Service Oriented Software System Engineering In Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Architecture and Service Orientation

Discuss About The Service Oriented Software System Engineering.

Enterprise architecture is the practice of carrying out a detailed analysis of designing, planning and implementation by utilizing a realistic approach. It is effective in successfully developing and executing the strategies of the enterprise. This process takes into consideration relevant theories and practices of architecture to direct the businesses of the enterprise (Steen et al. 2005). It is associated with the conveying of information, required processes and the modifications in technology to incorporate the strategies properly in the enterprise. The practices of enterprise architecture consider different activities in order to recognize, encourage and attain the objectives of the enterprise through change implementation.

The individuals who practice enterprise architecture are known as enterprise architects. They are responsible for conducting the analysis process in the business structure and often help in deriving conclusion as per the information received. The goal of enterprise architecture includes effectiveness, durability, agility and efficiency (Rozanski and Woods 2012). In association with the literature and community of architecture enterprise, several viewpoints exist which are relevant to the term of enterprise architecture. The meaning of the term varies from one organization to another and there is no standard definition. However, most of the definitions associated with this term are balancing, while others are only hint and the rest are contradictory. 

According to Steen et al. (2005), the dimension of service orientation is new for the enterprise architecture. In this article, the broader concept was discussed to find out about the relevance and effect of service concept along with service orientation in the field of enterprise architecture. The authors have provided ideas regarding the set- up of service- based enterprise architecture. It is often countered that the service- based approach to enterprise architecture is better in dealing with the architecture- directed and IT- directed business. The practice of enterprise architecture provides a way for the enterprise architects to management and control the enterprise at a wider range. The authors have found out that there is no solitary presence of architecture; rather it is always present within a hierarchy of government. The process is mainly followed in larger enterprises and there are certain factors on which it is focused. These factors include corporate governance, IT governance, technology governance and Architecture governance (Bui, Markus and Newell 2015). Each factor in particular varies based on their geographic location, either international or regional and domestic.

Role of Enterprise Architects

There are different characteristics of architecture governance in enterprise. It was found out by the authors that if a system of control is implemented within the enterprise then there will be creative and monitoring processes of the entire architectural elements along with the activities carried out within the enterprise. This is done in order to incorporate significant introduction, evolution and implementation of architectures within the enterprise. Again, an important characteristic include a proper system for incorporating regulations in accordance with the internal and external norms and policies. The third characteristic includes building up of the processes that provide a supportive framework for effective management of the described processes within the set standards. Finally, the characteristic of creating such practice will be helpful in building responsibility to recognize the stakeholders for the enterprise, which consisted of both internal and external stakeholders (Lange, Mendling and Recker 2016).

Fig: Architecture governance framework- conceptual structure

Source: (Simon, Fischbach and Schoder 2014)

As per Rozanski and Woods (2012), the contemporary wide range of software systems are considered to be the most complex structure developed by human beings and it consists of numerous lines of code, tables of database, elements and other particles running on the computer systems. However, the authors have focused on certain unavoidable resistance in implementing the same in the functioning of the enterprise. The development of software is hampered due to these challenges and they need to be addresses at the primary level. If there is slight delay, then the effect might be felt in terms of over pricing or weak level of output quality. The authors have mentioned that that the business projects in the recent days determine the significance of assigning an enterprise architect or a group of software engineers for fulfilling the responsibility of technological supervision and direct others by guiding in the right way. As there is no standard definitions of enterprise architecture, therefore the underlying meaning is only associated with delivering service as per expectation (Zarvi? and Wieringa 2014). 

In order to throw light on the relationship between the architects and the stakeholder, the authors of this book have used the book as a practical form of guidance. It is applicable for both the novice architects as well as the experienced ones. The three basic concepts of stakeholders, their perspectives and viewpoints are considered in relevance with this specific topic (Plataniotis, De Kinderen and Proper 2014). In order to analyze the importance of the ideas and concepts, a suitable example can be stated. Jennifer is an enterprise architect working in a large MNC. She is a senior staff of the IT department and she has indulged in a number of activities. Her primary responsibility was to lead the designing team of the company in terms of the information system of the enterprise. Therefore, she was asked to take responsibility for finding out required alternatives for the stock management system. She took the approach of interviewing people and started facing challenge due to the conflicting necessity. She was not sure if all the people were interviewed or she might have missed someone important (Bui, Markus and Newell 2015).

Stakeholder and Enterprise Architecture

In relevance to the instance of Jennifer, it can be mentioned as per Chorafas (2016) that the approach of the architect was not based on a wide range. The intention of the architects is to work as per the requirements of the end consumers, but the approach taken by Jennifer was not suitable for satisfying everyone. The people who are affected by the system and policies of the enterprise are known as stakeholders. The aim of the enterprise is to develop the system in accordance with the needs of the stakeholders. Gradually, it becomes the duty of the architects to meet the demands of the stakeholders of the enterprise. For properly fulfilling the task, it is required to point out the appropriate stakeholders and work with them in order to find out their concerns. It helps the enterprise architects to measure the conflicting priorities and create a suitable architectural design for fulfilling the requirements as clearly as possible.

The instance of Jennifer, which was used in the course of this paper, is similar to the problems faced by many other architects in the enterprise. It is a major problem faced by the software engineers and need a quick resolution (Rouhamni et al. 2015). However, architectural concept of designing was primarily introduced by the software engineers. As several views are considered in designing the enterprise architecture, it becomes easy to explain and convey a complex structure in an appropriate manner. It helps in evading the excitement of the readers due to an entire complex structure of enterprise architecture. The instances of enterprise architecture were helpful in involving the functional structure of the enterprise by considering the information of organization and deployment environment (Burégio, Maamar Z. and Meira 2015).

As the case of Jennifer was used as an instance in this paper, it was found out that she has realized the working of enterprise in relation with architecture by providing such services, which affects the perceptions of the stakeholders. The selection of the architects are dependent on th functioning of the enterprise by looking into its security factors, availability, easy modification, and other non- significant factors which are known as quality properties. The key role of an architect is to create a system within the enterprise, which will consist of the acceptable factors (Iacob et al. 2014). Apart from that, it is important to achieve the essential objectives for highlighting the cross- cultural dimensions within the enterprise. the enterprise architect needs to consider that attaining the objectives will influence different viewpoints of the architectural description.

Architectural Governance

As per Simon, Fischbach and Schoder (2013), enterprise architecture management is gaining momentum and identified as a major factor in the business and IT sector. However, there is a gap in the development of simple comprehension and procedural reliability. In this article, the authors have mentioned about the role played by research study in the development process. Different bibliographic methods were used in this article along with a wide range of qualitative understanding of the research sector. It is effective in providing an extraordinary approach of the literature related to enterprise architecture. A set of research questions were outlined for gathering response regarding collaboration via co- authorships, the brilliant structure of the research topic and the most effective works along with the major themes of research. In order to provide an opportunity for further research on this topic, an agenda was proposed by considering the findings from the data analysis and comparing experimental knowledge from the specific literature (Zimmermann et al. 2015). In this article, the focus was put on a reasonable degree of co- authorship and the positive effect on the spreading of work in among the architects of the enterprise. Additionally, this article was helpful in recognizing three various streams of research to evaluate that the research has grown around particular themes. In the course of this process, there was no relevance to high practice and did not receive required attention. Therefore, the value of the findings of this article increased rapidly to provide support to the researchers and practitioners. The system of enterprise architecture has evolved through years and the approaches that were taken for the same have gained increasing popularity (Santana et al. 2016).    

In an organization, the effect of enterprise architecture is felt in terms of the combined structure of processes, conveying of information and the technological infrastructure. The structure of enterprise architecture is positioned in between the strategies of business and information technology in one side and implementation of project- based solutions in another (Mayer at al. 2018). Moreover, enterprise architecture is responsible for converting the strategies of the organization into major projects attaining the target state of the enterprise. Enterprise architecture needs to fulfill the responsibility of dealing with the stakeholders in a holistic nature. There is an integral relationship between enterprise architecture and the stakeholders of the organization.

Fig: Enterprise architecture stakeholders

Source: Aier 2014

In the contemporary business environment, there are several organizations, who have adopted the process of enterprise architecture due to probable benefits as an outcome of the systematic and standard approaches undertaken by the organization. An effective practice of enterprise architecture within the organization is easy to imply. However, there is no valid evidence to show that the organizational benefits of enterprise architecture surpass the costs of management and coordination. The researches that have been carried out in this respect were not successful in outlining the potential benefits or the benchmarks for the feasible impact in the organization (Vargas et al. 2016).

Moreover, the profession of enterprise architect is relatively new in organizations and the professional environment. With the increasing adoption of the enterprise architecture practices, there is rapid popularity and demand among the architects to incorporate and manage the activities. This requires efficient training and development among the young professionals to implement the activities in a systematic manner. According to Foorthuis et al. (2016), the enterprise architect can make use of a suitable framework to implement the practice within organization. It will also be helpful in understanding the roles and responsibilities and the training methods can be designed accordingly. With proper training and development of the young professionals, they will be able to gather sound knowledge and implement the same in the organizational activities. This will help in improving the functions of the organization. The current trend in the professional environment was helpful in directing the management towards the implication of this effective practice for improving employee performance and organizational efficiency (Niemi and Pekkola 2017). The effectiveness can be experienced not only in the business but also in the technological environment.  

References

Aier, S., 2014. The role of organizational culture for grounding, management, guidance and effectiveness of enterprise architecture principles. Information Systems and e-Business Management, 12(1), pp.43-70.

Bui, Q., Markus, M.L. and Newell, S., 2015. Magnitude in innovation change: adaptation and reinvention in Enterprise Architecture implementation. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2015, No. 1, p. 19056). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.

Bui, Q.N., Markus, M. and Newell, S., 2015. Alternative Designs in Widespread Innovation Adoption: Empirical Evidence from Enterprise Architecture Implementation in US State Governments.

Burégio, V., Maamar, Z. and Meira, S., 2015. An architecture and guiding framework for the social enterprise. IEEE Internet Computing, 19(1), pp.64-68.

Chorafas, D.N., 2016. Enterprise architecture and new generation information systems. CRC Press.

Foorthuis, R., Van Steenbergen, M., Brinkkemper, S. and Bruls, W.A., 2016. A theory building study of enterprise architecture practices and benefits. Information Systems Frontiers, 18(3), pp.541-564.

Iacob, M.E., Meertens, L.O., Jonkers, H., Quartel, D.A., Nieuwenhuis, L.J. and van Sinderen, M.J., 2014. From enterprise architecture to business models and back. Software & Systems Modeling, 13(3), pp.1059-1083.

Lange, M., Mendling, J. and Recker, J., 2016. An empirical analysis of the factors and measures of Enterprise Architecture Management success. European Journal of Information Systems, 25(5), pp.411-431.

Mayer, N., Aubert, J., Grandry, E., Feltus, C., Goettelmann, E. and Wieringa, R., 2018. An integrated conceptual model for information system security risk management supported by enterprise architecture management. Software & Systems Modeling, pp.1-28.

Niemi, E. and Pekkola, S., 2017. Using enterprise architecture artefacts in an organisation. Enterprise Information Systems, 11(3), pp.313-338.

Plataniotis, G., De Kinderen, S. and Proper, H.A., 2014. Ea anamnesis: An approach for decision making analysis in enterprise architecture. International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design (IJISMD), 5(3), pp.75-95.

Rouhani, B.D., Mahrin, M.N.R., Nikpay, F., Ahmad, R.B. and Nikfard, P., 2015. A systematic literature review on Enterprise Architecture Implementation Methodologies. Information and Software Technology, 62, pp.1-20.

Rozanski, N. and Woods, E., 2012. Software systems architecture: working with stakeholders using viewpoints and perspectives. Addison-Wesley.

Santana, A., Simon, D., Fischbach, K. and de Moura, H., 2016, September. Combining Network Measures and Expert Knowledge to Analyze Enterprise Architecture at the Component Level. In Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference (EDOC), 2016 IEEE 20th International (pp. 1-10). IEEE.

Simon, D., Fischbach, K. and Schoder, D., 2013. An exploration of enterprise architecture research. CAIS, 32, p.1.

Simon, D., Fischbach, K. and Schoder, D., 2014. Enterprise architecture management and its role in corporate strategic management. Information Systems and e-Business Management, 12(1), pp.5-42.

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Zimmermann, A., Schmidt, R., Sandkuhl, K., Wißotzki, M., Jugel, D. and Möhring, M., 2015, September. Digital enterprise architecture-transformation for the internet of things. In Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Workshop (EDOCW), 2015 IEEE 19th International (pp. 130-138). IEEE.