Stephan Aier
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Aier
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Stephan
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stephan.aier@unisg.ch
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+41 71 224 3360
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  • Publication
    Integrating an Enterprise Architecture Using Domain Clustering
    ( 2007-10-01)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    Enterprise Architecture (EA) in the context of enterprise engineering addresses aspects of developing, improving and integrating organizations. The paper introduces an approach to EA proposing Integration Concepts (IC) to reconcile changing business process requirements and information systems. Being process-driven and supporting integration issues the chosen IC is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Therefore the contribution aims at developing a methodology to support service engineering by defining architectural domains in an EA. The paper shows the need for methods in the field of domain engineering supporting the design of a SOA. The main contribution of the paper is an algorithm based modelling approach and a methodology to support service domain clustering. The clustering algorithms are using a model considering business processes, information systems and information system interfaces. The algorithm adopts network-centric approaches used in the field of social network analysis to define and/or identify service domain clusters in complex scenarios. The paper summarizes a case study in a globally operating company and closes with a conclusion. The paper is organized by chapters addressing context, objective, approach, case, results and lessons learned.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Journal Of Enterprise Architecture
    Volume: 3
    Issue: 4
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/80120
  • Publication
    EAI in der Praxis
    ( 2005-10-01)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Industriemanagement
    Volume: 21
    Issue: 4
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/84377
  • Publication
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Industriemanagement
    Volume: 20
    Issue: 2
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/67409
  • Publication
    A Framework for the Strategic Positioning of Intra-Company ICT Research Organizations
    ( 2011-06-09)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Fischer, Christian
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    ;
    Tuunainen, Virpi
    ;
    Nandhakumar, Joe
    ;
    Rossi, Matti
    ;
    Soliman, Wael
    By the early twentieth century, Schumpeter had already stressed the importance of innovation for a sustainable development of enterprises. Innovation is especially important for information and communication technology (ICT) companies as their business model is based on rapidly changing technology. They therefore often profit from innovation developed in intra-company research organizations. However, ICT research organisations often face a special challenge: the integration of research results into existing ICT architectures. This challenge has neither been analysed in literature on information systems nor on innovation management. In order to gain a deeper understanding of this challenge, we analysed case studies in four intra-company research organisations, among them one in-depth case study. Our research shows that an intra-company ICT research organisation can make a decision based on three important strategic parameters: (a) the desired degree of innovativeness, (b) the desired degree of integrability into existing architecture, and (c) the desired degree of orientation towards prospective users' needs. Based on our case study analysis, we argue that these three strategic goals are concurrent, i.e. to achieve one of them makes it difficult to achieve the others. Adhering to contingency theory, we believe that there is not one best strategic position, but that the quality of a strategic position depends on environmental contingency factors. In addition to the development of the framework, we consider contingency theory and formulate two hypothetical propositions. They describe stable strategic positions of intra-company ICT research organisations in our framework, dependent on contingency factors. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research publication dealing with the special requirements of intra-company ICT research organizations and the challenge of integration. Nevertheless, our research is limited by its exploratory nature and by the relatively small number of case studies taken. For generating more hypotheses, further explorative research in the field has to be done. Moreover, in order to confirm the assumptions our framework is based upon and the hypothetical propositions generated, further confirmative research is necessary.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/94004
  • Publication
    Integrating an Enterprise Architecture Using Domain Clustering
    (Via Nova Architectura, 2007-06-06)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    ;
    Lankhorst, Marc M.
    ;
    Johnson, Pontus
    Enterprise Architecture (EA) in the context of enterprise engineering addresses aspects of developing, improving and integrating organizations. The paper introduces an approach to EA proposing Integration Concepts (IC) to reconcile changing business process requirements and information systems. Being process-driven and supporting integration issues the chosen IC is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Therefore the contribution aims at developing a methodology to support service engineering by defining architectural domains in an EA. The paper shows the need for methods in the field of domain engineering supporting the design of a SOA. The main contribution of the paper is an algorithm based modelling approach and a methodology to support service domain clustering. The clustering algorithms are using a model considering business processes, information systems and information system interfaces. The algorithm adopts network-centric approaches used in the field of social network analysis to define and/or identify service domain clusters in complex scenarios. The paper summarizes a case study in a globally operating company and closes with a conclusion. The paper is organized by chapters addressing context, objective, approach, case, results and lessons learned.
    Type: conference paper
    URL: http://vianovaarchitectura.nl/page/integrating-an-enterprise-architecture-using-domain-clustering
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/80576
  • Publication
    Modellbasierter Entwurf strukturanaloger Architekturen auf Basis der Partitionierung von Graphen
    (Universitätsverlag Karlsruhe, 2007-02-28)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    ;
    Oberweis, Andreas
    ;
    Weinhardt, Christof
    ;
    Gimpel, Henner
    ;
    Koschmider, Agnes
    ;
    Pankratius, Victor
    ;
    Schnizler, Bjoern
    Type: conference paper
    Volume: Band 2
    URL: http://d-nb.info/983649871/34
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/80978
  • Publication
    Implementing Non-Functional Service Descriptions in SOA
    (Springer, 2006-11-29)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Offermann, Philipp
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    ;
    Schroepfer, Christian
    ;
    Draheim, Dirk
    ;
    Weber, Gerald
    This article describes a framework for extended service descriptions based on OWL-S (Web Ontology Language for Services) focusing on non-functional criteria. Necessary service management tasks will be introduced and extended by corresponding data elements and statements for its automated support. After a short comparative description of several existing approaches to semantic service descriptions the paper addresses the actual extension of OWL-S. Non-functional extensions as service lifecycle elements and Quality of Services (QoS) are added. To extend QoS capabilities, the approach combines the common extension mechanism with UML (Unified Modeling Language) Profile for QoS. A prototype delivers the proof-of-concept for the first part of the extension. The prototype implements SOA-specific authentications and all basic features for a tool-supported service management using extended semantic service descriptions by defining an ontology-based service taxonomy and service annotation.
    Type: conference paper
    Volume: LNCS 4473
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-75912-6_4
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/82262
    Scopus© Citations 8
  • Publication
    Model Driven Service Domain Analysis
    (Springer, 2006-12-04)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    ;
    Georgakopoulos, Dimitrios
    ;
    Ritter, Norbert
    ;
    Benatallah, Boualem
    ;
    Zirpins, Christian
    ;
    Feuerlicht, George
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    ;
    Motahari-Nezhad, Hamid Reza
    Currently scientists and practitioners are discussing Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) as an approach to reconcile business requirements and IT. The alignment of business and technology in organizations is a key challenge in the discipline of Enterprise Architecture (EA). Therefore the contribution starts with a discussion of SOA as an EA integration concept to synchronize business requirements and IT architecture in an efficient way. Differentiating methodological and technological aspects of EA the paper shows the need for methods in the field of domain analysis supporting the design of a SOA. The main contribution of the paper is an algorithm based modeling tool and methodology to support service domain clustering. Service clusters are being used for service definition and management. Due to enormous complexity it is necessary to support architects by finding and defining appropriate clusters. For modeling interdependencies in EA the paper's focus is on business processes, information systems and interfaces. Our approach adopts network-centric algorithms used in the field of social network analysis to define and/or identify service domain clusters in complex scenarios. Edge remover algorithm is used to compute the relevant model aspects. The results of our approach will be demonstrated in acase study.
    Type: conference paper
    Volume: LNCS 4652
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-75492-3_17
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/82214
    Scopus© Citations 10
  • Publication
    Design und Implementierung integrativer Unternehmensarchitekturen
    (Ges. für Informatik, 2005-09-19)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    ;
    Cremers, Armin B.
    ;
    Manthey, R.
    ;
    Martiny, P.
    ;
    Steinhage, V.
    Type: conference paper
    Volume: Vol 67; Bd. 1
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/84430
  • Publication
    EAI's Impact on Enterprise Architecture and How to Handle It
    (International Business Information Management Association (IBIMA), 2005-07-05)
    Aier, Stephan orcid-logo
    ;
    Schoenherr, Marten
    ;
    Soliman, K. S.
    Today large companies often have to cope with complex and heterogeneous IT infrastructures. A recent approach to this issue is Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). EAI provides a platform for business process oriented system integration. The aim of EAI is to consolidate the number of point to point interfaces of integrated applications in a centralized hub and spoke architecture. In contrast to former middleware approaches EAI provides integration not only on a technical level but on a business process level too. According to this we consider EAI as an architectural element affecting IT as well as organizational issues and thus Enterprise Architecture. Hence EAI again raises the question for interdependencies between IT and organization. In a study we analyzed how EAI is used in large-scale companies and which effects it has on the Enterprise Architecture of those companies. The results illustrate that EAI is a major component in complex IT infrastructures which has a significant influence on business processes. But the study also shows that there is a considerable gap between the importance of EAI in Enterprise Architecture and the way it is used in companies today. As a result EAI as it is used today may provide a way to connect IT systems but it is hardly capable of handling architecture's complexity. Eventually this article points out what has to be done to move toward a manageable enterprise architecture.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/84616