Selection criteria for enterprise architecture methods

This study proposes key selection criteria for enterprise architecture methods based on a case study of the Finnish National Enterprise Architecture (NEA). Enterprise Architecture (EA) planning is increasingly important as ICT is today a strategic business enabler. Enterprise Architecture is a managerial tool to align ICT with business development and a communication tool to ensure commitment and to prepare for organizational change. A multitude of EA methods have been proposed and some of them have also been adopted in practice. However, no market leaders or standard EA methods have emerged. The approaches of different EA methods vary, and their support for EA planning varies accordingly. Therefore, the EA method selection has substantial consequences for the organization. Evaluating and selecting the best suitable method is the highly important first step in EA planning initiatives. This case study collects evidence from a large EA method development project within a government ICT management program for the entire organization of the Finnish Government. The conducted requirements analysis for the EA method in this project as well as previous studies in EA and method development indicate that the most important criteria for EA method selection are related to the fundamental role of EA as a communication tool. Complexity and abstraction level of an EA method should strongly correlate with the EA experience of the future EA method users. We assume that these key requirements are common to most organizations, because they are related to the main purpose of the EA method and framework: communication. This study is based only on one, but a large organization with several units representing different domains. In some requirement areas, different organizations likely have divergent requirements. An important future research goal is to construct a general-purpose set of criteria for EA method selection and its validation in various business fields.