Multi-stage TOGAF architecture development method adaption in small-and-medium enterprises -A case study in a start-up logistics service company

With the increasing business complexity and changing business needs, modern information systems have been a key enabler for responding to business opportunities and proactively managing risk, while also improving operational efficiency. However, it has also created a complex IT landscape. Besides, IT provides limited business value due to ignoring the interdependencies between the business and related IT solutions. Therefore, marginal revenue declines with more and more IT investments. The emerging Enterprise Architecture (EA) discipline provides a powerful tool to improve the value of IT. The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) is one of the best practice frameworks in developing EA for an organization. Although TOGAF's popularity and applicability in large companies are widely accepted, the large size and complexity make it difficult to handle for users and may be costly in SMEs, which requires adaption design more suitable for SMEs. In our paper, we research and design a multi-stage adaption version of the TOGAF architecture development method (ADM), taking SMEs' critical features into consideration and drawing on the idea of minimum viable product (MVP) in the lean start-up approach. Finally, a case study in a start-up logistics service company is used for validating the adapted ADM version's practical benefits in SMEs.