BusinessIT alignment in the GRAAL project

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Business/IT alignment in the GRAAL project
Pascal van Eck, Roel Wieringa (Dept. of Computer
Science, Information Systems Group) SIKS course
Information Organization, Dec. 6-8, 2004,
Vught, The Netherlands
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Goal of this presentation

• Present a theoretical perspective on business/IT
  alignment
• and introduce a few concepts from strategic
  management
• Present the GRAAL framework as a means for
  alignment research
• Present case study observations about alignment
  in practice

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Agenda

• Goal of this presentation
• Theory alignment according to Henderson
  Venkatraman
• The GRAAL project and framework
• Case study observations
• Conclusion

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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What is business/IT alignment?

• Business/IT alignment
• Allocation of IT budgets such that business
  functions are supported in an optimal way

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Strategy (and tactics) 1/2

• Strategy external position of the organization
• Product/market combinations
• Make-or-buy decisions
• Human resources
• Impact of decisions years

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Strategy (and tactics) 2/2

• Tactical level realizing the strategy by
  internal means
• Impact of decisions month(s) 1 year
• Example organization structure
• Operational level day-to-day decisions
• Impact of decisions day(s) month(s)
• Example hire temps in case of sudden increase in
  sales

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Beware strategy hierarchy

• One persons tactical problems are another
  persons strategic problems
• E.g., corporate tactics become strategic goals of
  business units
• and so on, and so on.

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Taken from Henderson, Venkatraman, (1993).
Strategic alignment Leveraging information
technology for transforming organisations. IBM
Systems Journal, 32(1)472-484.
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Henderson Venkatramans take home message

• Similar to business strategy, IT strategy has to
  consider both internal as well as external
  aspects
• Both internal/external alignment as well as
  functional integration must be taken into
  account. Only one of them is not sufficient

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Agenda

• Goal of this presentation
• Theory alignment according to Henderson
  Venkatraman
• The GRAAL project and framework
• Case study observations
• Conclusion

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Project GRAAL

• Guidelines Regarding Architecture ALignment
• Goal discovery of patterns in enterprise-level
  application architecture
• Based on case studies in Dutch financial service
  organizations and large government organizations

Project page http//is.cs.utwente.nl/GRAAL
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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What is a system?

• A system is an assembly of components that
  behaves as a whole
• There is synergy between components
• and this synergy results in emergent properties
• A product is a system with properties that are
  useful for someone
• Examples
• The system of law
• The Dutch national soccer team uses a 3-3-4
  system
• A systematic way of working

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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System dimensions

• System aspects externally observable properties
• Aggregation hierarchy system composition in
  terms of components
• System life cycle from conception to disposal

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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System life cycle
Acquisition (build or buy)
Conception
Usage
Disposal
Time
Maintenance (Corrective and perfective)

• Typical stages in the life of a system
• During design, we should deal with all stages

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Software product aspects
SW product aspect
Services
Quality
Behavior
Communication
Meaning
For user
For developer
...
Usability
Efficiency
Security
....
Maintainability
Portability

• Aspects are what observers can observe
• Service interaction
• Behavior in what sequence (time)
• Communication with whom (space)
• Meaning about what

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Aggregation
Behavior Communication Meaning Quality
Composite system
Behavior Communication Meaning Quality
Behavior Communication Meaning Quality
External entity
External entity
System
Behavior Communication Meaning Quality
...
Component
...
Aspect and aggregation are independent
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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The meaning of aggregation

• C is a component of A if
• C provides service to A
• A encapsulates C
• If we drop encapsulation, we get layering

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Architecture layers
Primary service provision

• Layer structure crosses worlds
• This is not possible with encapsulation

Business environment
Social world
Business
Business software
Symbol world
SW Infrastructure
Physical infrastructure
Physical world
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Structure of the business system layer
Primary service provision
Business environment
Social world
Business
Applications Functionality
Business systems serve particular user groups
Information systems Data
Symbol world
SW Infrastructure
Physical world
Physical infrastructure
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Structure of the SW infrastructure layer
Primary service provision
Business environment
Social world
Business
Business systems
Infrastructure serves all user groups
Office SW, Browser, ...
Middleware
DBMS, WFMS, Directory server, Web server, ...
Symbol world
OS, Network software
Physical infrastructure
Physical world
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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The physical world is BIG!
Primary service provision
Business environment
Social world
Business
Business software
Symbol world
SW Infrastructure
Processors, peripherals, UI devices,
wires, electromagnetic waves, wireless access
points, .... Radio network, electricity network,
telephone network, water supply network, gas
supply network, sewage network, road network,
.... Buildings, ... machine tools, ....
Physical world
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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The framework
System life
Disposal
Usage Maintenance
Acquisition
Conception
Quality
Services
Aspects
Behavior
Communication
Meaning
Usability ...
Maintainability ...
Business environment
Social world
Business
Service provision
Business SW (applications information systems)
Symbol world
SW infrastructure (OS, NW, MW, DBMS, WFMS, ...)
Physical infrastructure (Computers, network,
access points, ...)
Physical world
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Agenda

• Goal of this presentation
• Theory alignment according to Henderson
  Venkatraman
• The GRAAL project and framework
• Case study observations
• Conclusion

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Documents studied
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framework Observations Conclusion
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Main findings

• Development of application level and
  infrastructure level are different
• Application level
• Event-driven
• Structured according to user groups
• Infrastructure level
• Time-triggered
• Structured according to technology domains
• Structure development org. should follow
  structure of client organization

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Application alignment
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Goals
Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Problems
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framework Observations Conclusion
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Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Two perspectives
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framework Observations Conclusion
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IT development organization and client
organization observation

• Development organization before reorganization
• One department per client group
• Per department subdepartment per development
  phase (account managers, architects, designers,
  programmers)
• Development organization after reorganization
• One department per development phase
• Per department subdepartment per client group

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Conway

• Conways Law
• Structure of designed artefact is isomorphic to
  structure of development team
• Consequence of restructuring
• Structure development organization no longer fits
  architecture (not isomorphic)
• Clients miss their point of contact
• Old structure re-emerges in ad-hoc fashion

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Agenda

• Goal of this presentation
• Theory alignment according to Henderson
  Venkatraman
• The GRAAL project and framework
• Case study observations
• Conclusion

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Conclusion

• GRAAL provides simple framework for studying
  business/IT alignment
• Case study observations
• More than one alignment perspective, this often
  results in mis-alignment
• Isomorphism between development organization and
  client organization desirable

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Literature

• Strategic Alignment Model
• Henderson, Venkatraman, (1993). Strategic
  alignment Leveraging information technology for
  transforming organisations. IBM Systems Journal,
  32(1)472-484.http//researchweb.watson.ibm.com/j
  ournal/sj/382/henderson.pdf
• Extension of Strategic Alignment Model
• Maes, R., Rijsenbrij, D., Truijens, O. and
  Goedvolk, H. (2000). Redefining businessIT
  alignment through a unified framework. PrimaVera
  Working Paper 2000-19, Univ. of Amsterdam, Dept.
  Accountancy and Inf. Mngt.http//imwww.fee.uva.nl
  /maestro/PDF/2000-19.pdf
• GRAAL results
• Eck, P. van, Blanken, H. and Wieringa, R. (2004).
  Project GRAAL Towards Operational Architecture
  Alignment. Int. J. of Cooperative Information
  Systems, 13(3)235-255.http//is.cs.utwente.nl/GR
  AAL/eck_blanken_wieringa_ijcis04.pdf

Goal Henderson Venkatraman The GRAAL
framework Observations Conclusion
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Pascal van EckDepartment of Computer
ScienceUniversity of TwenteP.O. Box 2177500 AE
EnschedeThe NetherlandsEmail
vaneck_at_cs.utwente.nlhttp//www.cs.utwente.nl/pat
veck