Telematics and Informatics 29 (2012) 219–232

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Telematics and Informatics

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Customer oriented enterprise IT architecture framework

Nasrin Dastranj Mamaghani a,⇑, Fariborz Mousavi Madani b, Ali Sharifi a

a Department of IT, ITRC, End of North Karegar St., Tehran, Iranb Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 1 February 2011Revised 2 July 2011Accepted 23 July 2011Available online 10 August 2011

Keywords:Enterprise architectureShannon’s entropyInformation technologyCustomer orientationAxiomaticQFD

0736-5853/$ - see front matter � 2011 Elsevier Ltddoi:10.1016/j.tele.2011.07.001

⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Department ofE-mail address: dastranj_n@itrc.ac.ir (N. Dastran

a b s t r a c t

Due to the rapid expansion and complexity of mechanisms, technologies, systems, processesand communications in organizations, governance and management has become somethingbeyond the control of hardware and software systems and include integration and conver-gence of all components of an organization. Enterprise architecture (EA) by breaking downthe organization’s systems to its components and determining the relationship betweenthem in different layers offers an appropriate solution for understanding and investigatingrelationships and processes of organizations which develop strategies and information tech-nology plans. This paper proposes a conceptual model for enterprise IT architecture. For thispurpose, conceptual and reference models of enterprise architecture are investigated andkey concepts of them are described. By identifying dimensions of reviewed models, keydimensions of the proposed model are extracted and by using Shannon’s entropy, weightand priority of each dimension is determined. In order to determine building blocks of eachdimension, a mapping has been established between customer and functional requirementsby using axiomatic method and relations between customer and functional requirementshas been validated by experts’ opinions using Quality Function Development (QFD) method.Proposed model has been described by determining goals, components and relations. Thenthe model is validated by surveying experts. Finally an Iranian telecommunication enterpriseis selected for a case study and the model is tested there and promoting solutions are pro-posed to improve the status of the organization for implementing the model.

� 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Enterprise architecture shows how organizational components like business processes, organizational responsibilities,services and information technology platforms adapt to create powerful integrated mechanisms to suit the organization’sdrivers (Armour et al., 1999). Currently, there are different enterprise architecture reference models and frameworks fordesigning and developing information systems in organizations that each one introduces different structures and principlesto design and implement enterprise architecture based on organizational needs. In this article a conceptual model of enter-prise IT architecture is presented for Iranian customer-oriented organizations. Customer-oriented approach means thinkingabout products and services that are required for proliferating or recruitment of technology from the viewpoint of customer.Solutions of customer-oriented businesses combine rigid processes of industry standard frameworks with experiences,methodologies, engineering mechanisms, technology and industry tools and resources. These solutions help organizationscontinue business planning and receive maximum return on IT investments. This approach includes gathering informationabout the customers and its applications, such as personalization and integration of service delivery to customers as well asidentifying opportunities for increasing customer value for organization (Rajal and Savolainen, 1996; Chalmeta, 2006). With

. All rights reserved.

IT, ITRC, End of North Karegar St., Tehran 1439955471, Iran. Tel.: +98 02184977236.j Mamaghani).

220 N. Dastranj Mamaghani et al. / Telematics and Informatics 29 (2012) 219–232

regards to globalization, if an organization wishes to be successful and wants to have a large market share and obtain prof-itability, it must consider customers in all of its affairs. The aim of this paper is to answer to following question:

1. What are the key dimensions of customer oriented enterprise IT architecture and what are their relations?2. What are building blocks of each dimension?3. What are the priorities of building blocks (components) in each dimension?

Therefore, Section 2 investigates conceptual and reference models of enterprise architecture. After presenting the meth-odology in Section 3, in Section 4 principal dimensions of these models are extracted then weighted and prioritized by usingShannon’s entropy. In Section 5 by using axiomatic method components of each dimension are extracted and in Section 6 theproposed model is described by determining goals, relations and components of each dimension. In Section 7, the proposedmodel is validated by Friedman test and components of each dimension are prioritized. Finally a telecommunication enter-prise has been chosen as a case study and the model has been tested there.

2. Review of conceptual and reference models of enterprise architecture

FEAF1 introduces five layers of architecture including performance, business, data, service, and technology (CIO council,1999). Conceptual architecture of HUD defines security architecture beside the other architectures of FEAF and put performanceand security layer crossing all other layers. So these two layers are vertical. Also data layer is in direct relation with service,business and technology layers (HUD EA team, 2005), While FEAF puts data layer horizontally and relates it just to technologylayer. So HUD is a revised revision of FEAF that consider service oriented features in architecture model. Also HUD considers theexistence of rules and procedures necessary. Conceptual architecture of ACCESS2, include five building blocks of presentation,security, application, service and data (IBM, 2005). This model is compatible with DSS3 standards and rules and shows all build-ing blocks required for business requirements. Building blocks of this enterprise architecture are constant over time but as per-formance or technology will change, technology layer has spread in all layers. Conceptual architecture of Louisiana State is afundamental framework of technical architecture in enterprise level. This architecture provides vision, rules and high levelguidelines for alignment of business drivers with vision of enterprise architecture (CT Architecture Team, 2000). This includessecurity, network, facility, platform, data, application and management architectures. Besides, this architecture emphasizesrules and principles. NGOSS4 is an integrated framework for developing business supporting systems. This framework includesbusiness process model, SID model (common data and information), security model, policy model, business application, ser-vices, contracts and fundamental mechanisms (Strassner et al., 2004). NGOSS considers four main aspects including business,system, implementation and execution that are implemented by business process model of e-TOM (TM forum, 2002), data mod-el (SID) and TNA5. In JTA architecture framework there are four views of business, data, application and technology (DoD, 2003).These views cover all aspects of RM-ODP international standard. EWTA6 introduces seven interrelated architecture as construc-tive blocks of enterprise architecture including application, cooperation and workflow, data and information, e-commerce, plat-form, network, system management architecture (DOIT, 2009). TOGAF introduces a scientific standard method for designingenterprise architecture. This framework consists of four architecture or views of enterprises including business process, appli-cation, data and technical architecture (TOGAF, 2007). C4ISR that firs designed for military systems is a comprehensive frame-work for enterprise architecture description. This framework uses operational, systematic and technical views to describedifferent levels of a system (C4ISR, 1997). E2AF ensures that the organization has complete balance between business processesand IT processes and states enterprise architecture plan should establish relations between internal components and systems oforganization including business, information, information systems, infrastructure and security (Schekkerman, 2006).

3. Methodology

To propose a conceptual model for customer oriented enterprises, conceptual models of EA are reviewed first and keyconcepts and dimensions of them are extracted. Regarding to frequency of dimensions in reviewed frameworks and by usingShannon’s entropy (Shannon, 1948), priority and weight of each dimension are determined and therefore dimensions of pro-posed model are extracted. Then by using axiomatic method and following two steps of it, components of each dimensionare identified and extracted. Axiomatic method is a framework to describe designing components that include all differentdesigning types. This method is one of the logical methods for identifying step by step process of creating solution for arequirement that is stated by a customer or enterprise. In this method that has four main steps; first customer attributes(CA) are extracted. Then to resolve the extracted customer needs, functional requirements (FR) are extracted. Further accord-ing to achieved results in two previous steps, designing parameters (DP) are extracted and finally process variables (PV) are

1 Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework2 A Comprehensive Enterprise Services System3 Decision Support system4 New Generation Operations Systems and Software5 Technology Neutral Architecture6 Enterprise Wide Technical Architecture

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designed (Martin and Kar, 2001). In this study first two steps of axiomatic is applied to determine components and buildingblocks of each dimension of proposed model.

To determine customer requirements, has been concentrated on telecommunication enterprises that are specific types ofcustomer oriented enterprises. Therefore, business strategies of active telecommunication enterprises in Iran and telecom-munication business requirements from eTOM are investigated. Besides, Macro documents have studied to extract customeroriented requirements. For this purpose Iranian national ICT document and 44 principles that are about privatization ofIranian enterprises are reviewed. Also as it’s needed to consider EA new trends, related requirements of EA designing anddevelopment structures are reviewed. After this requirement assessment, a mapping is done between extracted require-ments and building blocks of each dimension. To categorize and extract customer requirements, experts of EA area are sur-veyed and their opinions are considered. Then related functional requirements are extracted according to each customerattribute by using axiomatic method. Relatedness of each FRs to CAs is validated by experts’ opinions by QFD method.QFD is a method to transform user demands into design quality, to deploy the functions forming quality, and to deploy meth-ods for achieving the design quality into subsystems and component parts, and ultimately to specific elements of the man-ufacturing process. After extracting CAs and FRs, proposed model is presented by introducing its dimensions, componentsand relations of dimensions. Then the model is validated by expert’s opinions. The method of model validation is basedon survey-description research. A questionnaire is designed for this purpose; so EA experts’ opinions are analyzed. The ex-perts are chosen from EA experts in universities regarding to their research experiences and also from experts of EA in re-search institutes like ITRC. They are between 40 and 50 years old and their experience is more than 10 years. To determineimportance of each component, different questions are asked which could be answered in likert scale with 5 points: stronglydisagree (1), disagree (3), neither agree nor disagree (5), agree (7) and strongly agree (9). The reliability of questionnaire istested by Coronbach’s Alfa that must be more than 0.7. The questionnaires are distributed among 44 experts. We received 33completed questionnaires with a response rate of 75%. The average experience of the respondents was 12 years. Responsesabout the agreement or disagreement are analyzed. The higher the average score the most likely it’s that the expert is agreewith the relatedness of the component. After that, by using Friedman test, components are prioritized. Then, the componentsare surveyed from the view of their application in a telecommunication enterprise in Iran as a case study. Then appropriatesolutions are provided to improve the status of organization.

4. Extracting dimensions and components of proposed model

To determine the key dimensions of model, data have been gathered in analytical Table 1. Also, by using Shannon’s entropyanalysis that is derived from information theory, importance and correctness of these aspects are validated and prioritized(Table 2). Shannon’s entropy concept is invented in 1948 by Shannon that is used as a method of content analysis for weight-ing and prioritizing of data in addition to uncertainty evaluation (Shannon 1948). Steps of this algorithm are as follows:

1. Frequency matrix obtained (Table 1) is normalized using the formula (1).

Table 1Frequen

Dim

BusiBusiBusiDataTechSecuPerfoPresApplPolicRule

Pij ¼FijPmi¼�Fij

ði ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; mÞ ðj ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; nÞ ð1Þ

2. Uncertainty of each dimension (Ej) is calculated using formula (2).

Ej ¼ �KXm

i¼1½Pij � LnðPijÞ� ðj ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; nÞ

K ¼ �LnðmÞ

ð2Þ

3. Importance factor (Wj) of each dimension is achieved by using the formula (3).

wj ¼EjPnj¼1Ej

ðj ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; nÞ ð3Þ

cy matrix for key concepts of revised models.

ension FEAF HUD ACESS NGOSS JTA EWTA C4ISR E2AF TOGAF

ness strategyness process architectureness service architecture

architecturenology architecturerity architecturermance architecture

entation architectureication architecturey architectures and principles

Table 2Weight and priority of each dimension using Shannon’s entropy.

Dimension Frequency P6i¼1½Pij � ln Pij� Uncertainty(Ej) Importance factor (Wj) Priority

Business strategy 4 �1.38994 0.714286 0.074074 3Business process architecture 8 �1.66792 0.857143 0.037037 2Business service architecture 5 �1.38994 0.714286 0.074074 3Data architecture 8 �1.94591 1 0 1Technology architecture 9 �1.94591 1 0 1Security architecture 6 �1.66792 0.857143 0.037037 2Performance architecture 4 �1.11195 0.571429 0.111111 4Presentation architecture 1 �0.27799 0.142857 0.222222 6Application architecture 5 �1.38994 0.714286 0.074074 3Policy architecture 1 �0.27799 0.142857 0.222222 6Rules and principles 3 �0.83396 0.428571 0.148148 5

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According to results, enterprise architecture must have at least eight building blocks (Fig. 1) including those have thehighest frequency in reviewed architectures. The business strategy layer is necessary as determinant of goals, missionsand strategies for development of enterprise architecture. Process architecture is necessary to determine activities and func-tions to achieve business plan objectives. To create business applications and services based on needs of customers, theremust be service architecture layer and in order to implement applications, technology or Infrastructure architecture is essen-tial. Since all data and information resources of organization should be stored for use in different layers, it is necessary tohave data architecture layer that have direct relationship with other layers of Process, service and technology. In additionto these architectural layers, two layers of security and performance in order to control and evaluate the security and effi-ciency throughout all layers of enterprise architecture in vertical state are necessary. Since every enterprise architectureframework has specific rules and regulations based on the optimal architecture requirements, it is essential to have otherlayer including principles and rules and basic characteristics of desirable architecture.

5. Extracting components of each dimensions of model

To extract building blocks of each dimension, axiomatic method is used. As it has stated in methodology, in order to iden-tify customer oriented enterprises requirements, specific types of organizations that are telecommunication enterprises havebeen chosen and their requirements are identified by investigating business strategies of Iranian telecommunication enter-prises, eTOM, Iranian ICT national document, 44 principles (that is approved in Iran) and new trends of developing and

Fig. 1. Proposed model of IT enterprise architecture.

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designing EA structures and general requirements of customers (Rajal and Savolainen, 1996; Chalmeta, 2006; Joseph et al.,2004; Mihelis et al., 2001). Therefore, a complete list of requirements is achieved. To categorize and eliminate unnecessaryrequirements, expert’s opinions are considered. With this process, 19 principal requirements in 9 categories are identified.These categories include: customer relationship management (maintaining customer satisfaction and privacy), market(identifying profitable customers, multiple access to market, providing services, identifying new areas in the market) re-source development (strategic planning and resource development, ensuring the best suppliers), strategies (creating com-petitive advantages through differentiation, low cost, identifying and communicating with competitors and stakeholder),enterprise environment (process oriented enterprise, organizational downsizing), service and product (enhancing productand service quality, product and service variety, providing services to all parts), human resource development, researchand development, investments and assets. After this step, it is essential to determine functional requirements (FRs) accord-ing to axiomatic method. Extracting FRs for EA new trends is shown as an instance in Annex 1. Besides mapping betweencustomer satisfactions requirement to related FRs and also validating those by experts’ opinion with QFD method are shownin Annex 2. Some of main extracted FRs are implied in following:

� Business development management.� Customers relationship management.� Market and sale management.� Development planning.� Information technology plan.� Service development management.� Interrelationship management of organizations.� Strategic planning and management.� Knowledge management.� Supply chain management.� Supplier relationship management.� Resource development management.� Functional management.� Human resource management.� Effectiveness management.� Service operation management.� Service quality management.� Operational support.� Assets management.� Infrastructure management.� Risk management.� Security management.

6. Proposed conceptual it architecture framework

According to achieved results, the proposed model is shown in Fig. 1. Also Table 3, describe goals, relations andcomponents.

7. Evaluation of the proposed model

The evaluation method of the model is based on survey-description research to validate extracted component. For thispurpose, a questionnaire is designed as mentioned in methodology. The value of Coronbach’s Alfa for the reliabilitydetermination of the questionnaire is 0.87 which is more than 0.7 and shows high reliability of results of the questionnaire(Dastranj Mamaghani et al., 2009). From 40 EA experts that were chosen, 33 experts responded to questionnaire. In order toanalyze questionnaire responses that are expert’s opinion’s in Likert scale, Friedman test is used and then components areprioritized. Table 4 shows the result of Friedman test. The calculated averages of all components are higher than 5 that showthe high importance of components from expert’s view.

8. Case study

The studied company is the most active Iranian company in the field of telecommunications and has allocated the highestmarket share. History of the company dates back to 1994. Tasks of this company are as follows:

� Preparing comprehensive plans based on telecommunications requirements, needs, standards and regulations.� Preparation and approval of guidelines, standards, criteria and technical standards needed to participate in the

establishment, development, maintenance and utilization of network.

Table 3Goals, relations and components of proposed model.

Dimensions ofproposed model

Goals Relations Components

Business strategy Business strategy determines businesslines and business lines determinebusiness strategic views. Each businessline has an individual role inimplementing business mission anddetermines a set of business services.

This layer is a director of businessfunctions in process architecture withhelp of business lines. As an examplebusiness strategy layer set strategies ofservice development planning andaccording to these strategies, servicecreating and supporting functions aredefined.

- Strategic management andplanning

- Developmental managementand planning

- Strategic management ofcommunications

- Regulatory arrangement- Marketing and distribution

managementBusiness process

architectureProcess architecture shows businessfunctions. Business functions determinebusiness operational view. Businessfunctions describe high level businessprocesses and activities.

According to determined strategies andpolicies, process architecture determinefunctions and processes of relatedstrategies and create processes ofcustomer services in service layer

- Business processmanagement

- Business developmentalprocess

- Supporting processesBusiness service

architectureServices architecture comprisesconstructive components of services. Eachservice component is a business processwith predetermined function that ispresented through business ortechnology. Service architecturedetermines service application designingand cooperation.

This architecture receives servicecomponents from process layer and createapplication services with new capabilities.It is obvious that this architecture shouldrelate to technology architecture to createservices in technology platform.

- Data services- Application services- Service components- Service components

integration

Technologyarchitecture

Technology architecture comprisesstandards, infrastructure, platforms andsystems necessary to create businessapplication and secure transactions

Technology architecture relate to data andservice architecture to implementbusiness application

- Platforms- Networks and infrastructure- Middleware- Hardware and software- Integration tools

Data architecture Data and information is the asset of dataarchitecture. These support programs andoperations of business lines. Dataarchitecture describes structure of databases and shows how to keep and relatedata and information to each other. Itincludes technical components andsoftware systems for storing andretrieving data.

Data architecture include analysis andreporting of data in process layer, serviceaccessibility and integration in servicelayer and storing and retrieving systemsin technology layer.

- Analysis and reporting ofdata and information

- Accessibility and integrationof data and information

- Data sharing- Data storing and retrieval

Security architecture Security architecture includes a set ofsecurity policies, processes, servicecomponents and technologies whichshould be seen in all layers. So it is a crossarchitecture. Security managementincludes protection of physical,informational and operational assets oforganization.

This layer relate to all other layers.Business layer should have policies tomanage vital data and manage businesscontinuity. In process layer, control andevaluation of security is done. In datalayer, security management of data andinformation should be done. In servicelayer, security management should beseen as a service comprising a lot ofservice components. In technology layer,related technologies of securitymanagement and infrastructural securityshould be implemented.

- Management security- Security policies- IT security- Security control and

evaluation- Access security- Customer transactions

security

Performancearchitecture

Performance architecture like securityarchitecture is a cross layer and should beseen in all other architectures. Whenarchitecture of other layers complete,performance information like measuresshould be collected in organization.

Performance architecture in businesslayer includes organization effectivenessmanagement, policy definitions andperformance measures. Process layerincludes performance control andevaluation to assure efficiency of allprocesses. In data layer, performancemeasures are analyzed and technologylayer should have a system to collect andevaluate data

- Effectiveness management- Performance measures and

policies- Performance control and

evaluation- Performance analysis

224 N. Dastranj Mamaghani et al. / Telematics and Informatics 29 (2012) 219–232

� Collaborating with other operators in the field of communication exchange, transit traffic, roaming and shared useof other sources.

� Membership in professional organizations and national and international forums and participate in conferencesrelated to business and professional information exchange.

� Management, planning and implementation of specific specialist training to develop skills.� Attempt to perform any activity that is associated with the target company.

Table 4The results of Friedman test.

Dimensions Asymp sig. Components Average Priority

Business strategy 0.002 Strategic planning and management 7.21 1Development planning and management 7.11 2Marketing and distribution management 6.48 3Regulatory arrangement 5.92 4Communication 5.90 5

Business processes 0.009 Business process management 6.76 1Operation development processes 6.07 2Support processes 5.75 3

Service 0.00 Data services 6.80 1Application services 6.48 2Service components 6.15 3Service components integration 5.38 4

Data 0.002 Analyzing and reporting data 6.85 1Data integration and availability 6.74 2Data storage and retrieval 6 3Information sharing 5.98 4

Technology 0.00 Platform 7.25 1Infrastructure and network 7 2Middle wares 5 3

Security 0.008 Security management 7.46 1Security policies 6.84 2IT security 6.69 3Security evaluation and control 5.93 4Access security 5.8 5Customer transaction’s security 5 6

Performance 0.00 Effectiveness management 7.5 1Performance measures 7 2Performance evaluation 6.87 3Performance measurements 6.7 4

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� Establish facilities and platforms needed for policies to monitor mobile network.� Provide required services to customers in terms of commercial considerations and customer orientation.� Act in line with network security and protect the rights of subscribers within the relevant laws and regulations.� Services of this company include Call, Waiting, Number display, Connect to fax and data, Short message service,

Voice service and International roaming.

Table 5Mean scores of components in business dimension.

Component Average

Strategic planning and management Enterprise strategic management 5.4Business research and development 5.4Enterprise architecture management 5.7Enterprise collaboration 5

Development planning and management Enterprise development management 6.3Resource development management 6.7Supply chain management 6.3Market development management 7Human resource management 7Technology development plan 7.3

Communication strategic management Stakeholder relationship management 5Inter organizational relationship management 4.8Customer relationship 7Supplier relationship 4.2Communication management 5.4Foreign community collaboration 5.2Outside collaboration management 7.4

Regulatory arrangement Regulatory arrangement 3.4Marketing and distribution channel Product portfolio plan 5.9

Business development plan 6.4Marketing strategy 7.4Product marketing 7.6Eliminating product 6.3

Fig. 2. Column diagram for mean score of business component.

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To evaluate the proposed model in mentioned enterprise, a questionnaire was used. In questionnaire, first part is allo-cated to general information to determine the characteristics of respondents, then in evaluation part, dimensions of all as-pects of organization (business, process, service, technology, security and performance) are asked and then in the third part,questions about each component are raised. Twenty-five people participated in filling of the questionnaire who were IT man-agers of mentioned company. Among them six persons had experience of 3–5 years, 7 of them had experience of 5–10 yearsand 12 of them had experience of more than 10 years in the field of information technology. Designed Questionnaire assessesthe components of the model in seven dimensions of business, process, service, data, technology, security and performance.For this purpose, questions have been designed in the range of Likert for each of the defined components. The questionnaireincluded questions related to the realization of each component in organization and responders identified their reply in a 5point Likert scale. existence or absence of components is graded from 1 to 9 that 1 = absolutely doesn’t exists, 3 = doesn’texists, 5 = almost exists 7 = exist 9 = certainly exist. The mean score for each response is calculated. The higher the averagescore the most likely the organization can fulfill the component. The mean scores from 1 to 4 imply weakness of the orga-nization in that component and require attention to fulfill that. Mean score of 4–6 (except 6) be assessed as ‘‘average’’. Themean score equal to 6 and above is assessed as ‘‘strong’’ and indicates that the organization has sufficient capacity in thecorresponding component. The mean Scores for business dimension is shown in Table 5 as an example. Besides Fig. 2 showsthe column diagram of achieved scores.

According to analysis of information that is obtained from questionnaires, scores of all components of the business pro-cess are higher than average. Thus the organization has appropriate status in this component. Therefore, following guidelinesare suggested to improve conditions of the organization:

� Create cooperation in specific areas of work.� Establish consistent knowledge about changes in customer needs.� Develop operational strategies related to information technology.� Clear definition of common processes and opportunities to reduce rework.� Identify customer needs and priorities.� Establish mechanisms to identify opportunities.� Structures and hierarchical control.� Organizing short-term operational and encourage collaboration between functions.� Determine the organizational standards widely.� Identify and develop institutional processes.� Increased awareness in relation to business processes and create opportunities through cooperation.� Development of knowledge-related functions and institutional processes.� Establish and develop process-based structures in organizations.� Adaptive management of business processes.� Agreement on the use of standards among organizations.� Develop skills common between different areas.� Understand the needs and values related to business processes.� Identification of specific custodians of the organization process.� Emphasis on change management, strategic approach to inter organizational cooperation.� Identification of key partners, the current status model and determine optimal conditions.� Develop implementation strategies to move from current stare to the desired situation.� Consultation with the participation in the process to improve these processes.

Also, In Information and service dimension, according to results of the questionnaire, organization is in average situation.Therefore, the following strategies for increasing the level of organization is these aspects are suggested:

Annex 1Extracted FRs for EA new trends.

Component Functionalrequirement

Criteria Reference Solution

Service OrientedEnterpriseArchitecture

Process orchestration - Increased flexibility anddynamism

- Reduce the complexityof processes andsystems

- Development of intelli-gent and flexible service

- Update collection,development and appli-cation of resources

- Integration of processesand systems

- Customer satisfaction

Schaffner (2006), Krafzig et al.(2005), Sia (1997), Khoshafian(2007), Tanrikorur (2007), HAKIand Wentland Forte (2010)

- Breaking large processesto smaller components

- Dividing workflow by acentral controller amongseveral factors

- Design service compo-nents as autonomousand independent

- Using technology inde-pendent standards

Improveinteroperability ofInformation systemand technology

- Definition of platform-independent protocolsand standards and creat-ing Web services

- Designing web servicesmechanisms

Presentation and use ofthe best optionsavailable from thecollection of businessservices

- Developing and improv-ing service

- Update, developmentand re-using resources

- Increased flexibility anddynamism

- Specify the requiredservices

- Specify the duties of theunits, respectively, activ-ities, dependencebetween the activitiesand resources

Connecting businessprocesses andinformationtechnology

- Better coordination andinteraction betweenprocesses and systems

- Integration of processesand systems

Determination ofintermediary servicesbetween related processes

Dynamic services Increased competitiveness - Use of agent-basedarchitecture

Information systemsand softwareservices

Obtain intellectualcapital for theorganization andinfluence on it

- Developing skills andcapabilities

- Create Value- Creativity and

Innovation

Eppler (2003), Hansen et al.(1999), Shadbolt et al. (2006),Matthews (2005), Ping andZhong-Jian (2011)

- Diagnosis of organiza-tion’s requiredknowledge

- Creation, distribution,access and use of storedknowledge

- Developing an appropri-ate knowledge manage-ment framework

Information sharing - Organizational Cooper-ation Development

- Facilitate access andexchange data andinformation

- Better coordination andinteraction betweenprocesses and systems

- Facilitate access andexchange data andinformation

- Flexibility in distribu-tion and access to data

- Developing skills andcapabilities

- Information storage- Information

classification- information searching- Information accessibility- Information update

Developmentknowledge ofemployees andincrease theircapabilities

- Flexibility in distribu-tion and access to data

- Developing skills andcapabilities

Provide appropriatemechanisms for sharingknowledge

Reduce complexity andcost of maintenance,production anddevelopment of systemsoftware

- Reduce complexity andcost of implementingtechnology

- Holding the appropriatedesign criteria

- Mechanisms to reviewand periodic evaluations

(continued on next page)

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Annex 1 (continued)

Component Functionalrequirement

Criteria Reference Solution

- Reduce the complexityof processes andsystems

- Reduce maintenancecost

Improve customerservice

Customer satisfaction Empowerment support ofinformation technology fromnew business decision

Efficient use of massinformation on theWeb and Feasibility ofadvanced businessapplications

Facilitate access andexchange of data andinformation

Using Web technologies andSemantic Web

Customer relation Store information,strengthen them foreasy allocation ofresources and findingthe best solutions andquickly making themto fit with customerneeds

Increasing the efficiencyand effectiveness

Eldelstein (2004), Corner andHinton (2002)

Analysis of customerinformation for businessdecisions

Identify Consumptionpatterns of customersand closer and effectivecommunications withcustomers

- Customer satisfactionand loyalty

- Increasedcompetitiveness

- Modeling customerbehavior within theworking units

- Coordination mecha-nisms between organiza-tion strategies andcustomer system

Improve service tocustomers

- Customer satisfaction- Diversity and attractive-

ness of the service

Identification andclassification of keycustomers

Faster attract of clientsand understand theirrequirements

- Customer satisfactionand loyalty

- Increasedcompetitiveness

- Create a system for mea-suring customer satisfac-tion, profitability

- Maintain key customerSecurity and network Ensuring privacy,

accessibility andintegrity ofinformation

Jacquelin (2004) - Access control models- Security Architecture

Communications andinformation exchangeSecurity

Security mechanisms ofinformation systems andnetworks (internet, intranet,and...)

Security management Mechanisms of systemsmonitoring and verification

Business continuity - Create business continu-ity model

- Mechanisms to evaluatebusiness continuity plans

Ensure theimplementation ofsecurity law and ethics

Techniques for collecting andevaluating data and systemssecurity measures

Assurance Performanceof sensitive electronicservices

- Cryptographicmechanisms

- Management of keysPhysical security Mechanisms to protect

resources (data, people,systems) against physicalaccess

Control and security ofdevelopmentapplications

- Control and securitymechanisms of distrib-uted systems

- Security mechanisms ofinformation storagesystems

- Model and frameworksapplication security

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Annex 1 (continued)

Component Functionalrequirement

Criteria Reference Solution

Organizationalcooperation

Reach a common viewin the organization anddevelopment ofcooperation anddecision making teams

- Improving governanceand decision making

- Increasing the efficiencyand effectiveness

- Organizational Cooper-ation Development

- Creativity andInnovation

Rugullies (2004) - Create an appropriatedecision structure

- Select appropriate com-munication tool

- Create an appropriateportal

- Training of communica-tion tools to users

- Appropriate communica-tion infrastructure

Improveinteroperabilitybetween organization

- Improving governanceand decision making

- Organizational Cooper-ation Development

- Creativity andInnovation

- Create an appropriatedecision structure

- Select the appropriatecommunication tool

- Create virtualorganizations

- Create an agent-basedorganizations

- Appropriate communica-tion infrastructure

Message transfer - Organizational Cooper-ation Development

- Facilitate access anddata and informationexchange

- Use of messagingsystems

Annex 2Mapping between customer satisfaction with related FRs.

CA FR

Customersatisfaction

Service improvement andInnovation

Service attractiveness anddiversity

Development strategy and planning Business research anddevelopment

Increasing relationshipwith customers

Innovation and creativity Technology research Customer relationshipmanagementFocus on Customers Identification and Analysis of customer

requirementIncreasing customersatisfaction

Customer governance

CRM operations Support CRMTimely delivery of orders Customer order managementReceive market reaction Market researchMaintaining service andproduct profitability

Brand management

Different methods of customerrelationship

Customer relationship management

Service level agreement Service quality assuranceTariffs and billing services Bill and auditing managementService support and respondingto customers

Customer problems management

Identification of marketdemand

Identification and Analysis of customerand market

Sales and marketingmanagement

Service development Product portfolio planningService attractiveness anddiversity

Service customization

Increasing market demand Increasing revenues andmethods of sale

Business development management

Different methods of sale Creating different sales channels andservice distribution

Market competition andgovernance

Product marketing

Presenting productspecifications

Advertising

N. Dastranj Mamaghani et al. / Telematics and Informatics 29 (2012) 219–232 229

� Use standard mechanism for sharing information and resources with other organizations.� Application of principles of integrated information management in government.� Establish approach of reusing data in the Organization.

Annex 3Validating the relatedness of FRs and CAs extracted in annex 2 by QFD method.

Priority Business research anddevelopment

Customer relationship management Sales and marketing management

Developmentstrategy andplanning

Technologyresearch

customerrequirement

Customergovernance

CRMsupport

Customerordermanagement

Marketresearch

Brandmanagement

Customerrelationshipmanagement

Servicequalityassurance

Billing andauditingmanagement

Customerproblemsmanagement

Identificationand Analysisof customerand market

Productportfolioplanning

servicecustomization

Businessdevelopmentmanagement

Creatingdifferentsaleschannels andservicedistribution

Productmarketing

Advertising

Service improvement and InnovationService attractiveness and

diversity1 9 3 3 1 1 3 9 3 1 3

Innovation and creativity 2 3 9 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 9 3 3 3 3 3 3

Increasing relationship with customersFocus on Customers 2 9 9 9 9 3 9 9 9 3 1 1Increasing customer

satisfaction1 9 9 9 9 3 1 9 9 3 9 9 3 9 1 3

CRM operations 3 9 3 9 9 3 9 9 9 3Timely delivery of orders 2 3 3 3 3 9 1 9 3 3 3 9 9 3Receive market reaction 3 3 1 3 9 9 3 9 9 3Maintain service and product

profitability2 3 9 1 3 3 3 9 3 9 9 9 9

Different methods ofcustomer relationship

4 9 9 9 9 9 3 9 3 9 9 9

Service level agreement 3 3 9 9 3Tariffs and billing services 4 3 9 9 3Service support and

responding to customer2 9 9 9 9 9 3 9 3 9 3 1

Increasing market demandIdentification of market

demand1 9 9 9 9 3 9 9 1 9 9 1

Service development 1 9 3 3 3 9 3 1 1Service attractiveness and

diversity2 3 9 9 9 3 9 9 1 1

Increasing revenues andmethods of sale

2 9 9 9 3 9 9 3 3 3 9 9 9 9 9

Different methods of sale 4 9 3 9 1 9 9 3 9 9 9Market competition and

governance2 3 9 3 9 9 9 9 3 9 3 3 3 1 1 9 9 9

Presenting productspecifications

2 1 9 9 3 9 9

Technical importance 176 105 152 160 168 195 147 38 321 51 51 130 177 39 143 80 183 173 170

230N

.Dastranj

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aghaniet

al./Telematics

andInform

atics29

(2012)219–

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N. Dastranj Mamaghani et al. / Telematics and Informatics 29 (2012) 219–232 231

� Specialized training for staff in the use and sharing of information.� Allocating sufficient funds for activities related to information management.� Design protocols of using information in accordance with statutory and political requirements.� Provide some method for understandable information documentation.� Identification of laws and policies affecting procurement and use of Information.� Training staff and users about requirements and legal limitations of using information.� Standard concepts and definitions for storing and organizing information.� Decision making based on information.� Emphasis on information management.� Gather data based on actual operations.

Besides, organization is lower than average in technology, security and performance dimensions. So, following solutions aresuggested:� Use appropriate and new security standards in various technical fields.� Establish appropriate security and communication infrastructure for information sharing.� Use open standards.� Compatibility with existing resources on the Internet.� Establishment of a unified portal for users to access organization’s services.� Integrate platforms used in all areas of the organization.� Establishment of a specific database to store information.� Development of performance criteria and tools for monitoring and management of them.� Use of agreed performance criteria to monitor progress and identify areas of improvement.

9. Conclusion

This paper proposed an enterprise IT architecture. For this purpose reference model of Enterprise Architecture were inves-tigated and key dimensions of them were extracted. After determining the frequency of dimension in reviewed models, byusing Shannon’s entropy, they are weighted and prioritized. According to results an enterprise IT architecture should have atleast 8 main dimensions of principles and rules, business strategy, business process, service, data, technology, security andperformance. By using axiomatic method and mapping customer requirements to functional requirements, components ofeach dimension were extracted and proposed model was described by goals, relations and components of each dimension.Enterprise IT architecture model shows the ways and methods of being optimal in scientific and coherent way for organiza-tions. As technologies develop and organizations become complex, there is a need to design Enterprise Architecture modelbased on organization’s needs to respond to all requirements in an integrated manner. However extracted requirements ofthis paper are based on telecommunication enterprises but it can be generalized to a lot of customer oriented enterprises. Forfuture studies, the migration plan to implement the suggested model in organization will be presented. Also the maturitymodel of EA for the mentioned organizations will be proposed.

Appendix A

See Annex 1–3.

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