Enterprise Systems and ModellingIS1/IV2007

Autumn 2009

Course Compendiumhttp://vle.dsv.su.se/course/view.php?id=225

Department of Computer and Systems Sciences

Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University

COURSE GOALS

The overall course goal is to create an understanding of analysis, design and use of intra and inter-organisational enterprise information systems through the use of enterprise modelling. This understanding means that the student after completing the course shall be able to:

1. explain and evaluate central concepts in intra and inter organisational enterprise information systems, especially regarding their functionality, architecture, development, use, and consequences

2. analyse and design goal models describing the goals of an organisation and means used for fulfilling the goals

3. analyse and design business and value models for individual organisations as well as networks of organisations with a focus on production, transformation and exchange of resources

4. analyse and design process models including actors, information, control flow, and resource aspects

5. design and evaluate organisations and their business activities as well as information systems using enterprise modelling

6. summarise, apply and evaluate results in recent scientific literature in the area of the course

Detailed grading criteria can be found at the course web site.

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SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES LECTURE 1: Course overview and context. Goal models

LECTURE 2: Business models, REA (Resource – Event – Agent), an ontology for enterprise systems

LECTURE 3: More on business models, e3-value

LECTURE 4: Linguistic models for communication. Speech acts. A formal language for business communication (FLBC)

LECTURE 5: Process models, EPC-diagrams

LECTURE 6: Performance management for business processes

LESSON 1: Goal models

LESSON 2: Business models I

LESSON 3: Business models II

LESSON 4: Process models

INITIAL PRESENTATION: Project assignment

MODELLING SESSION: Project assignment

FINAL PROJECT REVIEW: Project assignment

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LITERATURE

Pavel Hruby: Model-Driven Design Using Business Patterns, Springer, 2006

Collection of selected papers

TEACHERS

Paul Johannesson (Course leader) pajo@dsv.su.se 16 16 71

Gudrun Jeppesen-Neve gudrun@dsv.su.se 16 16 53

Erik Perjons perjons@dsv.su.se 16 49 47

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EXAMINATION The examination of the course consists of three parts:

Written exam, see section written exam

Project assignment, see section project assignment

Paper evaluation, see section paper evaluation

WRITTEN EXAM

Examples of previous written exams can be found at the course web site and the First Class conference “gamla tentor”, a sub-conference to the conference “Studentexpeditionen”. The students are allowed to bring lecture notes, exercise notes and course literature to the written exam.

PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

This assignment is to be carried out in groups of five students. Each such group is called a project group. The assignment is about a start-up company in the home health care area. Your task is to design the company as well as its IT support focusing on its goals and processes.

BACKGROUND

Advanced home health care means that patients get qualified health care in their own homes, i.e. the kind of health care that is otherwise provided only at hospitals. One reason for the increasing interest in home health care is that it is less expensive than health care offered at hospitals. Furthermore, many patients prefer home health care to hospital care, as it enables them to go on with their ordinary lives. However, a major problem in home health care is a lack of feeling of safety. Patients are concerned that they will not be able to quickly get in contact with doctors and nurses when needed. They are worried that the health care personnel does not have access to correct and up-to-date information about their diseases and problems, and that different care providers do not communicate appropriately. One way to address these problems is by using information technology and information systems. The business idea of the company you are going to design is to offer hi-tech products and solutions for home health care. In particular, the company will offer advanced health care appliances appropriate for

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home health care. Exactly which products and solutions to be offered by the company is up to the project group to decide. In order to get a better understanding of the business of the company, the project group will have to do information search on the Internet. Some useful links to get started are:

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/health/med-device/mdt.html (a document on home health care and medical equipment)

http://www.hommed.com/ (a company offering monitors for home health care)

The company is to work on a global market and sell to countries with different health care systems. In some countries, the company expects to sell primarily to private persons that pay directly for the company’s products. In other countries, the company will sell to hospitals or other care providers that give or lend the equipment to patients. In some cases, these care providers will be funded by insurance companies and in other cases by local or national governmental bodies. The company expects to sell standard products as well as custom made products. Standard products are taken directly from the shelf and are then delivered to customers. Custom made products are tailor made to the needs of individual customers and patients. This tailoring may require extensive communication with the customer followed by the design of an appropriate solution and its subsequent production and delivery.

The design should make use of the most recent developments in the ICT area including systems and services for B2B, B2C, CRM, etc.

DOCUMENTATION

The project group shall document its design in a report consisting of five parts: a value network analysis, a goal design, a process design, an IT architecture design, and a process analysis. The report shall be so detailed and well argued, textually as well as graphically, that it can be used as an instrument for decision making.

Part I - Value Network Analysis

This part is to show the value network in which the company will work. Agents, resources, and exchanges of resources are to be made explicit. Note that the group here has to clarify exactly which products the company is to offer. Also note that the value network analysis has to take into account that the company is to work in different markets with different actors. Part I shall consist of two subparts:

An e3-value business model

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A textual explanation of the e3-value business model

Part II – Goal Design

This part is to show the goals of the company. The goals shall be clearly related to the value network analysis in Part I. In order to identify relevant goals, the project group shall make use of the five forces model and generic strategies of Michael Porter (see links under “Useful resources” at the course web site). Part II shall consist of two subparts:

A BMM goal model where each leaf goal is associated to at least one means and one objective

A textual explanation of the BMM model that shows how it is related to the components of the five forces model

Part III – Process Design

This part is to show the processes of the company. The processes shall be clearly related to the value network analysis in Part I and the goal design in Part II. Part III shall consist of four subparts:

A conceptual schema for the company (expressed as UML class diagrams) using the REA ontology. All classes/entities including attributes must be named and the cardinality/multiplicity between the classes/entities must be expressed. Stereotypes for all classes shall be specified in accordance with REA.

A value process graph for the most important processes showing the resources produced and consumed.

A number of detailed process models. For this purpose, the ARIS Business Architect is to be used and organizational charts, function trees, and EPC diagrams are to be constructed (see the website for more information). The processes should include sales and procurement. The process models shall show actions of individual actors and handle alternatives and exceptions. It is recommended to make each process diagram small by using the decomposition mechanisms of EPC diagrams.

A textual description of the models constructed above. The following questions are to be answered: How does the design of the processes help in fulfilling the goals of the company? Which Action-Workflow loops exist in the process models? Which are the

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open loops and the closed loops in the process models? If there are open loops, should they be closed? Which parts of the conceptual schema correspond to the REA ontology?

Part IV – IT Architecture Design

This part is to show the IT architecture of the company. The IT systems to be used in the company are to be specified, including DBMS, BPMS, CRM, ERP, DW, BI tools, dashboard, and KM. The use of EAI and decision support systems (BI, DW and Dashboards) shall also be discussed. Part IV shall be documented graphically in a diagram showing the systems and the data flows between them, representing systems as nodes and data flows as labeled arrows. The relationships between the systems and the business processes they support shall also be made explicit.

Part V – Process Analysis and Measurement

This part is to show the key performance indicators (KPI) for measuring and analysing the business processes of the company. The project group shall develop between 5 and 10 leading and lagging indicators. These indicators shall be related to the goals of the company. It shall also be specified in which part of the business processes, i.e. which activities, the indicators need to be measured, and which IT systems that will provide data for the indicators. The documentation of Part V shall consist of two subparts:

A set of leading and lagging indicators (between 5 and 10) shall be developed. Each indicator shall be described in an indicator template consisting of at least the following parts: name of the indicator, definition of the indicator, which goal(s) in the company’s goal model that the indicator is related to, target values, which part of a business process (i.e. which activity) the indicator measures, which IT system that will be the data source for the indicator, and which type of IT solution will feed the dashboard system with data from the source system. (An example of a more extended template can be found in the Eckerson article, page 207, in the Paper collection.)

An evaluation of the chosen indicators according to relevant characteristics specified in the Eckerson article, page 201, in the paper collection.

Ensure that the indicator templates are consistent with the IT architecture in Part IV.

PROJECT ASSIGNMENT PROCEDURE

In order to pass the project assignment, each project group has to

1. Participate in an initial presentation

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2. Participate in an early project review and hand in the results of this review

3. Participate in a modelling session

4. Construct and hand in a final solution, documented in the same way as done in the seminar groups

5. Participate in a final project review

Initial Presentation

Each project group meets with a teacher for about 30 minutes and presents and discusses its solutions. The following models are to be presented:

e3-value model (Part I)

Goal model (Part II)

Draft of the conceptual schema (Part III, first bullet)

Early Project Review

Two project groups must meet and discuss and review each other’s models. It is up to the project groups to find another project group with which to perform the project review. The results from the review must be documented by each project group (according to the early project review template) and shall be handed in by FirstClass.

The review should focus on the model syntax (does the project group use the correct notation?), the scope (are all parts of the company modelled?) and the detail level of the models (are the models detailed enough?). The review should also check that all model types (conceptual schema, goal model, and value process graph) are included. Each project group must hand in a review protocol, and the early review protocol template on the home page of the course shall be used for this purpose.

Modelling Session

During the modelling session, which is a one day event, two project groups should together create the models required for the documentation based on the two project groups’ models. The project groups will discuss and compromise to find common models. The modelling must be carried out using plastic sheets and post-it notes, which will be supplied by the teachers during the modelling session. The project groups will refine their models from the modelling

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session and hand in the final documentation. The final documentation must contain a description of which changes the project groups have made at and after the modelling seminar.

Note: the teachers will pair the groups of the modeling session.

Final Project Review

Two project groups and a teacher meet for about 60 minutes. The project groups shall exchange their documentation at least two days before the final project review. Each project group shall read and criticise the work of the other project group. During a review, an opponent group leads a discussion by first giving a short presentation of the other group’s work (at most 15 minutes) and then giving detailed comments and questions that the other group shall answer (for about 15 minutes). The final review protocol template on the home page of the course shall be used.

PAPER EVALUATION

This part of the examination can be carried out in two ways depending on the desired grade. In order to get grade C, D or E, the following is to be carried out:

1. Select one of the research papers available at the web site of the course

2. Write a short report of the selected paper that includes the following

a. A summary of the paper containing 500 – 800 words

b. An evaluation of the paper based on the paper evaluation sheet found at the course web site. For each criterion, you shall justify your judgment. The last criterion (on APA) is not to be applied

c. A discussion on how you could apply the results of the paper to the project assignment of the course

3. Hand in your report using FirstClass

In order to get grade A or B, the following is to be carried out:

1. Select one of the research papers available at the web site of the course

2. Search the Internet for one more paper on topics closely related to the paper selected.

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3. Read the paper by Hevner et. al. on design science in information systems (available at the course web site)

4. For each of the two papers, write a summary and evaluation report including the following

a. A summary of the paper containing 500 – 800 words

b. An evaluation of the paper based on the paper evaluation sheet found at the course web site. For each criterion, you shall justify your judgment. The last criterion (on APA) is not to be applied

c. An evaluation of the paper based on the design science paper by Hevner et. al. The evaluation shall be at least as detailed as the example evaluations in Section 4 of the Hevner paper

d. A discussion on how you could apply the results of the paper to the project assignment of the course

5. Write a short comparison report that explains how the papers are related to each other, max 1000 words

6. Hand in your reports using FirstClass

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LESSON 1

GOAL MODELS

EXERCISE 1

An eye care hospital has experienced a number of problems:

Patients have to wait for a long time before they can get treatments by specialists

A patient who is waiting for a treatment cannot get information about how long the waiting time will be

Information about patients who have been treated at the hospital has reached the media and has even been published on the Internet

Many surgical treatments do not give expected results and there are often problematic complications and side effects

Costs are increasing rapidly

The municipality in which the hospital is situated has recently issued a number of new regulations:

Every electronic access of patient information has to be logged

Standardized authorization systems shall be used for access to patient information

No one should have to wait more than three months for specialist treatments

The management of the hospital is concerned about these problems and the new regulations. Therefore, they have decided to produce a goal model according to BMM in order to better understand the goals of the hospital and how they could be achieved. The management believes strongly in an approach to improved cooperation between the hospital and private care providers. Today doctors refer patients to the hospital also for routine eye problems, and the hospital then refers the patients to a private eye care specialist. It would be preferable if the doctors could directly refer the patients to the private care provider, as this would shorten waiting time and reduce the pressure on the hospital’s resources. Management believes this

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should be a feasible approach as new technology, especially IT, could support this way of working. However, there may be some difficulties in introducing this approach:

Many people do not want to change their way of working

Some people fear they will get less work to do

This is just one approach for addressing the problems above. Many more ideas are needed. Your task is to come up with a goal model that can help the hospital to channel its efforts towards solving its problems.

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LESSON 2

BUSINESS MODELS I

EXERCISE 1

There exists a number of Internet music stations, where a listener can choose what music he or she would like to listen to. The listener does not have to pay any fee, instead the Internet music stations get revenue from advertisers. Furthermore, the music stations have to pay for the music they are playing. This is done through two regulatory bodies, called RecitalRight and SongRight (fictitious names). RecitalRight gives rights to play music performed by certain artists and produced by producers and manages the reimbursement to these actors. SongRight does the same but for composers and textwriters.

a) Create an e3-value model for the above business case including actors, value objects, and value exchanges.

b) Complement the model from a) with a scenario path.

c) Suppose that there is a new actor, an advertisement broker, that helps advertisers to target the right listeners. The advertisement broker gets information about the listeners from the Internet music stations and uses this information to match listeners with advertisements. In this way, listeners will be exposed to more relevant advertisements. Extend the model from a) to include this actor.

EXERCISE 2

In the text below, the business of a company is described. Solve the following tasks based on that description:

a) Construct a conceptual schema for the business using REA.

b) Assume that the company no more delivers the pictures with their own personnel and cars but outsources this activity to a distributor. How does the schema from a) change?

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c) Construct a value process graph for the business that shows how the processes are interrelated based on the resources they produce and consume. Show how the processes relate to the conceptual schema from a).

A company manufactures and sells framed fossils. The company has a number of subunits that autonomously manage procurement and sales. However, some activities are managed centrally, see below. The subunits procure fossils and frames from their suppliers – note that no single supplier can provide both fossils and frames. The fossils to be framed are typically very expensive and are procured one at a time, often after a complex negotiation. The frames, on the other hand, are fairly inexpensive and are ordered in large quantities in order to keep prices down

The mounting of the frames is made by qualified personnel. When a picture is completed, it is inspected by an inspector in order to guarantee that it holds the highest standards before it is shipped to a customer. The customers usually buy only one fossil at a time, but sometimes one customer orders several pictures simultaneously. In most cases, the customer specifies the kind of fossil desired, e.g. “tooth of Tyrannosaurus Rex”, but sometimes a customer orders a specific fossil. Most pictures are expensive and fragile and they are, therefore, shipped directly to the customer by the company’s own personnel who for this purpose use the company cars. The company employs central personnel for mounting and delivery of pictures. Furthermore, the company centrally purchases the cars used at the deliveries. A number of information requirements are the following:

1. Which customers have bought a picture costing more than 1000 euro?

2. Which customers have bought a picture but still not paid for it?

3. Which frame is the most popular for fossils costing more than 10,000 euro?

4. Which suppliers can deliver amber fossils?

5. Which employees have delivered a picture to the customer Anders Andersson?

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LESSON 3

BUSINESS MODELS II

EXERCISE 1

CONSTRUCT exchange and conversion processes for explaining language training by means of the REA ontology. What resources are involved in language training and what actors? Which economic events are changing the resources? Take the perspective of an employee who acquires language training. Think about what resources the employee acquires and how she uses them. Document your answer using exchange as well as conversion processes. Include stereotypes for all classes introduced.

EXERCISE 2

CONSTRUCT exchange and conversion processes for explaining radio advertising by means of the REA ontology. What resources are involved in radio advertising and what actors? Which economic events are changing the resources? Take the perspective of a company that acquires radio advertising. Think about what resources the company acquires and how it uses them. Document your answer using exchange as well as conversion processes. Include stereotypes for all classes introduced.

EXERCISE 3

CONSTRUCT exchange and conversion processes for explaining garbage management by means of the REA ontology. The background is that a company that produces resources may also produce garbage (including toxic material) that has to be disposed. In other words, the company has to get rid of the garbage in an environmentally acceptable way. What resources are involved in garbage management and what actors? Which economic events are changing the resources? Take the perspective of a company that has to manage its garbage and does so by itself. Think about what resources the company acquires and how it uses them. Document your answer using exchange as well as conversion processes. Include stereotypes for all classes introduced. Suppose that the company outsources the management of garbage to another company. How will the processes changes.

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LESSON 4

PROCESS MODELS

EXERCISE 1

Consider the following recipe: Salmon with mashed potatoes is made in the following way. The salmon is cut into small pieces and salt and pepper is added. Thereafter, the salmon is put into a refrigerator for 20 minutes. In parallel, the potatoes can be prepared. 5 kilos of potatoes are boiled on the furnace for 15 minutes. Thereafter, butter and salt is added and everything is mixed in a mixing machine for 2 minutes. Finally, the mashed potatoes is sprinkled around the salmon and put into an oven for 35 minutes. Use an EPC diagram to model this recipe. Make sure that all resources are modelled, ingredients as well as kitchen machines.

EXERCISE 2

AN OFFICE CHAIR CONSISTS OF TWO PARTS, a bottom part and a top part. The bottom part consists of one bottom frame and four wheels. The top part consists of one top frame, one seat, one back, and two arm rests. An office chair is assembled in the following way. The bottom frame and the four wheels are assembled to produce the bottom part. Doing this requires one machine of type A and takes 20 minutes. Independently of this, the top part is assembled. The back is painted, which takes one hour and requires one machine of type B. The top frame, the seat, and the two arm rests are also assembled. This requires one machine of type B and takes 40 minutes. Finally, the back is added to the top part, which takes 15 minutes and one machine of type B. When both the bottom part and the top part are completed, they are assembled into a chair – 20 minutes and one machine of type A. Model the assembly of the office chair by means of an EPC diagram.

EXERCISE 3

SOME CONFERENCES INVITE AUTHORS TO SUBMIT PAPERS. The following text specifies a possible procedure for managing the invitation and the paper submission.

The conference chair sends a personal invitation to a possible author. If the author answers in the affirmative within seven days, she will get an instruction message describing the submission procedure in detail. If the answer is negative, the author will

get a polite acknowledgement message. The author should provide a full paper within 30 days of the instruction message. If the author has not submitted a paper before this deadline, she will get a notification. This notification will be repeated four times with two days between the notifications if there is no answer from the author. When the paper has been submitted, it is sent for a scientific review to a reviewer. The reviewer must answer within 10 days. If there is no answer from the reviewer, she will get exactly one notification. If the reviewer does not send in a review report within three days of the notification, the paper must be reviewed by another person. The conference chair selects another person and the paper is sent to this person with a request to review the paper within 3 days. If the new reviewer rejects the request or does not send a review on time, the procedure is repeated. There may be many failed repetitions, and if it turns out to be impossible to find a reviewer, the conference chair has to review the paper herself. When the review has been completed, the conference chair will make a decision whether to accept the paper. If it is accepted, an acceptance letter is sent to the author, otherwise a rejection letter. Model this process by means of an EPC diagram. Note that the description is incomplete and make appropriate assumptions.