| dc.description.abstract | Digital systems have become popular channels to facilitate interactions between multi service providers
(MSP’s) and customers. As these systems enable customers to use services that the MSP offers, MSP’s aim
for a high user experience of their digital systems. This results into UX designers and enterprise architects
collaborating to improve the user experience, using user journey maps as a means to communicate. Though,
user journeys are created in many different ways, with different taxonomies. Additionally, the two type of
experts are quite different in terms of background and knowledge. As result, user journey maps can be
interpreted in different ways and collaborating through user journey maps can become a time-consuming
process.
In attempt to align UX designers with enterprise architects and to structure user journeys, this study proposes
an extension to Archimate that is focused on the integration with user journeys. The extension, User Journey
Extended Archimate (UJEA) is based on a literature review, a case study at a Dutch bank and an expert
interview with a customer journey software vendor. UJEA consists of a user journey taxonomy (i), a user
journey meta model (ii), a mapping of concepts (iii), a meta model that combines user journeys with
Archimate (iv), a graphical notation (v), a new Archimate framework (vi) and a meta model with the allowed
relationships between the user journey layer and architecture (vii).
The artefact has been evaluated through technical action research at a Dutch bank, in which two UX designers
and three architects applied the artefact on a real case. With this evaluation, we measured the perceived
ease of use, perceived usefulness, intention to use, perceived collaboration value, perceived familiarity of
concepts and perceived completeness. The evaluation session showed that artefact has great potency in
mapping user journeys and aligning UX designers with architects. The results were positive; subjects found it
useful, easy to use, intent to use it, saw great potency in terms of collaboration and recognised the concepts.
Still, the artefact can be improved by adjusting the allowed links between user journeys and architecture,
integrating the artefact with screen designs and adding a couple of extra concepts.
While further validation on the artefact and artefact improvements are recommended for future research,
UJEA provides a solid basis for creating user journey maps and integration with enterprise architecture. The
strength of the framework lies within the discussions that arise when UX designers and architects link a user
journey map to architecture. We hypothesise that the extension is suitable as a universal standard for user
journey maps, as well as a means for overview and communication for UX designers and architects. | |
