This article contributes an architecture-centric methodology, called AABA (Architecture-centric Agile Big data Analytics), to address the technical, organizational, and rapid technology change challenges of both big data system development and agile delivery of big data analytics for Web-based Systems (WBS). As the first of its kind, AABA fills a methodological void by adopting an architecture-centric approach, advancing and integrating software architecture analysis and design, big data modeling and agile practices. This article describes how AABA was developed, evolved and validated simultaneously in 10 empirical WBS case studies through three CPR (Collaborative Practice Research) cycles. In addition, this article presents an 11th case study illustrating the processes, methods and techniques/tools in AABA for cost-effectively achieving business goals and architecture agility in a large scale WBS. All 11 case studies showed that architecture-centric design, development, and operation is key to taming technical complexity and achieving agility necessary for successful WBS big data analytics development. Our contribution is novel and important. The use of reference architectures, a design concepts catalog and architectural spikes in AABA are advancements to architecture design methods. In addition, our architecture-centric approach to DevOps was critical for achieving strategic control over continuous big data value delivery for WBS.

This paper presents an integrated service-oriented enterprise system development framework (called the BITAM-SOA Framework) as well as an instantiated design process model (called the Service Engineering Schematic) that was a result from a three-year action research case study with a Fortune 50 company in the financial services industry. The BITAM-SOA Framework and Schematic advance are both business-IT alignment and software architecture analysis techniques supporting the engineering of enterprise-wide service-oriented systems-that is, service engineering.

Service engineering, the application of engineering disciplines to develop service-oriented enterprise systems (service systems) with predicable results, has faced a brand new array of challenges in recent years. Existing development approaches that might help addressing these challenges are scattered in separate research fields or in different units of an organization, just like the "blind men and the elephant." This article presents a 3-year action research case study with a Fortune 50 company in the financial services industry, validating an integrated service-oriented business-IT alignment framework, called the BITAM-SOA Framework, to shed light on complex service engineering issues, including the interplay between business-IT alignment approaches (alignment via architecture, via governance and via communication) and Service Oriented Architecture adoption as well as methodological challenges of service engineering. The importance of the social dimension of service engineering is illuminated. The results yield lessons learned, managerial insights and integrated methods for effective service engineering.