Construction of Enterprise Architecture in Discourses Within the Public Sector

Author(s):  
Juha Lemmetti
Author(s):  
Terry F. Buss ◽  
Anna Shillabeer ◽  
Anna Shillabeer

This chapter looks at public sector whole-of-government reform from an Information Technology (IT) focused Enterprise Architecture (EA) perspective. The chapter summarizes reforms undertaken under three US presidents—Clinton, Bush, and Obama—and discusses how they have too frequently failed to meet expectations of policy makers, public servants, the public, and other stakeholders. We find that IT reforms in support of larger public sector reform have been ineffective and unsustainable, although many IT reforms have been successful in a narrower context. EA has suffered as a once promising methodology: it has not become the “silver bullet” in managing the IT and information infrastructure to support reform, knowledge management, and decision making. It was also seen as an important tool for reducing information management silos that successive governments have unsuccessfully tried to reduce. This chapter raises the spectre of endemic barriers to reform that must be overcome if EA and IT reform are to realize their potential, and offers recommendations for overcoming these hurdles in the context of whole-of-government public sector reforms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Kristin S. Ajer ◽  
Dag Håkon Olsen

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a widespread approach for the development of new digital solutions in a planned and controlled way for large and complex organisations. EA is also viewed as a prerequisite for the digitalisation of the public sector. However, public sector organisations struggle to implement EA programmes, and research has demonstrated that organisational and managerial issues are critical obstacles to EA implementation. This study aims to increase our understanding of EA implementation in the public sector by investigating the central challenges for EA initiatives and to trace the progress of current EA initiatives in the Norwegian public sector. An additional goal is to disclose some ways to improve the situation. We conducted three interpretive case studies in the hospital, higher education, and labour and welfare sectors. We have identified 28 challenges to the EA initiatives. We find that organisational and technical complexities, as well as a limited understanding of EA and lack of formal EA governance mechanisms, are significant obstacles. Among others, the lack of understanding of EA and its methodology will lead to problems with anchoring the EA approach in the organisation and facilitating the necessary EA arrangements to induce the promised benefits of EA, which are necessary requirements to establish the EA initiative’s legitimacy and foster the organisation’s willingness to implement change. Our study provides four lessons learned for planning and implementing EA initiatives, as follows: #1. It is advisable to take small steps. #2. The use of external consultants should be carefully considered. #3. Formal architectural governance mechanisms are important for legitimacy and enforced use. #4. Executive commitment and understanding of EA are crucial for achieving a sustainable EA initiative. Finally, we find a common evolution of the EA initiatives through the phases of optimism, resistance, decline and finally, reconsolidation of the most persistent ones.


Author(s):  
Hasimi Sallehudin ◽  
Nurhizam Safie ◽  
Nur Azaliah ◽  
Rogis Baker ◽  
Farashazillah Yahya ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Saleem Zoughbi ◽  
Sukaina Al-Nasrawi

The growing adoption and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in public administration enables global alteration of functions and business processes used by Governments hoping to convert into viable and successful e-governances. The main objectives are not limited to the traditional e-government goals, but also to improve public sector efficiency, transparency, and accountability, and lower cost across all government administrations, thus leading to the reengineering of the public sector. This could happen at different levels. The success rate is related to results achieved in e-democracy, e-transparency, citizen’s involvement in public management, and other controversial outcomes, which may not be welcome in some countries. With the advent of EA, one sees a more comprehensive method of solving customization problems. The number of difficulties and obstacles may increase when dealing with issues related to the transformation into e-governance at the micro level; hence, a more efficient way is to introduce an EA framework where one can leverage these difficulties before the actual transformation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 124-141
Author(s):  
Hamood Al-Kharusi ◽  
Suraya Miskon ◽  
Mahadi Bahari

Despite the increasing interest to adopt enterprise architecture (EA) concept, there is a scarcity of literature that discusses the development of EA in the public sector. Hence, the purpose of this article is to empirically investigate the development approach of EA in the public sector. The research used a qualitative case study to build an in-depth understanding of the development approach as well as the enterprise architects roles and the stakeholders' roles played at each development stage. The government architecture framework (GAF) of the Omani public sector was used as the case study that included GAF documentation review and interviews with architects and stakeholders who participated in the development of GAF. The findings showed that the GAF development started by establishing architecture knowledge, EA frameworks & IT standards analysis, high-level architecture framework, working group formation and the development of architecture documents. The enterprise architects had six roles whereas the stakeholders played three roles during the development of GAF. The findings are expected to expand the knowledge of the EA development approach to promote developing a standard EA framework for the public sector.


Author(s):  
Amit Bhagwat

This chapter introduces the concept of Beacon Architecture as a formalized and ordered grouping of architectural elements, describing the constituents, their order, correlation and likely evolution of the grouping; and illustrating its specific value to the public sector. The first half of the chapter builds up to the concept, the reasons behind its specific nature, and its value to enterprises, especially in the public sector. For this, the chapter is split into a number of sections that may be studied separately and that also build up to introduce Beacon Architecture. The sections may be broadly divided as concepts, historical overview, illustrative case studies in public sector transformations along with a summary of peculiar architectural challenges they face, and a cyclical pattern to Architecture Development. After introducing and elucidating on concept and constituents of Beacon Architecture, the chapter delves into its correlation with architecture concepts in currency and its role in mitigating enterprise architecture challenges illustrated earlier in the chapter, before concluding on an assessment of future trends.


2009 ◽  
Vol 08 (01) ◽  
pp. 25-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. McNabb ◽  
J. Thad Barnowe

This paper examines three converging trends in the public sector in the early years of the 21st century: the loss of critical knowledge due to large numbers of retiring government workers, the increasing demand for information and communications technology needed to maintain growth in the scale and scope of e-government, and the requirement to parlay investments in enterprise architecture into effective knowledge management and service delivery efficiency. It includes brief historical reviews of each of these trends, their implementation, and how they are being integrated into initiatives for transforming governments from reactive, bureaucratic systems to visionary, proactive, market-oriented learning organisations. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role played by changes in public sector organisational cultures in successfully addressing these three trends and achieving goals of transformation.


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