Developing a framework and a scorecard method to measure the enterprise–wide SOA implementation readiness of an organisation

Enterprise-wide Service Oriented Architecture (ESOA) is an architectural paradigm for developing agile Enterprise-Wide Information Systems (EWIS) from looselycoupled and independent services. While vendors are vigorously promoting this technology to practitioners, the implementation of ESOA across an entire enterprise is not well understood by researchers because ESOA implementation at the enterprise-level is full of challenges that require the enterprise to be ready for this paradigm. Published literature has lacked an appropriate method for determining the readiness of an organisation for ESOA implementation. This thesis aims to develop a method to determine ESOA implementation readiness in an organisation based on a Critical Success Factors Framework and a scorecard method, which could be used to evaluate an organisation’s readiness in the implementation of ESOA across the entire organisation. The development and validation of the CSF Framework were conducted in three phases. Phase 1 involved the development and validation of the CSF Framework by two expert groups in two public sector organisations in Malaysia. Phase 2 involved the development of the scorecard method, and the application of the validated CSF Framework in conjunction with the scorecard to evaluate an organisation’s readiness in ESOA implementation across the entire organisation. Phase 3 involved the validation of the scorecard method to determine its content accuracy and usefulness for an organisation. The results from the validation of the CSF Framework (Phase 1) suggest that the CSF Framework is comprehensive and provides insights about why each factor is critical for ESOA implementation at the enterprise level. Critical reflection on the scorecard evaluation of the test case organisation in Malaysia (Phase 2) has revealed several issues related to both the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation during ESOA implementation. These issues are useful lessons for other enterprises. Finally, the results of the validation of the scorecard method (Phase 3) suggest that the scorecard method, which incorporates the validated CSF Framework, is accurate and useful in determining an organisation’s readiness for ESOA implementation at the enterprise level.