Preconditions for the Use of a Checklist by Enterprise Architects to Improve the Quality of a Business Case

Abstract

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a mechanism to support IT investment decisions. What is lacking, is a practical tool like a checklist that can be used by enterprise architects to support IT investment decisions, and more specifically, the business case. The business case is a common practice to justify IT investment decisions. The objective of this research is to investigate how the use of a checklist can support enterprise architects to improve the quality of a business case. To answer this question, we conducted design science and developed and evaluated a checklist that can be used by enterprise architects in the assessment of a business case. The evaluation of the checklist was conducted by means of an experiment. The results of the experiment with 32 architects demonstrate that using a checklist as such does not lead to higher quality improvement suggestions in the assessment of a business case as compared to not using a checklist. In other words, a checklist alone does not make the difference. Discussion of the results of the experiment with focus groups reveals several preconditions for the use of a checklist. In any case, the use of the checklist reduces the risk of overlooking valuable insights to improve the quality of the business case.