Managing architectural emergence: A conceptual model and simulation

Information systems are increasingly interconnected. They evolve through a sequence of projects that are affected by, and subsequently modify, this interconnectedness. We suggest that decision makers can influence emergent information systems by closely managing only a subset of their applications. We define this set of applications as the architectural control points (ACPs).To help architects manage their architecture, we develop a conceptual model of information system architecture as a network comprising a set of nodes linked by dependencies. We use simulation and network analysis to identify and show the value of ACPs.