Enterprise modeling

Principles of Modeling 283 3.2. Object-Oriented Enterprise Modeling 291... 

Process-Oriented Enterprise Modeling 286 ADDITIONAL READING 307... 

Enterprise modeling aims at reducing the complexity of the system to be studied. Only specific aspects of an enterprise are examined, such as data structures, input-output relationships, and logistic... 

Abstraction is the basic concept of modeling. In system theory, we know many perspectives of abstraction. Thus, we can concentrate either on the structure or behavior of enterprises on certain elements of the enterprise, such as data, employees, software, products or on a bounded domain, such as sales, accounting, manufacturing. Typically, in enterprise modeling projects, several of these perspectives are combined. For instance, a typical modeling project might be Describe the sales data structures. ... 

Enterprise modeling is a creative process and can therefore not be completely directed by rules. However, if certain standards are observed, it is indeed possible to classify and understand third-party models. Furthermore, it is also a good idea to establish certain quality standards for enterprise... 

Figure 3 illustrates the relationship between principles and enterprise modeling. A principle is a fundamental rule or strategy that guides the entire process of enterprise modeling. Thus, modeling... 

In these examples, we are referring to numerous modeling aspects, such as process structures, hierarchical organizations, employee qualification, documents (data), and external or internal output as well as production and IT resources. Obviously, an enterprise model, particularly a business process model for the purpose of optimization, must be fairly complex. Moreover, it should address multiple aspects, for which numerous description methods are necessary. These various purposes determine the kind of modeling objects as well as the required granularity. 

MODELING VIEWS AND METHODS 3.1. Process-Oriented Enterprise Modeling... 

It is important to note that none of the flows (organization, function, output, and information flow, respectively) illustrated above is capable of completely modeling the entire business process. We must therefore combine all these perspectives. To this end, one of the views should be selected as a foundation and then be integrated into the others. The function view is closest to the definition of a business process and is therefore typically used as a starting point. However, in the context of object-oriented enterprise modeling information, flows can serve as a starting point as well. 

Object-oriented enterprise modeling starts with analyzing the entities of the real world. In the object-oriented model, these entities will be described through objects. The object data (attributes) represent characteristics of the real system and are accessible only by means of object methods. By their definition, attributes and methods objects are entirely determined. Objects that share the same characteristics are instances of the respective object class. Classes can be specialized to subclasses as well as generated to superclasses. This is called inheritance—each subclass will inherit the attributes and methods from its superclass. 

Both applications are supported by the ARIS Toolset software system, developed by IDS Scheer AG. We will discuss tool support for enterprise modeling in Section 5. 

Using a phase model, enterprise models are thus transformed step by step into information and communication technology objects (see Figure 17). 

Phase 3 calls for creating the design specification, where enterprise models are adapted to the requirements of the implementation tool interfaces (databases, network architectures, or programming languages, etc.). At this time, actual IT products are still irrelevant. 

Perspectives are listed in brackets edong with the respective role designations of the party involved scope (planner), enterprise model (owner), system model (designer), technology model (builder), components (subcontractor), tmd functioning system (user). 

Modeling tools are computerized instruments used to support the application of modeling methods. Support in designing enterprise models through the use of computerized tools can play a crucial role in increasing the efficiency of the development process. The general benefits of computer support are ... 

We can distinguish different groups of tools for enterprise modeling (see Figure 23). In relation to the different tasks of enterprise modeling, each group shows its special support profile. 

In the mid-1990s, the BPR debate drew our attention from isolated business activities to entire value chains. Yet entire process management in most of the cases focused on the information flow within departmental, corporate, or national boundaries. Obstacles within those areas appeared hard enough to cope with. Therefore, interoiganizational communication and cooperation were seldom seriously put on the improvement agenda. Consequently, enterprise models, particularly business process models were also restricted to interoiganizational aspects. 

These few examples already demonstrate that enterprise models play a major role in the success of e-business. Some software vendors, such as SAP and Oracle, have understood this development and are already implementing their first model-based e-business applications. 

Vernadat, F. B. (1996), Enterprise Modeling and Integration Principles and Applications, Chapman HaU, London. 

As discussed above, the enterprise model consists of several interrelated view models. Each view describes a specific aspect of the enterprise and has its own modeling method. This section gives a brief description of the aims of each view and the method currently used in building the view model. 

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