MIS732 Assignment 2: Enterprise Architecture and Governance Reflection

This report is an individual reflection on a group assignment analyzing the enterprise architecture and governance of the Blue Parcel Company, an international parcel service. The reflection is structured around the 4Rs of reflective thinking and the ISO 38500 principles, focusing on responsibility, strategy, acquisition, performance, conformance, and human behavior in IT governance. The report details the IT department's role in supporting Blue Parcel's operations and its alignment with the ISO principles. It evaluates the impact of group work on the student's understanding of enterprise architecture, organizational structure, and IT governance, highlighting the importance of teamwork and communication. The report also reflects on the student's individual contribution to the group and draws lessons for future IS practice, emphasizing the significance of ethical IT use, organizational structure understanding, and teamwork in the field. The student uses the group work to explain how the theoretical concepts are applied in the real world and what they learned from the process. Finally, the report is a comprehensive analysis of the role of Enterprise Architecture and Governance in the development and sustainability of businesses.

Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment 1
Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment
By Name
Course
Instructor
Institution
Location
Date

Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment 2
Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment
Enterprise Architecture and Governance is a crucial business management element that
ensures the architectural requirements of an enterprise are harmonized into practical policies,
standards, procedures, and processes. Enterprise architecture and governance involve
understanding the enterprise organizational structure, its leadership, the direction as well as the
establishment of effective IT processes to support the strategies of the enterprise (Hazen,
Bradley, Bell, and Byrd, 2017). In our group assignment, we evaluated the enterprise architecture
and governance of the Blue Parcel Company which operates internationally-sending and
receiving parcels and packages. This assignment is an individual reflection of the group
assessment based on the ISO 38500 principles as well as the 4Rs. The 4Rs of reflective thinking
will be essential in this essay as they help me analyze the impact of the group work, my
contribution as well as relate it to my future career.
The ISO 38500 principles provide guidelines for ensuring that efficient and effective use
of IT in an organization within the accepted ethical, legal and regulatory standards include
responsibility, strategy, acquisition, performance, conformance and human behavior (Juiz,
Colomo-Palacios, and Gómez, 2018). From our group analysis of the Blue Parcel Company, we
realize that the Information Technology department of the organization is responsible for the
development, management, and maintaining of all the systems, software and hardware in the
organization. The chief technology officer and chief information officer are responsible for all
the technological innovations and changes to improve the operations of the organization. In this
modern business enterprise, IT is an enabling investment that will ensure the organization meets
its goals and objectives. The IT department in the organization is responsible for storage and
backup of documents, network setup, enterprise resource planning, computer system

Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment 3
administration, and security as well as business intelligence. The IT department functionalities
are very crucial for the operation, sustainability, and development of the Blue Parcel Company.
The IT department is an essential element for any business organization according to the
basics of enterprise architecture and governance. The department is responsible for using
technology to enable an organization to gain and maintain a competitive advantage. The IT
department is to ensure that IT is handled efficiently and effectively to enhance organizational
development (Ahuja and Chan, 2015). For the case of Blue Parcel, the department ensures that
they develop and maintain new IT systems to solve the challenges facing the organization. Also,
maintenance of systems such as the network enhances communication, thus a contribution to the
success of the projects initiated by the organization. Therefore, the responsibility principle of IT
outlined in ISO 38500 is well demonstrated.
Also, the direction and alignment of IT to the enterprise architecture and governance of
the Blue Parcel is a good demonstration of the strategy principle. The organization realizes the
need for IT, and it has been incorporated for the plan. Also, since the success of the organization
heavily relies on IT, this has helped the management of the organization to decide on the
acquisition of IT services and systems. Again, the performance and conformance of the IT
systems are given the attention it deserves. The Chief Technology Officer and the Chief
Information Officer are mandated to oversee the performance of the IT department and ensure
that all the standards and regulations are met.
Furthermore, per the ISO 38500 principles, the human aspect of IT is considered. The IT
department, through the analysis of the company needs and client, demands it has developed the
ERP and CRM systems to facilitate efficient sending and to receive parcels. Primarily, ISO

Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment 4
principles guiding the use of IT to enhance enterprise architecture and governance are utilized in
the Blue Parcel to improve organizational sustainability and development.
The group work on Blue Parcel Company analysis has a significant impact on my
learning of enterprise architecture and governance. First, the group work provided an opportunity
for me to apply the theoretical enterprise architecture and governance principles learnt in class.
For instance, the analysis of the company landscape structure helps acknowledge the importance
of organizational structure as an element of enterprise architecture and governance (Shanks,
Gloet, Someh, Frampton, and Tamm, 2018). Organizational structure is a crucial element in
governance of an organization as it provides a communication flow command, flow of authority
as well as outlines duties and responsibilities of individuals and departments. The Blue Parcel
organizational architecture demonstrates the architecture elements namely the component view,
the communication view and the distribution view. The distribution view displays the elements
of the organization in the form of an organizational structure while communication view shows
how the architectural elements relate (Marosin, Van, and Ghanavati, 2016). Also, the landscape
model helps in minimizing costs through the use of landscape models or diagrams to determine
the end of life of company assets. The organization can then plan on how to replace then to
ensure smooth operation.
Additionally, the group work participation increased the understanding of enterprise
architecture and governance. As a group, we could analyze the architecture of the Blue Parcel
Company and distingue architectural governance and IT governance. Enterprise architecture
governance involves the formulation and implementation of business strategies, while IT
governance involves the efficient and effective utilization of IT to realize the goals and
objectives of an organization. In the case of Blue Parcel Company, enterprise architecture

Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment 5
governance is involved with developing procedures, standards, and policies for smooth operation
and shape future evolution to achieve missions. On the other hand, IT governance is confined to
the use of IT to ensure that the outlined standards, procedures, and policies are followed as per
the strategy to realize goals and objectives. However, both enterprise governance and IT
governance are essential to facilitate the development of any business organization.
Apart from the group work having an impact on my understanding on the topic, my
individual contribution also helped significantly. Group work involved discussions where we
shared ideas on various enterprise architecture and governance concepts as we analyzed the Blue
Parcel organization. Notable, I was responsible for identifying the role of the IT department and
how it contributes to the operation of the organization. Just as we learned in class, I outlined the
organization of the IT department with its functionalities and how they add to the organizational
architecture. IT plays a crucial role in the development of any business organization. For the case
of Blue Parcel, the importance of the IT department cannot be overlooked. This department
ensures the efficient and effective use of IT through the development of systems and applications
to ensure organizational goals and objectives are met. Secondly, I contributed into the compiling
of the group work. The ideas and points that surfaced from group discussions and minutes of
group meetings had to be organized in a logical way to communicate effectively. Also,
participating through group discussions and exercising excellent communication and teamwork
skills is not only essential for group success but also equips me as a team player in my future
career. Professional does not necessarily work independent; instead, they require the input of
their colleagues. Therefore, exposure to group dynamics is equally important to prepare students
for their future career endeavors.

Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment 6
From the group assignment, so many essential things that will help me in my future IS
practice. First, the use of IT should not only be effective and efficient, but it must also be
following the ISO 38500 principles. The use of IT has raised ethical and legal concerns in the
contemporary world. Adherence to the ISO principles will help an individual in the IS practice to
make ethical and moral decisions that do not jeopardize public safety and interests (Alreemy,
Chang, Walters, and Wills, 2016) . Also, it is crucial to understand the organizational structure.
Future in the IS practice, my services will be needed in an organization, and understanding the
organizational structure would help in understanding the operation of the organization. Through
the organizational structure, one would appreciate the duties and responsibilities of all the staff
members enhancing corporation. Additionally, from how the good teamwork spirit contributed to
the success of the assignment, working together with colleagues is essential in the future IS
practice. Excellent communication and other interpersonal skills come into play when IS
professionals work on a project; therefore, the skills demonstrated in the group assignment will
come handy.
In summary, enterprise architecture and governance involves understanding the
enterprise organizational structure, its leadership, the direction as well as the establishment of
effective IT processes to support the strategies of the enterprise. The ISO 38500 principles
provide guidelines for ensuring that efficient and effective use of IT in an organization within the
accepted ethical, legal and regulatory standards include responsibility, strategy, acquisition,
performance, conformance, and human behavior. The group work on Blue Parcel Company
analysis has a significant impact on my learning of enterprise architecture and governance as
well as my future IS practice.

Enterprise Architecture and Governance Assignment 7
Bibliography
Ahuja, S. and Chan, Y.E., 2015. IT Security Governance: A Framework based on ISO 38500.
In CONF-IRM (p. 27).
Alreemy, Z., Chang, V., Walters, R. and Wills, G., 2016. Critical success factors (CSFs) for
information technology governance (ITG). International Journal of Information
Management, 36(6), pp.907-916.
Hazen, B.T., Bradley, R.V., Bell, J.E., In, J. and Byrd, T.A., 2017. Enterprise architecture: A
competence-based approach to achieving agility and firm performance. International Journal of
Production Economics, 193, pp.566-577.
Juiz, C., Colomo-Palacios, R. and Gómez, B., 2018. Cascading ISO/IEC 38500 based Balanced
Score Cards to improve board accountability. Procedia computer science, 138, pp.417-424.
Marosin, D., Van Zee, M. and Ghanavati, S., 2016, June. Formalizing and modeling enterprise
architecture (EA) principles with goal-oriented requirements language (GRL). In International
Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (pp. 205-220). Springer, Cham.
Shanks, G., Gloet, M., Someh, I.A., Frampton, K. and Tamm, T., 2018. Achieving benefits with
enterprise architecture. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 27(2), pp.139-156.