This research examines the rationale and impact of Enterprise Architecture (EA) adoption in the UK Higher Educational (HE) sector. EA supports alignment of Information Systems (IS) capability and high-level Strategic Planning for organisations. Previous studies in HE sector show that IS planning difficulties are increasingly affecting required levels of effectiveness and future changes. Institutions identify the need for a business-like approach, to support senior managers in the decision-making in times of unprecedented economic and sector revolution. Adopters spearheading the process claim that EA concepts and tools will enable institutions capture IT resources, align administrative processes, leverage IS investments and coordinate information requirements and regulations effectively. This claim is supported by the identification of benefits of EA in other public and private sectors. Using 4 UK universities, this study reviews the practices and effects of EA in the larger but more traditional universities and medium-sized but newer universities. The institutions were investigated using interpretive research methods. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and interpret the findings based on a combination of existing and new theoretical constructs. A summary of the research findings states four key success factors for the adoption and institutionalisation of EA in HE institutions. They are: (i) Senior management support, appropriate organisational structures, actors and scope of EA work (ii) Key stakeholder buy-in and commitment (iii) Resources (iv) Evaluation metrics. HE institutions are not adverse to EA adoption; but are aware that institutional actors and cultures shape the adoption. There are necessary support structures that should be in place: (i) institutions need to have a formalised governance structure, which ensures proper planning procedures are enforced and change is monitored effectively, (ii) the right people skill and availability would ensure success, (iii) adopting a systematic and continuous approach to business process review (iv) institutions need to develop simple and flexible IT infrastructure to enable requirements for integration, accessibility, and agility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:655865 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Oderinde, Dumebi O. |
| Publisher | University of Bolton |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://ubir.bolton.ac.uk/555/ |
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