Objective-Oriented Modeling of Enterprises under the Service Paradigm

Current enterprise architecture frameworks are inherently committed to the process paradigm by separating the data and application architectures. The N-tier architectural style is a good match to those methods, since it is based on the same separation principle. However, the process paradigm does not satisfy the information hiding and low semantic gap principles heralded by the object-oriented paradigm. This chapter presents an enterprise architecture framework that emphasizes the motivations (stemming from the business), the ends (expectations, what the business needs to achieve), and the means (what is needed to accomplish the ends), as the basis for a method to develop architectures better prepared for changes, either due to maintenance, adaptation, or enterprise integration and interoperability. The main tenets are to refine the ends into goals and objectives, increasing the level of concreteness as much as possible before delving into the design, and to adopt the service paradigm, for which a tierless architectural style is a more suitable match.