Ulf Seigerroth

Method integration: the need for a learning perspective

In many situations there is a need to integrate different methods. In such a method integration process learning aspects should be addressed explicitly. The paper presents procedure and experiences from a R&D project concerning integration of two development methods. Communication problems obstructed the integrative method redesign initially. These communication problems were resolved through the use of an explicit method theory for classification and reconstruction of the method candidates. During application of the integrated method further reconstruction of tacit method knowledge was performed. The method integration process also included meta learning: Formulation of the method integration as a learning process and modification of the applied method theory.

Enterprise Modeling and Enterprise Architecture: The Constituents of Transformation and Alignment of Business and IT

Several scholars have argued for the need to integrate both the IT perspective and the business perspective during development of enterprises and IS/IT architectures. In this process, it is necessary to be able to deal with a number of sub-areas to succeed with the transformation. One challenge is the need to move beyond a narrow focus on one tradition or technology, as well as to use and integrate different concepts within an enterprise. This integrated view also includes the use and development of guidelines (methods, tools, etc.), in addition to research methodologies and human aspects. Therefore, enterprise modeling and enterprise architecture must treat all slices in a comprehensive alignment context. In this paper, the author presents a conceptualization of the research area Enterprise Modeling and Enterprise Architecture with a focus on transformation and alignment of business and IT.

Modelling Information Demand in an Enterprise Context: Method, Notation, and Lessons Learned

Information overload is perceived as a common problem in organisations and enterprises, which calls for new organisational and technological approaches for more pertinent and accurate information supply. The paper contributes to addressing this problem by proposing a method for information demand modelling, which contributes to capturing and understanding the information demand of roles in organisations. This method consists to a large extent of an application of enterprise modelling techniques. Illustrated by a case from automotive industries, lessons learned from information demand modelling are presented and discussed. This includes the specific perspective taken in the method for information demand analysis, common challenges experienced in demand modelling, and the validity of recommendations from participative enterprise modelling for information demand modelling. Furthermore, the paper introduces the notation applied for information demand models and discusses refinement process of this notation.

Information Demand Context Modelling for Improved Information Flow: Experiences and Practices

The paper addresses the field of modelling information demand context, which can be considered as an application of enterprise modelling techniques with focus on capturing information demands. Based on industrial cases from automotive industries, experiences and practices of information demand modelling are presented and investigated. This includes the specific perspective taken in the method for information demand analysis, common challenges experienced in demand modelling, the validity of practices from participative enterprise modelling for context modelling and practices of context modelling.

Team-based reconstruction for expanding organisational ability

Organisations can be interpreted as a collection of actors who produce value for clients. In order for organisations to stay competitive there is a need for organisations to continuously develop their ability. An organisations ability is determined by its ability to effectively apply existing knowledge to create new knowledge and to take action that forms the basis for achieving competitive advantage from knowledge-based assets. One means for developing the organisational ability is to establish a mutually accepted understanding of the context in which the actors are acting. One important part of the organisations knowledge creation processes is to facilitate the sharing of personal knowledge. A condition for developing the organisational ability is to expand the amount of shared knowledge to an appropriate level. One type of knowledge that needs to be shared among different actors within the organisation is the knowledge about how and in which order actions are performed (contextual knowledge) in order to satisfy client needs. In this paper an approach for team-based reconstruction, used for moving from personal to shared contextual knowledge, is presented. The approach bears on the foundation of theories about knowledge management for understanding the process of externalisation and theories about language action for understanding organisations. Experiences from three case studies are presented. Team-based reconstruction can be used for (1) moving from personal knowledge to shared contextual knowledge in an efficient way, (2) arriving at a foundation for efficient organisational coordination, (3) arriving at a base for development work, and (4) organisational learning.

Multi-Layered Process Modeling for Business and IT Alignment

In information systems research, significant attention has been paid to the discrepancy between organizational context and technology. In the IS discourse this is, among other initiatives, expressed as the need to create alignment between business and IT. Translated into the domain of business process management (BPM), this will put demand on achieving alignment between used models in process modeling. An action research approach has been adopted to explore a multi-layered thinking in process modeling, which has been validated through the development and application of a multi-layered framework with a consultancy firm. Applying the multi-layered framework has addressed three areas of concern related to managing alignment 1) focal areas, 2) abstraction levels, and 3) degree of formalism. In this setting, a multi-layered thinking during process modeling and design has facilitated managing alignment of business and IS/IT. Further research however concerns the application of the framework in other settings.

Collaborative Process Modeling: The Intersport Case Study

Business strategies need to be aligned with business process models. In this chapter, experiences from a collaborative process modeling effort performed at Intersport, Sweden, for the purpose of creating a solid base for taking a business into the future will be elaborated. In this effort, the new process design is aligned with strategic goals. By a codesign approach for deriving business process models, diverse stakeholders’ knowledge and interests are captured in the development of tangible descriptions of the future. Business plans are given a meaning, and participating actors become committed to implement business strategies.

The Practice of Competence Modelling

A clear understanding of the organizational competences of an enterprise and the underlying individual competences and the competence development needs has become more and more important for many industrial areas as a foundation for competence supply processes and adjustment to changing market conditions. Competence modelling, i.e. the use of enterprise modelling techniques for capturing existing and describing desired organisational and individual competences in enterprises, offers important contributions to this. In the last years, the authors of the paper have performed a number of competence modelling cases, which revealed different characteristics and resulted in lessons learned. This paper presents an examination of different characteristics of competence modelling cases, and recommendations and lessons learned from these cases for the practice of competence modelling.

Practical Challenges of Enterprise Modeling in the Light of Business and IT Alignment

The need to reduce a gap between organizational context and technology within enterprise has been recognized and discussed by both researchers and practitioners. In order to solve this problem it is required to capture and analyze both business and IT dimensions of enterprise operation. In this regard, Enterprise Modeling is currently considered as widely used and powerful tool that enables and facilitates alignment of business with IT. The central role of EM process is EM practitioner - a person who facilitates and drives EM project towards successful achievement of its goals. Conducting EM is a highly collaborative and nontrivial process that requires considerable skills and experience since there are various challenges to manage and to deal with during the whole EM project. Despite quite wide range of related research, the question of EM challenges needs further investigation, in particular concerning the viewpoint of EM practitioners. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify challenges that EM practitioners usually face during their modeling efforts taking into consideration potential influence of these challenges on successful conduct of EM and on alignment of Business and IT thereafter.

An inventory of the business and IT alignment research field

The area of business and IT alignment (BITA) has received increased attention during the last decade. As a consequence of this the amount of literature has also been growing increasingly. Since the interest for the field has grown it has also become important to follow and monitor trends and dominant directions of ongoing research within the field. The purpose of this paper is therefore to make an inventory of areas and directions that have attracted our attention in the literature. As a result of such inventory we present a set of categories that shows the focus and diversification of the BITA field. In the findings we can observe that the area of the highest research interest is development of a new instrumental support (methods, frameworks, approaches, etc.) for BITA. One dimension that seems to be partly neglected in the literature is procedural guidance about HOW to conduct and achieve business and IT alignment. The existing instrumental support that are presented in the literature has a strong focus on WHAT to do and WHAT to deal with (regarding both theoretical and practical issues concerning BITA), but they are missing the HOW dimension to a large extent.