A Framework to Support Business-IT Alignment in Enterprise Architecture Decision Making

Abstract

Business-IT alignment is one of the key concerns of general management and chief information officers. It is commonly recognized as an important instrument for realizing organizational effectiveness. Achieving business-IT alignment requires often change in the way managers regard IT and it demands co-operation between general and IT management. The challenge of aligning business- and IT-related concerns and requirements in architecture decision making situations is the focus of this study. As one possible solution, we present a framework of architecture decisions. This framework defines decision making aspects and business and architecture plans. Decisions are suggested to be compared against these plans at each aspect. In addition, long-term and short-term decisions at each decision making aspect are defined. This framework is meant to support creation of shared domain knowledge (especially long-term alignment) through the use of enterprise architecture plans in decision making situations. Furthermore, it can be used to support the alignment of business and IT through decision making and to assist in the evaluation of decisions. The framework was evaluated in a focus group interview by practitioners.