Enterprise Architecture

Introduction

What kind of business processes are important in our organisation, and how can we support these processes using IT? What is the application landscape of our organisation, and do we need to update it to improve the speed and flexibility with which we can do business? How can we manage our technical infrastructure to improve access to information for our employees but at the same time minimise security risks?

In this course, you will learn the techniques that allow you to answer these and other questions. The core subject of the course is the modelling and analysis of enterprise-wide architectures (i.e. business process architectures, information architectures, application architectures, technical architectures, combination of architectures, and so on). In addition, we will discuss related topics such as risk management and compliance monitoring.

The course consists of a combination of lectures and practical lab sessions in which we will work on a number of assignments. Furthermore, there will be guest lectures given by experts from business practice. Finally, the students will have to investigate and analyse the architecture of a real company in the company assignment.

Learning objectives

• Play the role of an enterprise architect by selecting the most convenient frameworks for enterprise architecture
• Elicit information from real organisations in order to specify enterprise architectures
• Model complex enterprise architectures by using different modelling techniques
• Use a professional language to present the different aspects of enterprise architectures by means of short presentations and poster
• Provide novel solutions in terms of enterprise architectures for real companies in the Dutch context
• Guide the evolution of an enterprise architecture by modelling as-is and to-be scenarios
• Review consultancy reports and discovery strengths and weaknesses.
• Write a consultancy report that describes the improvement of the enterprise architecture of a real world company

Content

• The content of the course involves Enterprise Architecture topics such as service oriented architectures, business process modelling, simulation, architectural maturity, architecture rationales, and business-IT alignment.

Lecturer

The main lecturer of the course is Marcela Ruiz, with some additional guest lecturers. The teaching assistant of the course is Tom Osinga.

If you have any questions about the course, please contact us at ´m . ruiz [at] u u . nl´

Literature

A large part of the course is based on Enterprise Architecture at Work (4rd ed.), by Marc Lankhorst et al. An electronic version of the book can be downloaded from the Utrecht University library (Solis ID needed). In addition to the book, we will also discuss various articles, which can be found on the resources page. Finally, all the material presented in the lectures can also be part of the exam.

Language

The language of this course is English. Exam, assignments, workshops, lectures etc., are provided in English. The assignments and workshops should be delivered in English.