Enterprise Architecture as an Enabler for a Government Business Ecosystem : Experiences from Finland

Abstract

Public sector procurement units in the field of ICT suffer from siloed, application-specific architectures, where each system operates in isolation from others. As a consequence, similar or even identical data is maintained in several different databases, hosted by different organizations. Such problems are caused by the lack of standard guidelines and practices that would result in interoperable systems, instead of overlapping ones. In the Finnish public sector, an enterprise architecture (EA) is a mandatory requirement, so that an ecosystem can be formed to overcome the above problems. However, the adoption rates are low, and the focus is often on technology rather than processes and practices. This study investigates the use of EA and its potential in Finnish procurement units through semi-structured interviews. Five procurement units and four vendors participated in the study, and altogether 12 interviews took place. As a result of the study, a practical implication is establishing decentralized project management practices in procurement units and enhancing leadership to establish a holistic EA. Furthermore, EA maturity evolution increases agility in the procurement unit.