Systemic Management of Architectural Decisions in Enterprise Architecture Planning. Four Dimensions and Three Abstraction Levels

Abstract

This paper presents a process model for the management of architectural decisions in enterprise architecture planning. First, decisions are made at the enterprise level, with strategic business considerations on the enterprise information, systems and technology strategy and governance issues. The next step is to define the domains, to then go on with domain architecture decisions. At the systems level, the enterprise and domain architecture decisions are collected and converted into architecture descriptions accurate in precision, form and detail to be given as input to the information systems development process, following the architectural planning. The model is derived from previous work and empirical findings in three large organizations, where the enterprise architecture and enterprise systems have been developed. This case study contributes with considerations on the domains, their definition, and produces refinements to an enterprise architecture process model presented before. For the development of the model, the "living system" paradigm is followed. .

Enterprise Architecture Planning: Analyses of Requirements from Practice and Research

“…Hence, an appropriate communication and documentation of the enterprise models is vital, as stated by Liles and Presley [35]. For this purpose, and, as mentioned by Pulkkinen [40], because different stakeholders are interested in different levels of abstraction and granularities, different visualization types are needed (R9ab). Examples for such visualizations are interactive dashboards or cockpit views for stakeholders who are interested in high-level information, like stated by Jugel and Schweda [30], and a network plan for those who are interested in low-level information, like mentioned by Aier and Gleichauf [6] (R9c).…”

Planning Support for Enterprise Changes

“…More recent research on EA planning addresses the different levels which have to be considered in the planning process and how decisions in different architectures, i.e. business, application, data and technology, may affect the others [9]. Aier et al [7] derive an EA planning process from the work of Spewak and Hill [5], Niemann [16] and Pulkkinen [9].…”

“…business, application, data and technology, may affect the others [9]. Aier et al [7] derive an EA planning process from the work of Spewak and Hill [5], Niemann [16] and Pulkkinen [9]. The derived process consists of the steps: (1) define vision, (2) model current architecture, (3) model alternative target architectures, (4) analyze and evaluate target alternatives, (5) plan transformation from current to target and, before a new planning cycle is initiated, (6) implement transformation.…”

“…The main goal of EA planning is to enhance and maintain the mutual alignment of business and IT [6]. The different approaches in this research area are heterogeneous and cover different topics [7]: from methodologies for EA planning [8,9] to modeling the transformation [10,11,12], describing possible actions for transformations [13] or focusing on key performance indicators to compare the current and the target architecture [14].…”

Applying Enterprise Architecture to Business Networks

“…Enterprise architecture, which as a planning tool, provides transparency and coordination in the management development of ICT systems and organizational development [Pulkkinen, 2006], captures involved artifacts at the network level (network planning).…”