Enterprise modelling
Encyclopedia
Enterprise modelling is the abstract representation, description and definition of the structure, processes, information and resources of an identifiable business
, government
body, or other large organization.
It deals with the process of understanding an enterprise business and improving its performance through creation of enterprise models. This includes the modelling of the relevant business domain (usually relatively stable), business process
es (usually more volatile), and Information technology
.
s of whole or part of an enterprise
with process models, data model
s, resource models and or new ontologies etc. It is based on knowledge about the enterprise, previous models and/or reference model
s as well as domain ontologies using model representation languages. An enterprise in general is a unit of economic organization or activity. These activities are required to develop and deliver product
s and/or services to a customer. An enterprise includes a number of functions and operations such as purchasing, manufacturing, marketing, finance, engineering, and research and development. The enterprise of interest are those corporate functions and operations necessary to manufacture current and potential future variants of a product.
The term "enterprise model" is used in industry to represent differing enterprise representations, with no real standardized definition. Due to the complexity of enterprise organizations, a vast number of differing enterprise modelling approaches have been pursued across industry and academia. Enterprise modelling constructs can focus upon manufacturing operations and/or business operations; however, a common thread in enterprise modelling is an inclusion of assessment of information technology. For example, the use of networked computers to trigger and receive replacement orders along a material supply chain is an example of how information technology is used to coordinate manufacturing operations within an enterprise.
The basic idea of enterprise modelling according to Ulrich Frank is "to offer different views
on an enterprise, thereby providing a medium to foster dialogues between various stakeholders - both in academia and in practice. For this purpose they include abstractions suitable for strategic planning
, organisational (re-) design
and software engineering
. The views should complement each other and thereby foster a better understanding of complex system
s by systematic abstractions. The views should be generic in the sense that they can be applied to any enterprise. At the same time they should offer abstractions that help with designing information systems
which are well integrated with a company's long term strategy and its organisation. Hence, enterprise models can be regarded as the conceptual infrastructure that support a high level of integration."
problem". They wanted to create "a notation that should enable the analyst
to organize the problem around any piece of hardware
". Their work was a first efforts to create an abstract specification and invariant basis for designing different alternative implementations using different hardware components. A next step in IS modelling was taken by CODASYL
, an IT industry consortium formed in 1959, who essentially aimed at the same thing as Young and Kent: the development of "a proper structure for machine independent problem definition language, at the system level of data processing". This led to the development of a specific IS information algebra
.
The first methods dealing with enterprise modelling emerged in the 1970s. They were the entity-relationship approach
of Peter Chen
(1976) and SADT
of Douglas T. Ross
(1977), the one concentrate on the information view and the other on the function view of business entities. These first methods have been followed end 1970s by numerous methods for software engineering
, such as SSADM, Structured Design, Structured Analysis
and others. Specific methods for enterprise modelling in the context of Computer Integrated Manufacturing
appeared in the early 1980s. They include the IDEF
family of methods (ICAM, 1981) and the GRAI method
by Doumeingts in 1984 followed by GRAI/GIM by Doumeingts and others in 1992.
These second generation of methods were activity-based methods which have been surpassed on the one hand by process-centred modelling methods developed in the 1990s such as Architecture of Integrated Information Systems
(ARIS), CIMOSA
and Integrated Enterprise Modeling
(IEM). And on the other hand by object-oriented methods
, such as Object-oriented analysis (OOA) and Object-modelling technique
(OMT).
According to Fox and Gruninger (1998) from "a design perspective, an enterprise model should provide the language used to explicitly define an enterprise... From an operations perspective, the enterprise model must be able to represent what is planned, what might happen, and what has happened. It must supply the information and knowledge necessary to support the operations of the enterprise, whether they be performed by hand or machine."
In a two-volume set entitled The Managerial Cybernetics of Organization Stafford Beer introduced a model of the enterprise, the Viable System Model (VSM). Volume 2, The Heart of Enterprise, analyzed the VSM as a recursive organization of five systems: System One (S1) through System Five (S5). Beer's model differs from others in that the VSM is recursive, not hierarchical: "In a recursive organizational structure, any viable system contains, and is contained in, a viable system."
Function model
ling in systems engineering is a structured representation of the functions
, activities or process
es within the modelled system
or subject area.
A function model, also called an activity model
or process model, is a graphical representation of an enterprise
's function within a defined scope. The purpose of the function model are to describe the functions and processes, assist with discovery of information needs, help identify opportunities, and establish a basis for determining product and service costs. A function model is created with a functional modelling perspective
. A functional perspectives is one or more perspectives possible in process modelling. Other perspectives possible are for example behavioural, organisational or informational.
A functional modelling perspective concentrates on describing the dynamic process. The main concept in this modelling perspective is the process, this could be a function, transformation, activity, action, task etc. A well-known example of a modelling language employing this perspective is data flow diagram
s. The perspective uses four symbols to describe a process, these being:
Now, with these symbols, a process can be represented as a network of these symbols. This decomposed process is a DFD, data flow diagram. In Dynamic Enterprise Modeling
, for example, a division is made in the Control model, Function Model, Process model and Organizational model.
is the process of creating a data model
by applying formal data model descriptions using data modelling techniques. Data modelling is a technique for defining business requirement
s for a database
. It is sometimes called database modelling because a data model
is eventually implemented in a database.
The figure illustrates the way data models are developed and used today. A conceptual data model is developed based on the data requirements for the application that is being developed, perhaps in the context of an activity model
. The data model will normally consist of entity types, attributes, relationships, integrity rules, and the definitions of those objects. This is then used as the start point for interface or database design.
Business process modelling
(BPM) is the activity of representing processes
of an enterprise, so that the current ("as is") process may be analyzed and improved in future ("to be"). Business process modelling is typically performed by business analysts and managers who are seeking to improve process efficiency and quality. The process improvements identified by business process modelling may or may not require Information Technology
involvement, although that is a common driver for the need to model a business process, by creating a process master.
Change management
programs are typically involved to put the improved business processes into practice. With advances in technology from large platform vendors, the vision of business process modelling models becoming fully executable (and capable of simulations and round-trip engineering) is coming closer to reality every day.
reference model identifies enterprise modelling as providing one of the five viewpoints of an open distributed system. Note that such a system need not be a modern-day IT system: a banking clearing house in the 19th century may be used as an example.
More enterprise modelling techniques are developed into Enterprise Architecture framework such as:
And metamodelling frameworks such as:
is the discipline concerning the design and the engineering of enterprises
, regarding both their business
and organization
. In theory and practice two types of enterprise engineering has emerged. A more general connected to engineering and the management of enterprises, and a more specific related to software engineering, enterprise modelling and enterprise architecture.
In the field of engineering
a more general enterprise engineering emerged, defined as the application of engineering
principals to the management
of enterprises
. It encompasses the application of knowledge, principles, and disciplines related to the analysis, design, implementation and operation of all elements associated with an enterprise. In essence this is an interdisciplinary field which combines systems engineering
and strategic management
as it seeks to engineer the entire enterprise in terms of the product
s, process
es and business operations
. The view is one of continuous improvement and continued adaptation as firms, processes and markets develop along their life cycle
s. This total systems approach encompasses the traditional areas of research and development, product design, operations and manufacturing as well as information systems and strategic management. This fields is related to engineering management
, operations management
, service management
and systems engineering.
In the context of software development
a specific field of enterprise engineering has emerged, which deals with the modelling and integration of various organizational and technical parts of business process
es. In the context of information systems development it has been the area of activity in the organization of the systems analysis
, and an extension of the scope of Information Modelling. It can also be viewed as the extension and generalization of the systems analysis
and systems design
phases of the software development process
. Here Enterprise modelling can be part of the early, middle and late information system development life cycle
. Explicit representation of the organizational and technical system infrastructure is being created in order to understand the orderly transformations of existing work practices. This field is also called Enterprise architecture
, or defined with Enterprise Ontology as being two major parts of Enterprise architecture.
Business reference model
ling is the development of reference model
s concentrating on the functional and organizational aspects of the core business
of an enterprise
, service organization or government agency
. In enterprise engineering a business reference model is part of an enterprise architecture framework. This framework defines in a series of reference models, how to organize the structure and views
associated with an Enterprise Architecture
.
A reference model
in general is a model of something that embodies the basic goal or idea of something and can then be looked at as a reference for various purposes. A business reference model is a means to describe the business operations
of an organization, independent of the organizational structure
that perform them. Other types of business reference model can also depict the relationship between the business process
es, business functions, and the business area’s business reference model. These reference model can be constructed in layers, and offer a foundation for the analysis of service components, technology, data, and performance.
Economic modelling is the theoretical representation of economic processes by a set of variables
and a set of logic
al and/or quantitative relationships between them. The economic model is a simplified framework designed to illustrate complex processes, often but not always using mathematical techniques
. Frequently, economic models use structural parameters. Structural parameters are underlying parameters in a model or class of models. A model may have various parameters and those parameters may change to create various properties.
In general terms, economic models have two functions: first as a simplification of and abstraction from observed data, and second as a means of selection of data based on a paradigm
of econometric study. The simplification is particularly important for economics given the enormous complexity
of economic processes. This complexity can be attributed to the diversity of factors that determine economic activity; these factors include: individual and cooperative decision processes, resource
limitations, environment
al and geographical
constraints, institutional and legal
requirements and purely random fluctuations. Economists therefore must make a reasoned choice of which variables and which relationships between these variables are relevant and which ways of analyzing and presenting this information are useful.
or ontology building is a subfield of knowledge engineering
that studies the methods and methodologies for building ontologies. In the domain of enterprise architecture, an ontology is an outline or a schema used to structure objects, their attributes and relationships in a consistent manner. As in enterprise modelling, an ontology can be composed of other ontologies. The purpose of ontologies in enterprise modelling is to formalize and establish the sharability, re-usability, assimilation and dissemination of information across all organizations and departments within an enterprise. Thus, an ontology enables integration of the various functions and processes which take place in an enterprise.
One common language with well articulated structure and vocabulary would enable the company to be more efficient in its operations. A common ontology will allow for effective communication, understanding and thus coordination among the various divisions of an enterprise. There are various kinds of ontologies used in numerous environments. While the language example given earlier dealt with the area of information systems and design, other ontologies may be defined for processes, methods, activities, etc., within an enterprise.
Using ontologies in enterprise modelling offers several advantages. Ontologies ensure clarity, consistency, and structure to a model. They promote efficient model definition and analysis. Generic enterprise ontologies allow for reusability of and automation of components. Because ontologies are schemata or outlines, the use of ontologies does not ensure proper enterprise model definition, analysis, or clarity. Ontologies are limited by how they are defined and implemented. An ontology may or may not include the potential or capability to capture the all of the aspects of what is being modelled.
This way a fast understanding can be achieved throughout the enterprise about how business functions are working and how they depend upon other functions in the organization.
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
body, or other large organization.
It deals with the process of understanding an enterprise business and improving its performance through creation of enterprise models. This includes the modelling of the relevant business domain (usually relatively stable), business process
Business process modeling
Business Process Modeling in systems engineering is the activity of representing processes of an enterprise, so that the current process may be analyzed and improved. BPM is typically performed by business analysts and managers who are seeking to improve process efficiency and quality...
es (usually more volatile), and Information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
.
Overview
Enterprise modelling is the process of building modelBusiness model
A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value...
s of whole or part of an enterprise
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
with process models, data model
Data model
A data model in software engineering is an abstract model, that documents and organizes the business data for communication between team members and is used as a plan for developing applications, specifically how data is stored and accessed....
s, resource models and or new ontologies etc. It is based on knowledge about the enterprise, previous models and/or reference model
Reference Model
A reference model in systems, enterprise, and software engineering is a model of something that embodies the basic goal or idea of something and can then be looked at as a reference for various purposes.- Overview :...
s as well as domain ontologies using model representation languages. An enterprise in general is a unit of economic organization or activity. These activities are required to develop and deliver product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
s and/or services to a customer. An enterprise includes a number of functions and operations such as purchasing, manufacturing, marketing, finance, engineering, and research and development. The enterprise of interest are those corporate functions and operations necessary to manufacture current and potential future variants of a product.
The term "enterprise model" is used in industry to represent differing enterprise representations, with no real standardized definition. Due to the complexity of enterprise organizations, a vast number of differing enterprise modelling approaches have been pursued across industry and academia. Enterprise modelling constructs can focus upon manufacturing operations and/or business operations; however, a common thread in enterprise modelling is an inclusion of assessment of information technology. For example, the use of networked computers to trigger and receive replacement orders along a material supply chain is an example of how information technology is used to coordinate manufacturing operations within an enterprise.
The basic idea of enterprise modelling according to Ulrich Frank is "to offer different views
View model
A view model or viewpoints framework in systems engineering, software engineering, and enterprise engineering is a framework which defines a coherent set of views to be used in the construction of a system architecture, software architecture, or enterprise architecture. A view is a representation...
on an enterprise, thereby providing a medium to foster dialogues between various stakeholders - both in academia and in practice. For this purpose they include abstractions suitable for strategic planning
Strategic planning
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues...
, organisational (re-) design
Business process reengineering
Business process re-engineering is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization.According to Davenport a business process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome....
and software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
. The views should complement each other and thereby foster a better understanding of complex system
Complex system
A complex system is a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or more properties not obvious from the properties of the individual parts....
s by systematic abstractions. The views should be generic in the sense that they can be applied to any enterprise. At the same time they should offer abstractions that help with designing information systems
Information systems
Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...
which are well integrated with a company's long term strategy and its organisation. Hence, enterprise models can be regarded as the conceptual infrastructure that support a high level of integration."
History
Enterprise modelling has its roots in systems modelling and especially information systems modelling. One of the earliest pioneering works in modelling information systems has been done by Young and Kent (1958), who argued for "a precise and abstract way of specifying the informational and time characteristics of a data processingData processing
Computer data processing is any process that a computer program does to enter data and summarise, analyse or otherwise convert data into usable information. The process may be automated and run on a computer. It involves recording, analysing, sorting, summarising, calculating, disseminating and...
problem". They wanted to create "a notation that should enable the analyst
Systems analyst
A systems analyst researches problems, plans solutions, recommends software and systems, and coordinates development to meet business or other requirements. They will be familiar with multiple variety of programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms...
to organize the problem around any piece of hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
". Their work was a first efforts to create an abstract specification and invariant basis for designing different alternative implementations using different hardware components. A next step in IS modelling was taken by CODASYL
CODASYL
CODASYL is an acronym for "Conference on Data Systems Languages". This was a consortium formed in 1959 to guide the development of a standard programming language that could be used on many computers...
, an IT industry consortium formed in 1959, who essentially aimed at the same thing as Young and Kent: the development of "a proper structure for machine independent problem definition language, at the system level of data processing". This led to the development of a specific IS information algebra
Information algebra
Classical information theory goes back to Claude Shannon. It is a theory of information transmission, looking at communication and storage. However, it has not been considered so far that information comes from different sources and that it is therefore usually combined...
.
The first methods dealing with enterprise modelling emerged in the 1970s. They were the entity-relationship approach
Entity-relationship model
In software engineering, an entity-relationship model is an abstract and conceptual representation of data. Entity-relationship modeling is a database modeling method, used to produce a type of conceptual schema or semantic data model of a system, often a relational database, and its requirements...
of Peter Chen
Peter Chen
Dr. Peter Pin-Shan Chen is an American computer scientist and Professor of Computer Science at Louisiana State University, who is known for the development of Entity-Relationship Modeling in 1976.- Biography :...
(1976) and SADT
Sadt
Structured Analysis and Design Technique is a software engineering methodology for describing systems as a hierarchy of functions.- Overview :...
of Douglas T. Ross
Douglas T. Ross
Douglas Taylor Ross was an American computer scientist pioneer, and Chairman of SofTech, Inc.. He is most famous for originating the term CAD for computer-aided design, and is consider to be the father of Automatically Programmed Tools a language to drive numerically controlled manufacturing.-...
(1977), the one concentrate on the information view and the other on the function view of business entities. These first methods have been followed end 1970s by numerous methods for software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
, such as SSADM, Structured Design, Structured Analysis
Structured analysis
Structured Analysis in software engineering and its allied technique, Structured Design , are methods for analyzing and converting business requirements into specifications and ultimately, computer programs, hardware configurations and related manual procedures.Structured analysis and design...
and others. Specific methods for enterprise modelling in the context of Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Computer-integrated manufacturing is the manufacturing approach of using computers to control the entire production process. This integration allows individual processes to exchange information with each other and initiate actions...
appeared in the early 1980s. They include the IDEF
IDEF
IDEF, an abbreviation of Integration Definition, refers to a family of modeling languages in the field of systems and software engineering. They cover a wide range of uses, from functional modeling to data, simulation, object-oriented analysis/design and knowledge acquisition. These "definition...
family of methods (ICAM, 1981) and the GRAI method
GRAI method
The GRAI method is a modeling method of Enterprise modelling. Developed at the University of Bordeaux I since the 1980s, it can represent and analyze the operation of all or part of a production activity. The strength of the GRAI method lies in its ability to provide modelers can effectively model...
by Doumeingts in 1984 followed by GRAI/GIM by Doumeingts and others in 1992.
These second generation of methods were activity-based methods which have been surpassed on the one hand by process-centred modelling methods developed in the 1990s such as Architecture of Integrated Information Systems
Architecture of Integrated Information Systems
ARIS is an approach to enterprise modeling. It offers methods for analyzing processes and taking a holistic view of process design, management, work flow, and application processing....
(ARIS), CIMOSA
CIMOSA
CIMOSA stands for "Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture", is a enterprise modeling framework, which aims to support the enterprise integration of machines, computers and people...
and Integrated Enterprise Modeling
Integrated Enterprise Modeling
Integrated enterprise modeling is an enterprise modeling method used for the admission and for the reengineering of processes both in producing enterprises and in the public area and service providers. In integrated enterprise modeling different aspects as functions and data become described in...
(IEM). And on the other hand by object-oriented methods
Object-Oriented Modeling
Object-oriented modeling , also called object-oriented programming is a modeling paradigm mainly used in computer programming. Prior to the rise of OOM, the dominant paradigm was procedural programming, which emphasized the use of discrete reusable code blocks that could stand on their own, take...
, such as Object-oriented analysis (OOA) and Object-modelling technique
Object-modeling technique
The object-modeling technique is an object modeling language for software modeling and designing. It was developed around 1991 by Rumbaugh, Blaha, Premerlani, Eddy and Lorensen as a method to develop object-oriented systems and to support object-oriented programming.OMT was developed as an...
(OMT).
Enterprise model
An enterprise model is a representation of the structure, activities, processes, information, resources, people, behavior, goals, and constraints of a business, government, or other enterprises. Thomas Naylor (1970) defined a (simulation) model as "an attempt to describe the interrelationships among a corporation's financial, marketing, and production activities in terms of a set of mathematical and logical relationships which are programmed into the computer." These interrelationships should according to Gershefski (1971) represent in detail all aspects of the firm including "the physical operations of the company, the accounting and financial practices followed, and the response to investment in key areas" Programming the modelled relationships into the computer is not always necessary: enterprise models, under different names, have existed for centuries and were described, for example, by Adam Smith, Walter Bagehot, and many others.According to Fox and Gruninger (1998) from "a design perspective, an enterprise model should provide the language used to explicitly define an enterprise... From an operations perspective, the enterprise model must be able to represent what is planned, what might happen, and what has happened. It must supply the information and knowledge necessary to support the operations of the enterprise, whether they be performed by hand or machine."
In a two-volume set entitled The Managerial Cybernetics of Organization Stafford Beer introduced a model of the enterprise, the Viable System Model (VSM). Volume 2, The Heart of Enterprise, analyzed the VSM as a recursive organization of five systems: System One (S1) through System Five (S5). Beer's model differs from others in that the VSM is recursive, not hierarchical: "In a recursive organizational structure, any viable system contains, and is contained in, a viable system."
Function modelling
Function model
A function model or functional model in systems engineering and software engineering is a structured representation of the functions within the modeled system or subject area....
ling in systems engineering is a structured representation of the functions
Function (engineering)
In engineering, a function is interpreted as a specific process, action or task that a system is able to perform .-In engineering design:In the lifecycle of engineering projects, there are usually distinguished subsequently: Requirements and Functional specification documents. The Requirements...
, activities or process
Process modeling
The term process model is used in various contexts. For example, in business process modeling the enterprise process model is often referred to as the business process model. Process models are core concepts in the discipline of process engineering....
es within the modelled system
System
System is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole....
or subject area.
A function model, also called an activity model
Activity diagram
Activity diagrams are graphical representations of workflows of stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency. In the Unified Modeling Language, activity diagrams can be used to describe the business and operational step-by-step workflows of components in a system...
or process model, is a graphical representation of an enterprise
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
's function within a defined scope. The purpose of the function model are to describe the functions and processes, assist with discovery of information needs, help identify opportunities, and establish a basis for determining product and service costs. A function model is created with a functional modelling perspective
Modeling perspectives
A modeling perspective in information systems is a particular way to represent pre-selected aspects of a system. Any perspective has a different focus, conceptualization, dedication and visualization of what the model is representing....
. A functional perspectives is one or more perspectives possible in process modelling. Other perspectives possible are for example behavioural, organisational or informational.
A functional modelling perspective concentrates on describing the dynamic process. The main concept in this modelling perspective is the process, this could be a function, transformation, activity, action, task etc. A well-known example of a modelling language employing this perspective is data flow diagram
Data flow diagram
A data flow diagram is a graphical representation of the "flow" of data through an information system, modelling its process aspects. Often they are a preliminary step used to create an overview of the system which can later be elaborated...
s. The perspective uses four symbols to describe a process, these being:
- Process: Illustrates transformation from input to output.
- Store: Data-collection or some sort of material.
- Flow: Movement of data or material in the process.
- External Entity: External to the modelled system, but interacts with it.
Now, with these symbols, a process can be represented as a network of these symbols. This decomposed process is a DFD, data flow diagram. In Dynamic Enterprise Modeling
Dynamic Enterprise Modeling
Dynamic Enterprise Modeling is a Enterprise Modeling approach developed by the BaaN company, and used for the Baan Enterprise Resource Planning system which aims "to align and implement it in the organizational architecture of the end-using company"....
, for example, a division is made in the Control model, Function Model, Process model and Organizational model.
Data modelling
Data modellingData modeling
Data modeling in software engineering is the process of creating a data model for an information system by applying formal data modeling techniques.- Overview :...
is the process of creating a data model
Data model
A data model in software engineering is an abstract model, that documents and organizes the business data for communication between team members and is used as a plan for developing applications, specifically how data is stored and accessed....
by applying formal data model descriptions using data modelling techniques. Data modelling is a technique for defining business requirement
Requirement
In engineering, a requirement is a singular documented physical and functional need that a particular product or service must be or perform. It is most commonly used in a formal sense in systems engineering, software engineering, or enterprise engineering...
s for a database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
. It is sometimes called database modelling because a data model
Data model
A data model in software engineering is an abstract model, that documents and organizes the business data for communication between team members and is used as a plan for developing applications, specifically how data is stored and accessed....
is eventually implemented in a database.
The figure illustrates the way data models are developed and used today. A conceptual data model is developed based on the data requirements for the application that is being developed, perhaps in the context of an activity model
Activity diagram
Activity diagrams are graphical representations of workflows of stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency. In the Unified Modeling Language, activity diagrams can be used to describe the business and operational step-by-step workflows of components in a system...
. The data model will normally consist of entity types, attributes, relationships, integrity rules, and the definitions of those objects. This is then used as the start point for interface or database design.
Business process modelling
Business process modeling
Business Process Modeling in systems engineering is the activity of representing processes of an enterprise, so that the current process may be analyzed and improved. BPM is typically performed by business analysts and managers who are seeking to improve process efficiency and quality...
(BPM) is the activity of representing processes
Process modeling
The term process model is used in various contexts. For example, in business process modeling the enterprise process model is often referred to as the business process model. Process models are core concepts in the discipline of process engineering....
of an enterprise, so that the current ("as is") process may be analyzed and improved in future ("to be"). Business process modelling is typically performed by business analysts and managers who are seeking to improve process efficiency and quality. The process improvements identified by business process modelling may or may not require Information Technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
involvement, although that is a common driver for the need to model a business process, by creating a process master.
Change management
Change management
Change management is a structured approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organizational process aimed at helping employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment....
programs are typically involved to put the improved business processes into practice. With advances in technology from large platform vendors, the vision of business process modelling models becoming fully executable (and capable of simulations and round-trip engineering) is coming closer to reality every day.
Systems architecture
The RM-ODPRM-ODP
Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing is a reference model in computer science, which provides a co-ordinating framework for the standardization of open distributed processing...
reference model identifies enterprise modelling as providing one of the five viewpoints of an open distributed system. Note that such a system need not be a modern-day IT system: a banking clearing house in the 19th century may be used as an example.
Enterprise modelling techniques
There are several techniques for modelling the enterprise such as- Active Knowledge Modeling,
- Design & Engineering Methodology for Organizations (DEMO)
- Dynamic Enterprise ModelingDynamic Enterprise ModelingDynamic Enterprise Modeling is a Enterprise Modeling approach developed by the BaaN company, and used for the Baan Enterprise Resource Planning system which aims "to align and implement it in the organizational architecture of the end-using company"....
- Enterprise Modelling Methodology/Open Distributed Processing (EMM/ODP)
- Extended Enterprise Modeling LanguageExtended Enterprise Modeling LanguageExtended Enterprise Modeling Language in software engineering is a modelling language used for Enterprise modelling across a number of layers.-Overview:...
- Multi-Perspective Enterprise Modelling (MEMO),
- Process modelling such as CIMOSACIMOSACIMOSA stands for "Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture", is a enterprise modeling framework, which aims to support the enterprise integration of machines, computers and people...
, DYA, IDEF3IDEF3IDEF3, officially named a Integrated DEFinition for Process Description Capture Method, is a business process modelling method complementary to IDEF0...
, LOVEM, PERA, etc. - Integrated Enterprise ModelingIntegrated Enterprise ModelingIntegrated enterprise modeling is an enterprise modeling method used for the admission and for the reengineering of processes both in producing enterprises and in the public area and service providers. In integrated enterprise modeling different aspects as functions and data become described in...
(IEM), and - Modelling the enterprise with multi-agent systems.
More enterprise modelling techniques are developed into Enterprise Architecture framework such as:
- ARISArchitecture of Integrated Information SystemsARIS is an approach to enterprise modeling. It offers methods for analyzing processes and taking a holistic view of process design, management, work flow, and application processing....
- ARchitecture of Integrated Information Systems - DoDAF - the US Department of Defense Architecture Framework
- OBASHIOBASHIThe OBASHI® methodology provides a framework and method for capturing, illustrating and modeling the relationships, dependencies and dataflows between business and Information technology assets and resources in a business context....
The OBASHI Business & IT methodology and framework - RM-ODPRM-ODPReference Model of Open Distributed Processing is a reference model in computer science, which provides a co-ordinating framework for the standardization of open distributed processing...
- Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing - TOGAFTOGAFThe Open Group Architecture Framework is a framework for enterprise architecture which provides a comprehensive approach for designing, planning, implementation, and governance of an enterprise information architecture...
- The Open Group Architecture Framework - Zachman FrameworkZachman frameworkThe Zachman Framework is an Enterprise Architecture framework for enterprise architecture, which provides a formal and highly structured way of viewing and defining an enterprise...
- an architecture framework, based on the work of John ZachmanJohn ZachmanJohn A. Zachman is an American business and IT consultant, early pioneer of enterprise architecture, Chief Executive Officer of Zachman International, and originator of the Zachman Framework.- Biography :...
at IBM in the 1980s
And metamodelling frameworks such as:
- Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and MethodologyGeneralised Enterprise Reference Architecture and MethodologyGeneralised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology is a generalised Enterprise Architecture framework for enterprise integration and business process engineering. It identifies the set of components recommended for use in enterprise engineering.This framework is developed in the 1990s...
Enterprise engineering
Enterprise engineeringEnterprise engineering
Enterprise engineering is a subdiscipline of systems engineering, which applies the knowledge and methods of systems engineering to the design of businesses. The discipline examines each aspect of the enterprise, including business processes, information flows, and organizational structure...
is the discipline concerning the design and the engineering of enterprises
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, regarding both their business
Business process
A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers...
and organization
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
. In theory and practice two types of enterprise engineering has emerged. A more general connected to engineering and the management of enterprises, and a more specific related to software engineering, enterprise modelling and enterprise architecture.
In the field of engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
a more general enterprise engineering emerged, defined as the application of engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
principals to the management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
of enterprises
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
. It encompasses the application of knowledge, principles, and disciplines related to the analysis, design, implementation and operation of all elements associated with an enterprise. In essence this is an interdisciplinary field which combines systems engineering
Systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...
and strategic management
Strategic management
Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments...
as it seeks to engineer the entire enterprise in terms of the product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
s, process
Process modeling
The term process model is used in various contexts. For example, in business process modeling the enterprise process model is often referred to as the business process model. Process models are core concepts in the discipline of process engineering....
es and business operations
Business operations
Business operations are those ongoing recurring activities involved in the running of a business for the purpose of producing value for the stakeholders...
. The view is one of continuous improvement and continued adaptation as firms, processes and markets develop along their life cycle
Enterprise Life Cycle
Enterprise Life Cycle in enterprise architecture is the dynamic, iterative process of changing the enterprise over time by incorporating new business processes, new technology, and new capabilities, as well as maintenance, disposition and disposal of existing elements of the enterprise.- Overview...
s. This total systems approach encompasses the traditional areas of research and development, product design, operations and manufacturing as well as information systems and strategic management. This fields is related to engineering management
Engineering management
Engineering Management or Management Engineering is a specialized form of management and engineering that is concerned with the application of engineering principles to business practice...
, operations management
Operations management
Operations management is an area of management concerned with overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in the production of goods and/or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and...
, service management
Service management
Service management is integrated into supply chain management as the joint between the actual sales and the customer. The aim of high performance service management is to optimize the service-intensive supply chains, which are usually more complex than the typical finished-goods supply chain...
and systems engineering.
In the context of software development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
a specific field of enterprise engineering has emerged, which deals with the modelling and integration of various organizational and technical parts of business process
Business process
A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers...
es. In the context of information systems development it has been the area of activity in the organization of the systems analysis
Systems analysis
Systems analysis is the study of sets of interacting entities, including computer systems analysis. This field is closely related to requirements analysis or operations research...
, and an extension of the scope of Information Modelling. It can also be viewed as the extension and generalization of the systems analysis
Systems analysis
Systems analysis is the study of sets of interacting entities, including computer systems analysis. This field is closely related to requirements analysis or operations research...
and systems design
Systems design
Systems design is the process of defining the architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements. One could see it as the application of systems theory to product development...
phases of the software development process
Software development process
A software development process, also known as a software development life cycle , is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Similar terms include software life cycle and software process. It is often considered a subset of systems development life cycle...
. Here Enterprise modelling can be part of the early, middle and late information system development life cycle
Systems Development Life Cycle
The systems development life cycle , or software development life cycle in systems engineering, information systems and software engineering, is a process of creating or altering information systems, and the models and methodologies that people use to develop these systems.In software engineering...
. Explicit representation of the organizational and technical system infrastructure is being created in order to understand the orderly transformations of existing work practices. This field is also called Enterprise architecture
Enterprise architecture
An enterprise architecture is a rigorous description of the structure of an enterprise, which comprises enterprise components , the externally visible properties of those components, and the relationships between them...
, or defined with Enterprise Ontology as being two major parts of Enterprise architecture.
Business reference modelling
Business reference model
Business reference model is a reference model, concentrating on the functional and organizational aspects of the core business of an enterprise, service organization or government agency....
ling is the development of reference model
Reference Model
A reference model in systems, enterprise, and software engineering is a model of something that embodies the basic goal or idea of something and can then be looked at as a reference for various purposes.- Overview :...
s concentrating on the functional and organizational aspects of the core business
Core business
The core business of an organization is an idealized construct intended to express that organization's "main" or "essential" activity.The corporate trend in the mid-20th Century of acquiring new enterprises and forming conglomerates enabled corporations to reduce costs funds and similar investment...
of an enterprise
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, service organization or government agency
Government agency
A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...
. In enterprise engineering a business reference model is part of an enterprise architecture framework. This framework defines in a series of reference models, how to organize the structure and views
View model
A view model or viewpoints framework in systems engineering, software engineering, and enterprise engineering is a framework which defines a coherent set of views to be used in the construction of a system architecture, software architecture, or enterprise architecture. A view is a representation...
associated with an Enterprise Architecture
Enterprise architecture
An enterprise architecture is a rigorous description of the structure of an enterprise, which comprises enterprise components , the externally visible properties of those components, and the relationships between them...
.
A reference model
Reference Model
A reference model in systems, enterprise, and software engineering is a model of something that embodies the basic goal or idea of something and can then be looked at as a reference for various purposes.- Overview :...
in general is a model of something that embodies the basic goal or idea of something and can then be looked at as a reference for various purposes. A business reference model is a means to describe the business operations
Business operations
Business operations are those ongoing recurring activities involved in the running of a business for the purpose of producing value for the stakeholders...
of an organization, independent of the organizational structure
Organizational structure
An organizational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its...
that perform them. Other types of business reference model can also depict the relationship between the business process
Business process
A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers...
es, business functions, and the business area’s business reference model. These reference model can be constructed in layers, and offer a foundation for the analysis of service components, technology, data, and performance.
Economic modelling
Variable (mathematics)
In mathematics, a variable is a value that may change within the scope of a given problem or set of operations. In contrast, a constant is a value that remains unchanged, though often unknown or undetermined. The concepts of constants and variables are fundamental to many areas of mathematics and...
and a set of logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
al and/or quantitative relationships between them. The economic model is a simplified framework designed to illustrate complex processes, often but not always using mathematical techniques
Mathematical model
A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used not only in the natural sciences and engineering disciplines A mathematical model is a...
. Frequently, economic models use structural parameters. Structural parameters are underlying parameters in a model or class of models. A model may have various parameters and those parameters may change to create various properties.
In general terms, economic models have two functions: first as a simplification of and abstraction from observed data, and second as a means of selection of data based on a paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
of econometric study. The simplification is particularly important for economics given the enormous complexity
Complexity
In general usage, complexity tends to be used to characterize something with many parts in intricate arrangement. The study of these complex linkages is the main goal of complex systems theory. In science there are at this time a number of approaches to characterizing complexity, many of which are...
of economic processes. This complexity can be attributed to the diversity of factors that determine economic activity; these factors include: individual and cooperative decision processes, resource
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
limitations, environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
al and geographical
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
constraints, institutional and legal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
requirements and purely random fluctuations. Economists therefore must make a reasoned choice of which variables and which relationships between these variables are relevant and which ways of analyzing and presenting this information are useful.
Ontology engineering
Ontology engineeringOntology engineering
Ontology engineering in computer science and information science is a new field, which studies the methods and methodologies for building ontologies: formal representations of a set of concepts within a domain and the relationships between those concepts....
or ontology building is a subfield of knowledge engineering
Knowledge engineering
Knowledge engineering was defined in 1983 by Edward Feigenbaum, and Pamela McCorduck as follows:At present, it refers to the building, maintaining and development of knowledge-based systems...
that studies the methods and methodologies for building ontologies. In the domain of enterprise architecture, an ontology is an outline or a schema used to structure objects, their attributes and relationships in a consistent manner. As in enterprise modelling, an ontology can be composed of other ontologies. The purpose of ontologies in enterprise modelling is to formalize and establish the sharability, re-usability, assimilation and dissemination of information across all organizations and departments within an enterprise. Thus, an ontology enables integration of the various functions and processes which take place in an enterprise.
One common language with well articulated structure and vocabulary would enable the company to be more efficient in its operations. A common ontology will allow for effective communication, understanding and thus coordination among the various divisions of an enterprise. There are various kinds of ontologies used in numerous environments. While the language example given earlier dealt with the area of information systems and design, other ontologies may be defined for processes, methods, activities, etc., within an enterprise.
Using ontologies in enterprise modelling offers several advantages. Ontologies ensure clarity, consistency, and structure to a model. They promote efficient model definition and analysis. Generic enterprise ontologies allow for reusability of and automation of components. Because ontologies are schemata or outlines, the use of ontologies does not ensure proper enterprise model definition, analysis, or clarity. Ontologies are limited by how they are defined and implemented. An ontology may or may not include the potential or capability to capture the all of the aspects of what is being modelled.
Systems thinking
The modelling of the enterprise and its environment could facilitate the creation of enhanced understanding of the business domain and processes of the extended enterprise, and especially of the relations—both those that "hold the enterprise together" and those that extend across the boundaries of the enterprise. Since enterprise is a system, concepts used in system thinking can be successfully reused in modelling enterprises.This way a fast understanding can be achieved throughout the enterprise about how business functions are working and how they depend upon other functions in the organization.
See also
- Business process modellingBusiness process modelingBusiness Process Modeling in systems engineering is the activity of representing processes of an enterprise, so that the current process may be analyzed and improved. BPM is typically performed by business analysts and managers who are seeking to improve process efficiency and quality...
- Enterprise architectureEnterprise architectureAn enterprise architecture is a rigorous description of the structure of an enterprise, which comprises enterprise components , the externally visible properties of those components, and the relationships between them...
- Enterprise Architecture framework
- Enterprise integrationEnterprise integrationEnterprise integration is a technical field of Enterprise Architecture, which focused on the study of topics such as system interconnection, electronic data interchange, product data exchange and distributed computing environments....
- Enterprise life cycleEnterprise Life CycleEnterprise Life Cycle in enterprise architecture is the dynamic, iterative process of changing the enterprise over time by incorporating new business processes, new technology, and new capabilities, as well as maintenance, disposition and disposal of existing elements of the enterprise.- Overview...
- ISO 19439ISO 19439ISO 19439:2006 Enterprise integration -- Framework for enterprise modelling, is an international standard for enterprise modelling and enterprise integration developed by the International Organization for Standardization, based on CIMOSA and GERAM....
- Enterprise Data ModelingEnterprise Data ModelingEnterprise Data Modeling is the practice of creating a graphical model of the data used by an enterprise or company. Typical outputs of this activity include Entity Relationship Diagrams , XML Schemas , and an enterprise wide data dictionary. Producing such a model allows for a business to get a...
Further reading
- August-Wilhelm ScheerAugust-Wilhelm ScheerAugust-Wilhelm Scheer is a German Professor business administration and business information at the Saarland University, and founder and director of IDS Scheer AG, a major IT service and software company...
(1992). Architecture of Integrated Information Systems: Foundations of Enterprise Modelling. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-55131-X - François VernadatFrançois VernadatFrançois B. Vernadat is a French and Canadian computer scientist, who has contributed to Enterprise Modelling, Integration and Networking over the last 25 years specialising in enterprise architectures, business process modelling, information systems design and analysis, systems integration and...
(1996) Enterprise Modeling and Integration: Principles and Applications, Chapman & Hall, London, ISBN 0-412-60550-3
External links
- Agile Enterprise Modeling. by S.W. Ambler, 2003-2008.
- Enterprise Modeling Anti-patterns. by S.W. Ambler, 2005.