[Paper Review] Platform for Assessing Strategic Alignment Using Enterprise Architecture: Application to E-Government Process Assessment

Kaoutar Elhari, Bouchaïb Bounabat|arXiv (Cornell University)|Apr 6, 2011

Information Technology Governance and Strategy13 references20 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes S2AEA (v2), a platform that leverages enterprise architecture to assess strategic alignment between business strategies and information systems using internal metrics. It applies this framework to evaluate e-government processes, demonstrating how architectural modeling enables systematic auditing and alignment measurement through structured metrics and visualization in 8 figures and 8 pages of analysis.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an overview of S2AEA (v2) (Strategic Alignment Assessment based on Enterprise Architecture (version2)), a platform for modelling enterprise architecture and for assessing strategic alignment based on internal enterprise architecture metrics. The idea of the platform is based on the fact that enterprise architecture provides a structure for business processes and information systems that supports them. This structure can be used to measure the degree of consistency between business strategies and information systems. In that sense, this paper presents a platform illustrating the role of enterprise architecture in the strategic alignment assessment. This assessment can be used in auditing information systems. The platform is applied to assess an e-government process.

Motivation & Objective

• To develop a platform that enables systematic assessment of strategic alignment between business strategies and information systems.
• To leverage enterprise architecture as a structural foundation for measuring consistency between organizational strategies and IT implementations.
• To apply the platform to real-world e-government processes for practical validation and auditing purposes.
• To introduce internal metrics derived from enterprise architecture to quantify alignment levels.
• To support decision-making and system auditing through visual and metric-driven assessment of alignment.

Proposed method

• The platform uses enterprise architecture models as a structural backbone to map business processes and information systems.
• It defines internal metrics based on architectural components to quantify alignment between business strategies and IT systems.
• The framework applies these metrics to evaluate the degree of consistency in e-government processes.
• The assessment is visualized through 8 figures illustrating architectural models and alignment scores.
• The method integrates modeling and measurement into a single platform for auditing and improvement.
• The platform is validated through application to an e-government case study, demonstrating practical alignment assessment.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How can enterprise architecture be leveraged to systematically assess strategic alignment between business strategies and information systems?
• RQ2 What internal metrics derived from enterprise architecture can effectively measure alignment consistency?
• RQ3 To what extent can the proposed platform support auditing and improvement of e-government processes?
• RQ4 How does the integration of architectural modeling and metric-based assessment enhance alignment evaluation?
• RQ5 What are the practical implications of applying this platform to real-world e-government systems?

Key findings

• The S2AEA (v2) platform successfully maps business strategies and information systems using enterprise architecture as a unifying framework.
• Internal metrics derived from architectural components enable quantifiable assessment of strategic alignment.
• The platform demonstrated practical applicability through its application to an e-government process case study.
• The use of 8 figures enabled clear visualization of architectural models and alignment levels.
• The framework supports auditing of information systems by providing structured, repeatable assessment procedures.
• The study confirms that enterprise architecture can serve as a robust foundation for strategic alignment evaluation in public sector IT.