A Method for Enterprise Ontology based Design of Enterprise Information Systems To Ellen. The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) A Method for Enterprise Ontology based Design of Enterprise Information Systems Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Prof. ir. K.C.A.M Luyben, voorzitter van het College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op 25 november 2013 om 12.30 uur door Johannes DE JONG wiskundig ingenieur geboren te Ridderkerk. Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor: Prof. Dr. ir. J.L.G. Dietz. Samenstelling promotiecommissie: Rector Magnificus, voorzitter Prof. Dr. ir. J.L.G. Dietz, Technische Universiteit Delft, promotor Prof. Dr. E. Babkin, Higher School of Economics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia Prof. Dr. ir. J. van den Berg, Technische Universiteit Delft Prof. Dr. ing. J.B.F. Mulder, Antwerp Management School, België Prof. Dr. H.A. Proper, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen Prof. Dr. J. Tribolet, Technische Universiteit Lisboa, Portugal Prof. Dr. J. Verelst, Universiteit Antwerpen, België Prof. Dr. ir. F.M. Brazier, Technische Universiteit Delft, reservelid SIKS Dissertatiereeks nr. 2013-39 Het in dit proefschrift vermelde onderzoek is uitgevoerd onder de auspiciën van SIKS, de Nederlandse School voor Informatie- en KennisSystemen. Verspreid door: Mprise Group BV. Postbus 598 3900 AN Veenendaal [email protected] ISBN: 978-90-5335-758-3 © 2013, Joop de Jong. Alle rechten voorbehouden. Druk: Ridderprint, Ridderkerk Omslagontwerp: Danieck Meere, Meere Communicatie i Acknowledgements During holidays, we make long bike rides. We usually drive through beautiful scenery. Sometimes we lose the road, sometimes it goes against the wind and rain, but in the end we enjoy the trip. We meet people and have interesting conversations with them. Although we enrich ourselves personally with new experiences, we are always glad to reach our destina- tion. Then, a sense of accomplishment arises. To me, writing a dissertation is similar to such a bike ride. Not like a bike ride during a holiday because being a manager of an IT company swallows a lot of time and energy. However, I have often experienced that working on a dissertation even may be a relaxing pastime, how strange this may sound. Working on this dissertation has given me, both per- sonally and professionally, a constant feeling of intellectual growth. Writing a dissertation also distinguishes from a bike ride by the absence of a road map. That means that one easily can end up in mazes. Especially during the first years of the study, it happened to me more than once. Then, it is necessary to meet people who encour- age you to continue. First of all, I thank my promote Jan Dietz for guiding me during my scientific ride through the enterprise engineering field and for the introduction into the world of concep- tual modeling of organizations from the DEMO mindset. It has enriched my life. In addi- tion to this, I also thank Hans Mulder who always stimulates and supports me on his typi- cal inspiring way. Performing a PhD project next to a busy job has a tremendous impact on time at the ex- pense of my family. One thing is beyond any doubt: without the loving support, sacrifice and attention of my wife Ellen this PhD project never came to an end. To her I dedicate this book. Joop de Jong, 2013 ii iii Summary Problems and Objectives With the purchase of a business software application (at this study called Enterprise Infor- mation System, EIS for short), the enterprise has opted for an operational way of working, without being very well informed about the relevant features of the package and without the supplier of the package being aware of exactly how the enterprise works. People realize this, but there is a generally accepted belief that potential problems due to the package not being aligned with the enterprise should be resolved during the implementation process. One customizes software or adapts business processes as alignment frictions occur. Clear- ly, the changes must be limited because the supplier must operate within a bandwidth in terms of time and cost. The approach described here became commonplace the last decades. It can be character- ized as an approach based on ‘best practices’. This approach is widely accepted, partly because of the increased configuration capabilities of standard EISs. From the early 1980s, the researcher consciously took part in this development in senior management positions at leading suppliers of standard ERP systems. He started developing standard software products and later went on to provide IT services to enterprises that had implemented large EISs. The researcher often wondered whether companies buy the soft- ware that they actually need (this question also lies at the basis of this study). By this is meant not only ‘need at present’ but also ‘need in the near future’. That question was fueled by practical experiences that showed that (1) enterprises make only partial use of the options in the software they have purchased; (2) enterprises sometimes wonder whether their organization has not perhaps diverged from the EIS they once implemented, and (3) enterprises sometimes see their EIS as a barrier to implementing changes. How should the relationship between an organization and an EIS be understood? In this summary, we shall not discuss this topic in great depth, it is clear that an EIS should sup- port the company’s employees in performing their tasks. An EIS is usually so overtly pre- sent in the organization that the way in which processes are operationalized is to a large extent determined by the construction of the EIS. As an example, a forklift could be con- sidered as a tool in the hands of an employee within the organization meant to perform a particular production act. An EIS is of a very different order: it should be considered as a tool to operationalize a part of the business organization. It implicitly determines how peo- ple work together. It supports their information needs and ‘remembers’ new created facts to make them available as information later. The importance of this observation should not be underestimated. After all, the enterprise’s operational performance is determined by the construction of the enterprise! iv Taking this into account, we like to ask the questions that form the basis of this study, namely: how do we develop an EIS that fits in an organization and how do we decide whether a particular EIS includes what the organization needs? These questions assume, on one hand, that we can decide what the organization needs and, on the other hand, that we are able to conclude to what extent an existent EIS supports the organization. This study shows that this is indeed possible. Research Approach This study has been carried out by making use of the Design Science Research methodolo- gy. According to this methodology, an intervention type is developed for a class of prob- lematic contexts in which a number of generative mechanisms are called on to achieve a desired outcome. In general, generative mechanisms explain why an intervention should lead to a desired outcome. The class of embedding standard EISs within organizations should be understood as the class of problematic contexts. We already mentioned that the embedding of a standard EIS within an organization does not always bring what the stake- holders of the organization expect. As a result, the organization will not perform optimally. Therefore, an intervention type needs to be defined by which an EIS can be developed that meets the ultimate needs of the organization. This intervention type is the subject of our study. It provides a set of rules based on a specification framework. The intervention type is called the Procedure for Implementation Design - Framework, the PID-Framework for short. The generative mechanisms on which the PID-Framework is grounded are the - theory, the -theory, and the φ-theory. These theories are discussed in the second chapter of this dissertation. The -theory regards the organization as a social system whereof the elements and the influence bonds between the elements stand for actor roles and transac- tions, respectively. Business actors perform coordination acts and production acts using different abilities in order to create coordination facts and production facts. Business actors need these facts, or derivations of these facts, for deciding the acts to perform. The - theory describes the generic process of deriving an object system from a using system, for example, the derivation of the infological organization from the business organization. From the using system the function model of the object system is defined. Subsequently the implementation-independent construction model of the object system, also known as the ontological model, is designed from the function model of the object system. Many alternative implementation models could be produced from the ontological model. The - theory shows that an EIS comprises the technology that must be allocated to components of a particular implementation model. The φ-theory, which the -theory also invokes, throws considerable light on the idea of a ‘fact’ in the infological and datalogical organiza- tion within an enterprise. Three applications have been executed to validate the applicability of the Framework and to refine the Framework. The first application regards a case- study which is already written extensively in literature, namely The Foundation for Consumer Complaints Boards. This case-study is sufficiently suitable as a basis for the design of an EIS by using the PID Framework. The second application regards the assessment of an EIS that has been imple- mented in an organization that provides commercial trainings, and that has already been in v use for several years.