Wiki4EAM - Wikis for collaborative Enterprise Architecture Management

Motivation

Existing Enterprise Architecture Management Tools provide sophisticated knowledge management capabilities tailored to the needs of enterprise architects in large organizations. Our research indicates that many enterprises encounter difficulties adapting the tools to their very own needs. Moreover, users of these tools often need extensive training, and the integration of the enterprise architecture models with other (IT) management processes often remains an unsolved issue.

The goal of this community is to bring together practitioners and researchers to cooperatively pursue a different lightweight approach to EAM using Hybrid Wikis based on an existing Enterprise 2.0 platform (Tricia) as well as visualtizations of the EA based on the open source Software and System Cartography Tool (SyCa-Tool).

Approach

The members of the Wiki4EAM community meet at regular intervals (e.g. every four months) organized by sebis. At each of these meetings, existing Wiki-based solutions are presented by members of the project. Based on the experience gained with the use of these solutions, new requirements are collected and discussed. Finally, the project team agrees on the next project steps which may include software development and customization task, as well as supporting activities like the development of educational material or trainings.

In close cooperation with its research and technology partners, sebis breaks down these steps into a development roadmap containing milestones and releases as well as assigning responsibilities.

The team of the research and technology partner provides methodical guidance and applies scientific knowledge as well as best-practices to foster optimal utilization of Hybrid Wikis for EAM. The development results as well as anonymized findings from the application of the Hybrid Wiki approach by the community partners are consolidated three times a year into technical reports. These reports are made accessible to the members of the community.

Benefits to community members

• Members of Wiki4EAM get early access to the Tricia platform extended with specific Hybrid Wiki support for EAM. They can also obtain support from sebis and other community members on using the software.
• Members of Wiki4EAM contribute specific requirements and demands arising from the use of Hybrid Wikis at their organization. With their contribution they actively shape the further development of this technology.
• In close cooperation between the members of the community high quality results are developed, leading to cutting edge, domain-specific EAM knowledge and best-practices.
• Members benefit from many years of experience in EAM provided by the team members of the research and technology partner sebis, which also provides access to recent research results in the field of EAM, social software, and software engineering.
• Regular community workshops facilitate knowledge exchange between the members, which are also encouraged to share EAM "war stories" as well as experiences with respect to the usage of Hybrid Wikis in the context of EAM.
• The joint resource provision allows to develop the technology fast and in a demand-specific manner.

Demo applications

The Hybrid Wiki approach for Enterprise Architecture Management combined with visualizations of the Enterprise Architecture is already being used today. To get a first impression please have a look at our demo sections:

• Hybrid Wiki
• SyCa-Tool

How to apply

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Wiki4EAM community, please contact Christian Neubert.