IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/binfse/v1y2009i2p150-163.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Virtual Decoupling for IT/Business Alignment – Conceptual Foundations, Architecture Design and Implementation Example

Author

Listed:
  • Stephan Aier
  • Robert Winter

Abstract

IT/business alignment is one of the main topics of information systems research. If IT artifacts and business-related artifacts are coupled point-to-point, however, complex architectures become unmanageable over time. In computer science, concepts like the ANSI/SPARC three-level database architecture propose an architecture layer which decouples external views on data and the implementation view of data. In this paper, a similar approach for IT/business alignment is proposed. The proposed alignment architecture is populated by enterprise services as elementary artifacts. Enterprise services link software components and process activities. They are aggregated into applications and subsequently into domains for planning/design and communication purposes. Most design approaches for the construction of enterprise services, applications and domains are top-down, i. e. they decompose complex artifacts on a stepwise basis. As an alternative which takes into account coupling semantics, we propose a bottom-up approach which is demonstrated for the identification of domains. Our approach is evaluated using a telecommunications equipment case study. Copyright Gabler Verlag 2009

Suggested Citation

  • Stephan Aier & Robert Winter, 2009. "Virtual Decoupling for IT/Business Alignment – Conceptual Foundations, Architecture Design and Implementation Example," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 1(2), pages 150-163, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:binfse:v:1:y:2009:i:2:p:150-163
    DOI: 10.1007/s12599-008-0010-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s12599-008-0010-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12599-008-0010-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Buxmann, Peter & Weitzel, Tim & Westarp, Falk von & König, Wolfgang, 1999. "The Standardization Problem : An Economic Analysis of Standards in Information Systems," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 103247, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    2. Michael L. Katz & Carl Shapiro, 1994. "Systems Competition and Network Effects," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 93-115, Spring.
    3. Buxmann, Peter & Weitzel, Tim & von Westarp, Falk & König, Wolfgang, 1999. "The Standardization Problem : An Economic Analysis of Standards in Information Systems," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 36521, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christoph Dorsch, 2015. "On the Sound Financial Valuation of Flexibility in Information Systems," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 57(2), pages 115-127, April.
    2. Peter Rohner, 2013. "Identity Management for Health Professionals," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 5(1), pages 17-33, February.
    3. Morteza Alaeddini & Hamed Asgari & Arash Gharibi & Mona Rashidi Rad, 2017. "Leveraging business-IT alignment through enterprise architecture—an empirical study to estimate the extents," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 55-82, March.
    4. Meier, Markus & Rosenkranz, Friedrich, 2011. "Aggregation of Hospital Business Processes," Working papers 2011/08, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roman Beck & Daniel Beimborn & Tim Weitzel & Wolfgang König, 2008. "Network effects as drivers of individual technology adoption: Analyzing adoption and diffusion of mobile communication services," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 415-429, September.
    2. Klein, Michael, 1996. "Competition in network industries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1591, The World Bank.
    3. Kanis Saengchote & Voraprapa Nakavachara & Yishuang Xu, 2023. "Capitalising the Network Externalities of New Land Supply in the Metaverse," PIER Discussion Papers 203, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Marta Gancarczyk, 2010. "Model schyłku i odrodzenia klastrów," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 1-21.
    5. Estelle Malavolti, 2016. "Single Till or Dual Till at airports: a Two-Sided Market Analysis," Post-Print hal-01406372, HAL.
    6. Honohan, Patrick*Vittas, Dimitri, 1996. "Bank regulation and the network paradigm : policy implications for developing and transition economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1631, The World Bank.
    7. Gual, Jordi, 2003. "Market Definition in the Telecoms Industry," CEPR Discussion Papers 3988, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Kevin J. Boudreau & Andrei Hagiu, 2009. "Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators," Chapters, in: Annabelle Gawer (ed.), Platforms, Markets and Innovation, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Colombo, Massimo G. & Garrone, Paola, 1998. "Common carriers' entry into multimedia services," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 77-105, March.
    10. Erzurumlu, S. Sinan, 2013. "The compatibility of durable goods with contingent generic consumables," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 574-585.
    11. Fox, Stephen & Groesser, Stefan N., 2016. "Reframing the relevance of research to practice," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 457-465.
    12. Cecere, Grazia & Corrocher, Nicoletta & Battaglia, Riccardo David, 2015. "Innovation and competition in the smartphone industry: Is there a dominant design?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 162-175.
    13. Claire M. Weiller & Michael G. Pollitt, 2013. "Platform markets and energy services," Working Papers EPRG 1334, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    14. Slowak, André P., 2009. "Market fields structure & dynamics in industrial automation," FZID Discussion Papers 02-2009, University of Hohenheim, Center for Research on Innovation and Services (FZID).
    15. Kanis Saengchote & Voraprapa Nakavachara & Yishuang Xu, 2023. "Capitalising the Network Externalities of New Land Supply in the Metaverse," Papers 2303.17180, arXiv.org.
    16. Gediminas Adomavicius & Jesse Bockstedt & Alok Gupta, 2012. "Modeling Supply-Side Dynamics of IT Components, Products, and Infrastructure: An Empirical Analysis Using Vector Autoregression," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 397-417, June.
    17. Jeroen Struben & Brandon H. Lee & Christopher B. Bingham, 2020. "Collective Action Problems and Resource Allocation During Market Formation," Post-Print hal-02927584, HAL.
    18. Bryan Caplan & Edward Stringham, 2003. "Networks, Law, and the Paradox of Cooperation," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 309-326, December.
    19. Jing Li & Yulin Zhang, 2021. "More market awareness, more profit? Competitive environments, business expansions, and two‐sided markets," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(2), pages 249-267, March.
    20. Gary Charness & Francesco Feri & Miguel A. Meléndez‐Jiménez & Matthias Sutter, 2014. "Experimental Games on Networks: Underpinnings of Behavior and Equilibrium Selection," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(5), pages 1615-1670, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:binfse:v:1:y:2009:i:2:p:150-163. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.