Monthly Archives: May 2013

Master Thesis Topics

IS Architectures in Multinational Corporations / Global IS Design

Many Swiss companies are successfully operating in global markets, and Switzerland has become one of the most attractive locations for Multinational Corporations (MNCs) that choose to establish their worldwide or European headquarters in this country. For these companies, information systems play a major role in managing globally dispersed subsidiaries and leveraging global synergies. They frequently use ERP systems to meet their large-scale and international information needs. One of the challenges is to continuosly extend their existing IS architecture to address new business require-ments and to react to technology advances, in particular internet and mobile technologies.

The specific Master thesis topic will be defined together with the student (either as academic thesis or in combination with an internship). Here are some suggestions:

  • Global IS architectures – Tradeoffs between global integration and local responsiveness
  • Analysis of specific requirements and evaluation of IS architecture scenarios
  • IS architecture for integrating (local) mobile applications with a centralized ERP system
  • Subsidiary integration in MNCs: Patterns for integrating local sales & service units
  • Survey on the dynamics of globalization strategies, notably the turn to the BRIC countries, and its impact on IS architectures

Please contact Kazem Haki or Christine Legner for any further information.

Master Thesis Topics

The “Mechanics” of Enterprise Architecture Principles and Their Impact

The design of to-be Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a complex task which is supported by EA models and frameworks. In practice, companies oftentimes define architecture principles – such as service-orientation or technology independence – as underlying rules and guidelines to establish guidance for designing their future EA. The selected architecture principles will ultimately be used as a basis to shape EA design, as in the case of service-orientation, which emphasizes the reuse of existing (Web) services when implementing new information systems.

The purpose of this master thesis is to study the choice of architecture principles (context-specific principles) and their impact on enterprise architecture design. For a selected set of architecture principles from the existing literature and enterprise architecture frameworks, e.g. TOGAF, the student will analyze how they shape the enterprise architecture design and enable the expected outcomes out of EA. The ultimate goal is to develop an approach for explaining the “mechanics” of architecture principles on the design and effectiveness of EA.

Please contact Kazem Haki or Christine Legner for any further information.

Projects

Strategic Enterprise Architecture Management

Strategic Enterprise Architecture Management by Frederik Ahlemann (EBS Business School), Eric Stettiner and Marcus Messerschmidt (both PwC), and Christine Legner (University of Lausanne)

The discipline of Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) deals with the alignment of business and information systems architectures. While EAM has long been regarded as a discipline for IT managers this book takes a different stance: It explains how top executives can use EAM for leveraging their strategic planning and controlling processes and how EAM can contribute to sustainable competitive advantage. Based on the analysis of best practices from eight leading European companies from various industries the book presents crucial elements of successful EAM. It outlines what executives need to do in terms of governance, processes, methodologies and culture in order to bring their management to the next level. Beyond this, the book points how EAM might develop in the next decade allowing today’s managers to prepare for the future of architecture management.

Projects

Service Cloud

Motivation: Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift in IT, since it allows users to conveniently access computing resources as pay per use services. The number of cloud offerings, ranging from data storage and processing (e.g. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud), to office and collaboration tools (e.g. Google Apps), to business software (e.g. Salesforce.com, Netsuite), is steadily growing. At the same time, cloud computing is converging with two other IT innovations, social media and mobile technologies, to transform user behavior while creating new collaboration platforms and business opportunities.

Project Objectives: Our research investigates cloud computing from a business perspective, with a focus on customer service. We consider customer service as particularly suited for cloud computing, since it is inherently distributed, relies on high-quality information and requires efficient interactions between customers, service providers and product manufacturers.

In our vision, the “Service Cloud” leverages cloud computing to support global service business in serving their customers throughout the entire life-cycle.
Our research project focuses on three main questions related to the “Service Cloud”:

  1. Technology scouting: Which innovative cloud solutions are emerging for the service business? How can they be classified?
  2. Cloud services and architecture: How can companies leverage cloud services for improving business processes and information flows internally and externally with customers / partners? What are the implications on business and IS architecture?
  3. Business scenarios and benefits: What are business scenarios and related benefits for using the “Service Cloud”?


Project information
Duration: 12 months (June 2012 – June 2013)
Team: Christine Legner, Thomas Boillat
Partner: proaxia consulting group