Abstract
The analysis phase in the overall development life cycle of information systems has frequently proved to be a difficult assignment as the quality of the work heavily depends on the skills, experience and domain knowledge of the analyst. As a consequence, analysis patterns and reference models have been introduced in the past as a means to consolidate best-practices in conceptual modeling (often incorporating specific domain knowledge) and guiding analysts in their modeling efforts. However, the actual evaluation of reference models or analysis patterns available remains a challenging issue. Here, the evolvability or flexibility of the considered frameworks seems to be a legitimate evaluation criterion. Hence, in this paper, the well-known SAP Reference Model framework is analyzed with regard to its adherence to Normalized Systems (NS) theory design principles as this theory specifically focuses on the evolvability of modular structures such as information systems and business processes. It is concluded that it is feasible to employ the NS theory to evaluate such reference models from an evolvability point of view and distinguish both aspects and indications towards conformance with NS theory, as well as indications of possible violations regarding its principles.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Satzinger, J., Jackson, R., Burd, S.: Systems analysis and design in a changing world, 5th edn. Course Technology (2009)
Wand, Y., Weber, R.: Research commentary: Information systems and conceptual modeling — a research agenda. Information Systems Research 13(4), 363–376 (2002)
Moody, D.L.: Metrics for Evaluating the Quality of Entity Relationship Models. In: Ling, T.-W., Ram, S., Li Lee, M. (eds.) ER 1998. LNCS, vol. 1507, pp. 211–225. Springer, Heidelberg (1998)
Jacobson, I., Christerson, M., Jonsson, P., Övergaard, G.: Object-oriented software engineering: a use case driven approach. Addison Wesley (1992)
Fischer, G., Redmiles, C.F., Williams, L., Puhr, G.I., Aoki, A., Nakakoji, K.: Beyond object-oriented technology: where current approaches fall short. Human-Computer Interaction 10, 79–119 (1995)
Fettke, P., Loos, P.: Reference Modeling for Business Systems Analysis. In: Reference Modeling for Business Systems Analysis, pp. 1–21. Idea Group Publishing (2007)
Frank, U.: Evaluation of Reference Models. In: Reference Modeling for Business Systems Analysis, pp. 118–140. Idea Group Publishing (2007)
Mannaert, H., Verelst, J.: Normalized systems: re-creating information technology based on laws for software evolvability. Koppa (2009)
Mannaert, H., Verelst, J., Ven, K.: Towards evolvable software architectures based on systems theoretic stability. Software: Practice and Experience 42, 89–116 (2012)
Mannaert, H., Verelst, J., Ven, K.: The transformation of requirements into software primitives: Studying evolvability based on systems theoretic stability. Science of Computer Programming 76(12), 1210–1222 (2011); Special Issue on Software Evolution, Adaptability and Variability
De Bruyn, P., Mannaert, H.: Towards applying normalized systems concepts to modularity and the systems engineering process. In: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Systems, ICONS 2012, pp. 59–66 (2012)
De Bruyn, P.: Towards Designing Enterprises for Evolvability Based on Fundamental Engineering Concepts. In: Meersman, R., Dillon, T., Herrero, P. (eds.) OTM-WS 2011. LNCS, vol. 7046, pp. 11–20. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Van Nuffel, D.: Towards Designing Modular and Evolvable Business Processes. PhD thesis, University of Antwerp (2011)
Huysmans, P.: On the Feasibility of Normalized Enterprises: Applying Normalized Systems Theory to the High-Level Design of Enterprises. PhD thesis, University of Antwerp (2011)
Keller, G., Teufel, T.: SAP R/3 Process Oriented Implementation. Addison Wesley Longman (1998)
Curran, T., Keller, G., Ladd, A.: SAP R/3 Business Blueprint: Understanding the Business Process Reference Model. Prentice Hall PTR (1997)
Coplien, J.: The culture of patterns. Computer Science and Information Systems 1(2), 1–26 (2004)
Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R., Vlissides, J.: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison Wesley Professional (1994)
Hay, D.C.: Data Model Patterns: Conventions of Thought. Dorset House (1996)
Fowler, M.: Analysis Patterns: Reusable Object Models. Addison Wesley Professional (1996)
Scheer, A.: Business Process Engineering – Reference Models for Industrial Enterprises. Springer (1998)
Silverston, L.: The Data Model Resource Book v.1: A Library of Universal Data Models for All Enterprises, vol. 1. John Wiley & Sons (2001)
McCarthy, W.E.: The rea accounting model: A generalized framework for accounting systems in a shared data environment. The Accounting Review 57(3), 554–578 (1982)
Dietz, J.: Enterprise Ontology. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Kodaganallur, V., Shim, S.: Analysis patterns: A taxonomy and its implications. Information Systems Management 23(3), 52–61 (2006)
Fettke, P., Loos, P.: Multiperspective Evaluation of Reference Models – Towards a Framework. In: Jeusfeld, M.A., Pastor, Ó. (eds.) ER Workshops 2003. LNCS, vol. 2814, pp. 80–91. Springer, Heidelberg (2003), doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-39597-3_9
Mannaert, H., De Bruyn, P., Verelst, J.: Exploring entropy in software systems: Towards a precise definition and design rules. In: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Systems, ICONS 2012, pp. 93–99 (2012)
Malone, T., Crowston, K., Lee, J., Pentland, B., Dellarocas, C., Wyner, G., Quimby, K., Osborn, C., Bernstein, A., Herman, G., Klein, M., O’Donnell, E.: Tools for inveting organizations: Toward a handbook of organizational processes. Management Science 45(3), 425–443 (1999)
Malone, T., Crowston, K., Herman, G.: Organizing Business Knowledge: The MIT Process Handbook. The MIT Press (2003)
De Bruyn, P., Van Nuffel, D., Huysmans, P., Mannaert, H.: Towards functional and constructional perspectives on business process patterns. In: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Software Engineering Advances (ICSEA 2011), pp. 459–464 (2011)
Vanhoof, E., De Bruyn, P., Aerts, W., Verelst, J.: Comparing the usefulness of the REA model and normalized systems theory for accounting information systems design (unpublished working paper)
Geerts, G., McCarthy, W.E.: Using object templates from the rea accounting model to engineer business processes and tasks. The Review of Business Information Systems 5(4), 89–108 (2001)
Mendling, J., Verbeek, H., van Dongen, B., van der Aalst, W., Neumann, G.: Detection and prediction of errors in epcs of the sap reference model. Data & Knowledge Engineering 64(1), 312–329 (2008)
Rosemann, M., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: A configurable reference modelling language. Information Systems 32, 1–23 (2007)
Ekanayake, C.C., La Rosa, M., ter Hofstede, A.H.M., Fauvet, M.-C.: Fragment-Based Version Management for Repositories of Business Process Models. In: Meersman, R., Dillon, T., Herrero, P., Kumar, A., Reichert, M., Qing, L., Ooi, B.-C., Damiani, E., Schmidt, D.C., White, J., Hauswirth, M., Hitzler, P., Mohania, M.K. (eds.) OTM 2011, Part I. LNCS, vol. 7044, pp. 20–37. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Uba, R., Dumas, M., GarcÃa-Bañuelos, L., La Rosa, M.: Clone Detection in Repositories of Business Process Models. In: Rinderle-Ma, S., Toumani, F., Wolf, K. (eds.) BPM 2011. LNCS, vol. 6896, pp. 248–264. Springer, Heidelberg (2011), doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23059-2_20
Mannaert, H., Verelst, J., Ven, K.: Software architectures based on principles and patterns. International Journal of Software Architecture 1(1), 17–18 (2010)
Weinberg, G.M.: An Introduction to General Systems Thinking. Wiley (1975)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
De Bruyn, P., Van Nuffel, D., Verelst, J., Mannaert, H. (2012). Towards Applying Normalized Systems Theory Implications to Enterprise Process Reference Models. In: Albani, A., Aveiro, D., Barjis, J. (eds) Advances in Enterprise Engineering VI. EEWC 2012. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 110. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29903-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29903-2_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-29902-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-29903-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)