A value-oriented approach to business/IT alignment - Towards formalizing purpose in system engineering

Abstract

It is widely recognized that a large percentage of IT initiatives fail from a business perspective. This is attributed to many factors, namely system complexity and change pace. We believe that the system development process itself is a crucial aspect of this state of affairs and a paradigm shift is required. There is a lack a common set of concepts and language to use through an IT development process. Essentially, appropriate models and founded theory for articulating the teleological and ontological perspectives of a system are necessary. In this paper, we present and discuss an innovative value-oriented approach to System Design and Engineering. Our contribution begins by identifying a relevant problem space regarding current approaches, particularly the lack of a sound structure to model a service system's purpose. We believe that system modeling with a market mindset will help improving quality and improve change response. The approach draws from a combination of theory based on Enterprise Engineering, Service Science and Value Modeling. A four-layer framework (System, Service, Value and Purpose) is pointed as a conceptual solution for simultaneously representing relevant concerns for promoting dynamic alignment between Business and IT. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.