IT Governance Design: An Application of Problem Oriented Engineering to Enterprise Architecture, TOGAF and SOA Development

Clarke, M. (2010). IT Governance Design: An Application of Problem Oriented Engineering to Enterprise Architecture, TOGAF and SOA Development. Student dissertation for The Open University module M801 MSc in Software Development Research Dissertation.

Please note that this student dissertation is made available in the format that it was submitted for examination, thus the author has not been able to correct errors and/or departures from academic standards in areas such as referencing.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.00016098

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the discipline of Enterprise Architecture in two ways. Firstly, as a fundamental part of IT Governance and, secondly, regarding its use for effective management and co-ordination of an organisation and the deployment of its IT solutions and applications. Enterprise Architecture should help enable an organisation to achieve its strategic goals. TOGAF is a leading framework, which provides a selection of tools and best-practice methodologies for Enterprise Architecture practitioners. It is a relatively new development, especially version 9 (the latest release) and there are few examples in the literature of studies into its successful and effective application in pragmatic organisational practice. TOGAF has its roots in a technical approach, although, in line with IT Governance precepts, in its latest releases it urges close and wide stakeholder involvement in Enterprise Architecture initiatives. Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) embodies and extends many of the principles of best practice in software engineering to provide an approach which can better address future business requirements in a flexible and more cost-effective way. To successfully implement SOA, a holistic view of an organisation‟s IT architecture is essential and this is informed by the close involvement of the wider stakeholder community that is a fundamental principle of Enterprise Architecture and TOGAF. This dissertation investigates stakeholder engagement in Enterprise Architecture initiatives through a case study. It examines in particular the success of applying TOGAF as an IT Governance framework in terms of involving stakeholders in the early design stages of an SOA development. The case study is based on the author‟s own experience applying TOGAF in a UK FTSE-100 company. A survey of UK IT end-user organisations was also carried out to determine whether the results of the case study investigation could be generalised across the UK Enterprise Architecture practitioner community. Problem Oriented Engineering (POE), an emerging theoretical framework for design, was successfully used as a research methodology. It was found to be suitable for the analysis due to its emphasis on stakeholder involvement in problem and solution exploration and validation and exploration of the consequent risks.

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