Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

3.4 Infological alignment
Thanos Magoulas, Aida Hadzic, Ted Saarikko and Kalevi Pessi
The infological alignment concerns the sound use of the available information systems & ICT
capabilities to support and satisfy the required informational, service, transactional and relational
needs of human stakeholders. In many cases, the infological doubtfulness can be explained in terms
of the paradigm underlying each one of investigated approaches. That is to say, some approaches
presuppose that the meaning of information should be independent of human interpretation since
“facts are always facts”.
Table 4: View of the infological alignment
View of the
infological
alignment
Clear
Unclear
ZACHMAN TOGAF GERAM
Insufficient guidance
regarding how
information
requisites such as
quality, availability,
comparability,
consistency, etc. are
treated.
3.5 Contextual alignment
Insufficient guidance
of to avoid
information paradox
and still promote
sharing and
availability of data.
Insufficient guidance
on how to align
stakeholders to IS
and ICT.
Insufficient guidance
on aligning human
capabilities, mental
models, etc and IS
capabilities.
E2AF
Collective
understanding
established through
communication
between internal
external
stakeholders.
The most essential property of contextual alignment is given in terms of harmony between the
external and internal environments of the enterprise. The rise of new approaches to Enterprise
Architecture merely expresses the goodness of architecture in terms of external (i.e. extrinsic) and
internal (i.e. intrinsic) values. Contextual harmony fills in the blanks with regards to the plurality of
legal regulations, principles of intellectual property, plurality of languages used within the external and
internal environment of the enterprise et cetera.
Table 5: View of the contextual alignment
View of
the
contextual
alignment
Clear
ZACHMAN TOGAF GERAM
Alignment between EA
and governance
established through
operational and
governance contracts.
The enterprise must be
aligned with regulations
and laws and take
intellectual property into
consideration.
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Securing architectural
alignment between
areas of enterprise by
crossing functional
barriers.
Integration and
interoperability
between the
heterogeneous
environments of
enterprise.
E2AF
Approach
advocates
economic, legal,
ethical and
discretionary
viewpoints.
Strong emphasis
on external
partners.