=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1115/demo2
|storemode=property
|title=Tool Support for Conflict Resolution of Models for Automated Enterprise Architecture Documentation
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1115/demo2.pdf
|volume=Vol-1115
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/models/HauderRPM13
}}
==Tool Support for Conflict Resolution of Models for Automated Enterprise Architecture Documentation==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1115/demo2.pdf
Tool Support for Conflict Resolution of Models
for Automated Enterprise Architecture
Documentation
Matheus Hauder, Sascha Roth, Simon Pigat, and Florian Matthes
Technische Universität München
Boltzmannstr. 3
85748 Garching, Germany
{matheus.hauder,roth,simon.pigat,matthes}@tum.de
Abstract. Improving the documentation of models used for Enterprise
Architecture (EA) management is essential for the progress of the disci-
pline in practice. Automated EA documentation seeks to increase data
quality and efficiency of this process by collecting relevant EA data from
existing information sources in the organization. While empirical evi-
dence on the feasibility of the approach and theoretical solutions have
already been proposed in research, tool support for the implementation
is still an open issue since technical solutions for fundamental problems
arising during the automated documentation of EA models are not avail-
able. In this paper we demonstrate a collaboration platform to support
the resolution of model conflicts during automated documentation1 . We
incorporate stakeholders in the resolution of these conflicts using an im-
plementation of a conflict resolution workflow and a novel interactive
visualization.
Keywords: Enterprise Architecture, automated Enterprise Architecture
documentation, collaboration, conflict resolution
1 Automated Enterprise Architecture Documentation
Enterprise Architecture (EA) models typically consist of a plethora of elements
that are interconnected with each other. In current practices the documentation
and maintenance of these models is performed manually to a large extent. As
a result this process is perceived as very time-consuming and error-prone by
the majority of the organizations in industry [6]. Automated EA documenta-
tion seeks to gather and maintain relevant EA data from existing information
sources in the organization and transform this data to a respective EA meta-
model. While theoretical solutions to achieve automation have been proposed
in research [2] and the feasibility of this approach has been evaluated in case
studies [1] as well as on an empirical basis [3], technical solutions to support au-
tomation processes and the newly arising challenges related with this approach
1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxbAVjsM484, last accessed on: 2013-07-15
are not available. Main contribution of this paper is a demonstration of a solution
to collaboratively resolve model conflicts to achieve automated documentation.
2 Resolving Model Conflicts
The establishment of an automated EA model documentation in practice is faced
with a variety of different challenges [4]. These challenges are related with the
transformation of models, security concerns, economic considerations, and the
collection of the EA data. In particular, complete automation of model trans-
formations are not possible due to data (e.g. from source systems like Network
Scanners and Monitors [3]) that is often too fine-grained for mere EA purposes
and missing model coverage. Appropriate tool support for automated model doc-
umentation needs to address these issues appropriately to achieve this long-term
goal. In previous work, we presented a collaborative workflow to resolve these
model conflicts by involving stakeholders [7]. The workflow uses conflict resolu-
tions tasks that are escalated to different stakeholders in the organization. These
conflict resolution tasks consist of interactive visualizations that can also be used
by business users not having a technical background.
2.1 Demonstration
The EA model can be accessed and manipulated using a web application in
the demo system. Every element is represented with structured information on
wiki pages. We exemplify the system using ArchiMate as EA modeling language,
although an arbitrary information model can be used with the presented solution.
Fig. 1. Overview of initial conflicts and the creation of a conflict resolution task
Fig. 1 shows a screenshot containing the initial set of open conflicts and the
action for the creation of new conflict resolution tasks. These tasks are related
with a particular stakeholder (e.g. EA Coordinator, EA Repository Manager,
Data Owner, or EA Stakeholder) and the concerning element(s) in the EA model.
In case an EA Repository Manager is not able to resolve a conflict on his own, he
can create and configure a conflict resolution task. The configuration (cf. Fig. 2)
of a new conflict resolution task contains information on the conflict model ele-
ments (Application Component and Node Device) as well as the mapping model
element (Infrastructure Interface). In addition, the responsible Data Owner(s)
of the information source that was used to gather the data can be selected to
resolve this conflict. The information description shown at the bottom of the
window allows the creator of the task to provide some additional information.
Fig. 2. Configuration of a newly created conflict resolution task in the system
After this task is submitted in the system, the selected Data Owner receives
a new task containing the respective interactive visualization that is shown in
Fig. 3 in his worklist. The Infrastructure Interface SAP RD Hosting is shown
in the middle of the screenshot. Users can drag elements from the Application
Component and the Node Device and drop these elements in the Infrastructure
Interface to create a new relationship that could not be established during the
model transformation automatically. The dropping of elements is supported with
an additional coloring on valid target positions in the Infrastructure Interface.
Changes in the visualizations are directly persisted in the EA model as soon as
the Data Owner submits this task. In case the Data Owner is not able to resolve
this tasks, he can forward it to an EA Stakeholders in the organization. Especially
for EA Stakeholders not having a technical background, the given interactive
visualization should simplify the conflict resolution. Resolved conflicts within
major releases are automatically forwarded to an EA Coordinator for approval
purposes. This approval uses the same interactive visualization and it provides
an additional quality assurance step in the system.
Fig. 3. Interactive visualization for the resolution of an incomplete data import
2.2 Implementation
As illustrated in Figure 4, we utilized an Enterprise 2.0 framework [5] and a
framework for interactive EA visualizations [8] to realize an EA repository, which
allows us to import data from arbitrary information sources to our EA repository.
Conflict tasks can be created by end-users in the EA repository. A conflict task
Fig. 4. High-level deployment architecture of the demonstration system
employs the interactive visualization framework on execution, i.e. the interactive
visualization for the conflict resolution is generated in a model-driven manner.
On execution, the interactive visualization is sent to the browser. The actual
rendering within the browser is accomplished using the RaphaëlJS2 framework to
2
http://raphaeljs.com/, last accessed on: 2013-07-15
provide cross-browser support. Changes to a conflict visualization are propagated
to the EA repository such that underlying data is manipulated.
3 Conclusion
This paper has demonstrated a collaboration platform to resolve arising conflicts
during the automated documentation of EA models. This solution uses a collab-
orative workflow that has been developed and evaluated in previous work. The
presented system is the first step towards tool support for automation in this
domain and it facilitates the incorporation of stakeholders. Over the next years,
we will evaluate the system in practical settings to promote the development of
collaborative tools for EA management and automated model documentation in
particular.
Acknowledgment
This research has been sponsored in part by the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (BMBF) with grant number TUM: 01IS12057.
References
1. Markus Buschle, Mathias Ekstedt, Sebastian Grunow, Matheus Hauder, Florian
Matthes, and Sascha Roth. Automating enterprise architecture documentation us-
ing an enterprise service bus. In Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information
Systems (AMCIS), Seattle, USA, 2012.
2. Matthias Farwick, Berthold Agreiter, Ruth Breu, Steffen Ryll, Karsten Voges, and
Inge Hanschke. Automation processes for enterprise architecture management. In
Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference Workshops (EDOCW), 2011
15th IEEE International, pages 340–349. IEEE, 2011.
3. Matthias Farwick, Ruth Breu, Matheus Hauder, Sascha Roth, and Florian Matthes.
Enterprise architecture documentation: Empirical analysis of information sources for
automation. In 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS),
Maui, Hawaii, 2013.
4. Matheus Hauder, Florian Matthes, and Sascha Roth. Challenges for automated en-
terprise architecture documentation. In Trends in Enterprise Architecture Research
and Practice-Driven Research on Enterprise Transformation (TEAR), Barcelona,
Spain, pages 21–39. Springer, 2012.
5. F. Matthes, C. Neubert, and A. Steinhoff. Facilitating structuring of information for
business users with hybrid wikis. In Lecture Notes of Communications in Computer
and Information Science (CCIS), 2012.
6. Sascha Roth, Matheus Hauder, Matthias Farwick, Ruth Breu, and Florian Matthes.
Enterprise architecture documentation: Current practices and future directions. In
11th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI), Leipzig, Germany,
2013.
7. Sascha Roth, Matheus Hauder, Felix Michel, Dominik Münch, and Florian Matthes.
Facilitating conflict resolution of models for automated enterprise architecture doc-
umentation. In Nineteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS),
Chicago, USA, 2013.
8. M. Schaub, F. Matthes, and S. Roth. Towards a conceptual framework for interac-
tive enterprise architecture management visualizations. In Modellierung, Bamberg,
Germany, 2012.