Architecting Enterprise Capabilities using a Socio-technical Modeling Framework

Information systems and software design are at the center of enterprise strategies as organizations face rapid changes in a global environment. Information systems and digital experiences nowadays play a prominent role in enterprise competitiveness. To this end, researchers and practitioners have built on the concept of capability to analyze what a business can and should do to fulfill its strategic trajectories and design information systems. This research builds on the notion of capability to enable co-design of software and business by representing and analyzing evolution strategies while considering the organization's social and technical needs.The thesis presents research on the development, demonstration, and evaluation of a conceptual modeling framework named ArchCap. It consists of meta-models, methods, guidelines, instantiations, and analysis techniques. An agent-oriented modeling paradigm is adopted to capture social and technical aspects of decisions with the ability to analyze and cater for enterprise-specific characteristics. ArchCap includes a conceptual foundation layer including meta-models, modeling rules, and guidelines to explicate (1) why a capability is needed, (2) how it is achieved, (3) how it fits within the organizational and social setting of the enterprise, and (4) what relationships are required for its success. The analysis layer of ArchCap presents techniques to perform (1) qualitative evaluation, (2) capture different kinds of capability choices, and (3) identify flexibility needs and possible causes of inflexibilities. These components build on research and theories in strategic management and systems thinking to ensure any design can adapt to changing conditions and continuously evolving strategies. The process layer of ArchCap provides a set of repeatable instructions, guidelines, and techniques to enable requirements engineers to leverage the framework. The thesis demonstrates the framework's usability and its research artifacts through its instantiations and two empirical case studies. The success of using the concept of capability and the integrative role of the proposed modeling framework in depicting social and technical requirements were at the center of the empirical research. The analysis techniques of ArchCap were successful in evaluating a particular strategy (consisting of many capability alternatives) and informed decision-makers in these organizations.Ph.D