Combining enterprise architecture and operational data is complex (especially when considering the actual ‘matching’ of data with enterprise architecture elements), and little has been written on how to do this. In this paper we aim to fill this gap, and propose a method to combine operational data with enterprise architecture to better support decision-making. Using such a method may result in either an enriched enterprise architecture model (which is very suitable as basis for model-based architecture analyses) or a warehouse data model where operational data is enriched with enterprise architecture metadata (which leads to more traceability by easing the retrieval and interpretation of raw data and of business analytics results). The method is illustrated by means of a case and evaluated by experts. Also, a model for mapping enterprise architecture, operational data, and time is proposed, which allows the model-based execution of new types of analyses.

In a model-driven design process the interaction between application parts can be described at various levels of platform-independence. At the lowest level of platform-independence, interaction is realized by interaction mechanisms provided by specific middleware platforms. At higher levels of platform-independence, interaction must be described in such a way that it can be further refined and realized onto a number of different middleware platforms, each with its particular interaction mechanisms and implementation constraints. In this paper, we investigate concepts that support interaction design at various levels of middleware-platform-independence. In addition, we propose design operations for interaction refinement. The application of these operations to source designs results in target designs that take into account implementation constraints imposed by platforms, while preserving characteristics prescribed in source designs. Target designs are related to source designs by conformance. We discuss how transformation and conformance can be related, such that transformations indeed preserve the characteristics prescribed by a source design.