Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Thanos Magoulas, Aida Hadzic, Ted Saarikko and Kalevi Pessi
3.2 Sociostructural alignment
The socio-structural alignment reflects a harmonious situation where the information systems & ICT
capabilities are characterized by a clear, comprehensible, and accepted form of authority and
responsibility. The fuzziness of structural alignment is derived from the propensity of approaches to
describe the area of authority and responsibilities rather than the relationships between the concerned
area and its relationship to area of information systems. Another source of misgivings is the paradigm
underlying each one of investigated approaches. Some approaches presuppose that information
resources should be treated as independent of organization and structure.
Table 2: View of the socio-structural alignment
View of the
sociostructural
alignment
Clear
Unclear
ZACHMAN TOGAF GERAM
Insufficient or
missing guidance
regarding the areas
of authority and
responsibilities with
the areas of IS &
ICT.
Based on governance
contracts, IT
responsibility, Data
trustee, Ownership of
common app.
Insufficient guidance
regarding the
relationship between
the area of
responsibility and the
business objectives.
View of
responsibilities &
roles of functional
areas.
Insufficient
guidance regarding
harmonization of
control over
operations with the
capabilities of IS &
ICT.
E2AF
Offers guidance
based on level of
influence of
concerned
stakeholders.
3.3 Functional alignment
The functional alignment concerns the harmonious contribution of available information systems &
ICT capabilities to the information, service, transactions, and relations required by either the business
processes or business units of the enterprise. Some forms of obscurity or incomprehensibility are
based on the fact that the approaches refer to the architecture of just one information system that
serves the whole enterprise and its surroundings. Another cause for doubt is due to the fact that the
investigated approaches describe a constitutional areas of enterprise (in this case processes) rather
than the relationships to other areas.
Table 3: View of the functional alignment
View of the
functional
alignment
Clear
Unclear
ZACHMAN TOGAF GERAM
Insufficient guidance
regarding business
processes and the
area of information
and ICT.
Alignment ensured
by operational
contracts between
customers of and
providers.
Insufficient guidance
on how services are
integrated into
business processes
and subsequently
implemented.
326
Harmonization
between required IS
services and
provided IS services.
Insufficient guidance
regarding the
modelling of the
various entities of an
enterprise.
E2AF
Alignment between
business processes
& IS ensured
through basic
principles.