Publications

With our publications we cover the most diverse research areas that arise in the field of man, task and technology. In addition to traditional Business Information Systems topics such as knowledge management and business process management, you will also find articles on current topics such as blended learning, cloud computing or smart grids. Use this overview to get an impression of the range and possibilities of research in Business Information Systems at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Type of Publication: Article in Collected Edition

CONCEPTUALIZING EA CITIES: TOWARDS VISUALIZING ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURES AS CITIES

Author(s):
Rehring, K.; Brée, T.; Gulden, J.; Bredenfeld, L.
Title of Anthology:
Proceedings of the 27th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS)
Location(s):
Stockholm & Uppsala, Sweden
Publication Date:
2019
Language:
English
Keywords:
Enterprise Architecture Management, Enterprise Architecture Visualization, City Metaphor
Link to complete version:
https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1180&context=ecis2019_rp
Citation:
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Abstract

Enterprise Architectures (EAs) are commonly visualized in the form of text, numbers, tables, graphs, models, and diagrams. These information visualization types are used to describe EAs in today’s organizations, but often lack an intuitive representation. In this paper, we provide another form of EA visualization utilizing the city metaphor. This spatial metaphor is suitable for visualizing complex information structures and potentially facilitates easy understanding of EAs, especially for non-IT staff. Based on a literature review and three rounds of open card sorting, we mapped eleven classes of EA objects to city elements. Our results enabled us to develop a formal language that allows an implementable and human-readable specification of various views, which we call EA City. We created an early stage 3D EA City prototype to demonstrate its applicability. Our model provides a solid foundation for further work on the city metaphor in the context of EA visualization.