from Information Systems Development to Enterprise Engineering Jan L.G. Dietz Delft University of Technology Outline Problems and analysis The Enterprise Engineering Paradigm The need for scientific rigor Conclusions Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 2 Outline Problems and analysis The Enterprise Engineering Paradigm The need for scientific rigor Conclusions Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 3 Some persistent problems in enterprises The complexity of organizations has become unmanageable. The complexity of ICT applications has become unmanageable. The ICT applications landscape is mostly a big mess. ICT applications do not meet business requirements and expectations. The maintenance costs of ICT applications are ever increasing. There is still no (positive) correlation between ICT investments and revenues. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 4 Analysis of the problems The information systems professionals fall short in assisting enterprises to implement change initiatives effectively. The key reason is the low level of professionalism: they are not able to deliver ICT applications that satisfy the real needs. The organizational professionals also fall short in assisting enterprises to implement change initiatives effectively. The key reason is their predominant managerial approach (functionorientation, black-box thinking), whereas changing an enterprise requires an engineering approach (construction-orientation, white-box thinking). Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 5 Motivation for Enterprise Engineering (1) The vast majority of strategic initiatives fail, meaning that enterprises are unable to gain success from their strategy. This figure is reported from various areas: Information Systems Development, Business Process Management, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma … Abundant research indicates that the key reason for strategic failures is the lack of coherence and consistency among the various components of an enterprise. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 6 Motivation for Enterprise Engineering (2) Both organizations and software systems are complex systems, and prone to entropy. This means that in the course of time, the costs of bringing about similar changes increase in a way that is known as combinatorial explosion. Regarding (automated) demonstrated. information systems, this has been Regarding organizations, it is still a conjecture. Entropy can be reduced and managed effectively through modular design based on atomic elements. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 7 The mission of Enterprise Engineering Addressing the challenges mentioned before requires a paradigm shift. It is the mission of the discipline of Enterprise Engineering to develop new, appropriate theories, models, methods and other artifacts for the analysis, design, implementation, and governance of enterprises by combining (relevant parts of) management and organization science, information systems science, and computer science. The ambition is to address (all) traditional topics in said disciplines from the Enterprise Engineering Paradigm. In addition, the results of our efforts should be theoretically rigorous and practically adequate. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 8 The evolution of Enterprise Engineering Information Systems Sciences Form Data Data Systems Engineering Content Information, Communication Information Systems Engineering Intention Collaboration, Cooperation Organization Sciences Enterprise Engineering Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 9 Outline Problems and analysis The Enterprise Engineering Paradigm The need for scientific rigor Conclusions Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 10 The EE Paradigm: postulate 1 In order to perform optimally and to implement changes successfully, enterprises must operate as a unified and integrated whole. Unity and integration can only be achieved through deliberate enterprise development (including design, engineering, and implementation) and governance. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 11 The EE Paradigm: postulate 2 Enterprises are essentially social systems, of which the elements are human beings in their role of social individuals, bestowed with appropriate authority and bearing the corresponding responsibility. The operating principle of enterprises is that these human beings enter into and comply with commitments regarding the products (services) that they create (deliver). Commitments are the results of coordination acts, which occur in universal patterns, called transactions. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 12 The EE Paradigm: postulate 3 There are two distinct perspectives on enterprises (as on all systems): function and construction. All other perspectives are a subdivision of one of these. Accordingly, there are two distinct kinds of models: black-box models and white-box models. White-box models are objective; they regard the construction of a system. Black-box models are subjective; they regard a function of a system. Function is not a system property but a relationship between the system and some stakeholder(s). Both perspectives are needed for developing enterprises. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 13 The EE Paradigm: postulate 4 In order to manage the complexity of a system (and to reduce and manage its entropy), one must start the constructional design of the system with determining its ontological model. This is a fully implementation independent model of the construction and the operation of the system. Moreover, an ontological model has a modular structure and its elements are (ontologically) atomic. For enterprises the meta model of such models is called enterprise ontology. For information systems the meta model is called information system ontology. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 14 The EE Paradigm: postulate 5 It is an ethical necessity for bestowing authorities on the people in an enterprise, and having them bear the corresponding responsibility, that these people are able to internalize the (relevant parts of the) ontological model of the enterprise, and to constantly validate the correspondence of the model with the operational reality. It is a duty of enterprise engineers to provide the means to the people in an enterprise to internalize its ontological model. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 15 The EE Paradigm: postulate 6 To ensure that an enterprise operates in compliance with its strategic concerns, these concerns must be transformed into generic functional and constructional normative principles, which guide the (re-) development of the enterprise, in addition to the applicable specific requirements. A coherent, consistent, and hierarchically ordered set of such principles for a particular class of systems is called an architecture. The collective architectures of an enterprise are called its enterprise architecture. NOTE The term “architecture” is often used (also) for a model that is the outcome of a design process, during which some architecture is applied. We do not recommend this homonymous use of the word. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 16 The EE Paradigm: postulate 7 For achieving and maintaining unity and integration in the (re-) development and operation of an enterprise, organizational measures are needed, collectively called governance. The organizational competence to take and apply these measures on a continuous basis is called enterprise governance. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 17 Outline Problems and analysis The Enterprise Engineering Paradigm The need for scientific rigor Conclusions Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 18 Is it φτψ or bullshit? Jan L.G. Dietz Delft University of Technology What is bullshit? Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. (Harry Frankfurt) Bulshitters retreat from searching for correctness to personal sincerity. Since they cannot be true to the facts, they try to be true to themselves. This is the core of bullshit. (Harry Frankfurt) Bullshit is a greater enemy of truth than lies are. (Harry Frankfurt) Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 20 What is φτψ? The combination of the letters stands for rigorous science in general. In isolation they stand for three theories: φ-theory (FI): Fact - Information A theory about factual knowledge, resolving questions like “How do computers mimic human cognition?”, “What is the difference between information and data?”, and “What is a fact?”. τ-theory (TAO): Technology - Architecture - Ontology A theory about the development of systems. It clarifies the difference between function and construction and the role of technology, architecture, and ontology in system development. ψ-theory (PSI): Performance in Social Interaction A theory about the construction and operation of organizations. It makes the design of complex organizations (including ICT applications) intellectually manageable. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 21 The φ-theory: ontological parallelogram to ms for nsi object on con na xte sig se to de subjective ha ers name denotes type instance of ref tes fact member of Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 22 class objective Violation of the φ-theory In order to intellectually manage the design of information systems, in particular data bases, the (conceptual) data model needs to be verified by exemplification (instantiation)! Modeling approaches with verification: NIAM: Natural Language Information Analysis Method) ORM: Object Role Modeling Modeling approaches without verification: ER: Entity Relationship, as well as all derivates like: UML: Unified Modeling Language This is not φτψ but bullshit Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 23 The τ-theory: white-box model the mechanic's perspective construction : the components and their interaction relationships operation : the manifestation of the construction in the course of time constructional composition car chassis wheels motor Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 24 lamps The τ-theory: black-box model the driver's perspective function : relationship between input and output functional decomposition Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 25 behavior : the manifestation of the function in the course of time The Generic System Development Process using system construction ontology functional principles constructional principles object system function function design design constructional requirements requirements engineering can only become complete and objective when it is based on the ontological model of the using system technology ontology implementation implementation functional requirements construction object system construction technology Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 26 engineering reverse engineering architecture Violation of the τ-theory Current Architecture Frameworks (which are nothing more than development methods in disguise), are incoherent and inconsistent collections of best practices, lacking any scientific basis. At best they may be helpful in project management. This holds for TOGAF and for all proprietary frameworks. This is not φτψ but bullshit Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 27 ORGANIZATIONAL BUILDING BLOCK initiator transaction executor A0 T1 A1 Summary of the ψ-theory basic transaction process rq ontological pm actor role COORDINATION (F)ACTS rq pm O-phase E-phase st ac st ac PRODUCTION (F)ACTS R-phase customer has entered into a commitment ontological a rental has been started atomic process step infological customer has specified what he wants customer : request : employee : [rental] has been started < performer > < intention > < addressee > < proposition > datalogical customer has expressed this in an English sentence infological the amount to be paid has been calculated datalogical performa informa forma human abilities Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 28 the rental form has been filled out ORGANIZATIONAL BUILDING BLOCK executor initiator transaction executor A0 T1 A1 initiator Summary of the ψ-theory initiator executor quit allow basic transaction process rq rq COORDINATION (F)ACTS re fuse ontological pm actor role cancel (rq) de cline allow pm re quest E-phase st ac ac O-phase st pro mise cancel (pm) PRODUCTION (F)ACTS R-phase re fuse ontological customer has entered into a commitment a rental has been started atomic process step infological re specified customer has fuse he wants what datalogical customer has expressed this in an English sentence allow customer : request : employee : [rental] has been started ac cept < performer > < intention > < addressee > < proposition > cancel (ac) state performa cancel (st) infological the amount to be paid allow has been calculated datalogical the rental form has been filled out re fuse re ject informa forma stop human abilities Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 29 The the ψ-theory: organization theorem B-organization Ontological Production: deciding judging manufacturing I-organization Infological Production: remembering computing reasoning D-organization Datalogical Production: copying storing transporting Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 30 The indefiniteness of process modeling activity A document activity B Is passing the document from A to B: Only a datalogical act? Example: A hands over the document to B to archive it. Or (also) an infological act? Example: A informs B about the content of the document. Or (also) an ontological act? Example: A requests B to do something. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 31 Violation of the ψ-theory Current business process modeling approaches, like Flowchart, BPMN, EPC, and Petri Net reduce business processes to sequences of (observable) actions and results, thereby loosing the essential deep structure (which is always a tree of transactions) and neglecting all tacitly performed coordination acts. Therefore they are useless (if not dangerous) for business process re-design and re-engineering. This is not φτψ but bullshit Even worse are the function-oriented techniques (SADT, IDEF0) since by definition they reflect the personal interpretation of the modeler (black-box model)! Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 32 Outline Problems and analysis The Enterprise Engineering Paradigm The need for scientific rigor Conclusions Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 33 Conclusions • There is an urgent need to broaden the scope of Information Systems Development towards Enterprise Engineering • There is an urgent need to base our work on solid scientific foundations. Help fighting the bullshit! • Only by adopting the Enterprise Engineering Paradigm can substantial organizational changes (including Information Systems Development) be made intellectually manageable. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 34 The CIAO! Network The discipline of Enterprise Engineering is being developed by a network of research institutes: the CIAO! Network. Full members: TU Delft (Prof. Jan Dietz, Prof. Alexander Verbraeck, Dr. Joseph Barjis,) Polytechnic Utrecht (Prof. Hans Mulder) TU Lisboa (Prof. José Tribolet, Prof. Pedro de Sousa, Dr. Jan Hoogervorst, Dr. Martin Op ‘t Land) University of Antwerpen (Prof. Herwig Mannaert, Prof. Hans Mulder, Prof. Jan Verelst) University of St. Gallen (Prof. Robert Winter, Dr. Antonia Albani) Aspirant members: HSE at Nizhniy Novgorod (Prof. Eduard Babkin) Tokyo Institute of Technology (Prof. Junichi Iijima). Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 35 Activities of the CIAO! Network • For about five years we have run a CIAO! Workshop connected to some host conference (CAiSE, OTM, DESRIST). • In May/June 2011 the first independent EE Working Conference will be organized (in Antwerpen). • Since several years there is a special scientific book series in Enterprise Engineering, published by Springer. • Since several years there is a ‘sub series’ of LNBIP (published by Springer), called “Advances in Enterprise Engineering”. Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 36 Links and references Reports on research projects can be found on: www.ciaonetwork.nl Reports on practical projects can be found on: www.demo.nl You can contact me at: j.l.g.dietz@tudelft.nl, jan.dietz@sapio.nl Dietz, J.L.G., Enterprise Ontology – Theory and Methodology, Springer Verlag, 2006 Dietz, J.L.G., Architecture – building Strategy into Design, Sdu, 2008 Hoogervorst, J.A.P., Enterprise Governance and Enterprise Engineering, Springer Verlag, 2009 Jan L.G. Dietz: Lecture ISD 2010 - slide 37