Factors influencing the deployment of enterprise architecture in the Provincial Government of the Western Cape

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate Enterprise Architecture (EA) strategies, and experiences with EA in the Provincial Government of the Western Cape (PGWC). This research examines the organizational and individual impacts as well as the organizational and technological challenges associated with implementing EA. The principles of EA are conceptualised and mapped in a structured manner to obtain a means to assess the EA experiences of the PGWC. The problem statement is: The efforts to implement Enterprise Architecture in the Provincial Government of the Western Cape have not delivered the desired benefits. This leads to the following objectives namely:  To establish an understanding of EA concepts and the basis for these concepts.  To investigate the current deployment status of the PGWC IT and business strategies.  To identify the stakeholders involved in EA deployment and how they participate in the deployment process.  To develop and propose a suitable framework for EA strategy deployment for PGWC. The main research question for this study is: How can enterprise architecture be deployed in PGWC in order to deliver EA benefits (of reducing redundancy, achieving alignment between business and IT, minimising costs) to PGWC? The main research sub-questions for this study are namely:  How did PGWC choose EA frameworks for their EA strategies?  How do PGWC deploy the chosen frameworks within the organisation?  What steps could be taken in order to deliver the benefits of EA at PGWC? The research philosophy is an interpretive qualitative approach. The methods for this research were an in-depth literature review, interviews with key role players, and questionnaires that gained information from a wider set of respondents. The aim of this study was to understand and explain the problems of implementing EA in PGWC. A guideline and an EA framework are proposed for organizations to assist in the deployment of an EA strategy.