Enterprise Modeling: Facilitating the Process and the People

202 Pages·2018·4.45 MB·English

by  Janis Stirna

Janis Stirna
Anne Persson
Enterprise
Modeling
Facilitating the Process
and the People
Enterprise Modeling
(cid:129)
Janis Stirna Anne Persson
Enterprise Modeling
Facilitating the Process and the People
JanisStirna AnnePersson
DepartmentofComputerand SchoolofInformatics
SystemsSciences UniversityofSkövde
StockholmUniversity Skövde,Sweden
Kista,Sweden
ISBN978-3-319-94856-0 ISBN978-3-319-94857-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94857-7
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018949605
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Preface
For a number of years now, methods, techniques, and practices for Enterprise
Modeling (EM) have been a very important part of our professional lives. We
strongly believe that modeling is a key technique for understanding, capturing,
andcommunicatingorganizationalknowledge,andwealsobelievethatitiscrucial
forsuccessfullymasteringchangeandinnovationprocessesinenterprises.
WehavealwaystakengreatinterestinthepracticalaspectsofEnterpriseModel-
ing,eversincewebothstartedworkingonourdoctoralthesesonthissubjectmore
than20yearsago.Sincethen,wehavecollectedsubstantialexperienceandresearch-
based knowledge on the dos and don’ts of EM in different contexts and on the
conditions necessary for EM to reach its full potential. A large portion of our
experiencesandknowledgeiscollectedinthisbook.
The idea for this book emerged from our observation that it takes considerable
timetobecomeahighlyprofessionalEMpractitionerandthatlearningthedosand
don’ts of the practice often is a matter of learning by committing costly mistakes
yourselfand/orbeingdependentonhavingahighlyexperiencedmentoravailable,of
whichthereisashortage.BooksonthetopicofEMpracticehavenotbeenavailable.
Wethereforedecidedtocollectourexperienceandknowledgeinthisbook.
Thisbookwouldnothavebecomearealitywithoutthesupportofmanypeoplein
ourpersonalandprofessionalenvironments.
First of all, we would like to thank all colleagues and friends who actively
contributed to the development of the “For Enterprise Modeling” (4EM) method
anditspredecessor,EnterpriseKnowledgeDevelopment(EKD),whichincludenot
onlyamodelinglanguagebutaprocessforEnterpriseModelingaswell.Experience
fromworkingwiththosemethodsisthefoundationthatthisbookrestsupon.Since
thelistofpeoplewouldbeverylongwiththeimminentdangerthatwewouldforget
someone, we just want to mention Prof. Emeritus Janis Bubenko Jr. at the Royal
InstituteofTechnology(Sweden)whohasinspiredusgreatly.
When it comes to the process of modeling, and in particular how to facilitate
modeling sessions, we want to acknowledge Christer Nellborn, Hans Willars, and
v
vi Preface
Björn Nilsson, who are good examples of truly professional EM practitioners.
Thanksforsharingyourknowledgeandideaswithus!
Thisbookcomplementsthebookonthe4EMmethodthatwewrotetogetherwith
our colleagues Prof. Kurt Sandkuhl at the University of Rostock (Germany) and
Dr. Matthias Wißotzki at the University of Wismar (Germany). A special thanks
goestoyou.
Furthermore,wewouldliketothankourcolleaguesinJönköping,Riga,Rostock,
Skövde,Stockholm,andValmierawhoteachEnterpriseModelingandwhocontrib-
uted ideas, improvement proposals, and practices in many fruitful discussions and
jointmodelingsessions.Youallknowwhoyouare!
Moreover,wewouldliketothankfellowresearchersandpractitionersthatwork
intheareaofEnterpriseModelingandinrecentyearshavebeenpartofformingan
activecommunityundertheauspicesoftheIFIPWorkingGroup8.1onDesignand
Evaluation of Information Systems and more specifically the Working Conference
onthePracticeofEnterpriseModeling(PoEM).Manyideaspresentedinthisbook
havebeenputforwardfordiscussionwithourpeersattheseforums.
Kista,Sweden JanisStirna
Skövde,Sweden AnnePersson
May2018
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 BackgroundtoEnterpriseModelingandtoRelatedElicitation
Approaches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3 TypicalOrganizationalProblemsandHowParticipatory
EnterpriseModelingHelps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4 AnExampleofanEnterpriseModelingMethod:4EM. . . . . . . . . . 51
5 TheProcessofEnterpriseModeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6 RolesandCompetencesinanEnterpriseModelingProject. . . . . . . 93
7 TypesofOrganizationalStakeholderBehaviorsinParticipatory
ModelingandHowtoDealwithThem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8 ManagingSituationsandRelatedContingenciesinFacilitated
EnterpriseModelingSessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
9 ToolsforParticipatoryEnterpriseModeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
10 ParticipatoryModelinginRelationtoOtherModelingFrameworks
andLanguages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
11 HowtoBecomeaProfessionalEnterpriseModelingPractitioner. . 183
12 OutlookonthePracticeandResearchofParticipatoryEM. . . . . . 191
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
vii
Chapter 1
Introduction
Modeling has become a widespread activity in enterprises. Strategy development,
business process mapping, requirements engineering, product development, enter-
prise architecture management, and information system (IS) design are just a few
examplesofactivitiesthatbenefitfromamodel-basedwayofworkingandknowl-
edge representation in the form of models. In practice, more and more people in
organizationsareinvolvedinmodelingactivitiesthataddressvariousorganizational
problems. The models are usually relayed to business and IT development or
improvement of the quality of business operations. Such modeling tasks can be
addressed from a number of perspectives, such as strategy (goals, challenges,
opportunities,capabilities),businessoperations(processes,actors,resources),infor-
mation (business concepts, products), information technology (requirements, com-
ponents), etc. However, to develop effective solutions and to ensure they fit in the
organization,alloftheseperspectivesneedtobeanalyzedinanintegratedway.For
example,businessprocessesshouldsupportgoals,managetheinformationobjects,
andmotivaterequirementsforsupportinginformationsystems.Thisintegratedand
multi-perspectivewayofcapturingandanalyzingenterprisesolutionsisatthecore
of Enterprise Modeling (EM). EM offers a practical and flexible set of work pro-
cedures,tools,andpractices,whichcanbeadaptedtothesituationathandandtothe
purposeinfocus. The growing applicability ofEMwas thereason that we wrote a
book on EM with a specific method “For Enterprise Modeling” (4EM) in focus
(Sandkuhletal.2014).Accordingtothatbook,EnterpriseModelingisastructured
way of working, which captures various aspects of an organization or a problem
situation, such as business goals, processes, and actors, in an integrated way. EM
contributes to the management of an organization by supporting change manage-
ment, decision-making, and planning processes both within the different organiza-
tionalfunctionsandforitsITsupport.
Inpractice,modelingactivitiesofteninvolvegroupsofpeople,whichmeansthe
modelsarecreatedinaparticipatoryway.Itisalsothecasethatnotallparticipants
are experienced in modeling. To be efficient, such participatory modeling sessions
needthesupportofdedicatedpersonswhoknowhowtoorganizeamodelingproject
©SpringerInternationalPublishingAG,partofSpringerNature2018 1
J.Stirna,A.Persson,EnterpriseModeling,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94857-7_1
2 1 Introduction
Common picture
in a mutually agreed
language and model
gives effectiveness
Fig.1.1 Differencesofstakeholderviewsandperceptions.©JoakimÖrvander(2014).Reprinted
withpermission
andmodelingsessions,howtomanagediscussionsduringamodelingsession,and
what aspects influence the success and efficiency of modeling in practice. Hence,
thisbookisabouttheprocessofmanagingmodelingprojectsandthefacilitationof
participatorymodelingsessionsaswellastheactivitiesthatarerelatedtofacilitation.
Intheparticipatoryapproachtomodeling,thestakeholders—undertheguidance
of a facilitator—create models to solve previously defined problems in modeling
sessions.Thefacilitatorensuresthatthestakeholdersinvolvedcanfocuscompletely
onsolvingtheproblem,withouttheneedtolearnthesyntaxofamodelinglanguage
first. The participatory approach also allows the model to consolidate and include
various stakeholder views and perspectives on the same modeling problem. For
example,Fig.1.1showsthreepeopleperceivingthesamecompanyinthreedifferent
waysthatareinfluencedbytheirbackgroundandroleinthecompany,forexample,
asanorganizationalhierarchy,ascashflow,orasproductionline.Theparticipatory
1 Introduction 3
approach is based on the assumption that all three (and probably many more)
viewpoints need to be investigated and aligned in order to develop well-fitting
solutionstothisenterprise.
Due to the participatory approach, the outcome of a modeling project not only
includes the models that are developed and the decisions or changes made in the
enterprisebutalsoresultsinstakeholdershavingabetterandjointunderstandingof
theproblemanditssolutionandoftenabetterunderstandingoftheirownenterprise
andtheirrolesinit.Incontrast,modelingresultscreatedbyanalystsonthebasisof
knowledgediscoveredbythemoretraditionalmethodsofelicitationdonotleadto
these positive effects. Even if the models themselves are marvelous, additional
efforts need to be spent in convincing decision-makers and other stakeholders to
accept the solutions they convey and to commit to the implementation efforts the
modelsrequire.Nomatterhow experienced theanalystsareandhow thoroughthe
elicitationprocess has been, models created in theanalyst-driven way risk missing
important aspects and details of the organization. This might further restrict their
usefulnesstotheorganization.
Concerningterminology,“enterprise”issometimesusedforprivateorganizations
only.Inthisbook’sinterpretationofEnterpriseModeling,thetermisnotlimitedto
anyspecifickindoforganization.EMisequallyapplicabletopublicorganizations,
industrial enterprises of any domain, privately run businesses, as well as nonprofit
organizations. Hence, we will use “enterprise” and “organization” as synonyms
whenaspecificformofownershipisunimportanttospecify.Wewilluse“company”
incaseswhereitisimportanttospecifythatitisaprivatelyownedcompany.
IntermsofhowbroadtheEMeffortshouldbe,theremightbeamisconception
thatEnterpriseModelingmeansmodelingthewholeenterprise.Thisdoesnotalways
havetobeso—EMmostoftenfocusesonlyoncertainpartsorproblemareasofthe
organization.IdentifyingwhatthefocusofanEMprojectshouldbeispartoftheEM
process.
ThetermBusinessModelingissometimesusedasasynonymtoEM.Inprinci-
ple,BusinessModelingcovers abroaderrange ofapproachesoriginating inopera-
tionsresearch,economics,managementstudies,andinformationsystems.Enterprise
Modeling as addressed in this book and in Sandkuhl et al. (2014) has two main
characteristics:(1)itfocusesonaddressingmultipleperspectivesofanenterprisein
an integrated way and (2) it offers a set of practical guidelines for knowledge
acquisition,modeling,andanalysis.
The stance taken in this book concerning the EM process is that the quality of
models and the effect of modeling are enhanced if a participatory approach to
stakeholder involvement is adopted. By participatory approach we mean a process
thathasthefollowingcharacteristics:
– Ithasadefinedwayofworking,forexample,intheformofmethodologicalsteps
to set up and carry out modeling sessions and report the modeling project,
followingexplicitprinciplesofstakeholderinvolvement.
– It has a group of stakeholders responsible for the knowledge that goes into the
model.