A framework to evaluate the interoperability of information systems – Measuring the maturity of the business process alignment

In the current socio-economic environment, to face challenges such as the emergence of new technologies, globalisation and increasing demands from their clients it is inevitable that enterprises will collaborate with others and progressively shift their boundaries. In this context, interoperability has become a prerequisite in the jigsaw of such collaboration. By definition, it is entities’ ability to work together as an organisation. This ability spans a wide range of aspects, embracing both technical and business issues. Over the past decade, both the concept and the context of interoperability have been extended from a largely IT-focused domain to a business-focused domain and the evaluation of interoperability has become a rising concern. An increasing number of studies have concentrated on not just digital but business aspects of human behaviour in the social environment. In general, the wider application domain is the assessment of the interoperability of information systems and processes in any organisation (especially medium and large) that needs multiple processes to interact effectively.