e3-service: an ontology for needs-driven real-world service bundling in a multi-supplier setting

in Applied Ontology (in press)

Businesses increasingly offer their services electronically via the Web. Take for example an Internet Service Provider. An ISP offers a variety of services, including raw bandwidth, IP connectivity, and ... [more ▼]

Businesses increasingly offer their services electronically via the Web. Take for example an Internet Service Provider. An ISP offers a variety of services, including raw bandwidth, IP connectivity, and Domain Name resolution. Although in some cases a single service already satisfies a customer need, in many situations a customer need is so complex that a bundle of services is needed to satisfy the need, as with the ISP example. In principle, each service in a bundle can be provisioned by a different supplier. This paper proposes an ontology, e3service , that can be used to formally capture customer needs, services, and multisupplier service bundles of these. In addition, this paper contributes a process called PCM2 to reason with the ontology. First, a customer need is identified for which desired consequences are elicited. Then, the desired set of consequences is matched with consequences associated with services. The matching process results in a service bundle, satisfying the customer need, containing services that each can be provided by different suppliers. PCM2 is inspired by a family of formal reasoning methods called Propose-Critique-Modify (PCM). However, whereas PCM methods emphasize solution generation from a given set of requirements, our reasoning process treats the space of requirements as a first class citizen. Hence PCM2 : the requirements space and solution space are equally important. How the reasoning and matching process practically works, is illustrated by an industry strength case study in the healthcare domain. [less ▲]

Requirements Engineering for the Design of Conceptual Modeling Languages - a goal- and value-oriented approach

in Applied Ontology (2015)

Conceptual modeling languages are purposeful artifacts, hence their design should also start from the purpose that they serve. Such purposeful design addresses the requirements engineering concern of a ... [more ▼]

Conceptual modeling languages are purposeful artifacts, hence their design should also start from the purpose that they serve. Such purposeful design addresses the requirements engineering concern of a language specification being aligned with the goals of its users. Thereby relevance of the language is ensured, instead of developing a language for language’s sake. We posit that this addresses some known issues that are due to a misalignment between a language’s specification and the goals of its intended users. In this paper, we introduce vGREL, a goal- and value-oriented approach for purposeful language development. vGREL helps language engineers to start the design of conceptual modeling languages with requirements engineering exercises. To this end vGREL provides (1) a purpose driven requirements engineering process for language design; (2) a value profile for the Goaloriented Requirements Language (GRL) to enable analysis and reasoning during the process and capture its results; and leverages (3) the software tool support of GRL for decision making during language design. To illustrate vGREL, we apply it to a case study on responsibility-based access rights management. Furthermore, we present reflections on vGREL from the language engineer involved in the case study. [less ▲]

Capturing Design Rationales in Enterprise Architecture: A Case Study

in 7th IFIP WG 8.1 Working Conference, PoEM 2014, Manchester, UK, November 12-13 (2014, November 12)

We aim for rationalizing Enterprise Architecture, supplementing models that express EA designs with models that express the decision making behind the designs. In our previous work we introduced the EA ... [more ▼]

We aim for rationalizing Enterprise Architecture, supplementing models that express EA designs with models that express the decision making behind the designs. In our previous work we introduced the EA Anamnesis approach for architectural rationalization, and illustrated it with a fictitious case study. In this paper we evaluate our approach in terms of its ability to capture design rationales in the context of a real life case study. Together with stakeholders from the business and IT domains of a Luxembourgish Research and Technology Organization, we captured the design rationales behind the introduction of a new budget forecast business process. Our case study shows that EA Anamnesis can reflect the design rationales of the stakeholders, also linking business and IT concerns. Furthermore our study shows that, for this particular case, the stakeholders often used heuristics (commonsensical “short cuts”) to make their decision, or even made decisions without considering alternative choices. Finally, we discuss what the lessons learned from this case imply for further research. [less ▲]

The impact of cultural differences on enterprise architecture effectiveness: a case study

in 8th MCIS conference, Verona, Italy, 3-5 september 2014 (2014)

We study how differences between organizational subcultures influence the effectiveness of the Enter-prise Architecture (EA) function for steering the enterprise. In this paper, we contribute findings ... [more ▼]

We study how differences between organizational subcultures influence the effectiveness of the Enter-prise Architecture (EA) function for steering the enterprise. In this paper, we contribute findings from a case study in a governmental organization. We derive seven propositions concerning the relation between cultural differences and EA effectiveness. For one, we suggest that cultural differences among the architects have a negative impact on the architects’ communication towards the management. In addition, our data suggest that the influence of cultural differences is indirect: communication defects and disagreement within the architecture board act as important intermediary factors. [less ▲]

EA anamnesis An Approach for Decision Making Analysis in Enterprise Architecture

in International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design (2014), 4(1),

Enterprise Architecture (EA) modeling languages can express the business-to-IT-stack for an organization, showing how changes in the IT landscape impact business aspects and vice versa. Yet EA languages ... [more ▼]

Enterprise Architecture (EA) modeling languages can express the business-to-IT-stack for an organization, showing how changes in the IT landscape impact business aspects and vice versa. Yet EA languages provide only the final architectural design, not the rationale behind this design. In earlier work, we presented the EA Anamnesis approach for EA rationalization. We discussed how EA Anamnesis forms a complement to current EA modeling languages, showing for example design alternatives, EA artifact selection criteria and the decision making strategy that was used. In this paper, we extend EA Anamnesis with a capability for organizational learning. In particular, we present an integration of two viewpoints presented in earlier work: (1) an ex-ante decision making viewpoint for rationalizing EA during decision making, which for example captures a decision and its anticipated consequences, and (2) an ex-post decision making viewpoint, which for example captures the unanticipated decision consequences, and possible adjustments in criteria. We use a fictitious, yet realistic, case study to illustrate our approach. [less ▲]