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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise modelling | 2/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_modelling | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T10:00:53.796573+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Enterprise model === An enterprise model is a representation of the structure, activities, processes, information, resources, people, behavior, goals, and constraints of a business, government, or other enterprises. Thomas Naylor (1970) defined a (simulation) model as "an attempt to describe the interrelationships among a corporation's financial, marketing, and production activities in terms of a set of mathematical and logical relationships which are programmed into the computer." These interrelationships should according to Gershefski (1971) represent in detail all aspects of the firm including "the physical operations of the company, the accounting and financial practices followed, and the response to investment in key areas" Programming the modelled relationships into the computer is not always necessary: enterprise models, under different names, have existed for centuries and were described, for example, by Adam Smith, Walter Bagehot, and many others. According to Fox and Gruninger (1998) from "a design perspective, an enterprise model should provide the language used to explicitly define an enterprise... From an operations perspective, the enterprise model must be able to represent what is planned, what might happen, and what has happened. It must supply the information and knowledge necessary to support the operations of the enterprise, whether they be performed by hand or machine." In a two-volume set entitled The Managerial Cybernetics of Organization Stafford Beer introduced a model of the enterprise, the Viable System Model (VSM). Volume 2, The Heart of Enterprise, analyzed the VSM as a recursive organization of five systems: System One (S1) through System Five (S5). Beer's model differs from others in that the VSM is recursive, not hierarchical: "In a recursive organizational structure, any viable system contains, and is contained in, a viable system."
=== Function modelling ===
Function modelling in systems engineering is a structured representation of the functions, activities or processes within the modelled system or subject area. A function model, also called an activity model or process model, is a graphical representation of an enterprise's function within a defined scope. The purposes of the function model are: to describe the functions and processes, assist with discovery of information needs, help identify opportunities, and establish a basis for determining product and service costs. A function model is created with a functional modelling perspective. A functional perspectives is one or more perspectives possible in process modelling. Other perspectives possible are for example behavioural, organisational or informational. A functional modelling perspective concentrates on describing the dynamic process. The main concept in this modelling perspective is the process, this could be a function, transformation, activity, action, task etc. A well-known example of a modelling language employing this perspective is data flow diagrams. The perspective uses four symbols to describe a process, these being:
Process: Illustrates transformation from input to output. Store: Data-collection or some sort of material. Flow: Movement of data or material in the process. External Entity: External to the modelled system, but interacts with it. Now, with these symbols, a process can be represented as a network of these symbols. This decomposed process is a DFD, data flow diagram. In Dynamic Enterprise Modeling, for example, a division is made in the Control model, Function Model, Process model and Organizational model.
=== Data modelling ===
Data modelling is the process of creating a data model by applying formal data model descriptions using data modelling techniques. Data modelling is a technique for defining business requirements for a database. It is sometimes called database modelling because a data model is eventually implemented in a database. The figure illustrates the way data models are developed and used today. A conceptual data model is developed based on the data requirements for the application that is being developed, perhaps in the context of an activity model. The data model will normally consist of entity types, attributes, relationships, integrity rules, and the definitions of those objects. This is then used as the start point for interface or database design.
=== Business process modelling ===
Business process modelling, not to be confused with the wider Business Process Management (BPM) discipline, is the activity of representing processes of an enterprise, so that the current ("as is") process may be analyzed and improved in future ("to be"). Business process modelling is typically performed by business analysts and managers who are seeking to improve process efficiency and quality. The process improvements identified by business process modelling may or may not require Information Technology involvement, although that is a common driver for the need to model a business process, by creating a process master. Change management programs are typically involved to put the improved business processes into practice. With advances in technology from large platform vendors, the vision of business process modelling models becoming fully executable (and capable of simulations and round-trip engineering) is coming closer to reality every day.
=== Systems architecture === The RM-ODP reference model identifies enterprise modelling as providing one of the five viewpoints of an open distributed system. Note that such a system need not be a modern-day IT system: a banking clearing house in the 19th century may be used as an example ().
== Enterprise modelling techniques == There are several techniques for modelling the enterprise such as
Active Knowledge Modeling, Design & Engineering Methodology for Organizations (DEMO) Dynamic Enterprise Modeling Enterprise Modelling Methodology/Open Distributed Processing (EMM/ODP) Extended Enterprise Modeling Language Multi-Perspective Enterprise Modelling (MEMO), Process modelling such as BPMN, CIMOSA, DYA, IDEF3, LOVEM, PERA, etc. Integrated Enterprise Modeling (IEM), and Modelling the enterprise with multi-agent systems. More enterprise modelling techniques are developed into Enterprise Architecture framework such as:
ARIS - ARchitecture of Integrated Information Systems DoDAF - the US Department of Defense Architecture Framework RM-ODP - Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing TOGAF - The Open Group Architecture Framework Zachman Framework - an architecture framework, based on the work of John Zachman at IBM in the 1980s Service-oriented modeling framework (SOMF), based on the work of Michael Bell And metamodelling frameworks such as:
Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology