From E-R to “A-R” — Modelling strategic actor relationships for business process reengineering

Abstract

As information systems are increasingly being called upon to play vital roles in organizations, conceptual modelling techniques need to be extended to relate information structures and processes to business and organizational objectives. We propose a framework which focuses on the modelling of strategic actor relationships ("A-R") for a richer conceptual model of business processes in their organizational settings. Organizations are viewed as being made up of social actors who are intentional — have motivations, wants, and beliefs — and strategic — they evaluate their relationships to each other in terms of opportunities and vulnerabilities. The framework supports formal modelling of the network of dependency relationships among actors, and the systematic exploration and assessment of alternative process designs in reengineering. The semantics of the modelling concepts are axiomatically characterized. By embedding the framework in the Telos language, the framework can also potentially serve as an early-requirements phase tool in a comprehensive information system development environment.