3a - Picture approach

Question 1

What happens when an organization does not utilize EA, according to Smits (2015)?

Answer 1

The emerging business problems will lead to complexity of the IS application portfolio and design debt.

Question 2

Smits (2015) names some external drivers for EA; name them (3).

Answer 2

• Legislation
• Standardization
• Supervisory institutions

Question 3

What is the picture approach?

Answer 3

A method to analyze, redesign and combine (improve) system complexes (application portfolios).
Fitting all in ONE as-is picture (and some to be, but eventually choosing ONE to-be)
To improve business-IT alignment in organizations

Question 4

The picture approach has relations to what architectures in the business?

Answer 4

• Process architecture
• Information architecture
• Organization architecture (who decides on what)
• IT architecture

Question 5

How does the picture approach define a ‘picture’?

Answer 5

An image (model) of the organizational processes, mapping out the functions of the various IS applications in the processes. 
Can be along a continuum from 'generic' to 'more details'.

Question 6

What are the 5 steps of the picture approach process?

Answer 6

0. Establish the project, project mgmt, and senior mgmt support;
1. Several ‘photo-shoots’ -> core processes, app’s, documents, actors…;
2. Review of the photos (models) by mgmt team
3. Detailing the photos (models), adding fact sheets
4. Freezing the models of the IST & (some) SOLL situations
5. Choosing the target EA (‘to be’ EA), using Multi criteria decision analysis

Question 7

What is a fact sheet?

Answer 7

A description of the pictures of each system complex. Basically, adding more detail to the models.

Question 8

What are the 5 aspects a factsheet defines?

Answer 8

1. IT architecture (hardware, software, data, interfaces, migratability, sustainability….)
2. Systems functionality (key features in a shared language)
3. Process support (the degree to which systems support the processes)
4. Costs and benefits (per application, such as estimated migration costs or maintenance costs)
5. Risks (per application and total risk; risk of migration failures etc.)

Question 9

It’s not easy to produce a picture; what does it require (4)?

Answer 9

1. Knowledge of the picture/modelling concept and skills
2. Experience in complex accounting, control and IS
3. Knowledge of IT and information management
4. Ability to switch between low-level concrete solutions and high-level general/conceptual solutions (the level of granularity).

Question 10

What is the goal of Analytical Hierarchy Planning (AHP)?

Answer 10

Choosing the optimal TO BE / Soll architecture (best system complex), from several to-be pictures. It calculates the “best choice” of two options, given your weights.

Question 11

How do you perform AHP?

Answer 11

Create a comparison matrix for all To Be architectures / system complexes.
Create subcriteria based on the main criteria (same as the 5 definitions on fact sheets), and use the matrix to compare these between models. Choose the best complex based on weights.

Question 12

How many fact sheets are usually required per picture?

Answer 12

Up to 5 or 6.

Question 13

What is sensitivity analysis in AHP?

Answer 13

Testing the value of the decision outcome for robustness; by shifting weights.

Question 14

How many lines of code are required per Function Point?

Answer 14

100 lines of code, on average.

Question 15

What is a function point?

Answer 15

A unit of measurement to express the amount of business functionality that an IS provides to users.
They are used to compute a functional size measurement (FSM) of software.

Question 16

Capers - Jones benchmarks show that larger systems cost more developer time per FP. What are the productivity numbers for 100, 1000 and 10.000 FP respectively?

Answer 16

100 FP: 1 FP per 4,33 HR
1000 FP: 1 FP per 10,41 HR
10.000 FP: 1 FP per 27,39 HR
1 man month = 133 man hours.