Expanding Conceptual Modeling to Help Manage Changes in the Business

概念建模被定义为“为了理解和交流的目的而对我们周围的物理和社会世界的某些方面进行正式描述的活动”。概念建模的结果通常是某种图或概念模型。 概念建模主要被用作系统分析人员从组织工作人员那里收集需求以便开发信息系统(IS)的一种手段。为了更好地捕获开发信息系统的需求，我一直在扩展概念模型，以包括更多的业务上下文(例如，组织的使命)。当我们将这些概念模型传达给管理者时，我们发现他们发现了以前未知的信息，并利用概念模型来支持他们解决问题。因此，我们假设，使用这种扩展模型可以提供双重好处。首先，它可以导致更好地理解IS需求，从而更好地实现IS项目的结果。其次，这样的概念模型可以帮助管理业务中的更改，这是概念模型的新用途。当业务随着时间的推移而发展和调整时，通常会发生此类变化，原因是增长、裁员和新一代消费者，以及将IS应用程序引入业务时(这可能会导致业务运作方式发生根本性变化)。这项研究的总体目标是确定和测试能够支持这一双重角色的概念建模方法。 我们提议的方法的新奇之处在于，将业务视为由组织参与者组成，每个参与者代表一个组织角色；具有目标和某些能力；参与推理和学习以实现目标；并与其他角色交互。为了实现支持管理者的目标，我们必须为概念建模提供不偏向IS背景和思维的构造。因此，概念模型将需要采用对利益相关者有意义的管理和组织概念的构造。

Conceptual modeling has been defined as "the activity of formally describing some aspects of the physical and social world around us for purposes of understanding and communication". The outcome of conceptual modeling is usually some kind of a diagram or conceptual model. Conceptual modeling has been used mainly as a means for systems analysts to gather requirements from organizational workers so that information systems (IS) can be developed. In order to better capture requirements for developing IS, I have been extending conceptual models to include more of the business context (e.g., mission of the organization). When communicating these conceptual models to managers, we found that they discovered previously unknown information, and utilized the conceptual models to support their problem solving. We, therefore, hypothesize that the use of such extended models can provide dual benefits. First, it can lead to better understanding of IS requirements, and hence to better outcomes of IS projects. Second, such conceptual models can help manage changes in the business, which is a new use of conceptual models. Such changes often occur when the business evolves and adjusts over time, due to growth, downsizing, and new generations of consumers, and when IS applications are introduced into the business (which can lead to radical changes in how the business is conducted). The overall objective of this research is to identify and test conceptual modeling approaches that can support this dual role. The novelty of our proposed approach is to view the business as consisting of organizational actors, who each represent an organizational role; have a goal and certain capabilities; engage in reasoning and learning to accomplish the goal; and interact with other roles. To accomplish the objective of supporting managers, we must provide constructs for conceptual modeling that are not biased toward an IS background and thinking. Therefore, the conceptual models will require constructs that employ management and organizational concepts that are meaningful to stakeholders.