IS Strategy, Architecture, and Business Alignment

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IS Strategy, Architecture, and Business Alignment
Enterprise Architecture (EA)
4/28/2018

IS Strategy, Architecture, and Business Alignment
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Problem Statement......................................................................................................................................2
Policies & Processes....................................................................................................................................2
Comparison between IS & EA....................................................................................................................5
Findings.......................................................................................................................................................6
Components that Need Further Research.................................................................................................6
Consequences & Impacts of EA Processes..............................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8
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IS Strategy, Architecture, and Business Alignment
Introduction
There are a variety of Information Systems (IS) that are used and implemented in a business
organization. These systems need to be adequately configured, integrated, and implemented to
achieve the best results out of the same. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a concept that allows the
enterprises to strategically plan and align the information systems and applications with the
business objectives. The main objective of EA is to present the guidelines that can be
implemented by an enterprise so that it may achieve the business goals and objectives. It leads to
quick decision making processes and also streamlines all of the business operations (Rajabi,
Minaei & Seyyedi, 2013). Enterprise Architects are the resources that are responsible for
implementing and managing EA and these resources shall have communication with the fellow
operators and team members.
Problem Statement
The problem with the information systems in an organization is the integration of varied systems
and applications with each other along with the issues of data and information management.
There are numerous security risks and attacks that emerge because of the loosely integrated
systems that are not configured properly. Also, the organizations fail to analyze the information
systems that are required by them and implement the ones that are not relevant. It leads to
increase in costs and budget of the organization (Bergvall-Kareborn & Howcroft, 2014).
Enterprise Architecture is a concept that addresses all of such issues that are associated with the
information systems installed in an organization.
Policies & Processes
Enterprise Architecture amalgamates the description of the best applications, strategies,
technologies, and procedures that an organization shall implement along with the integration
mechanism between these elements. The current organization has defined a modeling language
as a standard for all the units of the organization so that coherent architecture is put in place.
There are specific complexities that are associated with each of the information system and
application that is installed in an enterprise. The modeling language and foundations assist in the
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IS Strategy, Architecture, and Business Alignment
resolution of such issues. EA models ensure that the integration between the components is
adequately done and the relationship is also covered well. The architectural practices and
processes are highlighted as an outcome (Kappelman & Zachman, 2013).
Communication between the information systems installed in an organization is a significant
need to achieve the benefits. Also, it is required that the internal and external stakeholders along
with all of the resources engaged with an enterprise maintain enhanced communication levels
with each other. The organization has implemented communication strategies and methods as a
part of EA to strengthen the communication between the resources and stakeholders. There are
architectural models that have been implemented to manage the current activities and assess the
future events for detailed analysis. There are as-is and to-be scenarios developed for this purpose
(Lankhorst et al., 2005).
Stakeholders are the entities that are associated with a business organization implicitly or
explicitly. The primary goal of an EA is to ensure that the needs of all the stakeholders are met
and the engagement and satisfaction levels are enhanced. The information systems that are
implemented in an enterprise are done with an objective to fulfill the customer and stakeholder
needs (Iyamu, 2017). The Enterprise Architects and the stakeholders connect with each other to
determine the scope of each of these systems. The absence of the same will lead to poorly
defined scope and deteriorated satisfaction levels of the customers as well as stakeholders. The
organization has defined a number of different viewpoints so that the social relationship between
the stakeholders and the architects is defined adequately (Rozanski & Woods, 2007).
 Functional Viewpoints: The functional requirements and aspects of all the information
systems that need to be present in an EA are targeted and are mapped with specific
stakeholders and architects.
 Information Viewpoint: Each of the information system that is configured for an
enterprise comprises of the data and information sets of varied structures and types. There
are specific methods and procedures that are implemented to handle such varied sets and
are covered in this viewpoint.
 Concurrency Viewpoint: The concurrently occurring processes and methods are targeted
under this viewpoint.
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