Decision Processes in Enterprise Architecture: Descriptive Study

This is a progress report to describe the processes by which enterprise architects make decisions in practice. Decisions regarding enterprise architecture are among the most complex decisions in the IT domain. Architectural recommendations such as choice of an enterprise system are strategic decisions in the sense that they influence and constrain corporate decisions. Formal and informal methodologies have been discussed regarding how enterprise architecture decisions ought to be made in an ideal situation (i.e., normatively or prescriptively). However, the processes by which enterprise architects make decisions in practice have not been rigorously studied (i.e., descriptively). Drawing on concepts from complex decisionmaking (e.g., heuristics) and sociology (e.g., mimetic isomorphism), this paper seeks to understand architectural decisionmaking processes in practice from the descriptive view. Using a grounded theory approach, the data were collected systematically to clarify and refine concepts.