Extending Business Motivation Modelling to Foster Regional Flexibility in IT Architecture Management

Abstract

Among the main challenges for standardisation of an IT architecture in a multinational company are the different environments in the countries, in particular regarding regulations and market specifics. Therefore, some subsidiaries have to implement local IT solutions that contradict standardisation efforts and lead to a heterogeneous IT architecture. Dynamic business environments require the on-going adaption and re-alignment of business and IT. This is particularly challenging in global multinational organisations that have to balance between standardisation and local solutions. This paper presents an extension of the OMG Business Motivation Model that supports strategic Business-IT alignment by making explicit the dependencies between a company’s strategy and the different IT architectural realisations. The approach has been developed as a case study with a multinational company and evaluated with a transformation project in a regional organisation.