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

Courses

Business Processes and Information Systems

Teacher
Christine Legner
Assistant
Kazem Haki
Course given in
English
ECTS Credits
6 credits
Related programme
Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Management
Course website
Moodle

This course introduces students to the critical role of business processes and the enabling information technology in modern organizations. Over the last decade, companies have implemented enterprise systems to automate and integrate business processes and to connect the entire organization, including suppliers and customers, in a web-enabled computing environment. At the end of the course, students will understand

  • the main business processes – supply-side, demand-side and support processes – and their integration within the firm as well as with customers and suppliers
  • the principles and capabilities of state-of-the-art enterprise systems, such as enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), suppy chain management systems (SCM), customer relationship management systems (CRM) and business intelligence (BI) systems
  • the implications of alternative business strategies on business process design and the selection and configuration of enterprise systems

Students will develop the conceptual skills to translate business objectives and strategies into an appropriate business process design and to configure enterprise systems accordingly. In addition, students will gain hands-on-experiences with a commercially available enterprise system.

Courses

HEC Business Game

Teacher
Thibault Estier, Christine Legner
Assistant
Thomas Boillat
Course given in
French
ECTS Credits
6 credits
Related programme
Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Management
Course website
Moodle
HEC Business Game is a Capstone Course for 3rd year students which allows them to review and apply the knowledge acquired during their studies in a serious game. In teams of four, students play as muesli cereal manufacturers with the following learning objectives:

  • to define their company strategy,
  • to operationalize their strategy by appropriate business decisions in the different functional areas (marketing, sales, production, procurement, finance, etc.),
  • to defend their strategy in a dynamic market environment,
  • to monitor and analyze performance based on their firm-specific Balanced Scorecard.

HEC Business Game uses ERPSim, a real-time simulation based on SAP’s ERP system, developped for pedagogical purposes by HEC Montréal. In 2012/13, UNIL’s “Fonds de l’Innovation Pédagogique” supports us to extend the course concept and introduce an additional investor role.

Courses

Analysis, Modeling and Design in IS

Teacher
Christine Legner
Assistant
Kazem Haki
Course given in
English
ECTS Credits
6 credits
Related programme
Master of Science (MSc) in Information Systems
Course website
Moodle

Companies face several challenges in IT planning and design: On the one hand, they wnat to leverage technology innovations (e.g., mobile technologies or cloud computing), which significantly change the way business applications are implemented and deployed. On the other hand, the complexity of corporate IT landscapes has been steadily growing, and keeping pace with an ever-changing business and technology environment is often difficult. In response, architectural considerations have become a key concern for today’s IT departments.

This course introduces students to the systematic planning and architecting of enterprise-wide, mission-critical, highly distributed information systems. It will provide the foundational knowledge needed for analyzing, modeling and designing information systems, based on enterprise architecture concepts. Upon completion, students will be able to

  • understand the importance of architecture thinking in information systems planning and implementation,
  • analyze and document an enterprise in its current and target state from an integrated business and technology perspective.
  • systematically capture and model business requirements and translate them into appropriate architecture models describing the IT solutions.
  • apply enterprise architecture concepts and practices for developing the application, data and integration architecture.

Students will apply their knowledge in case studies and modeling exercises. Guest lectures will provide in-depth insights into the approaches taken by leading companies. Case studies and guest lectures will cover examples from different industries (financial services, manufacturing, retail) and illustrate different architecture paradigms (packaged software vs. software development).

Forum / Business Conference, News

Keynote on “Service Cloud” at Cloudzone Conference

Prof. Christine Legner was a keynote speaker at the Cloudzone conference in Karlsruhe (Germany). Her speech focused on cloud computing as disruptive technology which makes technology innovations available to small and medium sized enterprises. She presented the vision of the “Service Cloud” as well as first implementation examples. More infomration about the Service Cloud vision can be found in the related research brief:
Research Brief No1 Service Cloud – Overview

 

News, Publication

Two papers accepted at European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS)

The BISA research team will present two papers at the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) in Utrecht, Netherlands:

  • Giessmann Andrea, Fritz Alexander, Caton Simon & Legner Christine: A Method for Simulating Cloud Business Models: A Case Study on Platform as a Service
  • Haki Kazem & Legner Christine: Enterprise Architecture Principles in Research and Practice: Insights from an Exploratory Analysis.

 

Master of Information Systems, News

SAP InnoJam 2013: two master students in information systems among the winning teams

One master student in information systems, Mathilde Krause, was part of the winning team at the SAP InnoJam in Hannover. With her team, she had to develop a solution to increase the visibility of IT donations and their impact within non-profit organization. She will have the opportunity to participate at the next SAP InnoJam in Las Vegas this Summer. Mathilde’s classmate Amelie Pipoz won the second place.
Continue reading SAP InnoJam 2013: two master students in information systems among the winning teams →