Enterprise Architecture: A Social Network Perspective

IS Architecture emerges as a result of a sequence of IS project implementations. The architecture that emerges can be viewed as a network of software components linked by their interdependencies. The network influences, and is influenced by, the intra-organizational interdependencies in which it is embedded. IT management can influence the evolution of the network, and, by extension, the evolution of the organization. However, given time and cost constraints, IT management can most directly influence only a few of the components in the network, the architectural control points. In this research we show how a network perspective using research from social network analysis provides a useful abstraction for understanding architecture. We apply modular operators from design theory to enact changes to architecture. Finally, we show that by following a few simple rules, enterprises can improve the fitness of their architecture as the network emerges and the control points shift over time.