Abstract:

Previously, business operations of most large companies in the computerized world were supported by a number of isolated software systems performing diverse specific tasks, such as real time process control or administrative duties. In recent years, these systems have been extended, and more importantly, integrated into a company-wide system in its own right, the enterprise software system. Due to its history, this system is composed of a considerable number of heterogeneous and poorly understood components connected by equally diverse and confusing interactions. To enable informed decision-making, the Chief Information Officer (CIO), responsible for the overall evolution of the company's enterprise software system, requires management tools.

The presentation proposes the use of a coherent model of the architecture of the enterprise-wide software system, an Enterprise Software Architecture, as such a tool. The purpose of the Enterprise Software Architecture is to serve as a base for analysis and decision-making on issues of relevance to the CIO. Important concepts are therefore the responsibilities of the CIO, the contents of the architectural model, the architectural views of the model, and the relations between these concepts.