1. The Co-design of Business and IT Systems Kecheng Liu Staffordshire University, UK January 2001

2. Slide 2SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Agenda  The gap between IT and business systems  Current work  A semiotic view of organisations  Co-design of business and IT systems  Summary and future work

3. Slide 3SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Gap between IT and Business Systems Business requirements often based on: Past experience Perceived current and future needs with Limited knowledge about future IT capability Difficulty in predicting market and competitors A future oriented IT system should take into account IT advance Future business requirements Market, competitors, suppliers/customers, government policies These result in a constant gap between IT and Business systems

4. Slide 4SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Current Work SEBPC LAP Organisational Semiotics IT suppliers Industrial users Software engineering Object technology ERP Flexible architecture Evolutionary systems Co-evolution of IT and Business Business objects/patterns Systems component reuse Integrated systems Customable/tailorable systems …

5. Slide 5SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Semiotic View of Organisations (1)  Organisations as Information Systems information created, processed, stored, presented and used  Organisations as systems of normative behaviour Norms enable members to communicate and coordinate Norms govern members’ behaviour Norms sustain the organisation, by providing regulations, standards and conventions for members to act accordingly

6. Slide 6SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Semiotic View of Organisations (2) Information can act (“business can be done with words”) E.g.: “The price will be £50 per unit if you buy 50 units”. “Ok, you’ve got a deal”. Syntax: language structure, and protocol of communication/negotiation. E.g. English Semantics: meaning of the conversation. E.g. price, number of units Pragmatics: contextual knowledge, intentions of the communication. E.g. what products, what negotiated for Social consequence: responsibility, obligation, commitment. E.g. on both supplier and buyer

7. Slide 7SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Semiotic View of Organisations (3) 3 types of activities and 3 types of norms  Substantive: contribute directly to organisational objectives reflect core business add value to organisation  Communication: describe processes and procedures Inform and coordinate not add value directly, but essential for achieving goals  Control: Enforcement, inducement

8. Slide 8SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Semiotic View of Organisations (4) whole system x substantive x.smassage passing x.mcontrol x.c x.s.s.x.s.m x.s.c substantive part of message x.m.s message about message x.m.m control of message x.m.c... … An ‘unhealthy’ or badly designed organisation requires an elaborate communication and controls sub-systems.

9. Slide 9SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Organisational Analysis (1) the context: the market, the social & political environment marketing production engineering sales the organisation - IT based system

10. Slide 10SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Organisational Analysis (2) Substantive aspect (using semantic modelling) purchasing - accounts payable - material control - department supply condition payment condition order pays (location) accepts requests debt... contract place item at vendor Ford supply receives in Stable, determined by the core business

11. Slide 11SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Organisational Analysis (3) Procedural aspect (using process flow) Less stable than substantive aspect, e.g. may be affected by management style; redesign/re-engineering of business processes

12. Slide 12SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Organisational Analysis (4) Relationship between the two aspects purchasing - accounts payable - material control - department supply condition payment condition order pays (location) accepts requests debt... contract place item at vendor Ford supply receives in

13. Slide 13SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Co-design of IT and Business Systems  Identify the core business -> modelling the substantive aspect  Identify the procedures -> modelling the communication aspect The above may take place parallel, iteratively  These are models of the business  Part of them are IT system design (using scoping to identify the IT system boundary)

14. Slide 14SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu A Design of IT System purchasing - accounts payable - material control - department supply condition payment condition order pays (location) accepts requests debt... contract place item at vendor Ford supply receives in E.g. IT system scoping: In procedural aspect - supports all the above processes In substantive aspect – excludes “contract”

15. Slide 15SEISN Jan. 2001© Kecheng Liu Summary and Future Work  Semiotic view of organisations  As information systems, and systems of norms  Organisational modelling with norms  Co-design of IT and Business Systems  On-going research  Special issue on “Co-Design” in Information Systems Frontier in 2002 www.soc.staffs.ac.uk/~cmtkl/is-frontiers-special/call-for- papers.htm  IFIP WG8.1 Working Conference 2001 www.soc.staffs.ac.uk/IFIP.html