Enterprise Architecture and Enterprise Information Architecture: What is it and How to Teach it

Abstract

Companies around the world are using enterprise systems. Universities are following the trend by integrating enterprise systems into their curricula. The main role of enterprise systems is to support business operations ef?ciently and effectively and to create competi-tive advantage. Nevertheless, to reap the bene?ts of using enterprise systems, it is essential to align the information technology goals with business goals and to establish appropriate enterprise architecture (EA) and enterprise information architecture (EIA) support. For students to understand the linkage between the EA and EIA and to learn the subject, a hybrid academic and industrial approach to teach EA and EIA is proposed. This proposed hybrid approach covers theory, framework, principles, and best practices of the EA and EIA in the beginning, evolving to a practical and comprehensive approach in delivering the subject matter–EA and EIA. A real world EA and EIA project is used to illustrate the ef?cacy of these architectures.