=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-338/paper-1
|storemode=property
|title=Enterprise, Organization, Modeling, Simulation: Putting Pieces Together
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-338/paper1.pdf
|volume=Vol-338
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==Enterprise, Organization, Modeling, Simulation: Putting Pieces Together==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-338/paper1.pdf
Enterprise, Organization, Modeling, Simulation:
Putting Pieces Together
Joseph Barjis
Delft University of Technology
Jaffalaan 5, 2628BX Delft, Netherlands
Abstract. The research literature of recent years has been witnessing
resurgence of interest in socio-technical systems to which enterprise, its
organization, and underlying business system belong. The same has been
happening in regard to business process management, as a component of this
overall study, regarded as “the third wave”. Also the interest of the researchers
has been focused on the search for methods and tools to understand, analyze,
design and redesign the structure, function, processes, roles, responsibilities that
take place in socio-technical systems. In the view of these trends, it becomes a
standard practice that companies adapt modeling and simulation as two
complementary tools to manage, improve, and redesign as the environment
demands. In this introductory paper, we try to put these pieces (enterprise,
organization, modeling and simulation – EOMAS) together and discuss their
relevance.
Keywords: enterprise modeling, enterprise simulation, organizational
modeling, organizational simulation, business process modeling, business
process simulation.
1 Introduction
EOMAS is a forum first and foremost about Information Systems in a broader sense:
Information Systems Analysis, Design, Engineering, Application, Organizational
Impact, Business Systems, etc. Information systems do not operate in isolation; they
are designed, developed, and deployed in specific organizational context (settings).
They are designed for certain objectives and tied to particular organizational
processes (situations), e.g., order processing, product development, patient
management, student registration, and so on. In its turn, an organization is an
arrangement of human actors purposefully organized to carry out a certain mission,
which, in its turn, adds a social dimension to the study. Hence, an organization is a
social system, whose elements are human actors. Through the purposeful actions and
interaction of these actors, while carrying certain tasks, business processes are
evolved. In modern enterprises, these interactions and processes are enabled, linked
and interwoven via information infrastructure (information systems, information
technology, software applications) such as Enterprise Information Systems (e.g.,
2 Proceedings of EOMAS 2008
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, Human Resource Information Systems,
Accounting Information Systems). For the engineering and reengineering of these
systems, among other tools, modeling and simulation (M&S) is getting increasing
prominence.
While simulation has evolved into a mature discipline in engineering,
manufacturing, military, traffic and control, in the context of enterprise, its
organization, and underlying business processes, which collectively constitute a
complex socio-technical system, application of modeling and simulation is just taking
its momentum. Unlike traditional domains (manufacturing, logistics, traffic and
control), where the practice of simulation has been long established, socio-technical
systems are complex and versatile, which is one of the reasons that modeling and
simulation is on one hand a useful tool, on the other hand faced with challenges.
These challenges are, in part, posed by the informality of the environment where
social individuals interact as they perform their tasks. In contrast to traditional
domains, where modeling and simulation practice is based on quantitative
approaches, enterprise modeling and simulation is dominantly drawn on qualitative
approaches, which is rather driven by more descriptive, animative, and artistic
qualities.
2 Enterprise and Organization
We start the reader off with mutually relative definitions of enterprise and
organization. From the myriad of definitions, we explain the notion of enterprise and
organization using the construction-oriented or ontological notion [1], according to
which the collective services that an enterprise provides to its environment are called
the business of the enterprise. This definition represents the function perspective of an
enterprise. The collective activities of an enterprise in which these services are
delivered along with the human actors that carry out these activities are called the
organization of an enterprise. Thus, an organization is a social arrangement of roles
and responsibilities of human actors and rules and norms by which the actions of
these actors are governed. Thus, an organization is formed and aligned according to
the goals of its enterprise.
As these notions imply, an enterprise has an organization and a business system
created for certain purpose and provides service or delivers goods to its environment.
The work of an enterprise is supported by adequate technology to enable and improve
it efficiency and effectiveness. Collectively, the business processes and their
interrelationships that enable to deliver service to customers or produce goods
constitute the enterprise business system. As becomes obvious, these notions establish
that an enterprise by its virtue is a complex socio-technical system.
This all brings us to the recognition of the importance of the organizational context
and enterprise scope, in which enterprise information systems are deployed, utilized
and set. Subsequently, it reveals the understanding that enterprise information systems
are not merely technical, but a socio-technical phenomenon, where organizations
(people, process, structure) are integral to them.
Proceedings of EOMAS’08 3
Now, how do we go about the study of these phenomena (organization, enterprise,
business process) using corresponding theories, methodologies, frameworks and
concepts? We can develop systems (in a smaller size, prototype) and study their
behavior; we can build mathematical models and abstractions of systems and study
them; we can draw systems static pictures using diagrams and then study the
diagrams; for process improvement and organizational change, we can introduce a
change and then observe its affects and impacts as the changed process is enacted in
reality. Each of these approaches has their advantages and disadvantages, and
organizational changes may have consequences if not properly studied.
For example, building a system would be very expensive, time consuming, and
especially risky if a wrong system is built and the organization will be forced to
demolish it and build another one. Even if the system was built in a smaller
proportion, it will still be a huge waste of investment (money, time, resources).
Similarly, mathematical abstraction will be on one hand very difficult, if not
impossible, as we are dealing with informal reality, on the other hand for users it will
be challenging to comprehend the models. Making a change without studying its
impacts and deliverables in a controlled environment may cause severe consequences.
An alternative approach, widely accepted, adapted and used is modeling and
simulation. What does it mean? The modeling and simulation theories,
methodologies, and approaches allow analysis, design and study of the systems and
processes using artifacts that are designed for this purpose (diagrams, notations,
languages, tools). The experiments and comparison of different alternatives are
conducted in a controlled environment. Over the past decade, the practice of modeling
and simulation has become a popular, attractive, and widespread. The current
technological and tools developments facilitate very close to reality experiments, of
course with the understanding that modeling and simulation will always remain as an
approximation and simplification of reality.
Application of modeling and simulation to enterprise, its organization and business
system could facilitate the creation of enhanced understanding of the business domain
(healthcare, banking, commerce) and processes of the extended enterprise (inter- and
intra-organizational relationships) and significant improvements of the underlying
processes.
3 Modeling and Simulation
Simulation techniques benefit many of the traditional areas in helping to mitigate
design flaws, learning system behavior, providing training, and becoming a standard
practice for building complex systems. Following the analogies of traditional
domains, application of simulation in the context of socio-technical environment
(enterprise, organization, business process) has attracted a huge interest among
researchers from diverse perspectives [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. The practice of modeling and
simulation is opening a promising research field as the potential and full capacity of
enterprise modeling and simulation still have yet to be revealed.
For example, traditionally, modeling and simulation have been endorsed as
instruments to observe dynamic behavior of systems, measure IT impacts on
4 Proceedings of EOMAS 2008
organizations, and outcomes of changes. In the current context of open-source
software development, service-oriented architectures (SOAs) and business process
outsourcing (BPO), modeling and simulation assume even more significance in
assessing business process management effectiveness, alignment between business
process models and corresponding SOAs, alignment between the client and vendor
business strategies in a BPO contract, etc. using embedded simulation in enterprise
and organizational models. But for these benefits to happen, modeling and simulation
ought to be viewed as an integrated tool and method.
In contrary, often modeling and simulation are used as two separate tools in
isolation from each other. Best practice in the field proves that for a thorough analysis
and study of an enterprise, both modeling and simulation should play in concert as
their deliverables are complementary. Only modeling may not reveal sufficient
information about the processes. On the other hand, only simulation tools may
provide little help if there is no profound conceptual modeling preceding it. It would
be like expedition without a map. Consequently, like an expedition carried out
without a map, simulation without a profound concept (conceptual model) is possible,
but it would be very hard, if not impossible, to hit the target – achieve accurate and
reliable results. Therefore, it is imperative that analysts adapt modeling and
simulation as a holistic tool in the study of an enterprise, especially its business
processes as the main object of engineering and reengineering.
The core of any enterprise is its business processes. With the system design shift
from data-centric to process centric, the interest and focus on business process
modeling and simulation is especially reinforced.
4 Business Process Simulation Need
Why business process modeling and simulation should matter for organizations in the
first place. Although the answer should be evident, it is explained by the fact of ever
changing business drivers (supporting technology, business models, mergers and
acquisitions, customers, etc). Continuous competition, increasing capabilities and
features of emerging technologies and growing customer demands require
organizations to keep current and be swift to changes. Obviously any change is risky
and may invoke serious consequences for organizations. Early mitigation of these
risks is undoubtedly a prerequisite of success and survival, especially in the situations
of multi-variables. Here is where business process modeling and simulation play a
significant role to study, analyze, optimize, compare different scenarios, and measure
the affects before consequences become irreversible disaster. Simulation is a safe and
inexpensive way of studying the impact of changes and revealing hidden behaviors of
a complex system. The current trends in business process management, information
system design, and IT application development show that processes oriented
approaches are paid increasing attention in analyzing and designing business
processes. Consequently, whether discussing changes, designing new processes or
comparing alternatives, process modeling and simulation play a crucial role in this
respect.
Proceedings of EOMAS’08 5
Basically, the recursive activities of adapt-change-improve would be a driving
force for the 21st century enterprises, and therefore business process modeling and
simulation is not a question of “to be or not to be”, but a navigational compass to set
the right course for sailing into the storms of frequent changes.
5 Concluding Remarks
The aim of this introductory article was to explain and discuss the relevance between
the notions of enterprise, its organization and business system, and the role of
modeling and simulation as two prominent and complementary methods and tools in
the study of these phenomena. For this purpose, the EOMAS forum was established.
EOMAS was founded with the aim to become a major forum to foster discussion
and exchange on theoretical and practical aspects, an outlet for publication, and a
meeting for networking among researchers, practitioners, and educators interested in
the application of modeling and simulation pertaining to various aspects of enterprise,
organization, business processes, information systems, enterprise information
systems.
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