According to Bubenko et al (2001),
a model is a way to structure organizational knowledge in order to
understand the holistic operations of a business or a business process.
This model can never be the exact image of the real world but a
collective perception, representing the benchmark, the experiences and
the participants’ backgrounds.
EKD is a modeling
methodology that provides a systematic way to analyse, understand,
develop and document a business and its components (Bubenko et al, 2001; Stirna et al, 2007).
It aims at a clear and unambiguous description of the business, what
are the requirements and reasons for a particular change or new practice
to be developed in the company, what are the alternatives that should
be created to reach these requirements and what are the criteria and
arguments used to evaluate these alternatives.
Among
the main benefits, EKD allows: (a) a better understanding of the
business; (b) an easier organizational learning process and a more
effective communication on key issues; (c) a helpful understanding and a
promotion of the capabilities and processes of the organization; (d) an
improvement in communication among participants; (e) the development of
a structured description of the business; and (f) a more accurate
definition of the organization's goals, entities, processes and
requirements.
The organizational model developed by the EKD methodology, shown in Figure 1,
is composed of a number of sub-models or components that represent some
particular aspect of the company. These sub-models, as well as issues
related to them, are described below (Bubenko et al, 2001; Stirna et al, 2007):
- Goals model: It focuses on the description of the organizational goals and the issues related to achieving them.
- Concepts model: It is used to define ‘things’ and ‘phenomena’ addressed to the other models. Concepts may be tangible, for example, ‘car’, or intangible, for example, ‘knowledge’.
- Business rules model: It is used to explicitly define and maintain business rules consistent with the Goals model. Rules may operate on or delimit goals. Business rules control the organizational actions.
- Business process model: It is designed to analyse the processes’ interaction, information and materials. It allows a view of the activities and business processes that are or should be recognized in the organization in order for it to be managed according to its goals.
- Actors and resources model: It defines the types of actors and resources involved in the business activity. This model describes how different actors and resources are related to each other and to the other models’ components.
- Technical components and requirement model: It is an initial attempt to define the entire structure and the properties of the information system that will support business activities.
The evolution of research that resulted in the EKD methodology begins with the studies of Langefors (1968) who made important contributions to organizational modeling. In the early eighties, Plandata introduced the ABC method (Williars, 1988),
which was enhanced by SISU (Swedish Institute for System Development)
and later extended into an organizational modeling method in the Esprit
Project F3 (From Fuzzy to Formal). The modeling method F3 (1994)
was deepened in the Esprit Project ELKD, which was the base of the
current version of the organizational modeling methodology EKD (Bubenko et al, 2001).
Different
versions of the proposed methods have been applied in several European
companies: British Aerospace (England), Capital Bank (England), National
Bank of Greece, Postgirot (Sweden), Public Power Corporation (Greece),
Sema Group (France), Telia (Sweden), Vattenfall (Swede), Volvo (Sweden)
and so on.
Pádua et al (2004) made a comparison among the modeling techniques proposed in the literature (Table 2) and demonstrated the advantages of the EKD methodology.
Therefore, the choice of EKD methodology is grounded in Table 2,
it is linked to the systemic features of EKD, its organizational
learning and goals orientation, and especially because it is considered a
methodology for managing organizational knowledge.
In
the same context, it is important to show the evolution that EKD
research has had in Brazil, mainly in the DECIDIR Research Group, of São
Paulo University, School of Engineering of São Carlos, to which the
authors of this article belong. EKD was used to generate models applied
to several sectors and areas of the organization: the development of
information systems (Pádua et al, 2004); process changes (Castro & Cazarini, 2005); the management of information systems (Campos & Cazarini, 2005); ERP systems (Castro & Cazarini, 2006); the construction of reference architectures for enterprise networks (Neves et al, 2006; Ganga et al, 2008); electronic commerce (Medrano & Cazarini, 2008); and decision making (Medrano & Cazarini, 2009).
Further more information about this articles, please you check on Knowledge Management Research & Practice or e-mail to medrano@sc.usp.br.
By Lucio Abimael Medrano Castillo & Edson Walmir Cazarini
Repost by Acarre Community Media
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