As a tool for management and planning, Enterprise Architecture (EA) can potentially align organisations' business processes, information, information systems and technology towards a common goal, and supply the information required within this journey. However, an explicit view on why, how, when and by whom EA artefacts are used in order to realise its full potential is not defined. Utilising the features of information systems use studies and data from a case study with 14 EA stakeholder interviews, we identify and describe 15 EA artefact use situations that are then reflected in the related literature. Their analysis enriches understanding of what are EA artefacts, how and why they are used and when are they used, and results in a theoretical framework for understanding their use in general.

Today, as organizations constantly adjust their activities to meet ever-changing circumstances, continuous business transformation is taking place. However, planning and steering this transformation can be a daunting task as complexity has been built into the organization over the years. Enterprise Architecture (EA) has been widely adapted as a planning and governance approach to manage the complexity and constant change, and to align the organization toward a common goal. This article studies the EA benefit-realization process by clarifying how EA benefits are realized. Specifically, the focus is on the strategies, resources, and practices which the EA benefits stem from. The findings, derived from an in-depth case study, show that the EA benefit-realization process constitutes a long, intertwined chain of activities. Organizations benefit from EA through various means: from the initiation, when comprehensive understanding starts to form, until years later, when measurable outcomes such as cost savings materialize. Suggestions on what to incorporate into EA programs are presented.

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In recent years, Enterprise Architecture (EA) has been of interest to both researchers and practitioners. However, EA benefit realization has not been focused on much. Even though a few studies have addressed the subject, the results are somewhat fragmented and are subjected to limited empirical validation, particularly from the viewpoint of different theoretical constructs and their interrelations in the benefit realization process. To understand how the EA benefits accumulate and how related constructs influence each other, we propose a model and criteria for analyzing the explanatory power of the existing EA benefit realization models. Our model emerged from the data of a qualitative case study with 14 semi-structured EA stakeholder interviews. The results support earlier findings, thereby contributing to the enhancement of the relevance and generalizability of the constructs present in previous studies. However, the results also indicate that no existing EA benefit realization model fully captures the complex process of EA benefit realization. Our findings highlight the following: the importance of EA process quality; EA service quality and supportive social environment; constructs that have received less attention in previous studies.

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