Information Technology (IT) systems are pervasive tools for contemporary enterprises to achieve their mission and goals. A key issue for a well-functioning enterprise is to keep business and IT strategies aligned as they continuously evolve. Although many practitioners and researchers offer business and IT alignment theories and approaches there is no silver bullet solution for all the issues involved in Strategic Business and IT Alignment (SBITA), which is still ranked amongst the five top enterprise executives? concerns year after year. In this thesis two SBITA assessment methods are presented. The first is the Organization-wide Approach for Assessing SBITA, developed as an enhancement of Jerry N. Luftman's SBITA assessment approach in terms of measurability, traceability and organizational involvement. The second is the Alignment Metamodel Assessment Method (AMAM). Both methods are based on well established references and approaches and they are presented with systematic documentation for their application and reusability as shown in the included papers and reported case studies. This is a composite thesis that, besides the introduction, includes five papers (papers A-E). Paper A describes Luftman's SBITA assessment approach and its enhancement in terms of measurability, traceability and organizational involvement, the proposed Organization-wide Approach for Assessing SBITA. Results from applying this approach in two case studies in companies in Sweden and Nicaragua are also included. Paper B describes the AMAM. It explains how a metamodel is deduced and how the SBITA assessment will be performed. This paper argues that the AMAM can be affiliated to the EA discipline as a guide or reference for identifying the relevant EA?s representations for the SBITA concern, mitigating the expenses and drawbacks of the often larger modeling required in applying EA frameworks. Paper C shows a weighting of the importance of the SBITA topics, taking as reference the Henderson & Venkatraman Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) - the basis of Luftman?s SBITA assessment approach -by relating it to the relevant and highly cited references in the field of SBITA. Paper D explains the criteria and the process for associating the AMAM artifacts with the Zachman´s Enterprise Architecture Framework and reports the pattern of association into the EA dominion. Paper E reports the details of the processes and results of applying the developed AMAM in a case study conducted in an intensive IT services enterprise in Nicaragua. / QC 20100805

Strategic business and IT alignment assessment is growing in importance. Different assessment methods have been used to try to pursue the complexity of this dynamic and evolutionary alignment. Despite the fact that alignment is a real problem and a challenge of utmost importance, no consensus can be found on what alignment really is, how it should be measured in the organization in practice, or what measures should be taken to maintain and improve it. Consequently, the key question about how to assess and accomplish (define, identify, measure, maintain and improve) the strategic business and IT alignment is still a great unanswered challenge for many enterprises. In this thesis work, three main research questions were formulated: how can the validity and reliability of an alignment assessment method be improved, what are the dominant topics in the area of alignment, and how to facilitate the analysis of the business and IT governance alignment based on business process simulation and balanced scorecard methods. This is a composite thesis work that includes an introduction and six papers (paper A-F). The main contributions and results of this thesis are described in published and included technical papers. In papers A and B an alternative organization-wide approach and metamodel for assessing strategic business and IT alignment are proposed. Two case studies were performed applying the proposed approach. In paper C, a prioritized diagram of the most widely accepted strategic alignment model, with the purpose of categorizing the most important topics in the research area of strategic business and IT alignment is presented. One of the relevant topics that were identified is governance. In papers D, E and F, there are presented a business process simulation approach and a balanced scorecard method in order to facilitate the assessment of the business and IT governance alignment. An illustrative example of the simulation approach is presented in an appendix of this thesis. This research work aims to improve the decision-making process for business and IT managers at different levels in an enterprise by means of increasing the level of understanding and knowledge as well as by enhancing existing models and methods, for evaluating strategic business and IT alignment. / <p>QC 20101110</p>