Yasuhiko Takahara

Model theory approach to transaction processing system development

This paper presents a new approach, model theory approach, to small and medium scale transaction processing system (TPS) development. A TPS of this paper is an information system designed to process day-to-day business event data at operational level of an organization. The paper is not concerned with data base construction but with transaction processing. The model theory approach is not a software engineering approach but a systems theory approach. In the approach a model of the target system, which is called a user model, is constructed in set theory using a formal system structure of a TPS. The user model is, then, compiled into an extended Prolog (extProlog) model. The extProlog is an extension of Prolog to meet requirements for management information system development. On compilation a standardized user interface (UI) called internal UI is attached. The extProlog model with the internal UI is, then, executed under control of another standardized UI called an external UI. Implementation is an integral part of the approach. Because the UIs are designed for the formalized (abstract) structure of a TPS, they can be standardized and are provided as black box components to system development. Because a systems developer is required to only build a user model in set theory based on a model theoretic structure in the approach, it is called a model theory approach. Advantages of this approach are that it provides a theoretical structure to information systems development so that systems development can be made an engineering discipline, and facilitates rapid systems development.

A systems theoretic approach to the design and implementation of a solver component for a management information system

This paper presents a systems theoretic approach to develop a solver component for a management information system (MIS). In this approach, a model is described in the set theoretic terms based on systems concepts and is implemented in the extProlog, an extension of the Prolog. Yasuhiko Takahara is a Professor Emeritus of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and a Professor in the Department of Management and Information Sciences, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba, Japan. He is pursuing research in applications of the mathematical general systems theory to the organization theory and to MIS. In particular, an intelligent DSS, end user development and intelligent data mining are his current topics in the MIS area. In 2003, he has had two monographs, “Organizational Structure: Cybernetic Foundation” and “Advances of DSS Development-General Systems Theory Approach”, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, U.S.A., and Economics and Sciences Publisher, China, respectively. Although the approach adopts the set theory for representation and uses a logic programming language for this implementation, it is completely different from the conventional constraint programming or the rule-based optimization, which starts from a given problem and tries to find a solution algorithm (Cantone, Omodeo and Policriti, 2001; Hooker, 2002). Our approach starts from the investigation of a general problem-solving system. The solving system is the main subject. The extProlog is not used as a declarative language but as an easy implementation tool for a set theoretic description. We propose a design and implementation procedure on an abstract level using the goal-seeking model of the general systems theory. When it is applied to a real problem, it must be made concrete to meet the properties of the specific problem. A problem classification scheme is introduced to meet the requirement. According to the classification there are eight classes. The development procedure is formalized for each specific class. This paper investigates a class called E-C-C, which is the most structured, to show the formulation scheme. According to the formulation, a solver is divided into two independent components: the user model and the goal seeker. This paper adopts a modified dynamic programming (DP) method for designing the goal seeker and investigates its formal properties. Implementation is done based on the investigation. The traveling salesman problem is used to illustrate the entire procedure.

Multi-level systems approach to solver system design

This paper introduces the model theory approach to solver development for a management information system and presents its extension by the multi-level systems concept. The extension is demonstrated by an example.

Institutional Level Management

This chapter will discuss an adaptive behavior of an organization performed by the institutional level management. In order to get sharp results, the adaptation of this chapter will be particularized as an activity to adapt to a structural change of the external management information input. The adaptation is performed by adjusting a decision parameter of the institutional level. The ultimate outcome is a global goal which is an operationalization of the organizational goal adapting to the external input change. The goal of the adaptation is to sustain a satisfactory activity state (a set point of the institutional level management) of the organization. It should be noticed then that this adaptation concept presumes that the organization is in an acceptable state in an appropriately defined sense before an adaptation activity is requested.

Task Assignment Coordination

This chapter is concerned with the following problem: Given the global goal and the operational level goals, find the operational level process or design tasks of the operational level units so that the organizational level management structure based on the IPP satisfies the validity condition.

Goal Seeking System

The essential character of an organization as well as its members lies in their goal seeking activities. A goal seeking activity covers a wide range of behaviors, for instance, from a rational activity considered in this chapter to the activity of the garbage can model of Chapter 11. Therefore, it is not easy to describe the activity in simple terms. However, a unified formal model for it is a prerequisite to develop a formal theory of the cybernetic approach to an organization. Using GST concepts presented in Appendix I a formal description of the goal seeking activities in an organization is introduced in this chapter providing a general conceptual model for an organization.

Operational Level Management

Since hierarchy is one of the most fundamental characteristics of our organization model or, in fact, in general of any real organization, Chapter 4 explored organization properties focusing only on the hierarchical aspect of an organization as a starting point of our organization theory. The result is a construction of a formal theory of an organization chart. The other fundamental character of an organization, its goal seeking activity, will be investigated in this and subsequent chapters. This book assumes that an organization and its components are goal seeking systems except in Chapter 11.

Goal Assignment Coordination

In this chapter we will discuss the following design problem for an organizational level management structure: Given the global goal, the overall process and the sub-processes of the operational level, find the coordination variable and the operational level goals so that the generated organization structure satisfies the validity condition for the interaction balance coordination principle IBP.

Computational Approach to Organization

In previous chapters we have investigated an organization (or an organization model) in qualitative organization theory using non-numerical mathematics. There is another way to study an organization in a formal way. It is called the computational approach. The approach builds a computer model of an organization and explores organizational properties examining the model’s computer behavior. Since a computer model is a formal representation of an object, the approach is conceptually akin to our approach. Both approaches try to develop a solid theory for an organization using operational languages like computer programs or non-numerical mathematics.

Normative Behavior Model of Operational Level

As a preliminary to Chapter 10 this chapter will examine a management of the operational level in an ideal form. The model of this chapter is not a real one. It provides a normative image of the primary activity of an organization, based on which the institutional level plans its adaptive activity. The image is a process model of the institutional management.