The Methods Of Enterprise Architecture

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Abstract

The recent years has witnessed a growing trend that enterprise pays close attention to enterprise architecture. Confronting diversified challenges, specific solutions are useless. In order to achieve the objective, an increasingly number of enterprises has built the qualified enterprise architecture to support their business strategy in specific domains.

Keywords

Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Strategy, Framework

Introduction

With the advent of globalisation of economies, enterprises confront an increasingly number of challenges. Peter and Laszlo (1996) noted that enterprises are more regarded as products. In this sense, enterprises should adapt to various kinds of changes in order to keep consistency, otherwise they will fail in the market. Martin et al. (2009) noted that all challenges enterprises face trigger the need for enterprise architecture. Enterprise architecture makes a great contribution to the development of an enterprise. The goal of this essay is to elaborate the general structure of an enterprise architecture, with a focus on how it can be generally used to support and inform business strategy.

Enterprise Architecture

The term ‘architecture’ first comes from building and construction. It can describe a master plan of building or construction which contains two parts, one is general layout such as how its rooms and staircases will be put together, and the other one is principles such as its pattern. The architecture provides a holistic design of building, neglecting some details, such as colours, materials etc.

The term ‘architecture’ can be also applied in the field of enterprises. Marc et al. (2009) defined enterprise architecture as "a coherent whole of principles, methods, and models that are used in the design and realisation of an enterprise organisational structure, business processes, information system, and infrastructure." In other words, enterprise architecture provides an abstract and conceptual structure of planning for enterprise which consists of a sequence of activities. All principles, methods and models which are offered by enterprise architecture are the logic for key business process.

Successful business can not survive without help of appropriate architecture. Marc (2009) noted that enterprise architecture compasses the fundamental factors of organisations, and compared with specific solutions for the problems, fundamental factors is much more applicable. That is, majority of problems can be solved by applying these fundamental factors rather than specific solutions. Fundamental factors are able to confront a broad array of problems. However, specific solutions can merely solve a specific problem. Consequently, enterprise architecture makes a great contribution to maintain the fundamental factors of the business.

Enterprise architecture benefits many aspects for an enterprise. To begin with, in terms of business stakeholders, enterprise architecture can display a general situation of an enterprise, for example, enterprise architecture contains people involved, roles, processes, policies, regulations etc. In this circumstance, stakeholders can clearly understand the status of an enterprise. Secondly, enterprise architecture improves the level of alignment between business and strategy, for example, solutions enterprise architecture provides are based on the strategy, which aims at to achieve the objectives of an enterprise.

Components of Enterprise Architecture

Nowadays, enterprise architecture is vital for a successful enterprise. Martin et al. (2009) said that enterprise architecture plays an important role in implementing business strategy successfully for organisation. Enterprise architecture offers a general plan for organisation which can merge strategy with current projects. More importantly, Martin et al. noted that five components should not be ignored in enterprise architecture, which are stakeholders and concerns, principles, models, views and frameworks. The concepts of five components will be unfolded in the following section.

1.1.1 Stakeholders and their concerns

Various stakeholders are an integral part of an enterprise. Stakeholders have different levels of interests on development of an enterprise. Martin et al. (2009) pointed out that stakeholder is an individual, group, or organisation who are involved in the organisation; more importantly, they have an interest on development of enterprise. Martin et al. said that concerns refer to interests of stakeholders. Specifically, stakeholders who are involved in the enterprise always pay close attention to the future development of enterprise, because operation situation of the enterprise directly associates with their benefits.

Stakeholders and their concerns are vital for enterprise architecture. Moreover, Stakeholders and their concerns are vital for enterprise development. Martin et al. (2009) noted that stakeholders are eager to understand the potential risks of an enterprise which will have an impact on direction of enterprise. In other words, when stakeholders are required to make a decision concerning direction of enterprise, it is vital to understand the current and potential problems. More importantly, concerns of stakeholders will to great extent depend on the above problems. In this sense, enterprise architecture can clearly display the stakeholders from different levels of an enterprise.

1.1.2 Principles

Principle is another component of enterprise architecture. Marc (2009) noted that principle is the behaviour rule of organisation, which leads to every decision leader makes. That is, principles play an important role in enterprise, and all decisions are governed by principles.

Principles can be seen from different aspects. Martin et al. (2009) summarised principles can be understood from two aspects, one is regarding principles as compulsory law, the other is regarding principles as guidelines. From the perspective of compulsory law, Martin et al. noted that everyone in this organisation must abide by the laws, policies and regulations. For example, enterprise should protect privacy of customers, customer first etc. From the perspective of guidelines, Martin et al. said that principles can play a role as director. Guidelines provide some guidance which can make all behaviours standardised. At the same time, these guidelines also meet the specifications of compulsory laws. For instance, ‘do not expose personal information through Internet’ is a guideline, which also abide by compulsory laws about protecting personal information. For any enterprise architecture, it contains the principles which can guide all behaviours in an organisation

1.1.3 Models

Generally, model is a hypothetical description of a complex entity or process. Martin et al. (2009) pointed out that models are used to represent a system from a different way; the aim is to describe the existing system more vivid. In other words, models are the representative forms or patterns for a specific process.

Models have various shapes. Martin et al. (2009) noted that models can be displayed by graphical and non-graphical diagrams, more importantly, an increasingly number of models have been used in enterprise architecture. In enterprise architecture, different models can clearly reflect missions, visions, focuses and goals from different levels. That is, models are able to describe business processes from a broader range for an enterprise. For example, models can describe different facets of an enterprise: from missions via services, commercials and processes to information system.

1.1.4 Views

Views also play an important role in enterprise architecture. IEEE Computer Society (2000) defined view as an overview of a system which contains all the relevant sets of concerns. Martin et al. (2009) pointed out that views concentrate on specific stakeholders and their concerns which can take all stakeholders and their concerns into consideration. That is, view is a set which gather all kinds of concerns from stakeholders.

In fact, implementing enterprise strategy can not survive without views. Martin et al. (2009) noted that applying enterprise strategy is a tough job. In fact, enterprise strategy should be aligned with business processes, departments, stakeholders and information system. Enterprise architecture, as a holistic design of enterprise, should be able to display this tough job. However, a set of models can not describe all the relevant stakeholders and their concerns. Hence, views are essential which can be seen as a supplement to the models.

1.1.5 Framework

Framework is an underlying structure when it applied to enterprise architecture. Marc (2009) noted that framework is a logical structure which is of great importance to all the stakeholders and future development of the enterprise. With this logical structure, all the descriptive representation of an enterprise can be categorised and organised clearly. In addition, framework is a good method for architect. Martin et al. (2009) noted that framework with logical structure is useful for architects to choose views. A broad array of information will be organised by different levels of frameworks.

How enterprise architecture support and inform business strategy

It is clear that establish a successful enterprise is a complicated process. Marc et al. (2009) pointed out that in order to achieve the mission of an enterprise, some essentials are needed, for instance, enterprise should have a clear discernment of it structure, commercials, procedures, technology, and a better relationship with other enterprises. The above essentials which should be taken into consideration are the internal factors for an enterprise. On the other hand, Marc et al. pointed out that some external factors are also vital for enterprise, for instance, customers, suppliers, cooperative partner, rules and regulations. These external and internal essentials are of great important to the future development of an enterprise. Marc et al. also noted that when an enterprise is expanding its scale, enterprise architecture which organises these essentials is a good method. For example, an increasingly number of enterprises regards outsourcing as their strategy. The outsourcing project should keep consistency with existing business processes, otherwise it will pose a threat to the operation of an enterprise. In this circumstance, enterprise architecture is able to clearly represent the relevant activities and obligations of all the partners, and the services and relationships among these partners. In this sense, what enterprise architecture provides solves the problem of consistency of an enterprise. That is, what enterprise architecture offers support business strategy.

Enterprise architecture is a valuable method which supports business strategy. Enterprise architecture is helpful for making a plan which consists of several strategies. (Paker and Benson, 1989 cited in Marc et al. 2009) More importantly, a strategic alignment model was introduced to explain the relationship among business strategy, organisational infrastructure, Information Technology (IT) strategy and IT infrastructure, as displayed in Figure 1.1. (Henderson and Venkatraman, 1993 cited in Marc et al. 2009) Marc M. (2005) pointed out that the alignment among these four aspects can not survive without enterprise architecture. For example, based on business strategy, enterprise can obtain IT infrastructure structure through IT strategy or organisation infrastructure, on the other side, based on IT strategy, enterprise are able to have access to organisational strategy by business strategy or IT infrastructure. It is obvious that among these alignments, enterprise architecture can support to fulfil business or IT strategy.

Enterprise architecture can be seen as a management tool which is helpful for supporting business strategy for an enterprise. Marc et al. (2009) pointed out that the pyramid model clearly describes the role of enterprise architecture, as illustrated in Figure 1.2. This pyramid model contains six levels of an enterprise, which are mission, vision, strategy, goals, actions, and operations. At the top of this model, mission displays the reasons why an enterprise exists in the market. The vision represents a blueprint and beliefs enterprise holds. Strategy can provide some methods to achieve the mission and vision. Marc et al. said that in order to get to the ‘to be’ status, some changes will definitely take place in daily operations of an enterprise. And enterprise architecture is of great importance in this process. Marc et al. noted that enterprise architecture can differentiate mission and visions into specific goals; moreover, it can also apply these specific goals into specific changes. That is, enterprise architecture can provide not only an overview of the ‘as is’ and ‘to be’ statuses of an enterprise, but also the real actions enterprise should take in order to fulfil the mission and vision. In this sense, enterprise architecture supports business strategy to work.

Enterprise architecture frameworks

As mentioned, enterprise architecture can provide a holistic design of an enterprise, which is the logic for key business process. In this section, some well-known enterprise architecture frameworks will be introduced.

1.3.1 The Zachman Framework

Zachman is this first enterprise architecture which was introduced in 1987. (John, 1987 cited in Marc et al. 2009) The Zachman Framework provides a general logical structure of an enterprise. This framework covers five layers which are scope, enterprise model, system model, technology model, and detailed representations. In addition, this framework also contains several interrogatives: what, how, where, who, when and why. With all the above aspects, the Zachman Framework can work, as illustrated in Figure 1.3.

The benefits and drawbacks of this framework are obvious. Marc et al. (2009) pointed out that from the perspective of benefits, it can be understood easily, it regards the enterprise as an entirety, it provides varieties of methodologies, and it can clearly reflect the problems when the solutions do not fit in the enterprise. From the perspective of drawbacks, Marc et al. said that this framework contains a wide range of partials which can not be applied in reality.

1.3.2 The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF)

TOGAF is another enterprise architecture framework which was introduce by The Open Group in 2009. TOGAF is mainly made of the following components: an architecture capability framework, architecture development method, architecture content framework and enterprise continuum.

The characteristic of this framework is the architecture development method which is short for ADM. ADM are made of sequenced steps which enterprise should take in order to achieve the future development. More importantly, all the steps ADM offers are based on the specific business requirements. In addition, ADM pays a close attention to development of each stage, from business architecture to technology architecture.

1.3.3 The Integrated Architecture Framework (IAF)

IAF was developed by Capgemini. This framework covers four layers which are contextual, conceptual, logical and physical; and specifies problems into four areas, concentrating on business, information, information system, and technology infrastructure; and also pays attention to the problem of security and governance.

This framework reduces complexity by separating issues. Martin et al. (2009) noted that IAF can simplify the problems, so that architect can work with the issues in the context of the whole. That is, all the issues will be viewed from different areas and layers.

Specific EA architecture model

The following analysis concerning enterprise architecture will be conducted through IAF. Compared to other enterprise architectures, IAF has the following advantages. Firstly, IAF is led by business and business benefits. That is, all IAF provides are based on business and business benefits. Secondly, since IAF can specify the problem into different areas, therefore, it can be applied on all levels of architecture, for instance, enterprise itself, domains and projects. Thirdly, though IAF is exclusively owned by Capgemini, it is still free for use to any others. More importantly, the principle IAF holds is vital. The architecture which is conducted by IAF is driven from strategy. In other words, IAF provides an overview according to the strategies. For example, the roadmap IAF provides can offer a description of the general strategy of the enterprise, representing how to manage the processes, clarifying what principles enterprise hold etc. In this sense, IAF is a better framework for supporting business strategy for enterprises.

The following analysis focuses on car maintenance domain of Fidelity Cars (FC) venture. FC is a dealership of all brands of VAG in Gothonia. It is formed by imposed merger of 27 pre-existing dealerships of VAG brands. FC provides independent vehicle services and collateral services. It has established its mission on enterprise level as follows: be the mobility partner of choice for any personal transportation needs in the covered territory; be the employer of choice for anyone seeking a career in the automotive and personal mobility services industry and willing to settle in the covered territory; be the reseller of choice for all brands of the VAG industry group in the covered territory; and provide a stable revenue for lifelong shareholders that exceeds interest paid on bank accounts. In conclusion, the mission of FC intends to become the undisputed leader in the tire industry and more generally in the field of mobility assistance through its capacity for innovation, the quality of its products and services and the impacts of its brands.

Contextual Layer

2.1.1 Identifying mission

A business mission is the formal statement of the reason for existence of the organisation. It describes the essentials of the business and context of architecture. The whole architecture is based on this mission.

For the domain of car maintenance, it intends to become the undisputed leader in the car maintenance industry, and FC is the first choice for customers when they want to maintain their cars.

2.1.2 Identifying vision with objectives

Business visions with objectives are the main drivers to build the architecture. They are derived from the business mission. In this part, business objectives mainly focus on car maintenance domain. In this case, increase margin for car maintenance department is the overall business objective. It has the following sub-objectives. Firstly, reduce costs of contracts. That is, a common contract will be made between customers and car maintenance department. Secondly, response quickly to customers concerning whether they have appropriate automobile parts. That is, make a relationship between warehouse and maintenance personnel. Maintenance personnel check whether the automobile parts are available. Thirdly, increase customer satisfaction concerning on car maintenance. That is, customer satisfaction depends on what kinds of services customers are provided. Fourthly, improve the level of informatisation concerning car maintenance. In other words, all the data concerning cars and customers will be inputted into information system. All above objectives are represented in Figure 2.1.

2.1.3 Identifying stakeholders:

Customers: customers will receive car maintenance services from FC. More importantly, customers will be classified into three levels: gold level, silver level and bronze level. The classification is based on which brands of cars customers own. Customers will be provided different levels of service priority, staff and mobility.

Personnel of department of car maintenance: such as receptionists, manager of the department.

Insurance company: when car is needed to maintain, the first step is to check with the insurance company whether the car has automobile insurance.

Maintenance personnel: is the group who maintain the cars.

Warehouse: before fixing the car, maintenance personnel should check whether the automobile parts are available with warehouse.

CRM: after the car is maintained, customers will be asked to fill in the form concerning whether they are satisfied with the service, and it will be reported to CRM in order to improve the relationship between customers and enterprise.

HRM: FC is formed by merger of 27 dealerships, language is a problem. HRM will be involved to provide language courses to the personnel of car maintenance department. In addition, when without enough personnel, HRM will hire personnel for the department of car maintenance. Besides, HRM will deal with the contracts.

CSO: responsible for the overall security of FC and all services delivered by FC.

IT personnel: system of car maintenance will be maintained by IT people.

2.1.4 Identifying principles

A principle is a statement of belief, approach or intent which directs the formulation of the architecture, and may refer to the current state or a desired future state. Principles support business needs and changes customer desire. In addition, principles guide business, information system and information technology decisions and investments.

In this part, principles are based on the mission of FC and the objectives of car maintenance, as illustrated in Table 2.2. Firstly, customers should be classified into three types: gold level, silver level and bronze level. Excellent services will be provided by FC, but differentiate between brands. For example, customers with brands like Audi or Lamborghini will get highest service priority, dedicated staff and guaranteed mobility. Secondly, when a car arrives, it is essential to check whether the car has automobile insurance. Thirdly, since FC is a merger of 27 dealerships in Gothonia, a common language and contract is needed. Fourthly, all the data related to customers and cars, such as customer information, cars information, and status of maintenance should be inputted into the information system. On one hand, customers can have access to the system to know the status of maintenance; on the other hand, it can form a customer record for enterprise itself which is a valuable resource for CRM. Fifthly, excellent and enthusiastic service attitude is the fundamental principle for any enterprise and domain.

Conceptual Layer

2.2.1 Identifying Business Services

A business service describes an element of business behaviour to achieve a specific goal. In IAF, the business aspects related to goal, role and activity.

Service 1 (S1): reception service. Receptionists firstly communicate with customers to understand the requirements through an interview.

Service 2 (S2): automobile insurance check service. Receptionists should check whether the car has automobile insurance. The aim is to tell customers how to pay the bill. It can be done through checking the information on the information system of insurance company.

Service 3 (S3): A contract. After identifying the status of automobile insurance, a contract will be made between customers and department of car maintenance.

Service 4 (S4): car maintenance. Maintenance personnel repair the mechanistic problem of cars.

Service 5 (S5): car beauty. It is a special free service which will be provided to regular customers to increase their satisfaction.

Service 6 (S6): provide a report concerning car maintenance. After maintaining, a general report of cars condition will be provided by maintenance personnel. This report should also be given to the manager of department.

All the above services which contain its goals, roles and activities will be shown in the business interaction model, as illustrated in Figure 2.3.

2.2.2 Identifying Business and Information (B&I) Aspects

Business and information aspects can be used to help develop business structure of an organisation. More importantly, business and information artefacts are the key inputs for the information system and technology infrastructure areas. B&I focus on delivering key structure and behaviour specifications, guidelines and standards specifically to design and build the business.

Business event is a trigger which could explain when a service is. Business object is something that the business uses or consumes. More importantly, both business event and business object are associated with business services. For example, for S3, it is triggered by the requirements of customers. In addition, in order to finish this service, some professional tools for repairing are needed. For S4, it is triggered by market competition, in other words, to improve satisfaction of customers. It can be done through tools for car beauty. The business event and object concerning services are shown in the following table, as illustrated in Table 2.4.

Information objects are a collection of statements that are relevant to the business. Information objects focus on what information is needed and what communication of that information is required, as illustrated in Table 2.5. For example, when a receptionist check the status of automobile insurance, receptionist will log in the system of insurance company to check the insurance record.

The following Cross Reference can represent the relation between business services and information object, as represented in Table 2.6. Relate information objects and business services, stating Create, Read and Update. For example, for the reception service, the receptionist will create a customer file which include the details of the customers and cars; for the general report service, department of car maintenance will create a general report for customers.

2.2.3 Identifying IS/TI Services

Information system (IS) services are derived from business services, and information system services are supported by technology infrastructure (TI) services. IS supports specific business requirements, TI supports generic requirements. In this project, IS services depend on business services.

In this part, it is essential to identify the whole process of car maintenance in FC. Firstly, when a customer comes to the department of car maintenance of FC, the receptionist should communicate with the customer in order to understand the requirement and which brands customer has. It aims at to classify the customers. Secondly, receptionist should check whether the car has the automobile insurance or not, if it is, the bill should be connected with insurance company, if not, the bill should be paid by the customer. After that, a contract should be made between department and customer. Then, if the car needs mechanical repair, the maintenance personnel will first check the problems, then check with warehouse whether the automobile parts are available, if available, continue to maintain, if not, order automobile parts from VAG, after the automobile pars arrive, start to maintain. After maintenance, the car will be provided different levels of car beauty. Customers can get their cars back according to the date which is made in contract. In addition, customers will be asked to fill in the form concerning whether they are satisfied with the provided services after they get their cars back. During this process, all the data should be updated in the information system, such as customer information, contract information, condition of maintenance etc.

The IS services contain the followings, as illustrated in Figure 2.7. Take two IS services as example, the first IS service is that check or create a customer file. That is, when a customer arrives, receptionist should first check whether the personal file of customer has already been set up, if not, it is essential to create a customer file. The second IS service is that check the status of automobile insurance with insurance company.

A TI Interaction model describes and visualises the interaction between TI services, as illustrated in Figure 2.8. In the following example, it is obvious that how TI services supports IS service. In layer of TI services, it provides some infrastructures which support IS services.

The following cross reference is a good way to look at completeness and consistency of the IS services. It can justify the existence of IS services, as illustrated in Table 2.9.

LAN services

Customer storage services

Access to insurance company system

Warehouse service

WAN service

Check/ create customer file

√

√

√

Check automobile insurance

√

√

Make a contract

√

√

√

Create maintenance log

√

√

√

Update car beauty log

√

√

√

Update working log

√

√

√

Table 2.9 Cross Reference (IS/TI)

Logical Layer

2.3.1 Solution architectures

Logical components are groups of services and represent the key elements of the desired solutions. In addition, solution alternatives is a way to define two or three solutions at logical level, it provides different ways to organise services into components. Each alternative has its clustering criteria.

In this case, the criterion of the first alternative is that according to the personnel of the department of car maintenance, as illustrated in Figure 2.10. That is, S1 and S2 are done by personnel of receptionists, S3 and S6 and done by personnel of higher level, such as manager, and S4 and S5 are done by personnel of maintenance.

The criterion of second alternative is that according to the sequence of time, as illustrated in Figure 2.11. That is, S1, S2 and S3 are done before maintaining a car, S4 and S5 are the process of maintaining a car, and S6 is a service which is after maintaining a car.

The third alternative can be drawn from a perspective of governance, as illustrated in Figure 2.12. That is, S5 and S6 aim at to improve satisfaction of customers, S1, S2 and S3 aim to take control of quality, and S4 aims at to finish the fundamental job.

The following cross reference concerning solutions and principles makes a comparison of solutions to identify which solution is much better, as illustrated in Table 2.13. Specifically, the second alternative is much better. The second alternative focuses on the sequence of time, which is also easier to understand.

After assessing the alternatives, it is obvious that the second alternative is the preferred solution. It is essential to analysis the logical information component and logical business information service component.

The logical information component describes coherence of information objects typically from usage by business information services perspective. For example, regarding customer as a logical information component, customer will need the following information objects: personal profile, a contract and general report. These three information objects contain the information customer needs, as illustrated in Figure 2.14.

The logical business information service component describes coherence of business information services from an information object perspective. For example, regarding car maintenance as a service, it needs the following business information services: preparing automobile parts and updating maintenance details, as illustrated in Figure 2.15.

2.3.2 Security and Governance

Security and governance is first a business issue, this could bring IS and IT issues. Security focuses on risks typically in relation to cost. Governance focuses on quality typically in relation to cost. Security and governance are the basic for architecture. In this case, services concerning security and governance belong to controls which deal with potential risks.

The following cross reference concerning threats and services describe the potential risks which have the negative impact on business services, as illustrated in Table 2.16. For example, if without enough personnel, all the services will not be done, therefore, quantity of personnel is one of the threats. Another threat is that without enough automobile parts, car maintenance and car beauty will not be finished.

The next cross reference concerning controls and services represents the relevant controls which can help the services runs more smoothly, as illustrated in Table 2.17. For example, a backup is necessary for all services. Because all the data concerning services will be stored in the information system, therefore a backup can deal with the problem of system crashes. Another control is that report the quantity of automobile parts to FC frequently, it can solve the problem of deficiency in automobile parts.

Physical layer

2.4.1 Roadmap

An engagement roadmap is a process pattern describing how to run an architectural engagement for specific architectural objectives within a specific client. It specifies architecture content as well as the engagement process.

An engagement roadmap focuses on the business issue, the context, the engagement objectives and expectations, the expected architecture value, and the architecture objectives. It represents not only how to design the architecture but also how architects add value to client using architecture.

The following roadmap is an internal roadmap which is used by the architects, as illustrated in Figure 2.18.

Figure 2.18 Internal Roadmap

The following table gives a description of each stage in internal roadmap, as illustrated in Table 2.19.

The following roadmap is an external roadmap, which will be shown to the FC venture, as illustrated in Figure 2.19.

Figure 2.19 External Roadmap

The whole process concerning architecting will be expected to last for four months, which will be started from 1st, Jan to 40th, Apr.

2.4.2 Migration Approach

In this part, the main job is to migrate from existing landscape to designed architecture. That is, create a shopping list; consider implementation and order lead time, which aims at to get to the ‘to-be’ system.

This new architecture can adopt the following migration pattern. Firstly, implement the new architecture component. Secondly, make competitive service based on new architecture component available, for instance, customers can have access to know the status of maintenance, it will improve the satisfaction of customers. Thirdly, run campaign to attract users to new architecture. It will trigger an interest on using this new system. For example, at the trial stage, in department of car maintenance, personnel who update the information of cars timely will be given a bonus. Fourthly, run campaign to offload last users of old solution. Finally, shut down the old system and implement this new system with a new architecture.

2.4.3 Analyse Impact

This new architecture for department of car maintenance in FC can bring many benefits to the FC venture. Firstly, all the processes are informationalised. On one hand, it will reduce the costs of management. For instance, all the contracts will be stored in the system. On the other hand, it can potentially increase customer satisfaction. That is, statuses of maintenance will be updated in the system, and customer can have access to know the status of maintenance. Secondly, this new architecture requires the capability of common language and common contract. To some extent, it solves the problem of merger of 27 pre-existing dealerships. Thirdly, the new architecture requires a stable system for the department of car maintenance, and all the processes are stored in the system through information stream. In this sense, the level of security is much higher. It can protect the information not only for customers but also for enterprise itself.

Conclusion

In this case, the whole process is conducted through the method of IAF. The analysis is unfolded through four layers: contextual, conceptual, logical, and physical. IAF uses different views to look at the architecture from different perspectives. Therefore, the problem which is broken down into aspects is simplified. In addition, what IAF provides is all based on the context of an organisation. IAF gives an overview to fulfil the mission of an organisation. IAF regards business strategy as the input resources, the architecture IAF provides are all based on the strategy. In other words, IAF helps to support and inform business strategy in order to achieve the objectives of an organisation.

It is obvious that enterprise architecture provides a holistic view of related domains in enterprise. Enterprise architecture provides the essential parts from different levels of an organisation. For example, based on the objectives, it specifies the services; based on the services, it provides the framework of information system etc. Enterprise architecture regards the mission as the starting point, providing the route enterprise should take to achieve the mission. In essence, what enterprise architecture provides supports and inform the business strategy for an enterprise.