowledge and the useful information provided by current technologies appears to increase rather than contract. Thus, the multitude of patterns presently provided by current data analytics techniques do not deliver an adequate set of scenarios to enable effective decision making by humans. This paper advocates a digital decision analytics solution featuring the use of Situated Logic to create ‘narratives’ describing the meaning of data analytics results and the use of Channel Theory in order to support adequate situational awareness. This approach is explained in the context of a System-of-Systems paradigm highly relevant to today’s typically complex clusters of distributed collaborative decision making centres and their associated decision support systems

Towards A Holistic Assessment of Resilience Frameworks

The increasing rate of catastrophic events owing to climate change, pandemics, and significant changes in the international balance of power leading to armed conflicts have revealed disaster management weaknesses which need to be addressed as soon as possible so as to ensure the continued stability, safety and indeed existence of mankind. In this context, the concept of resilience framework has emerged; however, current such artefacts appear to be rather fragile, ambiguous, and difficult to use in practice in the face of said vulnerability and complexity. The question is: how can decision-makers ensure that a proposed resilience framework displays the necessary qualities and contains the required elements and guidance for the necessary local and cross-domain actions to increase resilience for their specific sector, organisation, or community? This paper attempts to define a multi-pronged approach to assess such artefacts in an integrated and holistic way so that the resilience frameworks are ‘complete’, understood, and actioned and thus effectively support disaster risk management

Co-evolution path model : how enterprises as complex systems survive on the edge of chaos

In this theoretical paper, we introduce and describe a model, and demonstrate its origins from the disciplines of Enterprise Architecture, cybernetics and systems theory. We use cybernetic thinking to develop a &lsquo;Co-evolution Path Model&rsquo; that describes how enterprises as complex systems co-evolve with their complex environments. The model re-interprets Stafford Beer&rsquo;s Viable System Model, and also uses the theorem of the &lsquo;good regulator&rsquo; of Conant and Ashby, exemplifying how various complexity management theories could be synthesised into a cybernetic theory of Enterprise Architecture, using concepts from the generalisation of EA frameworks.<br /

Global Software Development: Measuring, Approximating and Reducing the Complexity of Global Software Development Using Extended Axiomatic Design Theory

This paper considers GSD projects as designed artefacts, and proposes the application of an Extended Axiomatic Design theory to reduce their complexity in order to increase the probability of project success. Using an upper bound estimation of the Kolmogorov complexity of the so-called ‘design matrix’ (as a proxy of Information Content as a complexity measure) we demonstrate on two hypothetical examples how good and bad designs of GSD planning compare in terms of complexity. We also demonstrate how to measure and calculate the ‘structural’ complexity of GSD projects and show that by satisfying all design axioms this ‘structural’ complexity could be minimised

Architecting the Firm: Coherency and Consistency in Managing the Enterprise

International audienceTraditional Enterprise Architecture (EA) practice lacks a clear and effective governance and management layer that is easily understandable and intuitive to senior decision makers with the modern organisation. This paper uses three case studies to demonstrate the relative maturity of different EA practice groups within these organisations to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of a traditional ICT management approach versus those that include EA practice in all levels and domains of management. Concepts of Coherency Management and Pervasiveness will be used to explain the idea of a next Generation of EA practice that permeates all layers of the organisation and no longer remains the domain of technologists but instead influences and informs decision-making at all levels (operational, tactical, managerial / strategic) of the organisation. Conditions of such future EA practices are also discussed

The State of Empathy in Agile Information System Development Methodologies (ISDMs)

The planning fallacy highlights people’s propensity to underestimate project completion times leading to disastrous results. Yet this is only one out of more than a hundred cognitive biases known to affect people’s thinking processes. Beholden to these powerful biological mechanisms, practitioners must continually contend with these biases to create something greater than themselves, painting a picture of ISDs as a socially complex process of negotiation. Agile ISDMs acknowledges this social reality, and with its popularity, understanding the factors of successful human interaction is now more important than ever. Despite empathy’s central role in communication, a rigorous search of IS literature has surprisingly found no studies of it in Agile ISDMs. This paper contributes to IS research by pioneering an exploratory study on the state of empathy in Agile ISDMs, gathering data on the field towards the creation of an initial theory, setting the stage for a richer, more robust theorizing

Crossing the Communication Barrier in Global Software Development Projects via Global Software Development Brokers

As the key stakeholders in Global Software Development (GSD) projects are distributed across geographical locations, many GSD projects suffer from a communication barrier, which exists due to language-, cultural-, time zone (and possibly other) differences among key stakeholders. This barrier not only increases communication cost, it also decreases the efficiency and quality of stakeholder communication, adding extra risks to these projects, and decreasing the probability of success. So far, there is no simple solution to this problem. Using the Collaborative Networks paradigm, this paper introduces the concept of ‘Global Software Development Collaborative Network’ (GSD-CN) as a formal model to analyse communication cost and quality. The paper proposes a new entity (role) called Global Software Development Broker (GSDB). We argue and demonstrate in an example that the proposed GSDBs will (a) simplify the network structure, (b) decrease communication cost, and (c) improve communication quality – consequently increasing the probability of success of GSD projects

Towards a Light-weight Enterprise Architecture Approach for Building Transformational Preparedness

The need for business agility in order to cope with the increasing rate of changes brought by disruptive technologies and paradigms is more stringent than ever; unfortunately however, it also encounters many hurdles. To start with, typical strategic transformation planning featuring successive specify-design-implement phases is no longer suitable, as the resulting sequentially staged processes can no longer catch up with the changes in internal structure and external environment. The blurring of top organisational role boundaries in regards to the allocation of management and architecture skillsets is another issue significantly affecting agility. Finally, the lack of structure and integration of business transformation and architecting methodologies offered by various disciplines and vendors affects the ability to use them for specific endeavours. This paper elaborates on and illustrates the above-mentioned problems through a case study and proposes a way to solve them in a holistic, lifecycle-aware manner using a ‘lightweight’ architectural framework approach

Challenges in Implementing a Portable Patient Identification System for Ubiquitous Healthcare in Developing Countries

Patient identification in healthcare information systems (HIS) is often claimed to have been solved by globally accepted information representation standards. This paper illustrates that unfortunately the patient identification problem is not entirely solvable by standards and ubiquitous computing, especially in developing countries. The issue is investigated in the significant context of infectious and drug-resistant diseases within a healthcare facility located in a developing country. The paper investigates and systematises the patient identification issues found, followed by identifying the likely root causes and challenges. This is followed by the definition of a high-level list of the most relevant HIS requirements that could assist in addressing the non-trivial patient identification conundrum, thus clearing the way towards the design and implementation of the next generation pervasive healthcare-enabling HIS