Enterprise Architecture Management

When designing target architectures for organizations, the discipline of enterprise architecture has historically relied a set of assumptions regarding the physical, cognitive, and social capacities of the human beings serving as organizational members. In this text we explore the fact that for those organizations that intentionally deploy posthumanizing neuroprosthetic technologies among their personnel, such traditional assumptions no longer hold true: the use of advanced neuroprostheses intensifies the ongoing structural, systemic, and procedural fusion of human personnel and electronic information systems in a way that provides workers with new capacities and limitations and transforms the roles available to them.

Such use of neuroprostheses has the potential to affect an organization’s workers in three main areas. First, the use of neuroprostheses may affect workers’ physical form, as reflected in the physical components of their bodies, the role of design in their physical form, their length of tenure as workers, the developmental cycles that they experience, their spatial extension and locality, the permanence of their physical substrates, and the nature of their personal identity. Second, neuroprostheses may affect the information processing and cognition of neurocybernetically augmented workers, as manifested in their degree of sapience, autonomy, and volitionality; their forms of knowledge acquisition; their locus of information processing and data storage; their emotionality and cognitive biases; and their fidelity of data storage, predictability of behavior, and information security vulnerabilities. Third, the deployment of neuroprostheses can affect workers’ social engagement, as reflected in their degree of sociality; relationship to organizational culture; economic relationship with their employers; and rights, responsibilities, and legal status.

While ethical, legal, economic, and functional factors will prevent most organizations from deploying advanced neuroprostheses among their personnel for the foreseeable future, a select number of specialized organizations (such as military departments) are already working to develop such technologies and implement them among their personnel. The enterprise architectures of such organizations will be forced to evolve to accommodate the new realities of human-computer integration brought about by the posthumanizing neuroprosthetic technologies described in this text.

The discipline of enterprise architecture (EA) seeks to generate alignment between an organization’s electronic information systems, human resources, business processes, workplace culture, mission and strategy, and external ecosystem in order to increase the organization’s ability to manage complexity, resolve internal conflicts, and adapt proactively to environmental change. In this text, an introduction to the definition, history, organizational role, objectives, benefits, mechanics, and popular implementations of enterprise architecture is presented. The historical shift from IT-centric to business-centric definitions of EA is reviewed, along with the difference between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to EA. The unique organizational role of EA is highlighted by comparing it with other management disciplines and practices.

The creation of alignment is explored as the core mechanism by which EA achieves advantageous effects. Different kinds of alignment are defined, the history of EA as a generator of alignment is investigated, and EA’s relative effectiveness at creating different types of alignment is candidly assessed. Attention is given to the key dynamic by which alignment yields deeper integration of an organization’s structures, processes, and systems, which in turn grants the organization greater agility – which itself enhances the organization’s ability to implement rapid and strategically directed change. The types of tasks undertaken by enterprise architects are discussed, and a number of popular enterprise architecture frameworks are highlighted. A generic EA framework is then presented as a means of discussing elements such as architecture domains, building blocks, views, and landscapes that form the core of many EA frameworks. The role of modelling languages in documenting EA plans is also addressed.

In light of enterprise architecture’s strengths as a tool for managing the deployment of innovative forms of IT, it is suggested that by adopting EA initiatives of the sort described here, organizations may better position themselves to address the new social, economic, and operational realities presented by emerging ‘posthumanizing’ technologies such as those relating to social robotics, nanorobotics, artificial life, genetic engineering, neuroprosthetic augmentation, and virtual reality.

Kurzfassung Im vorliegenden theoretischen Beitrag wird (ausgehend von empirischen Forschungen sowie) ausgehend vom Thema Komplexität der IT-Integration im E-Government-Umfeld kurz auf ein modulares Referenzprozessmodell für die (elektronische) Verwaltung eingegangen. Daraus werden mögliche Ausprägungen einer umfassenden Struktur für eine E-Government-Geschäftsarchitektur abgeleitet.

To support smart cities in aligning information technology (IT) and business strategies to achieve urban digitalization, this study aims to present an Enterprise Architecture Framework (EAF) to facilitate the digitalization of urban environments. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was employed to design a research model, and a mixed-mode methodology was employed. Quantitative data from survey questionnaires was used to gather data from practitioners in enterprises within Norway and Ireland that currently adopt Enterprise Architecture (EA) in a smart city project to empirically validate the developed EAF. Additionally, the developed EAF layers were validated through a qualitative focus group workshop with participants that utilize the developed EAF to provide digital services in smart cities. The findings suggest that the developed EAF can aid enterprises that provided digital services in identifying and assessing their digitalization initiatives and how EA benefits can be realized. Drawing on the TAM, the developed research model presents factors that influence practitioner's adoption of EA towards the digitalization of urban environments. More importantly, this study provides empirically validated research on EAF adoption which is scarce.

Legal relations abound in conceptual modeling. Despite that, the representation of these relations in the area has not yet received sufficient theoretical support. We address this by establishing a basis for the well-founded representation of legal relations. We capture a comprehensive set of legal relations (and legal positions within these legal relations) that arise from widely accepted legal theories into a legal core ontology called UFO-L, which is grounded on the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO). We rely on the Theory of Constitutional Rights proposed by the philosopher of law Robert Alexy. This theory extends the system of legal positions proposed by the jurist Wesley Hohfeld, which has been used as a theoretical basis for several works in the conceptual modeling literature. The result is a modeling strategy for legal relations that incorporates patterns from the legal core ontology. We present here a synthesis of empirical studies conducted to evaluate the aforementioned results. The studies show that the approach based on UFO-L produces models that are more comprehensible and clear for the representation of legal contracts.

This paper set out to propose the actor-network theory (ANT) as a lens through which to understand and interpret the sociotechnical knowledge sharing challenges in organisations. The methodology for this study was developed within the context of ANT by adopting its ideals and principles. The findings demonstrate that using the concept of the Moments of Translation as a lens to study this phenomenon is indeed a novel way of investigating the reason why there is still difficulty with sharing and managing knowledge. This perspective is proposed to transform the way that knowledge sharing factors are perceived. By utilising a normative approach, this research looked at how knowledge sharing as an ideal can be achieved when taking into account the existing constraints within an organisation. A general framework is proposed to guide the formation of a network of aligned interest for knowledge sharing.

This paper set out to propose the actor-network theory (ANT) as a lens through which to understand and interpret the sociotechnical knowledge sharing challenges in organisations. The methodology for this study was developed within the context of ANT by adopting its ideals and principles. The findings demonstrate that using the concept of the Moments of Translation as a lens to study this phenomenon is indeed a novel way of investigating the reason why there is still difficulty with sharing and managing knowledge. This perspective is proposed to transform the way that knowledge sharing factors are perceived. By utilising a normative approach, this research looked at how knowledge sharing as an ideal can be achieved when taking into account the existing constraints within an organisation. A general framework is proposed to guide the formation of a network of aligned interest for knowledge sharing.

Presently cities are undergoing changes and transformations due to the adoption of information and communications technology. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is one of the approaches adopted by practitioners and researchers to facilitate smart city development as it can enhance the effectiveness of cities' digital resources and sustainability capabilities. But, despite several literature on EA, studies on the adoption of EA to improve the sustainability of cities are still at the early stage. Besides, there are fewer studies that provided evidence on the adoption of EA to make cities sustainable grounded on established theoretical models and quantitative data. Therefore, this study aims to provide an understanding on the adoption of EA by different practitioners involved in a smart city project. Knowledge transfer and support services are integrated as new external variables needed to improve practitioners' behavior intention and actual adoption of EA in making cities smarter. A model is developed grounded on an extension of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and data were collected via a crosscountry survey. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data. Findings from this study offer implications for research and practice and provide opportunities for future research.

Originating from quite different fields of theory and practice, the terms "Enterprise Ontology" and "Enterprise Architecture" currently belong to the standard vocabulary of those professionals who are concerned with (re)designing and (re)engineering enterprises, thereby exploiting modern information and communication technologies for innovating products and services as well as for optimizing operational performance. Because of the inherent characteristics of modern enterprises, often operating within networks of cooperating enterprises, the task of these professionals can rightly be characterized as having to master unprecedented high complexity. The statement, put forward in the paper, that the current notion of Enterprise Architecture does not offer satisfactory help and thus need to evolve into an effective conceptual tool, is clarified in a historical context. In order to let Enterprise Architecture become a sensible, effective notion, complementary to Enterp...

— Service contracts bind parties legally, regulating their behavior in the scope of a (business) service relationship. Given that there are legal consequences attached to service contracts, understanding the elements of a contract is key to managing services in an enterprise. After all, provisions in a service contract establish obligations and rights for service providers and customers that must be respected in service delivery. The importance of service contracts to service provisioning in an enterprise has motivated us to investigate their representation in enterprise models. We have observed that approaches fall into two extremes of a spectrum. Some approaches, such as ArchiMate, offer an opaque " contract " construct, not revealing the rights and obligations in the scope of the governed service relationship. Other approaches, under the umbrella term " contract languages " , are devoted exactly to the formal representation of the contents of contracts. Despite the applications of contract languages, they operate at a level of detail that does not match that of enterprise architecture models. In this paper, we explore the gap between these two extremes. We address the representation of service contract elements with a systematic approach: we first propose a well-founded service contract ontology, and then extend the ArchiMate language to reflect the elements of the service contract ontology. The applicability of the proposed extension is assessed in the representation of a real-world cloud service contract.

This paper discusses factors influencing e-Government initiatives by African Governments to improve services to their citizens, businesses and their constituent. It further discusses, as a socially constructed phenomenon, the degree of readiness of governments to implement e-Government initiatives to improve services. The discussion uses Actor Network Theory (ANT) and in particular the concepts of moments of translation and irreversibility as a lens through which to understand and interpret the social phenomenon. Although a number of e-Government researchers have argued that strong leadership and clear vision is required to implement e-Government initiatives, the view is that Governments have continuously failed to achieve the intended results. E-Government potentials and benefits which are well documented in Information Systems and e-Government research literature have not been realised by governments due to limited capabilities in the administration of the public service. The stud...

Context Big Data Analytics is a rapidly emerging IT practice whose applications offer benefits for a wide variety of business areas across an organisation. Given the wide scope of applications, the many types of processing involved, including those for purposes not yet foreseen, and the inherent privacy concerns resulting from collecting and storing personal data, the newly introduced General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) poses specific challenges for safeguarding the security and protection of big data. These challenges are not limited to the IT function but extend across the entire organisation. This raises the question whether Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM), as an approach for ensuring the coherence, strategic alignment and focus on value creation of all organisational resources, offers guidance for addressing those challenges in a holistic manner, and thus provides a fruitful ground for developing an approach for complying to GDPR requirements in a Big Data context...

This paper discusses factors influencing e-Government initiatives by African Governments to improve services to their citizens, businesses and their constituent. It further discusses, as a socially constructed phenomenon, the degree of readiness of governments to implement e-Government initiatives to improve services. The discussion uses Actor Network Theory (ANT) and in particular the concepts of moments of translation and irreversibility as a lens through which to understand and interpret the social phenomenon. Although a number of e-Government researchers have argued that strong leadership and clear vision is required to implement e-Government initiatives, the view is that Governments have continuously failed to achieve the intended results. E-Government potentials and benefits which are well documented in Information Systems and e-Government research literature have not been realised by governments due to limited capabilities in the administration of the public service. The stud...

This paper set out to propose the actor-network theory (ANT) as a lens through which to understand and interpret the sociotechnical knowledge sharing challenges in organisations. The methodology for this study was developed within the context of ANT by adopting its ideals and principles. The findings demonstrate that using the concept of the Moments of Translation as a lens to study this phenomenon is indeed a novel way of investigating the reason why there is still difficulty with sharing and managing knowledge. This perspective is proposed to transform the way that knowledge sharing factors are perceived. By utilising a normative approach, this research looked at how knowledge sharing as an ideal can be achieved when taking into account the existing constraints within an organisation. A general framework is proposed to guide the formation of a network of aligned interest for knowledge sharing.

0131412752 - Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture, A - In A Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture, six leading experts present indispensable technical, process, and business insight into every aspect of enterprise architecture. You'll find start-to-finish guidance for architecting ...

Over the years Enterprise Architecture (EA) has become an intensively researched and applied approach aimed at managing transformation of cities into smart cities. Thus, most cities are deploying EA as an approach to manage enterprise's implementation of Information Technology (IT). While many cities deploy EA, there are initiatives that impacts the value that can be derived when EA is deployed for management of digital services in smart cities. Therefore, this article explores the current practice of EA by practitioners and stakeholders involved in smart city project through qualitative data via survey research method. Findings from this study discuss the importance of EA and provides practical insights on EA deployment in smart cities. Thus, enabling municipalities to focus and better plan on how to anticipate and prepare for digital change during smart city development. Besides, the findings provide IT managers, enterprise architect, and urban planners with evidence of how EA can facilitate implementation of digital services in smart cities.

This paper explores the use of „process-related models‟ – such as Enterprise Architecture (EA) models – as non-ontological resources (NORs) in the Ontology Engineering (OE) trajectory. These models are commonly available in enterprise repositories in process-rich social domains (e.g., e-Government, finance, software engineering, manufacturing), and serve as valuable sources of consolidated knowledge. We focus on the role of EA models in supporting what we are naming here Early Ontology Engineering, comprising the phases of purpose and scope identification as well as the identification of functional requirements for creating domain ontologies. This is because these models characterize, among other aspects, the organizational context and the business motivations/goals. Therefore, they may facilitate the identification of intended uses/purpose of an ontology to be integrated to the EA, as a means to address goals of the organization stakeholders. We show how this approach is being appl...

The concept of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has had a significant impact not only on software engineering but on the analysis of an organization's business layer as well. In this paper we demonstrate that using the SOA concept into the Enterprise Architecture (EA) framework makes the best of the synergy existing between these two approaches. We will examine the characteristics

Concept of Virtual Organization (VO) is one enabling factor for today's Small and Mid sized Enterprises (SME) to rebuild their position in new market condition. As the businesses are highly supported by Information and Communication Technology (ICT), nowadays it is highly important to manage it in a way that will minimize the possibility that ICT will be the bottleneck which makes constraints for new cooperation. In current article, the approach of Enterprise Architecture management is analyzed in context of VO-s.