The Enterprise Architecture as Agent of Change for Government Enterprises

In the last three decades, two fundamental things have happened to the concept of the enterprise architecture (EA). One, the interest on EA continues to increase, which enacts popular debate and discourse at both academic and business platforms. Two, the pace of deployment within government enterprises is slow, which affects actualisation of the benefits towards service delivery. This can be attributed to confusions and misunderstandings about the concept, which manifests from the fact that the influential factors of the concept are not clear. As a result, many enterprises continue to be hesitant or dismissive about the concept. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop a conceptual an EA framework that can be used to guide government enterprises towards transformative goal. The framework is intended to guide the fundamental components, which causes confusion about the deployment of EA as agent of change within government enterprises.

The Use of an Enterprise Architecture Framework to Guide the Management of Big Data in Health Organisations

Big data has gained popularity in recent years, with increased interest from both public and private organisations including academics. The automation of business processes led to the proliferation of different types of data at various speeds through information systems. Big data is generated at a high rate from multiple sources that can become complex to manage with challenges to collect, manipulate, and store data with traditional IS/IT. Big data has been associated with technical non-technical challenges. Due to these challenges, organisations deploy enterprise architecture as an approach to holistically manage and mitigate challenges associated with business and technology. An exploratory study was done to determine how EA could be used to manage big data in healthcare facilities. This study employs the interpretive approach with documentation as the analysis. Findings were governance, internal and external big data sources, information technology infrastructure development, and big data skills. Through the different EA domains, big data challenges could be mitigated.

Influence of Constant Returns to Scale and Variable Returns to Scale Data Envelopment Analysis Models in ICT Infrastructure Efficiency Utilization

A lot of research has been done using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure efficiency in Education. DEA has also been used in the field of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) to investigate and measure the efficiency of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investments on Human Development. Education is one of the major components of the Human Development Index (HDI) which affects the core of Human Development. This research investigates the relative efficiency of ICT Infrastructure Utilization on the educational component of the HDI in order to determine the viability of Learning Analytics using DEA for policy direction and decision making. A conceptual model taking the form of a Linear Equation was used and the Constant Returns to Scale (CRS) and Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) models of the Data Envelopment Analysis were employed to measure the relative efficiency of the components of ICT Infrastructure (Inputs) and the components of Education (Outputs). Results show a generally high relative efficiency of ICT Infrastructure utilization on Educational Attainment and Adult Literacy rates, a strong correlation between this Infrastructure and Literacy rates as well, provide an empirical support for the argument of increasing ICT infrastructure to provide an increase in Human Development, especially within the educational context. The research concludes that DEA as a methodology can be used for macroeconomic decision making and policy direction within developmental research.

Implementation of Big Data Analytics for Government Enterprise

Within the South African government, there is an increasing amount of data. The problem is that the South African government is struggling to employ the concept of big data analytics (BDA) for the analysis of its big data. This could be attributed to know-how from both technical and nontechnical perspectives. Failure to implement BDA and ensure appropriate use hinders government enterprises and agencies in their drive to deliver quality service. A government enterprise was selected and used as a case in this study primarily because the concept of BDA is new to many South African government departments. Data was collected through in-depth interviews. From the analysis, four factors—knowledge, process, differentiation, and skillset—that can influence implementation of BDA for government enterprises were revealed. Based on the factors, a set of criteria in the form of a model was developed.

An Applied Mathematical Model for Business Transformation and Enterprise Architecture

This chapter on an optimal and adaptable enterprise architecture for business systems is one of a series of research chapters on enterprise architecture and business transformations. This one is about estimating the risk for transforming a business environment. It is a conclusion of many years of research, architecture, consulting, and development efforts. The model is based on an applied holistic mathematical model (AHMM) for business transformations. In this chapter, the CSFs are tuned to support the intelligent architecture concepts for business integration in the form of an applied pattern that is also a part or a chapter in this research series. This chapter is related to the feasibility and prototype of the business engineering and risk management pattern (BE&RMP) that should (or shouldn't) prove whether business transformation projects can optimize enterprise business capabilities and how microartefact implementation can offer a sustainable enterprise business system.

Enterprise Architecture Framework for Windhoek Smart City Realisation

Many cities are adopting information and communication technologies (ICT) to add value to business process. This has led to the realisation of smart cities making them dependable on ICT. In Namibia, the focus is to transform Windhoek into a smart city. However, it is not easy as Windhoek continues to face many challenges, for example lack of collaboration among stakeholders. The challenges could be attributed by lack of approaches such as enterprise architecture (EA). As a management and design approach, EA provides a system view of all components and their relationship. In the absence of EA, realisation of Windhoek smart city will continue to be challenging, impeding the city from providing smart services. The study's aim was to develop EA framework for Windhoek smart city realisation. A qualitative case study approach was employed. Data was interpretively analysed to enable a deeper understating of the influencing factors. Based on the findings, a conceptual EA framework was developed. The framework aims to guide and govern Windhoek city transformation towards its smart objectives.

The Management Accounting System and Enterprise Innovation Ability

The chapter aims to explain the relationship between the management accounting system and enterprise innovation ability in the context of collaborative enterprise architecture. The study explains modeling the transformation process and outlining why and how the management accounting affects enterprise innovation ability through accounting information which is focused on the decision-making process. The study uses a survey designed and administered to accountants and managers who work in Turkish manufacturing enterprises as a data provider and decision-maker. The hypotheses were tested using multivariable data analysis techniques, and additional analyses were conducted for more details. The statistical findings show that management accounting affects innovation ability positively. Both product and process innovations are positively affected by managerial accounting. There is also a significant relationship between collaborative enterprise and innovation ability. The harmony between organizational architecture and management accounting increases the company's ability to innovate.

The Business Transformation Framework and Enterprise Architecture Framework for Managers in Business Innovation

The AMM is supported by a real-life case of a business transformation architecture in the domain of enterprise asset management (EAM) that is supported by the alignment of a standardized enterprise architecture blueprint. This chapter proposes an assets alignment pattern (AAP) and offers a set of solutions in the form of design, technical, and managerial recommendations to be used by the target company's asset analysts and enterprise architects to implement EAM solutions in the context of business transformation projects (BTP). Heuristics is applied in real-world complex problems that are very similar to transformation projects. The EAM-based AAP is not influenced by any specific business domain and has a holistic approach that uses a neural networks processor.

Deployment of Information Technology Governance Using Architectural Framework

The goals of every organisation are unique. It is difficult to find a single information technology governance framework that will embrace the functions of every organisation. This is attributed to the primary reason why organisations tend to select multiple IT governance frameworks, for their processes and activities. However, many organisations later realised that some of the frameworks are very similar and others are inappropriate. This evidently and inevitably causes complexities and negatively impacts return on investment in organisations. This highlights the need for an architectural framework that guides the selection and implementation of an appropriate framework, as presented and discussed in this chapter. The qualitative case study and interpretive method and approach are followed in conducting this research, which is to develop an architectural framework for the implementation of IT governance in organisations. A South African organisation was used as a case, focusing on the IT division. The data collection method presented in this research was semi-structured interviews.

Towards an Enterprise Business Architecture Readiness Assessment Model

Often at times many organisations fail to achieve the objectives of their enterprise business architecture (EBA). This can be attributed to lack of assessment of readiness. This is also because there are no models specific to EBA readiness assessment. The lack of readiness assessment before deployment often results to challenges such as uncoordinated business designs, lack of flow in processes, derailment of activities, which make cost of operations prohibitive, increase complexity in managing potential risks, and service stagnancy. These challenges led to this study whose aim was to propose a solution that can be used to assess the readiness of EBA in an organisation. From the interpretivist perspective, the case study approach was employed to gain better understanding of the factors that influence the readiness of EBA in an organisation. The hermeneutics approach was applied in the analysis of the data. The sudy reveals the factors that influence the deployment of business architecture in organisations.