STRUCTURABILITY OF BOUNDARY OBJECTS IN ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE MANAGEMENT

摘要

The management of IT architectures and their alignment to business and organizational characteristics is a complex activity. For communication between different views of the enterprise information system, various boundary objects must be used to facilitate understanding of what is to be achieved. Boundary objects in the form of enterprise architectures are used for optimizing the enterprise information system. The aim is therefore to mediate between different views of the business, the applications or the IT systems. In this connection it is interesting to determine the extent to which boundary objects may be structured in a way analogous to the structuring of information systems, in order that they fulfill their purpose as effectively as possible. This article shows that potential for structuring exists. In this way, enterprise architectures with various views may contribute to business-IT alignment as communication tools. The effectiveness and efficacity of the structuring of this communication, for example on the basis of graphical representations, may vary. Likewise, the discourse between those involved with regard to boundary objects is crucial in order to achieve a minimum of mutual understanding between the various views of the enterprise information system. This also means that companies or administrations must also be aware of which boundary objects are to be used and in which combination, and which structurable features these should have.