| The need for information technology organizations to transform enterprise architecture is driven by federal government mandates and information technology budget constraints. Enterprise architects, senior leadership, information technology professionals, and domain teams tasked with ensuring the transformation process aligns with the business goals and objectives of information technology face challenges in the transformation process. The aim of this qualitative case study was to identify factors that hinder federal government agencies from driving enterprise architecture transformation processes from a compliancy to a flexible process. Participants were selected from within the LinkedIn community and comprised enterprise architects, senior managers, and information technology professionals from the metropolitan areas of Virginia and Washington, DC. Participants were interviewed via Skype or telephone and answered questions related to the challenges that affect the enterprise architecture transformation process. Common themes in interviewee responses were identified, coded, and summarized. Common themes identified include that users and stakeholders (i.e. leadership) lack understanding of the requirements and communication objectives. Lack of buy-in and resistance to change also impede the change process. Further, compliancy guidelines and security challenges impede the change process. Facilitating the change process requires incorporating a plan that ensures planning objectives are in place and focusing on the target state so that transformation process is meaningful and measurable and budget and cost-benefit analyses are conducted. Moreover, face-to-face meetings with stakeholders, training stakeholders on different enterprise architecture objectives, and inviting stakeholders' participation prior to the execution of enterprise architecture initiatives could assist with addressing the challenges. Key recommendations for future best practices include further research that is focused upon strategically aligning enterprise architecture communication processes, improving relationships amongst stakeholders within information technology organizations and business organizations, and expanding on the essential components to be included in an enterprise architecture implementation plan. |
