Business and Conceptual Modeling - Report Example

The Role of Business and Conceptual Modeling in Information Systems Information systems have become an integral part of any business organization since they provide a wide range of benefits and help to gain competitive advantage in the market. The information systems are able to increase revenues and make the infrastructure stronger only if the business processes of the organization are aligned with the functions and features of the information system. Business and conceptual modeling are common techniques by the help of which requirements can be gathered for the information systems. These techniques ensure that the requirements of the information systems are according to the business processes of the organization. The modeling techniques facilitate the requirements gathering process and also make it convenient to bring about changes in the system. 1. Introduction The integration of computers in the business field has caused remarkable changes in planning, evaluation, decision making aspects of an organization. The need for the incorporation of technology arose from the increasing demands of the customers and increasing competition in the market. The company that possesses the latest information and better business processes seems to succeed over the others in the modern market. The real life business requirements need to be translated at the level of system applications so that they can be implemented in the information systems. The modeling of the business processes deduces the aspects that are required from a system. Business modeling and conceptual modeling are two of the important fields of the modern system engineering and software engineering. These techniques are also used to analyze if the business processes are performing efficiently and aligned with the direction of the business. 2. Business Process Modeling A business processes can be defined as the main elements of any business organization since they are designed to achieve specific goals and aims of an organization. The business processes are automated, managed by information systems and implement real world needs. According to Montilva and Barrios (2004); the development of an information system is a complex process since the real life business requirements have to be developed into business processes. The most important aspect of the development of an information system is to identify the requirements of the respective organization. Avison and Fitzgerald (2003) stated that some researchers emphasize the need of a business model before the identification of the requirements since the business model will facilitate the requirements engineering activities. A business model can be defined as the representation of the infrastructure and dynamics of the organization that has opted for its development. According to Investor words.com (2010); a business model describes the way the organization functions and the components that are present in it. Business modeling techniques are used by analysts and managers to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of their business processes. 2.1 Techniques for Business Modeling There are many techniques for business modeling but few of the most accepted and famous ones have been explained by Zee, Jack and Vorst (2007) in their article; Petri-nets, activity cycle diagrams and flow charts. Petri-Nets consists of four types of elements; tokens that can be moved from one state to the other, transitions i.e. change in states, areas for keeping token on a temporary basis, arcs i.e. for the connection of places and changed states. Activity cycle diagrams consist of two types of components; dead state that waits for some action to change it from the current state and active state that performs some actions rather than waiting. Any activity can be defined as the combination of these states. Robinson (2004) stated that flow charts define the different steps that might take place for any process but it defines the logic of the business process rather than the flow, as seen in figure 1. All of these can be considered as different ways of diagramming the various aspects of business processes. Interaction design is also a useful business modeling technique since it identifies the actors for the information system and their interactions with each other. Each one of these methods has their own advantages and disadvantages. Figure 1: Flow chart (Zee, Jack and Vorst 2007) 3. Conceptual Modeling Zee, Jack and Vorst (2007) defined it as a representation of the perceptions of the user of any system. Conceptual models also help the analysts to understand the requirements of a specific domain or application. These models represent the concepts and entities that might be present in a system and it also defines the relationships that might be present between them. Therefore it can be said that conceptual modeling is not meant to specify the design of the system, rather it is meant to explain the concept of the terms and their relations. 3.1 Techniques for Conceptual Modeling There are several techniques and notations that are used for conceptual modeling. Wideman (2005) explained some of them; UML (Unified Modeling Language), OMT (Object Modeling Technique), Entity-Relationship modeling etc for example class diagrams are used to represent conceptual models in UML. Concepts are represented by classes and the relationships are represented by the associations between the classes. This is the step when the real life concepts or objects can be visualized in the form of classes, as seen in figure 2. The data fields of the classes can be described in the class diagrams to represent the purpose of the class. Figure 2: Class Diagram (San Jose State University 2010) In figure 2, the class Student is associated to the class School and the relationship is many to 1. Student class is inherited by Person while University is inherited by School. Entity-relationship model is also utilized in the initial phases of the information system or incase some changes need to be made regarding the requirements from the system. These models do not show the relationship between the single entities rather it shows the relationship sets between entity sets, for example a student is an entity but a class is an entity set since it has many students in it. 4. Significance of Business and Conceptual Modeling The current era is more demanding than ever in terms of frequently changing requirements of the customers and exposure to the global market etc. It is due to these aspects that the need of updated information and effective business process is more than ever and creates a need for the information systems to be flexible enough to cater to the changing environment. The main question arises about how the information system can be changed with respect to the changing needs. Tsugane and Asakura (2006) explained that the system cannot respond to changes effectively if there is no business model or conceptual model to map the real business needs. The changes can be incorporated in the business processes that are eventually developed into models of the information systems. Business modeling clarifies the work flow of the tasks that might be performed in the organization and the way in which information is meant to be processed. The conceptual models point out the relationships that might be present among the concepts (entities). It is very important to understand the business processes of the organization so that conceptual and business models can be developed effectively developed. The comprehension of the business processes will also identify the scope of the system application. Both of these models have great significance to a diverse range of people that are associated with the information systems; Stakeholders (client) of the information system: are able to get a complete picture of the areas that would be catered by the information system and the level of alignment of the business processes with the vision of their respective company. Developers: can comprehend the flow of the business processes in a better manner and thus plan their developmental efforts in an organized way. These models can serve as a source of mutual agreement about the scope of the system between the stakeholders and the developers. Software Architects: are able to develop effective architectural components that make the system stable, maintainable and reliable. The business processes and customer requirements are fully understood by the architect therefore the resulting system can improve the infrastructure and earn competitive advantage for the company. The systematic approach of the models reduces the chances of rework in the information system and improves its quality. 5. Conclusion Information systems can only be termed as successful systems if they are developed in accordance with the business processes of the organization. Business processes revolve around the activities that make it achieve its business goals. Business goals and processes are real-life activities that can be transformed into visualizations and diagrams to facilitate the process of requirements gathering of the information systems. The business processes need to be precisely identified so that the models bear a true picture of the needs of the organization. Business modeling and conceptual modeling are two of the common techniques used to develop models for the development of the information systems. Both of these approaches have different methods to highlight the needs of the stakeholders from the information system. References Avison, DE., Fitzgerald, G 2003, ‘Where Now for Development Methodologies’, Communications of the ACM, January, 46:1, 79-82. Investor words.com 2010, Business Model, viewed 13 December 2010, Montilva JC., Barrios JA 2004, ‘BMM: A Business Modeling Method for Information Systems Development’, CLEI Electronic Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2, Paper 3, December 2004, Robinson, S 2004, Simulation – The practice of model development and use. Chichester: Wiley. San Jose State University 2010, UML class diagrams as conceptual models, viewed 14 December 2010, Tsugane, N., Asakura, T 2006, ‘Use of Business Modeling in Requirement Definition Phase’, Fujitsu Science Technology Journal, Vol 42 (3), pp 316-322. Wideman, G 2005, Concept Modeling: What It Is, and Wheres The Software?, viewed 13 December, Zee, V., Jack GAJ., Vorst, V 2007, ‘Guiding Principles for Conceptual Model Creation in Manufacturing Simulation’, Proceedings of the 2007 Winter Simulation Conference, IEEE Read More