Enterprise Architecture Success Factors

Abstract: Enterprise architecture aligns organizations business processes, information systems andtechnical layers. Its role has become more challenging than ever before with the modern dayrapidly changing environment and technological advances. Considering these aspects, this thesistries to evaluate the success factors that affect enterprise architecture management.The thesis is done at Volvo Cars, in collaboration with Ferrologic. Twelve success factorssignificant for Volvo Cars’ enterprise architecture management are defined after a series of semistructuredinterviews with architects working at the company. This is followed by a surveyevaluating the factors sent to architects throughout Sweden. In the end, the factors are dividedinto four groups according to their impact level. The survey reveals that the businessunderstanding of the technical side, requirement definitions & handling requirement changes,high-level management involvement, and cross-functionality are perceived to be most impactfulsuccess factors for the industry professionals, in no particular order.