Architecting the Enterprise

Abstract

In this chapter we explore the application of MBSAP to the organizational level of an enterprise or system-of-systems (SoS), the highest level of the structural hierarchy. Enterprise architecture raises a number of new challenges because the individual systems that make up the enterprise are often developed, managed, and operated independently, making it difficult to harmonize their interactions. A fully satisfactory System-of-Systems Engineering (SoSE) methodology does not yet exist, but a number of useful approaches are available that can be incorporated into MBSAP. We first discuss general considerations of enterprise architectures and then focus on the technical challenges, which we approach by considering the enterprise as a system-of-systems (SOS), including a brief look at adaptive and emergent behavior, which can be especially significant in an enterprise context. With this background established, we introduce the extension of MBSAP for enterprise architecture and further develop this in an SoSE methodology. The remainder of the chapter addresses specific aspects of SoSE, including interoperability among systems within an SoS, modeling and simulation at the enterprise level, enterprise networking, and dynamic enterprises. Chapter Objective: the reader will be able to apply MBSAP, with appropriate extensions, to deal with the challenges of an SoS and create effective enterprise architectures that are open, robust, and evolvable.