The P3 platform: an approach and software system for developing diagrammatic model-based methods in design research

Many issues in design and design management have been explored by building models which capture the relationships between different aspects of the problem at hand. These models require computer support to construct and analyse. However, appropriate modelling tools can be time-consuming to develop in a research environment. Reflecting upon five design research projects, this paper proposes that such projects can be facilitated by recognising the iterative and tightly-coupled nature of research and tool development, and by attempting to minimise the effort of solution prototyping within this process. Our approach is enabled by a software platform which can be rapidly configured to implement many conceivable modelling approaches. This configurability is complemented by an emerging library of modelling and analysis approaches tailored to explore design process systems. The platform-based approach enables any mix of modelling concepts to be easily created. We propose it could thus help researchers to explore a wide range of questions without being constrained to existing conventions for modelling – or for model integration

Modeling Business Models: A cross-disciplinary Analysis of Business Model Modeling Languages and Directions for Future Research

Modeling languages for business models are a powerful and flexible means of representing and communicating knowledge related to business models. More than fifteen years after Osterwalder et al. (2005) clarified the ontology for the business model concept in this journal, we offer a systematic and cross-disciplinary assessment of the literature on business model modeling languages (BMMLs) that facilitate the visualization of this concept. In so doing, we synthesize and organize the knowledge dispersed across different disciplines in which BMMLs have originated and highlight the potential weaknesses in this literature to offer solid insights for future research. Our analysis reveals the existence of 17 BMMLs that have originated in traditional domains such as strategy and information systems, but also emerging domains such as sustainability. We contrast and compare these BMMLs along three dimensions: semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. We also analyze research that has made use of these BMMLs, differentiating between research that is conducted with a given BMML and research that is conducted about a given BMML. We conclude by offering a research agenda in which we illustrate the main challenges associated with the lack of well-accepted semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic foundations of BMMLs and outline opportunities for future research

Semantic Bridging between Conceptual Modeling Standards and Agile Software Projects Conceptualizations

Software engineering benefitted from modeling standards (e.g. UML, BPMN), but Agile Software Project Management tends to marginalize most forms of documentation including diagrammatic modeling, focusing instead on the tracking of a project\u27s backlog and related issues. Limited means are available for annotating Jira items with diagrams, however not on a granular and semantically traceable level. Business processes tend to get lost on the way between process analysis (if any) and backlog items; UML design decisions are often disconnected from the issue tracking environment. This paper proposes domain-specific conceptual modeling to obtain a diagrammatic view on a Jira project, motivated by past conceptualizations of the agile paradigm while also offering basic interoperability with Jira to switch between environments and views. The underlying conceptualization extends conceptual modeling languages (BPMN, UML) with an agile project management perspective to enrich contextual traceability of a project\u27s elements while ensuring that data structures handled by Jira can be captured and exposed to Jira if needed. Therefore, concepts underlying the typical software development project management are integrated with established modeling concepts and tailored (with metamodeling means) for the domain-specificity of agile project management. A Design Science approach was pursued to develop a modeling method artifact, resulting in a domain-specific modeling tool for software project managers that want to augment agile practices and enrich issue annotation

The Role of Application Domain Knowledge in Using OWL DL Diagrams: A Study of Inference and Problem-Solving Tasks

Diagrammatic conceptual schemas are an important part of information systems analysis and design. For effectively communicating domain semantics, modeling grammars have been proposed to create highly expressive conceptual schemas. One such grammar is the Web Ontology Language (OWL), which relies upon description logics (DL) as a knowledge representation mechanism. While an OWL DL diagram can be useful for representing domain semantics in great detail, the formal semantics of OWL DL places a burden on diagram users. This research investigates how user’s prior knowledge of the application domain impacts solving inference tasks as well as schema-based problem-solving tasks using OWL DL diagrams. Our empirical validation shows that application domain knowledge has no effect on inference performance but enhances schema-based problem-solving performance. We contribute to the conceptual modeling literature by studying task performance for a highly expressive modeling grammar and introducing inference tasks as a new task type

Using structured analysis and design technique (SADT) for simulation conceptual modelling

Conceptual Modelling (CM) has received little attention in the area of Modelling and Simulation (M&S) and more specifically in Discrete Event Simulation (DES). It is widely agreed that CM is least understood despite its importance. This is however, not the case in other fields of science and engineering (especially, computer science, systems engineering and software engineering). In Computer Science (CS) alone, CM has been extensively used for requirements specification and some well-established methods are in practice. The aim of the thesis is to propose a CM framework based on the principles of software engineering and CS. The development of the framework is adapted from a well-known software engineering method called Structured Analysis and Design Technique (SADT), hence it is called SADT CM. It is argued that by adapting approaches from CS, similar benefits can be achieved in terms of formality, understanding, communication and quality. A comprehensive cross-disciplinary review of CM in CS and M&S is undertaken, which highlights the dearth of standards within M&S CM when compared to CS. Three important sub-fields of CS are considered for this purpose namely, information systems, databases and software engineering. The review identifies two potential methods that could be adopted for developing a M&S CM framework. The first method called PREView was found unsuitable for M&S CM in DES domain. Hence, the thesis concentrates on developing the framework based on SADT. The SADT CM framework is evaluated on three-in depth test cases that investigate the feasibility of the approach. The study also contributes to the literature by conducting a usability test of the CM framework in an experimental setting. A comprehensive user-guide has also been developed as part of the research for users to follow the framewor

Resources-Events-Agents Design Theory: A Revolutionary Approach to Enterprise System Design

Enterprise systems typically include constructs such as ledgers and journals with debit and credit entries as central pillars of the systems’ architecture due in part to accountants and auditors who demand those constructs. At best, structuring systems with such constructs as base objects results in the storing the same data at multiple levels of aggregation, which creates inefficiencies in the database. At worst, basing systems on such constructs destroys details that are unnecessary for accounting but that may facilitate decision making by other enterprise functional areas. McCarthy (1982) proposed the resources-events-agents (REA) framework as an alternative structure for a shared data environment more than thirty years ago, and scholars have further developed it such that it is now a robust design theory. Despite this legacy, the broad IS community has not widely researched REA. In this paper, we discuss REA’s genesis and primary constructs, provide a history of REA research, discuss REA’s impact on practice, and speculate as to what the future may hold for REA-based enterprise systems. We invite IS researchers to consider integrating REA constructs with other theories and various emerging technologies to help advance the future of information systems and business research

From business logic to business process : designing strategy-aligned business processes

Het ontwerpen van strategisch gealigneerde bedrijfsprocessen vereist een coördinatie tussen de strategie en de processen binnen een onderneming. Binnen het onderzoeksgebied van het Conceptueel Modelleren kan deze coördinatie verwezenlijkt worden door het gebruik van waardemodellen. Modelleertalen voor waardemodellen brengen zowel de creatie van waarde binnen de onderneming, als de uitwisseling van waarde tussen de onderneming en haar ruimer netwerk, in kaart. Binnen dit doctoraatsonderzoek wordt het gebruik van deze modelleertalen gecombineerd met het bedrijfsmodel van de onderneming, een concept dat zijn oorsprong vindt in Strategisch Management. Het combineren van conceptuele modelleertalen met relevante raamwerken uit de management literatuur zorgt er voor dat conceptuele modellen ontwikkeld kunnen worden binnen een afgelijnde strategische context. Hierdoor worden concepten gebruikt die een duidelijke betekenis hebben voor de eindgebruikers binnen de onderneming, waardoor het eenvoudiger wordt voor hen om de uiteindelijke modellen te begrijpen. Het onderzoek binnen dit doctoraatsproefschrift is opgesplitst in drie delen. Het eerste deel (hoofdstuk 2) beschrijft de ontwikkeling van een integrerend raamwerk voor het bedrijfsmodel, zoals het gepercipieerd wordt binnen Strategisch Management. De belangrijkste reden voor dit onderzoek was het gebrek aan een gemeenschappelijke visie binnen dit onderzoeksdomein. Het raamwerk werd ontwikkeld door middel van een literatuurstudie en leidde tot de identificatie van 10 elementen en hun onderlinge relaties binnen het bedrijfsmodel. De toepasbaarheid van dit raamwerk werd geïllustreerd door het toe te passen op de Southwest Airlines gevalstudie. Het onderzoek uit hoofdstuk 3 bouwt verder op dit raamwerk aangezien het gericht is op de realisatie van IT support voor de ontwikkeling van bedrijfsmodellen. Hiervoor zijn we nagegaan welke modelleerconstructen, die gebruikt worden bij het opstellen van waardemodellen, geschikt zijn om de elementen binnen het bedrijfsmodel weer te geven. Nadien zijn deze modelleerconstructen gecombineerd tot het nieuwe business model viewpoint binnen VDML. Deze modelleertaal werd recent ontwikkeld door de Object Management Group als een standaard voor het modelleren van de waardecreatie en –uitwisseling door de onderneming. Het VDML business model viewpoint heeft als doel om het begrip van de eindgebruikers over de onderliggende bedrijfsinformatie te vergroten. Dit effect werd nagegaan door het uitvoeren van een experiment, waarvan de statistische resultaten aantonen dat het gebruik van dit nieuwe model een significante en positieve invloed heeft op het de accuraatheid en de snelheid waarmee eindgebruikers de onderliggende informatie kunnen afleiden. Het laatste deel van het onderzoek (hoofdstuk 4) is gericht op the realiseren van strategische afstemming binnen de bedrijfsarchitectuur. Dit werd verwezenlijkt door de ontwikkeling van een modelleertechniek die gericht is op de creatie van business architecture heat maps. Deze techniek steunt op raamwerken uit Strategisch Management om de relevante elementen binnen de bedrijfsarchitectuur te identificeren. In dit opzicht maken we hier dus ook gebruik van de onderzoeksresultaten uit hoofdstuk 2. De realisatie van de heat maps is gebaseerd op het toevoegen van een kleurencode die zowel de prestatie als het strategisch belang aanduidt van de elementen binnen de bedrijfsarchitectuur. De creatie van deze heat maps wordt ondersteund door een software programma dat ontwikkeld werd via het ADOxx platform. De voorgestelde modelleertechniek werd toegepast en geëvalueerd door middel van drie gevalstudies bij een grootschalig internationaal bedrijf dat software ontwikkelt. De resultaten van deze gevalstudies hadden tot doel om de voorgestelde modelleertechniek verder te verfijnen, waardoor een mooie balans gevonden werd tussen het bijdragen van kennis aan de betrokken onderzoeksdomeinen en het bieden van een oplossing voor een praktisch bedrijfsprobleem

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N

Dynamic enterprise modelling: a methodology for animating dynamic social networks

PhD ThesisSince the introduction of the Internet and the realisation of its potential companies have either transformed their operation or are in the process of doing so. It has been observed, that developments in I.T., telecommunications and the Internet have boosted the number of enterprises engaging into e-commerce, e-business and virtual enterprising. These trends are accompanied by re-shaping, transformation and changes in an enterprise's boundaries. The thesis gives an account of the research into the area of dynamic enterprise modelling and provides a modelling methodology that allows different roles and business models to be tested and evaluated without the risk associated with committing to a change