Authors: Michael Wufka, Yair Wand
Tags: 2008, conceptual modeling, enterprise architecture, service oriented architecture
Many organizations today have a large number of information systems with numerous mutual dependencies. This situation is usually the result of unstructured evolution of both the organizations and their information systems, external events like mergers or regulatory changes, and technological progress. The complexity of the IT landscape unfortunately makes it very hard to maintain information systems or to adapt them to organizational changes. The discipline of Enterprise Architecture addresses this issue by providing conceptual models of the information systems, their interactions and their links to the organization. However, methods to model Enterprise Architectures themselves are usually not based on a sound theoretical basis and offer users little methodological assistance. We suggest applying the paradigm of Service Orientation to Enterprise Architecture. Because Service Orientation itself is poorly defined, we propose a conceptual model of service oriented constructs, including entity types, roles, and services. Based on this model we illustrate how these constructs can be applied to different elements of Enterprise Architecture. Finally, we provide an overview of possible extensions. These include an ontological evaluation of the model of Service Orientation, the development of modeling rules for Enterprise Architecture models, and a proof of concept using a case study.
Cite as:
Wufka M., Wand Y. (2008). “Towards Service Oriented Modeling of Enterprise Architectures,” in AIS SIGSAND, Provo, Utah, United States, May 23-24, 2008.
