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A Design Theory for Architectural Coordination of Enterprise Transformations (ACET)
Type
fundamental research project
Start Date
01 August 2011
End Date
31 October 2014
Acronym
ACET
Status
completed
Keywords
Enterprise Transformation
Enterprise Architecture
Coordination of Transformation
Design Theory
Description
Present day enterprises are confronted with a continuously changing environment. These changes are due to globalisation, new technologies, regulations, novel business models, etc. Enterprises therefore need to transform themselves regularly to meet these new challenges, while senior management of these enterprises needs to make conscious decisions about the future design of "their" enterprise and the path to "get there". Such transformations may range from changes in value propositions and business processes, via changes to the information systems used to support the business processes, to changes of the underlying IT infrastructures. Since most real world transformations are large, they need to be divided into smaller programs and projects. This raises the need for a coordination mechanism between smaller programs and projects to safeguard that all contribute towards the strategic goals set for the transformation as a whole.
Traditional project/programme management does not provide such coordination, as it focuses on typical project parameters such as budgets, resource use, deadlines, etc. As a result, projects are "invited" to conduct local, project specific optimizations. As a consequence, the results of these projects may actually not contribute to (or even hamper) the overall transformation goals. It has been the mission of the field of enterprise architecture to provide such coordination mechanisms. Ample research has been conducted on different elements of enterprise architecture, such as: frameworks, modelling languages, model analysis, etc. Each of these elements is a valuable component to set up an effective coordination mechanism for enterprise transformations. However, how to combine these elements into an effective method support for architectural coordination of transformations, has not received much research attention yet.
The challenge, which the ACET project aims to meet, is the development of a theoretically grounded methodology that is an effective means for architectural coordination of enterprise transformations. Due to the diversity of contexts and goals in enterprise transformation, this methodology needs to be systematically adaptable to the situation at hand, e.g. industry, size of the company, or dominant organizational culture. In doing so, the ACET project will primarily focus on the so-called Business-to-IT stack. In other words, the layered series of aspects: business strategy, business processes, information processing, and the underlying IT infrastructure.
Traditional project/programme management does not provide such coordination, as it focuses on typical project parameters such as budgets, resource use, deadlines, etc. As a result, projects are "invited" to conduct local, project specific optimizations. As a consequence, the results of these projects may actually not contribute to (or even hamper) the overall transformation goals. It has been the mission of the field of enterprise architecture to provide such coordination mechanisms. Ample research has been conducted on different elements of enterprise architecture, such as: frameworks, modelling languages, model analysis, etc. Each of these elements is a valuable component to set up an effective coordination mechanism for enterprise transformations. However, how to combine these elements into an effective method support for architectural coordination of transformations, has not received much research attention yet.
The challenge, which the ACET project aims to meet, is the development of a theoretically grounded methodology that is an effective means for architectural coordination of enterprise transformations. Due to the diversity of contexts and goals in enterprise transformation, this methodology needs to be systematically adaptable to the situation at hand, e.g. industry, size of the company, or dominant organizational culture. In doing so, the ACET project will primarily focus on the so-called Business-to-IT stack. In other words, the layered series of aspects: business strategy, business processes, information processing, and the underlying IT infrastructure.
Leader contributor(s)
Member contributor(s)
Partner(s)
CRP - Henri Tudor, Luxemburg
Funder(s)
Topic(s)
Enterprise Transformation
Enterprise Architecture
Coordination of Transformation
Design Theory
Method(s)
Design Science Research
Range
HSG Internal
Range (De)
HSG Intern
Division(s)
Eprints ID
206444
Reference Number
100014E-136104
44 results
Now showing
1 - 10 of 44
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PublicationExtending Enterprise Architecture Management into an Enterprise-Wide Coordination Service( 2012-05-30)In this paper, we lay the foundation towards extending Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) into a support service for enterprise transformation. In a first step, we develop a theoretical framework consisting of three dimensions of transformation projects. From this framework, we deduct eight types of transformation projects. In a second step, we take a practitioner's perspective by conducting a focus group with EAM representatives from twelve companies. In this focus group, we identify three patterns of EAM in the course of enterprise transformation. We finally map these patterns to our theoretically derived classification of transformation projects and discuss, with respect to each project type, where EAM may assist and which requirements it must meet to coordinate enterprise transformation.Type: conference paper
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Organisationsentwicklung : Zeitschrift für Unternehmensentwicklung und Change ManagementIssue: 2
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PublicationUnderstanding the Role of Organizational Culture for Design and Success of Enterprise Architecture ManagementEnterprise architecture management is considered a valuable means to guide the consistent design and evolution of increasingly complex information systems. Despite existing research on EAM methods and models, organizations often face serious difficulties making EAM effective. The paper proposes to take organizational culture as a highly aggregated construct describing the context of EAM initiatives for building situational-or for that matter culture sensitive EAM methods-into account. We find that organizational culture significantly moderates the impact of EAM's design on EAM's success. In group culture, hierarchical culture and developmental culture it is essential to develop EAM from a passive into an actively designing approach to make it effective. Particularly in group culture it is rewarding to strive for an EAM approach that impacts stakeholders outside the IT department.Type: conference paperVolume: 1
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PublicationStreitgespräch: Wie tief muss die Facharchitektur modelliert werden?( 2014-05-05)
;Ahlemann, FrederikType: presentation -
PublicationArchitectural Support of Enterprise Transformations: Insights from Corporate Practice(Universität Paderborn, 2014-02-26)
;Rothenberger, Marcus ;Kundisch, Dennis ;Suhl, LeenaBeckmann, LarsEnterprise architecture management (EAM) is considered to be a means to contribute to fundamental change (enterprise transformations) in organizations. Based on qualitative interview data, we investigate how EAM contributes to meeting the information needs of transformation managers during an enterprise transformation (ET). We identify the type of information EAM can provide to ET management. We further identify the activities conducted during ETs that foster information needs. Our results differentiate between information that EAM can provide, can partially provide, or cannot provide, to an ET effort.Type: conference paper -
PublicationAn Institutional Framework for Analyzing Organizational Responses to the Establishment of Architectural TransformationThe need for constant transformation of enterprises is omnipresent. A discipline that has been proposed to support the coordination of enterprise transformation is Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) which has grown to a mature discipline in academia and practice. However, it can be observed in practice that it still is a challenge to introduce such an architectural coordination approach for supporting enterprise transformation. This may be due to the reason that the institutional context of EAM is only little understood, that is, the interplay between the pressures EAM exerts on the organisation and the response strategies of this organisation. The paper reviews existing work on institutional theory and confirms by means of a case study that the institutional factors of cause, constituents, content, control, and context are not only relevant for EAM but may be consistently linked to response strategies of acquiesce, compromise, avoid, defy, and manipulate. Moreover the case study implies to add additional institutional factors for EAM, namely trust and participation.Type: conference paper
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PublicationType: presentation
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PublicationInstitutionalization and the Effectiveness of Enterprise Architecture ManagementEnterprise Architecture Management (EAM) has become a prominent discipline for managing increasingly complex Business/IT relationships in organizations. The more tangible aspects of EAM like modeling, planning, principles or governance structures are widely discussed and understood. However, institutionalizing EAM in an organization remains a challenging issue. Therefore, actually realized EAM benefits can be observed to vary widely across organizations. To address these issues, we take an institutional theory perspective and propose nine hypotheses which are tested based on quantitative empirical data. Our findings confirm seven institutional factors as antecedents for institutionalizing EAM in terms of positive stakeholder response, EA consistency and a realization of EAM benefits for the organization. Our research supports the understanding of the relevant phenomenon of institutionalization of EAM as a rather practice-driven discipline, where theoretical foundations as well as research into non-technical issues are limited so far.Type: conference paper
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PublicationUnderstanding Continuous Use of Business Intelligence Systems: A Mixed Methods InvestigationBusiness intelligence (BI) systems play an important role in organizations' decision-making processes. The existing literature has long focused on the continuous use of information systems (IS). However, the specificities of BI systems such as voluntary use, long-term return of investments, heterogeneity of their use cases, and innovative rather than routine use in such systems motivate our investigating continuous use in the specific context of BI systems. To theorize continuous use of BI systems, we investigate the influencing factors and their interactions. By means of an exploratory and confirmatory mixed-methods research design that comprises a literature review, a single-case study, and a survey, we integrate the identified factors and hypothesize their influence on the continuous use of BI systems in a research model. We test the research model following a partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation modeling (SEM). The paper makes two primary contributions: 1) it confirms certain well-established constructs and relations in the specific context of BI systems, which are generally theorized for the continuous use of IS, and 2) it introduces either new constructs or new relations through the given investigation in the context of BI systems. Future studies can test these new constructs and relations as potential input for theorizing general IS continuous use.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application (JITTA)Volume: 16Issue: 2
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PublicationCan boundary objects mitigate communication defects in enterprise transformation? Findings from expert interviews(Köllen, 2013-09-05)
;Niemietz, Hella ;de Kinderen, SybrenReichert, ManfredInappropriate communication is a major threat to enterprise transformations. While enterprise architecture (EA) models may be helpful to support communication, these models are often tailored to the needs of specialists like enterprise architects. Based on empirical data from 12 expert interviews, we analyze how EA models can become boundary objects that span knowledge boundaries and alleviate communication defects among heterogeneous stakeholder groups in enterprise transformations. We contribute a framework that maps six communication defects to three knowledge boundaries and to 12 boundary object properties as a foundation for future EA model design. Our findings also indicate that EA models alone are not sufficient for overcoming communication defects, but that facilitators like architects are needed in addition.Type: conference paper