Enterprise Architecture and its Importance
Review the enterprise architecture literature. In seeking to define the most effective ways to approach the governance of EA initiatives, to what extent have authors examined the relationship between architects and their stakeholders? What are the implications for EA practice and the recruitment and training of architects?
Due to the vast and dynamic development of the business industry, complexities arise every day. This is mainly because of a large amount of data that the businesses are handling. These complexities make it difficult for organizations to function effectively, especially when there is poor management. To overcome this problem, some companies are trying to change to the enterprise architecture. This merges the business side of the organization to the information systems, leading to an increase in productivity and significantly reducing the costs of operation. One of the main reasons why problems occur in most businesses is because the information system and the business aspect are usually not well coordinated. With enterprise architecture, business information systems are well coordinated to business operations. This enables the organization to manage large volumes of data (Allen & Cervo, 2015).
An enterprise has been defined as a business venture that has recognizable business functions and operations. It is a stand-alone entity that sometimes has other enterprises within it. Architecture is the underlying framework that makes up a system. It is like the skeleton on which a system is developed. Enterprise Architecture is the concept of the framework that defines the operations of an organization. The application of this framework is with the overall intention for the organization to achieve its future objectives, and be successful. Information has become a crucial part of most modern enterprises and organizations. It has a direct impact on the activities of a business and all the related functions. The ability to effectively manage the integrity and quality of this information is vital to the survival and success of any organization. Enterprise Architecture brings together the Information Technology components into the management of normal business activities (Aronson, 2011).
Enterprise information systems architectures have been there for a long time. It is the main reason it has been seen to be growing and new architectures are being developed. Enterprise information systems architectures are a very important in software development because of the way it is shaping the way software is being developed. The professions that have developed this discipline are varied (Avramov & Portolani, 2014).
The Role of Computer Science and Information Systems in Enterprise Architecture
According to (Winter & Schelp, 2008), EA governance is still in its early or infancy stages of development. Various literature that is available does not actually talk about EA governance but rather IT governance. (Winter & Schelp, 2008) have explained IT governance to mean “Specifying the decision rights and accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of available IT infrastructure.
Computer science is a discipline that has been very important in the development of information science enterprise architecture. This discipline has been seen to be instrumental in developing underlying theory and scientific theories. The discipline is the mother of all other information technology ideas and theories. It is the one that has been seen to be used to develop architectures that are used in developing software (Wilson et al., 2012). Most of the research about new paradigms in software development has been seen to be developed using computer science knowledge. Computer science is used to do research on the new ways of developing software. Most of the theories that have been seen to develop have been seen to come out of computer science. Computer science is not concerned with the application of the software and the various software paradigms that have been developed per se, but it has been seen to be used to develop architectures and prototypes that have been used to develop software (Bente, Bombosch, & Langade, 2013).
On the other hand, information system has been seen to be instrumental to get the real requirements of the systems that are being used in organizations. The main aim of information systems is that of assessing the relationship that information systems have with the organizations that they are installed in (Tambo, 2017). the relationship that exists between the organization and the enterprise information system not only deals with the theory that is used to develop the information system architecture that is installed in the organization but is also concerned with the development and the application of the architectures too. It is also concerned with the training of the users into good use of the software. The information system course is meant to help students to connect business and information technology and make strategic moves in this. Information systems are not meant to run on their own. This will enable the current methods in technology and the current trends to be adopted (Bernus, Nemes, & Schmidt, 2010). The knowledge that is taught is geared to understand the application part of the application. Enterprise application software will be used to evaluate the performance of a given architecture and the features that these architectures. They will then be assessed and recommended accordingly. From this, it is clear that information systems course helps to understand the application and the effectiveness of a given architecture. Additionally, library information science is a science is also equally important in enterprise application development and architecture. Although its contributions are minimal, it is hard to ignore this discipline as it is equally important. It adds to the knowledge of information systems. It has been used in the knowledge of information systems (Blokdijk, 2012).
EA Governance
The development of the Enterprise Architecture is also in line with the SDLC, but it covers more areas. The SDLC is generally designed to guide the development of individual systems that will make up a large system. In the development of the Enterprise Architecture, all these areas are covered and the organization’s business aspects, as well. It provides a guideline for decision making, accountability, investment management and other management activities. In the design phase of the system, the Enterprise Architecture caters for the development of most of the components, essential in the system (Shariff, 2013).
As identified earlier, EA governance follows in the framework that have been set by IT governance. There are no existing structures that can be identified strictly as EA governance. That said, the same happens when we talk about the stakeholders of EA governance. These borrows from the IT governance stakeholders. Some of the major stakeholders in EA governance include. Company managers i.e. CEO, Managing Director etc., head of IT department, Software Developers and IT department staff. Added to this list are the EA suppliers and/or vendors of various technologies that are necessary in EA governance.
Due to the sensitive nature of the information stored in the system, security is a major concern. This is addressed by placing sufficient measures to protect the data from unauthorized viewing and manipulation (Colorado, 2012). The security of a system determines its integrity. The administration is another aspect that is handled by the system. The administration is responsible for the management and oversight of the system they give users’ privileges according to their purpose in the system; they also monitor access to the system. Customization enables the system to meet the unique needs of a given organization. This makes interaction with the system user-friendly. The reporting aspect is for generation of reports that are used for analysis. This analysis improves the system and shows where improvements are necessary (Seshan, 2010). Data access is the most powerful and essential aspect because the whole system is dependent on it. It facilitates the input, manipulation, and storage of data. Its management is vital.
The advantages and unique qualities offered by the Enterprise Architecture are numerous. But some of the most important are discussed below. The ready availability of documentation is very vital in system improvement (Sarkar, 2015). Proper documentation is a good feature of the system when problems arise or troubleshooting is to be done, there is not much difficulty. This documentation is also important when updating security protocols. It also helps the developer monitor progress on the system. The main goal of EA is another major advantage to the organization. Integrating the business processes and activities improves the performance of the organization. This improvement also leads to reduced costs. The unification and integration of data across is another advantage. This improves data access by internal and external users. The development of integration between business and IT departments improves an organization’s processes significantly (Fawcett, 2017.
Stakeholders Involved in EA Governance
For a better analysis of the implementation of strategic basis, it is important to study an organization to learn this aspect. A case study of an organization that successfully implemented the framework was done. The reasons for this implementation were analyzed and observations on how to make it was carried out. To effectively manage the complexities that come with large volumes of data, the enterprise architecture is implemented. It merges the information system with the business operations, leading to the significant reduction of operation costs. Before the enterprise architecture is implemented, a strategic analysis is done. This creates the basis for its adoption (Gill, 2015).
The mission statement is one of the first things to consider in strategic basis implementation. This is usually made up of a motto and the theme. This shows the direction which the organization is heading. It shows their goals and purpose. This also serves to encourage the personnel working on the implementation of the system. A project started without a clear set of goals and the highly motivated staff is highly likely to fail.
The objectives of the project are laid out after the mission statement has been identified. This is when the laying out of the goals to be achieved takes place. The problems faced by the organization are what mainly determine the objectives. These are the problems that the current system has, and sometimes problems form other systems. These problems tend to make the objectives to appear too challenging, but they should always be manageable and achievable (Reese, 2010). To ensure that they are achieved appropriately, there should always be constant monitoring. One of the main reasons for monitoring is that if an error is detected early enough, it can be prevented, hence, redoing time and cost usage for correcting errors. The manifestation of errors eventually leads to more errors and bugs, which are hard to remove or debug (Lankhorst, 2017).
After evaluation and determination of objectives, the organization does a situational analysis. This helps them determine how to reach the goals or objectives that have been set. Since each objective has its own unique parameters, it is almost impossible to determine a specific number of methods of steps that will guarantee a solution. With each problem, there is an almost unique set of steps that will be followed to solve it (Raj, 2013). The internal factors are fundamental, what makes up the organization’s profile. These include its culture, image, and key staff, just to mention a few. With all these factors present, a SWOT analysis is then performed, to clearly lay out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. External factors also play a big role in determining how the objectives will be achieved. Due to all these factors affecting different objectives, a survey is done to determine the most accurate set of steps that will handle the ones that are more general. After situational analysis, the strategic formation is the next course of action. This is the actual realization of how the objectives will be handled (Perks & Beveridge, 2010).
Conclusion
Guarantee using a certain number of steps is not always there, but the guidelines are very essential. Some of the guidelines that are given and observed in the given case study are good for this purpose. The application of some of these methods should guarantee some success. Comprehensive surveys should be done to determine the internal and external factors that affect these objectives with their determination, the ones that help solve the problem are noted. It is also very important to note that following up after implementation is very necessary as it ensures that the system is working correctly. These are the guidelines that are necessary for achieving the goals set
References
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Bernus, P., Nemes, L., & Schmidt, G. (2010). Handbook on enterprise architecture. Berlin: Springer.
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Tambo, T. (2017). Enterprise Architecture beyond the Enterprise – Extended Enterprise Architecture Revisited. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems. doi:10.5220/0006277103810390
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