Design and Prototypical Implementation of a Language Empowering Business Users to Define Key Performance Indicators for Enterprise Architecture Management

Abstract

To measure the achievement of predefined Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) goals, it is essential to empower business users to define organization-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). However, to support tool-based calculation of such KPIs, a formal model-based query language is required for their definition and calculation. In this paper we first examine existing general-purpose query languages regarding their suitability for the definition of business-user-specific KPIs in a collaborative environment. Thereafter, we justify the demand for a domain-specific query language ensuring a balance between the strengths of existing query languages and the size and purpose of the EAM domain. Based on this, we outline important design details and a prototypical implementation of such a language in a EAM tool. Finally, our language design is being evaluated by the implementation of suggested EAM KPIs from literature on the one hand, and by the development of a prototype for the use in an EU project on the other hand.