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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise modelling | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_modelling | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T10:00:53.796573+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Enterprise engineering == Enterprise engineering is the discipline concerning the design and the engineering of enterprises, regarding both their business and organization. In theory and practice two types of enterprise engineering has emerged. A more general connected to engineering and the management of enterprises, and a more specific related to software engineering, enterprise modelling and enterprise architecture. In the field of engineering a more general enterprise engineering emerged, defined as the application of engineering principals to the management of enterprises. It encompasses the application of knowledge, principles, and disciplines related to the analysis, design, implementation and operation of all elements associated with an enterprise. In essence this is an interdisciplinary field which combines systems engineering and strategic management as it seeks to engineer the entire enterprise in terms of the products, processes and business operations. The view is one of continuous improvement and continued adaptation as firms, processes and markets develop along their life cycles. This total systems approach encompasses the traditional areas of research and development, product design, operations and manufacturing as well as information systems and strategic management. This fields is related to engineering management, operations management, service management and systems engineering. In the context of software development a specific field of enterprise engineering has emerged, which deals with the modelling and integration of various organizational and technical parts of business processes. In the context of information systems development it has been the area of activity in the organization of the systems analysis, and an extension of the scope of Information Modelling. It can also be viewed as the extension and generalization of the systems analysis and systems design phases of the software development process. Here Enterprise modelling can be part of the early, middle and late information system development life cycle. Explicit representation of the organizational and technical system infrastructure is being created in order to understand the orderly transformations of existing work practices. This field is also called Enterprise architecture, or defined with Enterprise Ontology as being two major parts of Enterprise architecture.
== Related fields ==
=== Business reference modelling ===
Business reference modelling is the development of reference models concentrating on the functional and organizational aspects of the core business of an enterprise, service organization or government agency. In enterprise engineering a business reference model is part of an enterprise architecture framework. This framework defines in a series of reference models, how to organize the structure and views associated with an Enterprise Architecture. A reference model in general is a model of something that embodies the basic goal or idea of something and can then be looked at as a reference for various purposes. A business reference model is a means to describe the business operations of an organization, independent of the organizational structure that perform them. Other types of business reference model can also depict the relationship between the business processes, business functions, and the business area’s business reference model. These reference model can be constructed in layers, and offer a foundation for the analysis of service components, technology, data, and performance.
=== Economic modelling ===
Economic modelling is the theoretical representation of economic processes by a set of variables and a set of logical and/or quantitative relationships between them. The economic model is a simplified framework designed to illustrate complex processes, often but not always using mathematical techniques. Frequently, economic models use structural parameters. Structural parameters are underlying parameters in a model or class of models. A model may have various parameters and those parameters may change to create various properties. In general terms, economic models have two functions: first as a simplification of and abstraction from observed data, and second as a means of selection of data based on a paradigm of econometric study. The simplification is particularly important for economics given the enormous complexity of economic processes. This complexity can be attributed to the diversity of factors that determine economic activity; these factors include: individual and cooperative decision processes, resource limitations, environmental and geographical constraints, institutional and legal requirements and purely random fluctuations. Economists therefore must make a reasoned choice of which variables and which relationships between these variables are relevant and which ways of analyzing and presenting this information are useful.
=== Ontology engineering === Ontology engineering or ontology building is a subfield of knowledge engineering that studies the methods and methodologies for building ontologies. In the domain of enterprise architecture, an ontology is an outline or a schema used to structure objects, their attributes and relationships in a consistent manner. As in enterprise modelling, an ontology can be composed of other ontologies. The purpose of ontologies in enterprise modelling is to formalize and establish the sharability, re-usability, assimilation and dissemination of information across all organizations and departments within an enterprise. Thus, an ontology enables integration of the various functions and processes which take place in an enterprise. One common language with well articulated structure and vocabulary would enable the company to be more efficient in its operations. A common ontology will allow for effective communication, understanding and thus coordination among the various divisions of an enterprise. There are various kinds of ontologies used in numerous environments. While the language example given earlier dealt with the area of information systems and design, other ontologies may be defined for processes, methods, activities, etc., within an enterprise. Using ontologies in enterprise modelling offers several advantages. Ontologies ensure clarity, consistency, and structure to a model. They promote efficient model definition and analysis. Generic enterprise ontologies allow for reusability of and automation of components. Because ontologies are schemata or outlines, the use of ontologies does not ensure proper enterprise model definition, analysis, or clarity. Ontologies are limited by how they are defined and implemented. An ontology may or may not include the potential or capability to capture all of the aspects of what is being modelled.
=== Systems thinking ===
The modelling of the enterprise and its environment could facilitate the creation of enhanced understanding of the business domain and processes of the extended enterprise, and especially of the relations—both those that "hold the enterprise together" and those that extend across the boundaries of the enterprise. Since enterprise is a system, concepts used in system thinking can be successfully reused in modelling enterprises.
== See also == Business process modelling Enterprise architecture Enterprise Architecture framework Enterprise integration Enterprise life cycle ISO 19439 Enterprise Data Modeling
== References ==
== Further reading == August-Wilhelm Scheer (1992). Architecture of Integrated Information Systems: Foundations of Enterprise Modelling. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-55131-X François Vernadat (1996) Enterprise Modeling and Integration: Principles and Applications, Chapman & Hall, London, ISBN 0-412-60550-3
== External links ==
Agile Enterprise Modeling. by S.W. Ambler, 2003-2008. Enterprise Modeling Anti-patterns. by S.W. Ambler, 2005. Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures - An International Journal (EMISA) is a scholarly open access journal with a unique focus on novel and innovative research on Enterprise Models and Information Systems Architectures.