*_Notice and Invitation_*
Oral Defense of Doctoral Dissertation
The Volgenau School of Engineering, George Mason University

J. Michael Harrell
Bachelor of Science, University of Oklahoma, 1974
Master of Science, Old Dominion University, 1986

*Developing Enterprise Architectures to Address the Enterprise Dilemma 
of Deciding What Should Be Sustained Versus What Should Be Changed*

Monday, December 5, 2011, 10:00am -- 12:00pm
Engineering Bldg., Room 4201
All are invited to attend.

*_Committee_*
Andrew P. Sage, Chair
Alexander H. Levis
Larry Kerschberg
Kuo-Chu Chang


*_Abstract_*

Enterprise architecture is a relatively new concept that arose in the 
latter half of the twentieth century as a means of managing the 
information technology resources within the enterprise.The goal of this 
research has been to discover strategies that can attenuate the 
difficulties that result from wicked problems, complexity, and the 
enterprise learning curve and also improve the likelihood of developing 
an enterprise architecture that delivers a positive return on investment 
for the enterprise.Towards this goal, this research establishes: the 
focus and scope of enterprise architecture by defining the bounds of 
what enterprise architecture should address; develops a core set of 
enterprise business questions from which to begin enterprise 
architecture development; develops an enterprise architecture metamodel 
that supports enterprise architecture metamodel development; and 
develops a methodology that aids the enterprise architect in focusing 
the development effort on obtaining significant value while reducing the 
risk of expending resources developing architectural artifacts of little 
or no value.

A copy of this doctoral dissertation is on reserve at the Johnson Center 
Library.