Resources online or available for download

Program details and practical information are available in this PDF file also distributed in printed format in to the conference participants.

Doctoral Consortium papers and presentations are available here.

Conference paper presentations are available here.

A more detailed version of the program with exact times for each event is available in an online Google Spreadsheet here.

The keynote presentation slides are available here.

Here is the link regarding topics and references for discussing the relation between UFO and DEMO theories/ontologies: http://bit.ly/DEMO-UFO

The presentation slides used in the short introduction to the new “Organizational Design and Enterprise Engineering” Journal to be published by Springer presented by Erik Proper are available here.

The presentation slides used by Martin Op ‘t Land on behalf of the Enterprise Engineering Institute for the Thursday morning workshop titled “Practitioner’s concerns needing EE-research” are available here.

The latest versions of the EE-theories are available here.

Program overview

Monday is mostly dedicated to our Doctoral Consortium, followed in the evening by the EEWC welcome cocktail and first tour and dinner. On Tuesday we have the conference’s main program, continued on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are mostly dedicated for presentations and discussions of the current state of the EE-theories and research of our CIAO! Enterprise Engineering Network (CEEN). The list of accepted papers to be presented in each session is available below. The titles and abstracts of the presentations in our Doctoral Consortium are available also below.

Doctoral Consortium Sessions

• Research Proposal: Theory of Algebraic Foundation for Manipulation of DEMO models – Towards Analysis and Synthesis of DEMO models
  Tetsuya Suga
  Abstract:
  The spread of business process management has induced the growing size of business process models and distributed executions. Meanwhile, an enterprise is more likely to be considered as a human activity system and often redesigned by aggregating several systems into one. These contexts underscore the importance of establishing techniques and theoretical supports for processing large models; it is also in demand to analyze requirements for large enterprise models that are capable of being handled with ease; namely split and merged. This Ph.D. project with two years left aims at shedding light on mathematical structures observed in DEMO models and manipulations of DEMO models in the framework of Universal Algebra, namely in the form of Boolean algebra. Extensive investigations are focused on algebraic characteristics such as closedness, commutativity, and associativity. It is also planned to develop
  preliminary implementation towards computer-aided manipulations and instantiate them on specific real-life cases for evaluating validity. The author hopes to formulate theoretical foundations and preliminary implication which may actualize computer-aided design automation in enterprise engineering.
  
• Cross Channel Communication Design
  Mark Mulder
  
  Abstract:
  Nowadays, companies communicate with their customers using multiple channels. For new channels a new department and application is created, often resulting in a silo organisation and application landscape. Therefore, reorganising the organisation is needed as frequent as channels change. The Cross Channel Communication Design (C3D) as suggested in this research proposal, is a design that supports communication through multiple digital bi-directional channels. This design builds on the communication of the transaction concept of the Performance in Social Interaction theory ( -theory). The design supports the carrying out of communication transactions by means of a protocol, which comprises the complete transaction pattern, that is put between users and (legacy) applications. The research has progressed and the rst literature review paper has been published. Currently the research can go for Design Research, Action Research and/or Case Study options each with their own advantages and issues.
• Enterprise Operating System
  Alexey Sergeev
  Abstract:
  In this paper, we introduce the term “enterprise operating system” as the essential component of enterprise which supports its viability. We further explain its notion, and investigate its relevance for the enterprise. We consider enterprise to be a viable system, therefore, enterprise operating system should correspond with the viable system model. We also explore concept of distributed systems to compare them to the enterprise.
• From the Essence of an Enterprise towards Enterprise – Supporting Information Systems
  Tanja Poletaeva
  Abstract:
  Our research aims at developing a method to link collaborative enterprises with their supporting information systems. The proposed method is founded on the ontology-based enterprise conceptual modeling, the subsequent transformation of enterprise ontology conceptual patterns into factual knowledge of (artificial) cognitive agents, as well as the use of this knowledge on execution of action rules assigned to agents. The discussed ontology conceptual patterns allow better link the metadata of both the production and the intersubjective world of an enterprise and, consequently, to provide support to cognitive agents in their perception of observed situations. Better “understanding” of situations contributes to more accurate run-time execution of agent’s action rules supporting business transactions. The proposed method is demonstrated and discussed in application to a fictitious but realistic case study from the pizza
  production domain.
• Towards an account for dealing with document act in DEMO Method
  name?
  
  Abstract:
  This paper introduces an on-going research that seeks some sort of combination between the Organizational Engineering (OE) approach and the Theory of Document Acts (D-Acts). The motivation for such research is the possibility of improvements in DEMO Method from the application of some tenets formulated in Document Acts Theory and D-Act ontology. Even though DEMO is already consolidating method, we believe that the benefit to deal with documents, especially document that register rights and obligations. In order to reach our goals, we present a brief background about DEMO Method, Document Act Theory and d-act ontology. Finally, we present our Methodological proposal wherein we introduce the scenario of the model application and in next we introduce the steps of model development. We advocate that our proposal has been fruitful, once to implement document act in DEMO Method is a gap still open.
• Core Component of Communication
  Duarte Gouveia
  Abstract: 
  This work aims at contributing to the design of an Information System (IS) that adequately support human interactions in organizations in an message-based asynchronous network. We move forward based on previous work [1], presented at the CIAO! 2015 Doctoral Consortium, where two protocols were given for DEMO Engines: PSI and Tell&Agree. In this work, we propose a unification of these two protocols based on the development of a Core Component of Communication. This component can be used to create state machines for complex communication ensembles, like PSI and Tell&Agree (which are used in its validation), but is generic enough to a broader range of application. The Core Component of Communication establishes that each interaction between parts starts with an Initial State, and can successfully end, either in a Quit State or one of the available Answer State(s). Although the Core Component is unique, it can have several possible configurations obtained by joining several Quit/Answer States in unique terminal states. This solution is a message-based protocol to be used in asynchronous networks, and its main advantages are increased flexibility and modeling power, and, we believe, it moves DEMO closer to Habermas “ideal speech situation”.
  

Paper Sessions

Session 1 – Foundations of Enterprise Engineering

• + Towards the Ontological Foundations for the Software Executable DEMO Action and Fact Models
  Marek Skotnica, Steven van Kervel and Robert Pergl
  Abstract:
  The discipline of enterprise engineering and the DEMO method- ology enable a model-driven approach to enterprise software systems de- velopment. Apart from the graphical notation, the DEMO models may be fully spec- ified in the DEMOSL language, which may become a basis for an work- ow software system implementation. However, the current speciffication of DEMOSL has been designed mostly for the reasoning between human stakeholders. In this paper a formal calculation construct called a DEMO Machine is proposed and basic ontological foundations of this machine are elabo- rated based on the alignment with the theories of enterprise engineering, various ontological and formal quality criteria and the application of the Generic Systems Development Process for Model Driven Engineering (GSDP-MDE methodology).
• + Cross Channel Communication Design Critical Literature Review
  Mark Mulder
  Abstract:
  Literature on cross channel communication design shows that customer inter- action is too often implemented from a technology viewpoint which keeps us from a fundamental design of the problem and solution. Implementations that have started from a technical or business case point of view have not been very successful. Customer interaction is using processes, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or portals from a functional viewpoint but is not constructed from a Performance in Social Interaction theory ( -theory) viewpoint. In literature we have found channel characteristics and a maturity model that can help us reach the cross communication goal. With these findings in mind, we have defined our channel and service concepts. We summed up the usable concepts we need, to change the perception of multichannel and introduce a design that starts from communication and realises a cost effective way of integration existing and emerging channels.
• + Things, References, Connectors, Types, Variables, Relations and Attributes – Contribution to FI and MU Theories
  Duarte Gouveia and David Aveiro
  Abstract:
  This work builds upon the FI [1] and MU [2] theories, that belong to the 2015 ensemble of theories from the discipline of enterprise engineering [3]. We critique several aspects of those theories and build upon them proposing a modelling ontology to represent the world, having an asynchronous network of actors, as a requirement. This modelling ontology has seven building blocks to enable modelling data and structures of the world (Things, References, Connectors, Types, Variables, Relations and Attributes). Things address the problem of identity. References introduce the notion of Pointer, extending the FI Theory [1] and clarifying concepts. Connectors address the problem of linking mutable and immutable Things in a network environment. The most innovative contribution is the usage of Types as a dynamic expression of constraints over attributes. Variables and Relations are defined using the revised Relational Theory [4][5]. Variables are mutable structures that hold values using temporal logic. Relations can be assigned to Variables that also follow the temporal logic. Attributes are Variables within the closure context of a Thing. Together these seven building blocks allow for better modeling in line with the FI and MU theory.

Session 2 – Organization Implementation

• + Formalizing Organization Implementation
  Marien Krouwel, Martin Op ’T Land and Tyron Offerman
  Abstract:
  Our research program aims at finding building blocks that are able to deal quickly with the constant change that organizations face. In order to do so, a deeper understanding of possible organization implementation variants is necessary, as well as the implications on the operation and IT support of organizations. In earlier research, we have composed a list of Organization Implementation Variables to informedly decide upon organization implementation, enabling traceability in governing enterprise and IT transformations. This list has been validated and extended by four practical case studies and has been formalized afterwards and validated by prototyping. In this paper the resulting framework is presented which a) is broader and more detailed than before, b) has a sound theoretical basis, and c) contains precise and validated definitions of the variables itself. This paper shows that the framework is not only suitable for organization modeling, but also has possibilities for designing software in which implementation choices can be made explicit and variable. This paper also provides insights in the implications of implementation choices on the operation of an organization.
• + Supporting Organizational Implementation Decisions by DEMO and Process Simulation
  Lotte de Laat, Martin Op ’T Land and Marien Krouwel
  Abstract:
  The increasing need for agility on one hand, and for timely and well-founded decisions on organization implementation on the other hand makes goal-oriented process simulation increasingly popular. How- ever, a computer simulation may be of little value without a concep- tual model which precedes the simulation. The Design and Engineer- ing Methodology for Organizations (DEMO) assists in understanding and (re)designing business processes and their implementation. How- ever, current simulation methods based on DEMO lack the notion of goal-orientation on desirable KPIs, such as service windows and reaction time. We developed a goal-oriented combined method that addresses the aforementioned issues, and tested it using both an educational and real-life case. This method helped deciding on the organization imple- mentation, including e.g. number of FTEs and order of working, making modeling choices explicit. Combining DEMO and process simulation al- lows the modeler to make a well-defined balance between (a) project time and money constraints and (b) completeness of the simulation model.

Session 3 – Modelling, Patterns and Viability

• + Perceptual Discriminability in Conceptual Modeling
  Jeannette Stark
  Abstract:
  Perceptual discriminability can be used to help distinguishing modeling constructs in conceptual models. It can further be used to produce parallel processing of modeling constructs that make these constructs virtually pop-out from the model. Moody has described a condition which is necessary to produce a pop-out effect in his principle of perceptual discriminability. This work extends the principle of perceptual discriminability for further conditions to produce a pop-out. Extended perceptual discriminability is exemplarily applied to a modeling grammar.
• + From the Essence of an Enterprise towards Enterprise Ontology Patterns
  Tatiana Poletaeva, Habib Abdulrab and Eduard Babkin
  Abstract:
  In this paper we partially present an initial version of a Formal Enterprise Ontology Pattern Language, which has been developed to support conceptual enterprise modeling and a subsequent construction of different design and implementation artifacts. The proposed enterprise ontology patterns address problems related to the correlated modeling of both the intersubjective world and the production world of an enterprise, as well as the effective conjunction of the domain knowledge and the operational knowledge of an enterprise. The proposed language builds on a synthesis of the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) and the DEMO Enterprise Ontology. We also demonstrate how the pattern language was applied to the domain-specific enterprise modeling.
• + Extended Viable System Model
  Alexey Sergeev and Jose Tribolet
  Abstract:
  Viable System Model (VSM) is a well-known and widely used concept when working with enterprise as a viable system. However, research shows that VSM does not include all the required elements to correctly model enterprise as a viable system. This paper proposes extensions to VSM which help to model enterprise in a more complete way. The proposal is illustrated using case study of a real company. Authors propose to tie extended VSM to the notion of Enterprise Operating System in future research.

Session 4 – Value and Co-Creation

• + Objectifying Value Co-Creation – an exploratory study
  João Pombinho, Carlos Mendes, Bruno Fragoso, Ricardo Santos, Nuno Silva, Elton Sixpence and Jose Tribolet
  Abstract:
  Understanding value co-creation has been identified has a critical research topic area due to the evolution on how customers design, produce and consume products/services. Moreover, there is a plethora of theory sources that address it and an apparent lack of alignment between them. In this exploratory study, we use enterprise engineering techniques, namely organizational modelling methodologies (DEMO and e3Value), to clarify the co-creation and co-design concepts. In order to do so, we extended the Flower Shop case with procedures that were identified in the literature as co-creation. The analysis of this case allowed us to objectify the co-design and co-production concepts by defining in which specific modelling patterns these concepts can be illustrated, in order to make them explicit and assert alignment with the business model. Furthermore, such analysis has supported specification of a generic co-creation (sub)organization which serves as a reference for alignment with service design and management knowledge areas.
• + Towards Co-Creation and Co-Production Chains Modeled in DEMO with REA Support
  Frantisek Hunka, Steven van Kervel and Jiri Matula
  Abstract:
  Co-creation and Co-production in production chains is the typical way of cooperation one observes in high value industrial production chains. The enterprises in these production chains constitute together also a sophisticated virtual enterprise. While many professional IT systems are operational within these enterprises, there are only IT technologies with a limited scope at a small scale available between these enterprises. The new technologies currently provided by enterprise engineering promise substantial operational improvements; operational control, compliance to business rules, optimization of efficiency and effectiveness. Another objective is support for the REA ontology for high quality financial information systems, which requires a conceptual mapping between REA and DEMO to be found. The first step, a generic DEMO model for co-creation and co-production, has been devised and subjected to early validation. This paper is also a positioning paper, defining future research, specifies two challenges for the DEMO theory and provides foundations for a professional production system.

Session 5 – Evolvability

• + Building an Evolvable Prototype for a Multiple GAAP Accounting Information System
  Els Vanhoof, Peter De Bruyn, Walter Aerts and Jan Verelst
  Abstract:
  In this paper we build a prototype of an evolvable Account- ing Information System (AIS) that supports multiple Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (GAAP) reporting. Reporting in multiple GAAP can have different origins: differences in local and tax GAAP, belonging to an economic group or additional regulations. Regulations change fre- quently: additional GAAP are imposed on companies and GAAP them- selves are updated to changing economic conditions. AIS need to sup- port multiple GAAP and evolvability is important because of the chang- ing nature of these GAAP. Normalized Systems Theory (NST) proposes theorems for building evolvable information systems, but lacks specific guidance in business domains (e.g. accounting). Therefore we contribute to literature by showing the feasibility of using NST to design and build an AIS.We use design principles from literature to start building our pro- totype. The resulting prototype shows into more detail how the design principles are used into an actual software design.
• + On the Evolvable and Traceable Design of (Under)graduate Education Programs
  Gilles Oorts, Herwig Mannaert, Peter De Bruyn and Ilke Franquet
  Abstract:
  Over the past decades, universities have been required to offer increasingly exible study programs. Furthermore, study program designs exhibit by their nature large amounts of dependencies due to constraints of prerequisite courses, courses being taught in several study programs, etcetera. These characteristics make managing and changing study programs very complex, on occasion even preventing study pro- gram changes. In this paper we present solutions to these challenges based on the concept of modular and evolvable system design. Basic en- gineering concepts such as modularity, coupling and cohesion are used to explain and illustrate the evolvability and traceability of study programs.