Confenis Conference Presentation

Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Department of Management Information Science and Operations Management

Maxime Bernaert and Geert Poels11/04/2023

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Enterprise Architecture for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Maxime BernaertPromoter: Prof. Dr. Geert Poels


Maxime Bernaert and Geert Poels2

Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Architecture (EA)1: a holistic approach to keep things aligned in a company (IT - business, operations - strategy).

Holistic overview: Optimization of the company as a whole

(essentials are more stable than specific solutions) Strategy --> Operations Understood by all those involved

1Lankhorst M (2009) Enterprise Architecture at Work: Modelling, Communication and Analysis. Springer-Verlag, New York










Some advantages: Common architecture from multiple stakeholders Overview with different viewpoints Testing environment Analysis and optimization Change impact analysis Find best-fitted ERP system



Enterprise Architecture for SMEs

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises2

European definition• <= 250 employees• Annual turnover <= 50 million euros or total assets <=

43 million euros

2European Commission (2003) Recommendation 2003/361/EC: SME Definition. Official Journal of the European Union 46 (L 124) (6)




Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Important for economy3

• 20.8 million SMEs in Europe (99.8% of all companies)• 19.2 million micro enterprises (<= 10 employees,

turnover <= 2 million euros or total assets <= 2 million euros)

• 70% of European jobs, 58.4% of gross production

3European Commission (2010) Are EU SMEs Recovering from the Crisis? Annual Report on EU Small and Medium Sized Enterprises 2011




EA for SMEs???4,5

Not known in SMEs Not used in SMEs

4De Nil S, Deprost E, Bernaert M, Poels G (2012) Van Strategie tot Procesmodellering in Kleine en Middelgrote Organisaties: Een Exploratief Onderzoek. University of Ghent, Ghent5Devos J (2011) IT Governance for SMEs. University of Ghent, Ghent




Problems faced by SMEs Lack of structure and overview in the company6

6O'Gorman C (2001) The Sustainability of Growth in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Int J Entrep Behav Res 7 (2):60-75

0 2 5 10 15

100%

70%50%

33%25%

Survival Rate

Year




Problems faced by SMEs ERP adoption (fit with current business)? Communication (processes, strategy)? Concrete job description? Strategy and processes change (alignment?) Asses impact of changes? Different stakeholders? New CEO? Knowledge as a production factor?




Solutions provided by EA Easier to find a suitable ERP system Processes and strategy are explicitly modeled Job description can be queried Processes are explicitly linked with strategy Different domains are interrelated Stakeholders are linked with their goals Knowledge of CEO can be made explicit Entrepreneurial knowledge can be shared




EA for SMEs??? Not known in SMEs Not used in SMEs Adoption models



Adoption Models

Technology Acceptance Model7

Most referred model for information technology adoption

Perceived usefulness: the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance

Perceived ease of use: the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort

7Davis FD (1989) Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. MIS Q 13 (3):319-340



Adoption Models

Technology Acceptance Model



Adoption Models

Method Evaluation Model8

Model for method evaluation of IS design research TAM and Methodological Pragmatism9:

“Regardless of the potential benefits of IS design methods published, unless they are used in practice, these benefits cannot be realized”

8Moody DL The Method Evaluation Model: A Theoretical Model for Validating Information Systems Design Methods. In: Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on Information Systems, Naples, Italy, 20039Rescher N (1977) Methodological Pragmatism: A Systems-Theoretic Approach to the Theory of Knowledge. Basil Blackwell, Oxford



Adoption Models

Methodological Pragmatism



Adoption Models

Method Evaluation Model




EA for SMEs??? Increase the perceived usefulness

• Increase actual effectiveness• Advantages for SMEs in practice

Increase the perceived ease of use• Adapt methods to an SME context (in practice)• Complexity10 (= 1/actual efficiency) must be decreased

From actual to perceived efficacy• Test in SMEs: feedback + EA gets better known

10Rogers EM, Shoemaker FF (1971) Communication of Innovations: A Cross-Cultural Approach. The Free Press, New York




Research stepsSmall and medium sized enterprisesEnterprise architecture

Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation




Design Science11

11Hevner AR, March ST, Park J, Ram S (2004) Design Science in Information Systems Research. MIS Q 28 (1):75-105




Design Science: seven guidelines1. A metamodel and method are created (guideline 1: creation

of an artifact) 2. for SMEs (guideline 2: for a specified problem domain).3. The approach is evaluated in case studies (guideline 3:

thorough evaluation of the artifact).4. No specific EA approach for SMEs exists (guideline 4:

innovative, novelty).5. The metamodel and method have to be formalized

(guideline 5: the artifact must be rigorously defined, formally represented, coherent, and internally consistent).




Design Science: seven guidelines6. The case studies are used to refine the metamodel and

develop and refine the method (guideline 6: search process).7. Finally, articles have to be written about the approach, both

in academic journals as in journals for practitioners. Even more important, the approach has to be implemented and tested in practice (guideline 7: communication both to a technical and managerial audience).





Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation





Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation




Five criteria for SMEs (derived from characteristics)1. The approach should enable SMEs to time efficiently

work on strategic issues.2. A person with limited IT skills should be able to apply the

approach.3. It should be possible to apply the approach with little

assistance of external experts.4. The approach should enable making descriptions of how

things are done in the company.5. The CEO must be involved in the approach.




Five criteria for EA (derived from definition)1. Control: “Controlling the complexity of the enterprise.”2. Holistic Overview: “EA has to capture the essentials of

the enterprise (more stable).”3. Objectives: “Translation from corporate strategy to daily

operations.”4. Suitable for its target audience (here: SMEs):

“Understood by all those involved.” 5. Enterprise: “Optimization of the company as a whole

instead of doing local optimization within individual domains.”





Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation





Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation







“Understood by all those involved.” 5. Enterprise: “Optimization of the company as a whole








“Understood by all those involved.” (Simple)5. Enterprise: “Optimization of the company as a whole





Existing EA techniques




CHOOSE metamodel





Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation





Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation








Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation





Case studies

CHOOSE metamodel

Tool support

Criteria

CHOOSE method

Criteria for tools

Validation






Past Work

Integrating the semantics of events, processes and tasks across requirements engineering layersBernaert M, Poels G, PhD Day FEB UGent 2010, May 28th, Ghent

A Consolidated Enterprise Reference Model - Integrating McCarthy's and Hruby's Resource-Event-Agent Reference ModelsLaurier W., Bernaert M., Poels G. 2010. ICEIS (3), pp. 159-164

Integrating the semantics of events, processes and tasks across requirements engineering layersBernaert M, Poels G, 2010. Proceedings of the Doctoral Consortium of the 22nd International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE'10), Hammamet, Tunisia, 2010, pp. 11-19.

The Quest for Know-How, Know-Why, Know-What and Know-Who: Using KAOS for Enterprise ModellingBernaert M, Poels G, PhD Day FEB UGent 2011, May 24th, Ghent

Het Realiseren van een Globaal Procesoverzicht bij Gedecentraliseerde ProcesarchitecturenVancaeneghem T., Bernaert M., Poels G., 2011, Thesis



Past Work

The quest for know-how, know-why, know-what and know-who: using KAOS for enterprise modelingBernaert M, Poels G, 2011. 6th International Workshop on Business/IT Alignment and Interoperability (BUSITAL), London, UK, 2011. In: LECTURE NOTES IN BUSINESS INFORMATION PROCESSING 83: 29-40.

The Quest for Know-How, Know-Why, Know-What and Know-Who: Using KAOS for Enterprise ModellingBernaert M, Poels G, 2011, Proceedings of the 6th SIKS Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, pp. 15 - 16, Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (EIS2011) (Delft (The Netherlands)).

De zoektocht naar Know-How, Know-Why, Know-What en Know-Who: architectuur voor kleinere bedrijven in vier dimensiesBernaert M, 2011, Informatie, November nummer, 34-41.

Enterprise architecture for small and medium sized enterprisesBernaert M, Poels G, PhD Day FEB UGent 2012, May 25th, Ghent

Keuzes Maken binnen Processen: Het Vermijden van een Russische Roulette voor de OrganisatiesHeyse M., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2012), Thesis



Past Work

Van Strategie tot Procesmodellering in Kleine en Middelgrote Organisaties: Een Exploratief OnderzoekDe Nil S., Deprost E., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2012), Thesis

Submitted Enterprise Architecture for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Bernaert M, Poels G, 2012, Submitted for Information Systems and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs): State of art of IS research in SMEs

In progress Mapping the CHOOSE metamodel on ArchiMate

Roose D., Vansteenlandt J., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2012), Thesis Softwareondersteuning voor een business architectuur in Access en Java

Ingelbeen D., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2013), Thesis Business architecture modelling in CHOOSE: an internationalized application for Android

tabletsMaes J., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2013), Thesis



Past Work

Next generation media: a user-friendly Android tablet application for business architecture modellingDumeez J., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2013), Thesis

Business architectuur modellering in CHOOSE: een gebruiksvriendelijke applicatie aangepast aan de user interface van de iPadVerhulst P., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2013), Thesis

Business architectuur modellering in KMO’s: case study onderzoek ter verfijning en validatie van de CHOOSE-methodeCallaert M., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2013), Thesis

Business architectuur modellering in CHOOSE: een gebruiksvriendelijke applicatie voor de iPhonePuylaert O., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2013), Thesis

Softwareondersteuning voor een business architectuur in EclipseZutterman S., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2013), Thesis

Next generation media: a user-friendly iPad application for business architecture modellingOtte M., Bernaert M., Poels G. (2013), Thesis



Future Work

More case studies (started) Effective in examining application in real-world scenarios,

particularly in emerging research domains12

Formalize metamodel (ConceptBase & OCL) (planned)

Develop method (started) Finish tool support (half way) Link with ArchiMate (planned)

12Yin RK (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, vol 5. Applied Social Research Methods Series. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, USA



Questions

Maxime Bernaert

[email protected]

FEB08, Tweekerkenstraat 2

9000 Ghent, Belgium

mailto:[email protected]