A Reassessment of Enterprise Architecture Implementation

Abstract

Aside of day-today business in some organizations Enterprise Architecture (EA) seems to be successful while it is not in others that also have notations, models, methods, and even dedicated EA tools. In order to understand these differences we have analyzed the development of EA in six companies over the last eight years. Our analyses showed, that apart from formal structure and processes (i) training and education of architects and non-architects, (ii) improving architects' communication skills, (iii) intensifying EA representation in projects, and (iv) tool support (not replacements with tools), significantly contribute to long term EA success.

Current Issues on Enterprise Architecture Implementation Methodology

“…However, this list is neither complete nor are its items disjunctive. So the complexities of understanding the way of transition remain [29]. On the other hand, an EAIM may be defined a method as a systematic aid that guides the transformation of a system from an As-Is architecture to a To-Be architecture, but it is unlikely that there is an EA method, which fits to every problem situation in the field.…”

“…Another significant reason is current EAIMs are either too abstract therefore difficult to implement, or too extensive to be use in all project. Consequently, there is no scientific foundation behind these types of EAIMs and it is difficult to teach and govern them [29,33].…”

“…Finally, although, current EAIMs answer the demand of enterprises for alignment their Business and IT and how to adapting with ongoing changes and numerous EAIM are developed, they are remain bloated, time-consuming and lacking in precision [20,29].…”

Enterprise Architecture Management: Toward a Taxonomy of Applications

“…Therefore, the selected cases are polar types that we chose to fill theoretical categories (Eisenhardt, 1989). Focusing only on large Danish corporations reduced potential variation in approach toward EAM linked to size (Aier & Schelp, 2010). All selected cases had a centralized IT function; they varied by industrial sector, and overall organizational governance model and extent of centralization in business decision making.…”

“…We consider EAM's major goal to be to coherently and consistently design and evolve EA (Aier & Schelp, 2010;. However, EAM's impact on the real-world state of an organization may differ depending on the organizational processes that EAM supports (Zachman, 2009b).…”