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.