Investigation of Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework A case study in RAJA Passenger Trains Company Seyed Mohammad Rezvani Zaniani * Mahmoud Valibeigloo Mehdi Asghari RAJA Passenger Trains Co. & Joint master students of maintenance management in Luleå University, Luleå, Sweden and Sharif University, Tehran, Iran

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract Application of the information systems in the small organization is usually possible through leaving behind the system development life cycle (SDLC) and with the execution of the different stages of it. However, in case of the big organizations with extensive and complex processes, it is not enough to suffice to the system engineering and the need is felt for the enterprise architecture (EA). Enterprise architecture, is similar to building architecture, proceeds with providing a master plan in case of the organization through which plan the enterprise is viewed and analyzed in different aspects and points of view. The result of such investigation will be used in different stages of developing informational systems to better and extensively modulate its extensive and complex processes and to compile more efficient informational system based on it. Furthermore, this article analyzes the enterprise architecture of RAJA Passenger Trains Company in the maintenance departmental of this company and tries to present a master plan concerning the current status and desired status through introducing the architecture of computerized maintenance management system of the Maintenance Department by using of Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF).

Keywords: Enterprise Architecture Federal Framework Maintenance CMMS

1- Introduction One of the issues that the big organizations are coping with it is the diversity and considerable volume of the information that is transmitted in different sections of the organization. In such organizations throughout the world, a considerable budget is annually allotted to the production, maintenance, and access to information. In situations that data flow within an organization lacks

distinguished discipline and a compiled regulation, the dataflow issue will turn to a serious problem and this problem happens to most of the big organizations throughout the world. Lack of information application, non-existence of distinguished points to access to information, and unfamiliarity with the existing information are of the consequences in an undisciplined information system. [1] Lack of due access to information, accumulation of information, existence of repeated information in different parts, distinct similar information, accumulation of unused information, hiding useful information, repeated activities for using the similar information, reduction of the reliability of the information, resistance of people against the supply of information and missed necessary information are of the sub-consequences of the above-mentioned incidents. [1] The solution for converting an undisciplined informational system to a completely disciplined informational system is called Information Architecture, because it has a unique attitude towards the informational system of a complex. This is to say that, apparently, information are flowing in several systems and in different methods, in a master point of view, all of this multidimensional complex compose a uniform system components of which are in a full coordination with each other. [2] Designing a suitable architecture for an organization requires the proper recognition of the objectives, duties, and organizational behavior, because the information architecture means organizing information and behavior ruling on such information. One of the considerable differences of enterprise architecture with system engineering is having a framework. In the enterprise architectural, that is the same as the information architecture, framework draws attention more than any other domain such that we may say that architecture is meaningless without such framework. Selection of a framework in every project, which is in relation with the information technology one way or another, guarantees uniformity and standardization at the time of the transition and unification of the informational systems. [3] In architectural point of view, framework is a tool helping us to think systematically and help us to make a connection between enterprise mission and objective with information technology aspect. For the enterprise architecture such tool is a logical structure used for packing and organizing the descriptive modules, which are of much value for the management of the enterprise as well as for the development of the enterprise systems. The fascinating issue here is that many define the enterprise architecture through the framework and such definition many not be wrong, because architecture is inaccessible without framework. Architecture of the informational systems presents a unifying framework in which different people with different points of view may organize and observe the basic building blocks of the information systems. [3]

2- History of Information Architecture: Continuous application of the information technologies demanded considerable investments for the execution of information technology. This matter appeared with much intensity in case of the governmental organizations that relied on the general budget of the USA Government for supplying their expenses. Due to the increasing speed of innovation in the field of information technology, the aimless investments in the application of the new technologies were worn out quickly and without the initial return resulted to the output of capital from the resources cycle of the organizations. [4] In 1992, Department of Defense of the Unites States commenced a new research project called Technical Architectural Framework for Information Management or TAFIM. Purpose of this project was to supply a comprehensive plan for establishing a framework and coordinating the entire informational resources inside the Ministry of Defense. In 1994, Ministry of Defense of the United States, through issuing a declaration, obliged its entire affiliated units to perform in compliance with the results achieved by TAFIM and to adjust their informational systems with it. Since that date, TAFIM has been subject to amendments and revisions and 3 volumes of it are used by the Ministry of Defense of the United States. [5] Experience of the Ministry of Defense welcomed by the other ministries and governmental federal institutes and the approaches and models used in TAFIM were applied in other organizations as well. In 1996, a law was enacted in the congress of the Unites States, which was known as Clinger-Cohen Law. According to this law, all the ministries and federal organizations project of the USA were

obliged to compile their information technology architecture. The responsibility of compiling, amending and executing the unified information technology architecture in every organization according to this law was undertaken by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of that organization. [6] Clinger-Cohen Law defined the information technology architecture as follows: Enterprise Architecture is a strategic information asset base, which defines the business mission, the information necessary to perform the mission, the technologies necessary to perform the mission, and the transitional processes for implementing new technologies in response to the changing mission needs. [7] Therefore, you may see that the information architecture has roots in less than 1 recent decade and during this period; it has been generally applied by the governmental institutes of the USA.

3- Reasons of applying information architecture As mentioned previously, the enterprise architecture is being used with the purpose to overcome the enterprise information indiscipline and to organize the information resources. In this concern, some of the reasons for using of the organizational architecture are as follows: [6] - Diversity of the new technologies applied in organizations: in fact, we may say that as the diversity of the informational bases within organizations at the end of 1970s has resulted in the design and presentation of data-oriented methodologies and engineering ideas, diversity of the new informational technologies resulted in the design of the enterprise information technology architecture, which is a framework for the unification of the information technology resources. - Quick delivery of hardware and software domains: during the past 10 years, domains and information technologies were subject to changes and modifications with a considerable speed. According to an assessment in 80s, an information technology expert had a time from 3 up to 5 years for dominating on a new informational technology while this time during the years of 90s reached 6 up to 18 months. In other words, new information technologies become old while they are newly arrived and the organizations, for keeping themselves equipped with the latest technologies, may not help themselves from undergoing huge expenses.

4- Federal enterprise architecture framework Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework is compiled and adjusted by the Chief Information Officer Council of the federal government of the USA. This architecture includes guides for the architects of the information systems in the description of multi-organization missions in the federal government. Multi-organization mission is attributed to those missions that several organizations conjointly take action in activities in its execution. [8]

Figure 1.Federal enterprise architecture framework [8]

Architectural Framework of the Federal Enterprise making use of the enterprise architecture layers proceeds with the analysis of the current architecture, desired architecture, and the passing process. The enterprise architecture layers are the same as the different informational layers of an enterprise that must be analyzed in line with the implementation of an informational system. [9] Now that we made familiar with the dimensions and concepts of organizational architecture, we continue our discussions with the investigation of the Enterprise Architecture of RAJA Maintenance Department for the implementation of a computerized system.

5- Enterprise Architecture Study of the RAJA Maintenance Department by using of the federal enterprise architecture framework RAJA Company as one of the companies affiliated to the Iranian Railway Company has offered services in case of transporting passengers and it is composed of several departments in this concern on which is Maintenance Department. Since this department is composed of other sections each of which is responsible to perform special activity have an extended activity range. Therefore, we need to analyze the information architecture for the implementation of CMMS software. [10] For studying the informational architecture of a RAJA Company, the federal framework is selected as one of the common enterprise architecture frameworks. This framework with its special methodology, which is executable with the study of the current (baseline) status, desired status, and transition plan, presents the considered architecture. One of the specifications of this framework is that it presents enterprise architecture layers in the desired status with the study of the enterprise or organizational architecture layers in the current status and passing through the transition plan. From this point of view, this framework is one of the possible options chosen for RAJA Company. The reason for this is that the RAJA Company makes use of the non-integrated information systems in its maintenance department, which are considered as its current status of it. In addition, with the investigation of the transition plan in case of the processing nature of these systems and their software and taking into account the existing facilities in case of RAJA Company in the field of information technology, we may reach ideal presentation. As mentioned previously, the architectural framework of the federal with the study of the organization in 8 components and different layers of enterprise architecture proceeds with the presentation of an ideal organizational architecture. In this concern, 3 components out of 8 components are of much importance including architecture of the current status, transition plan, and the desired or ideal state. In this article, we have tried to analyze the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company through the aforementioned 3 components in order to distinguish the architecture of the desired or ideal situation. In line with this, we have endeavored to analyze the enterprise architecture layers in brief. In case of the other components of the federal enterprise architecture, the achieved results are presented in brief. However, as stated prior to this, focus of this article is on three above-mentioned components. 5-1- Study of the information architecture drivers or motives of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company As mentioned previously, the information architecture drivers of RAJA Company are studied based on the federal framework from two aspects including the business motives and the design motives or drivers. In case of the business motives of RAJA Company, the company is changing from a governmental organization to a private organization that it must increase the number of its fleet (number of company wagons) based on the development plans of the government (the commission drivers of the company indicated the growth and development of the company in the late decade and its need to a comprehensive and efficient information system for controlling different parts of its organization is felt more than ever). On the other hand, with the supply of hardware facilities required by an information system (computer, communicational network, information bank, and so on) as a design drivers, access to a comprehensive information system is facilitated and the study of the different aspects of this matter for the implementation of the this system has become more possible.

[10] With a brief study of these drivers, we may explain the current status of the information structure of RAJA Company as follows: 5-2- Current Information Structure of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company: In this study, first the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company and its different sections are analyzed. This study is carried out taking into account the different layers of the enterprise architecture. Study of the business layer of the ideal status of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company indicates that this department is composed of several sections as the below organization chart:

Figure 2. Organizational chart of the RAJA maintenance department [10]

Similar to most of the other maintenance department, purpose of this department is to repair and maintain wagons with the lowest expenses and maximum quality. The strategy direction of this department (as a part of RAJA Company), is using of outsourcing and privatization in the maintenance activities. [10] In this concern, this department performs its repair operations through applying several contractors. The Context Diagram of this department in relation with the other sections of the above company as well as the repair contractors is as follows:

Figure 3.Context Diagram of this department

The business process of this maintenance department is shown with this physical DFD:

Figure 4. Physical DFD of maintenance department

The connections are shown in this DFD are not established through the current information system and therefore these separate systems are not able to flow information within the organization (for the facilitating the communication of different units to help their decision-making). The baseline state of information architecture of RAJA Company indicated that due to the lack of a suitable and coordinated method in case of the information systems of different sections of the above company, the efficiency of these systems is very low. Furthermore, since these systems are not integrated, most of the information resulted from the inter-unit activities are faded out weakening the system in terms of decision-making. [11] Taking this into account, the target architecture of RAJA Company is analyzed as follows: 5-3- Target information architecture and Maintenance Department of RAJA Company 5-3-1- Study of the target organizational architecture and Maintenance Department of RAJA Company with regard to the business layer of the organizational architecture This enterprise architecture with its mission as the economical preservation and maintenance of the equipment and wagons based on the related standards, programs, and available resources endeavors to avoid unwanted downtime and to increase the shelf life and efficiency of wagons through saving, processing, and issuing information throughout the entire Maintenance Department of the company. Followings are some of the activities expected from the target information architecture of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company toward the business objectives of this company: - The ability of producing and generating maintenance standards and the required technical information such as methods, instructions, and Maintenance Department standards - The ability of devising a comprehensive program for maintaining and repairing the entire equipment in compliance with the maintenance engineering standards

- To have the ability of planning and supervising on the due supply of the materials, parts, and tools for the precise execution of the maintenance operations and repairs in the predicted times - The ability of planning for the preservation, maintenance, and deliver of the materials, parts, and tools to the related systems - The ability of calculating the reliability of wagons for insuring the secure travel making use of their repair data - The ability of planning, executing, and controlling the supply process of goods for making sure of the existence of quality goods at the determined schedule - The ability of calculating the actual cost price and registering and keeping such data for budgeting concerning the Maintenance Department activities With the previously-mentioned objectives, the target information architecture of the company indicates the existence of the following systems in the designed information system which is called the Maintenance Department information subsystems of RAJA Company. - Maintenance engineering subsystem - Control and planning subsystem - Parts and materials planning subsystem - Quality assurance subsystem - Financial control and planning subsystem - Supplier subsystem - Maintenance executive subsystem The logical DFD of these subsystems are as below:

Figure 5. Logical DFD of target architecture

The investigated cases are all related to the ideal informational architecture of the maintenance department of RAJA Company in business architecture layer. In this layer, the focus is mostly on the activities that must be done in the considered architecture. Now, for completing this analysis

concerning the ideal informational architecture, we need to analyze this department in the view of the other layers of the informational architecture as well. 5-3-2- Study of the ideal information architecture of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company through the aspect of the other layers of information architecture: Study of the ideal information architecture of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company through the aspect of the other layers of information architecture is applicable and executable through the study of the followings issues: 5-3-2-1- Study of the presupposition of the information technology strategy and concluding from such presupposition 5-3-2-2- Determining the software architecture 5-3-2-3- Determining Network architecture 5-3-2-4- Determining Hardware architecture

In line with this, the following issues will be pointed out: 5-3-2-1- Study of the presupposition of the information technology strategy and concluding from such presupposition a. The CMMS software will be one of the subsystems of the ERP software of RAJA b. The engineering data are entered to the system in a concentrated mode but this information shall be available for the entire authorized its users. c. The maintenance planning is concentrated but the work instructions are distributed among different various sections. d. Planning of the required materials and parts is done in a concentrated mode. e. Warehouse of materials and parts will be in different repair centers. f. Distribution of the materials and parts in the warehouse of materials and parts of different centers is done through the planning system of materials and parts; this system applies a full supervision on the stock and consumption within the repair units. g. Execution of repairs is in non-concentrated mode but its information must be accessible by the authorized systems. h. Planning and financial control of maintenance and repairs is completely done in a concentrated fashion. From the study of the above presumptions assumed toward the execution of the ideal information architecture of the maintenance department of RAJA Company, followings are concluded: - Database of the maintenance and repair system of RAJA is concentrated - Updating the base information is done in a concentrated mode. - Information related to the executive operations in the production stage is absorbed in a nonconcentrated mode. - Recovery of the data in case of need is completely done in a non-concentrated mode. 5-3-2-2- Determining the software architecture In this section, first we shall point out the storing environment of information and management of data. In this regard, we must say that from among the two Traditional File Processing and Database processing methods, the Database Approach is selected due to its following advantages: - Being able to make the integrated systems - Logical relation between data - Reduction of the used memory and consequent reduction of expenses - Higher security of data - Data Independence of the compiler software

- Easiest for reporting Now, we must choose the best choice of the database from among the different database (Data Base Management Systems (DBMS)). In this case, considering the higher volume of the maintenance processes and repairs activities of RAJA Company, which is in organizational level, and taking into account that the SQL Server 2005 is entitled with a strong support and economical, it is selected as the DBMS of the maintenance department of RAJA Company. After assigning the DBMS of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company, it is the turn of analyzing the compiler which is the processing data environment. In this relation, this environment must meet the following facilities and conditions: - To have a proper Graphic User Interface (GUI) - Reliable and with the high possibility - Capability of establishing relation with the database of SQL Server 20005 - Capability of being used in Client/Server - Higher speed and execution - Existence of prior experience of use in Iran - Existence of remarkable support in Iran - Technical and economic concerns Considering the above-mentioned cases, VB.Net is selected as the compiler of the maintenance department of RAJA Company. After the selection of the compiler, it is the turn of analyzing the operating system of the CMMS of maintenance department of RAJA Company. In this concern, the quoted operating system must be analyzed from two points of view one of which is of network aspect and the second is the Work Stations aspect (user aspect). From the Network aspect a selected operating system shall meet at least the following conditions: - Ability of serving the users - Ability of preserving information against corruption - Secure access to information - Backing up the extended and comprehensive environment of networks - Having suitable support in Iran - Economic expenses In case of the operating systems, a system must be chosen that besides its efficiencies and capabilities, it must be known by the users. From this aspect the operating system of Server is the Windows Server 2003 , and Windows XP is selected as the operating system of users. 5-3-2-3- Determining the Network architecture: For describing network architecture, following cases must be analyzed: Toward the network architecture, we may choose Client/Server Architecture from among different computer network architectures (Server Based, File Server, and Client/Server) due to its functioning specifications. In line with the Network Topology, we may make use of star topology and the best option for the network protocol is TCP/IP Protocol. In case of the software standard for the implementation of network, we may say that the best standard is Ethernet 802.2 and 802.3 Standard, because this standard, depending on the type of communication cable, has the ability of implementing making use of Coax Cables or curled couple or non- rhombus cables. In relation with the establishment of relation connection of units, considering the geographical scatter of the maintenance units of RAJA, it is necessary to make use of a mixture of Wire line (cable connection) and Wireless (wireless connection). In this connection, it is suggested to use optical fiber and the existing satellite for establishing relation between the networks of different units. 5-3-2-4- Determining the Hardware architecture:

Toward of the CMMS hardware of RAJA, use of integrated database is suggested. Followings are some of the hardware specifications of the CMMS of RAJA Company: - Hardware network standard should be of Ethernet I/0 Base - Based on the said standard, the required hardware of cable and connectors are (UTP/RJ). - Servers will connect through Router and Switch to the Clients. Hardware such Network Interface Card (NIC), Router, Switch, etc will be used in the implementation stage of the network and establishment stage. What we pointed out since now was the target enterprise architecture of RAJA Company based on the federal enterprise architecture framework. Now, we will analyze the transmission plan. 5-4- Transmission Plan of Maintenance Department Enterprise Architecture of RAJA Company The transition process of the enterprise architecture of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company shall be planned such that it can transmit the information architecture of that company from the current state to the ideal state. In this connection, with a view to the organizational chart of the Maintenance Department of RAJA Company, we may assess the transition plan as follows: Considering this enterprise chart and considering the policies of the maintenance department of RAJA Company indicating the privatization through outsourcing, activities of this department are divided to two: 1- Line activities 2- Staff activities Line activities are the main activities of the organization that in cases that they are stopped, the main product of the enterprise will be stopped immediately (execution of repairs on wagons). The staff support activities attributed to those activities supporting the line activities. With a field study, it was discovered that the entire line activities, which is the same as the repairs executive activities, are committed by the contractors and the entire support activities submitted to the maintenance department of RAJA Company. Considering the same field study, it was discovered that the maintenance department of RAJA Company requires software in relation with its line activities in order to automate its work processes and to optimize the repair activities through facilitating and speeding up the execution of the executive repair activities. However, on the other hand, it was discovered that this organization required a new chart for computerizing its support activities in which the entire support sections are combined for having an optimal and desirable function and instead of applying processing automation software, it is better to use data mining software. Use of such software makes us able to practice a better support concerning the line activities. It worth mentioning that the application of the data mining software in different support section of RAJA Company will not be that useful, because due to the duty-oriented policy of these units (which are separate from each other in the present organizational chart and work only based on the assigned duties), results of the data mining reports will not be so much effectual. In addition, it shall be said that application of data mining software in the line activities of RAJA Company will not be useful, because such activities are based on the executive activities and do not requiring the immediate analysis of information and its main need is the automation of processes rather than the analysis of the achieved data, (which is the duty of the support units). The suggestive new enterprise chart of the maintenance department in line with transmitting from the current status to the desirable architecture is as follows:

Figure 6. Suggested organization chart of the maintenance Dept. by the transition process

The transmission plan is the preparer and contriver of the status change from the current architecture to a desirable architecture, which was discussed previously. In the federal enterprise framework, other issues are also discussed (such as the information technology standards ) which are briefly mentioned in the format of enterprise architecture layers that we avoid repeating them.

Conclusion: We may conclude from the above-mentioned subjects that for the implementation of CMMS in big organizations, there is a need to study the organizational architecture. Making use of the enterprise or organizational architecture, the entire planning and implementation activities concerning the information systems are combined with each other and, doing so, the cost and time of having access to a comprehensive and integrated system is reduced. This article tried to present a desirable architecture, transmission plan, and information technology by using of the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework. With the conducted investigation, it was distinguished that the maintenance department of RAJA Company besides taking into account the entire discussions related to the enterprise architecture resulting in the coordination between different sections of it should make use of the maintenance automation software in case of its line activities and the data mining software in the case of its staff activities.

Acknowledgment This paper was one of the results of a project that was financially supported by the Raja passenger train corporation, so we would like to thank the Maintenance Department and Documentation Unit staff at this company, and in particular Mr. Mahmoud Ja fary the president of Raja Company. Also, we would like to appreciate Professor Uday Kumar of Div. of Operation and Maintenance Engineering in Luleå University of Technology for their direction and supervision on this study.

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[7] Chief Information Officers Council, "Updating the Clinger Cohen Competencies for Enterprise Architecture", 1999, CIO Council. [8] Chief Information Officers Council, "Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF)", 1999, Version 1.1, CIO. [9] Steven H., Enterprise Architecture Planning (Developing a Blueprint for Data, Application Technology) , 1992, John Wiley and Sons Inc. [10] Railway magazine of the Islamic republic of Iran [11] Haghighat H., "Investigating of Integrated Maintenance System for RAJA Co.", 2006, Iranian Industrial Management Org.

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