=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1138/poster4
|storemode=property
|title=Viable Systems Model based Requirements Engineering
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1138/poster4.pdf
|volume=Vol-1138
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/refsq/Kirikova14
}}
==Viable Systems Model based Requirements Engineering==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1138/poster4.pdf
Viable Systems Model based Requirements Engineering
Marite Kirikova
Department of Systems Theory and Design, Riga Technical University, 1 Kalku, Riga, LV
1568, Latvia
marite.kirikova@cs.rtu.lv
To manage in business environment of global economy, enterprises and their infor-
mation systems have to change continuously. In this context, the use of Viable Sys-
tems Model (VSM) [1] that is designed for enterprises to manage in unpredictably
changing environment becomes a promising option for requirements engineering in
continuous information systems development and change management. VSM [1], [2],
[3] has been applied in many areas, such as computer systems design [4], meta-
program management [5], strategic management [6], and environment scanning and
foresight [7], intranet design [8], etc. The VSM of an enterprise prescribes 5 interre-
lated sub-models, which are called systems: Operational System 1, which brings the
benefit to the customer of an enterprise, Coordination System 2, that ensures smooth
cooperation of relatively independent parts of the operational system, Integration
System 3 that cares for optimal work and auditing (done by System 3*) of the System
1, Strategic Management System 4, and Organizational Identity Management System
5 that ensures balance between intensions of System 4 and goals of the rest of the
whole super system of five Systems. System 1, System 2, System 3, System 4, and
System 5 are just functional systems and the VSM does not prescribe corresponding 5
organizational units that fulfill theses functions, i.e., the functions can be distributed
among different roles in an enterprise. The VSM also prescribes a number of commu-
nication channels inside of System 1 and among the Systems1-5. The VSM has the
following features that show its potential applicability in requirements engineering:
VSM prescribes clear groupings of functionality where there are specific function-
ing units for particular groups of elements (customers) in the environment.
VSM has a fractal structure, which fosters repetition of particular enterprise archi-
tecture patterns at different levels of model hierarchy.
VSM addresses internal structural changes in the system that opens possibility to
identify requirements for mechanisms of adaptation and for adapting of the system.
In requirements engineering, if the organizational processes can be mapped to the
VSM, the channels prescribed by the model can suggest a set of repeatable infor-
mation flows to be identified and described in detail during requirements elicitation
process. However, if changes in information systems should be smoothly aligned to
the organizational changes, the requirements engineering process shall concern not
only the information flows corresponding to the channels of the VSM, but also
knowledge flows in an enterprise. Changes of the organizational structure strongly
influence the architecture of organizational memory (distribution of knowledge
among natural, artificial, and virtual knowledge holders). Therefore the changes in
organizational structure shall be traced to requirements for information systems so
that in all cases all necessary information would be available and the ability of
knowledge holders to rightly interpret it would be guaranteed.
With the purpose to support requirements engineering for viable, continuously
changing, adaptable, and adaptive enterprises we propose the following method: (1)
mapping the organizational processes to the VSM (as-is situation); (2) relating VSM
mapped processes to information architecture, to organizational and IT solution archi-
tecture and to the architecture of organizational memory; (3) identifying virtual actors
(consisting of a set of interrelated knowledge holders and a related subset of organiza-
tional memory) being behind of each “system” of VSM (System 1, System 2, System
3, System 3*, System 4, and System 5); (4) checking whether each virtual actor has a
knowledge potential to interpret all information flows prescribed by VSM and enrich-
ing this potential if necessary; (5) in case of organizational changes, repeating points
(1) to (4) for to-be situation; (6) identifying and analyzing an architectural gap be-
tween to-be and as-is situations; (7) based on the identified architectural gap, defining
requirements for information systems development and knowledge growth in an en-
terprise. Points (5) to (7) shall be repeated in any case of structural changes in the
enterprise (including the structure of IT solutions). The proposed method is in the
design stage and has only been partly tested.
Acknowledgments. This work has been supported by Latvian national research
programme “Development of innovative multi-functional materials, signal processing
and information technology for competitive science-intensive products", Project No 5
"New information technologies based on ontologies and transformation”.
References
1. Hoverstadt, P.: The Fractal Organization: Creating Sustainable Organizations with the Vi-
able Systems Model, Wiley ( 2008)
2. Espejo, R., Reyes, A.: Organizational Systems. Managing Complexity with the Viable
System Model, Springer, Berlin (2011)
3. Rios, J. P.: Design and Diagnosis for Sustainable Organization, Springer, Berlin (2012)
4. Thompson, R., Laws, A., Reilly, D., Taleb-Bendiab, A., Llewellyn-Jones, D.: A set theory
analysis of ecological dependence amid an agent infrastructure in Beer's Viable System
Model through viable computer systems. J. of Emerging Technologies in Web Intelli-
gence, vol. 3, No 3, pp. 188-196 (2011)
5. Stephens, J., Haslett, T.: A set of conventions, a model: an application of Stafford Beer's
Viable Systems Model to the strategic planning process. In: Systemic Practice and Action
Research, vol. 24, issue 5, pp. 429-452. Springer US (2011) Tanaka, H.: A Viable System
Model reinforced by Meta Program Management. In: Procedia - Social and Behavioral
Sciences, vol. 74, pp. 377-387 (2013)
6. Clemens, R.: Environmental Scanning and Scenario Planning: A 12 month perspective on
applying the Viable Systems Model to developing public sector foresight. In: Systemic
Practice and Action Research, vol. 22, issue 4, pp. 249-274. Springer US (2009)
Nyström, C. A.: Demands on Intranets — Viable System Model as a foundation for Intra-
net design. In: AIP Conference Proceedings, vol. 839, issue 1, pp. 381-387. (2006)