Ontological Analysis

DP0211789
Chief Investigators: Prof Michael Rosemann and Prof. Peter Green (UQ)

Funding: ARC Discovery
2002: $67,115
2003: $70,221
2004: $68,482

Category: 2801 - INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Administering Institution: Queensland University of Technology:

Overview

Integrated process modelling techniques such as UML and ARIS form the conceptual platform for many management and IT projects. Though most IS development tools contain these techniques, anecdotal evidence indicates many shortcomings. This project uses the Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) models as a well-established theory. It has been developed in philosophy and applied in information systems domains for the evaluation of these techniques. The expected outcomes are evaluations of the Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS) and UML. Thus, this project contributes to the development of two of the most popular modelling techniques. Based on the theory used and the results of an international empirical study, suggestions for the further development of these techniques will be derived.

This project is funded as an ARC Discovery project in the years 2002-2004.

In related projects we explore the actual popularity of modelling purposes, techniques and tools in Australia. This work is based on an empirical survey that is currently conducted with the support of the Australian Computer Society (ACS).

Moreover, we also apply the BBW-models to interoperability standards such as ebXML and workflow standards. This work will contribute to a critical comparison of the comprehensiveness, overlap and depth of these standards.

Project details

Motivation

For many years now, information systems professionals have used different methods and techniques to accomplish their modelling tasks.  The techniques have ranged from flowcharts, to data flow diagrams, to entity relationship diagrams, to process models, and object-oriented schemas.  In an attempt to address this situation, Wand and Weber have developed and refined a set of models for the evaluation of modelling grammars and the scripts prepared using such grammars.  These models are based on an ontology defined by Bunge and are referred to as the Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) models. 

The Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) models consist of the representation model, the state-tracking model, and the good decomposition model. While this work concentrates on the use of the representation model, meta models for the state-tracking and good decomposition models will also be developed. The representation model defines a set of constructs that, at this time, are thought by Wand and Weber to be necessary and sufficient to describe the structure and behavior of the real world. To date, however, concerns remain, inter alia, with regard to a lack of understandability of the BWW constructs and the problematic application of these constructs to other loosely defined modeling grammars. The development of comprehensive meta models for the BWW constructs and then demonstrating their applicability two popular modelling grammars (ARIS and UML) contained in this proposal will mitigate these concerns in large part.

Two concerns however have consistently arisen within the information systems research community over the time that the BWW ontological models have been developed and used.  First, the understandability of the constructs within the models has been criticised anecdotally by various sections of the research community.  Even though in many subsequent works the researchers attempted to simplify and clarify the explanation of the constructs by defining them using plain English, the criticism of lack of understandability has remained.  Second, Wand and Weber [1993], Weber and Zhang [1996], and Weber [1997] concede the difficulty in applying the models to grammars and scripts produced using those modelling grammars.  This difficulty stems from the fact that, although the Wand and Weber constructs have clearly defined set-theoretic definitions, the grammars and scripts to which they are applied have at best loose definitions (lack of comparability).  Consequently, the analyses performed using the Wand and Weber models rely to a large extent on the knowledge and experience of the researcher(s) performing the analyses.  Such a situation leads to limitations on the results of work in the area (lack of applicability).

Green and Rosemann were the first researchers to present an ontological evaluation of an integrated process modelling grammar. However, their work until now has concentrated on selected parts of the representation model of the BWW models. Furthermore, Green and Rosemann [2000] used an extended Entity-Relationship approach for their initial meta model. Thus, this model has the limitations of the ER-technique, that is, it has a focus on the structure of the BWW models.

Significance and Innovation

Process models form the conceptual basis for a wide range of organisational and IT projects. Thus, contributions that try to improve the quality of process models are of immediate significance and importance for many approaches such as the management of enterprise systems, workflow management, or systems development. The proposed research is based on the development of a meta model for the constructs and relationships of the BWW models. The planned outcomes of this project will be the first comprehensive ontological evaluation and comparison of two popular grammars for integrated process modelling.

The innovation of this project is not only seen in the domain of process modelling. The applied methodology is also seen as unique and novel. An ontological evaluation based on meta models is seen as a more rigorous and transparent approach than existing methodologies. In project reviews, it will be possible to evaluate easily the specification of the BWW models and the selected modelling grammar using these meta models. Furthermore, the comparison will become transparent as corresponding relationships become obvious. Ontological weaknesses such as overload, excess, or redundancy will be easy to identify based on the lack of corresponding constructs in these meta models. Overall, the meta model approach will simplify the understanding of the BWW models ensuring useful educational and research outcomes. Such a meta model allows also critical evaluation of the BWW models and identification of such aspects as inherent weaknesses in the BWW models. Finally, it will be possible to derive new or at least modified modelling grammars based on this meta model.

The identified weaknesses of the analysed process modelling grammars will be analysed and their significance will be empirically tested. Finally, it is planned to develop extensions and modifications of ARIS and UML in order to overcome relevant ontological weaknesses. As ARIS and UML are currently the most popular modelling grammars, the project results will be of significant importance for business analysts, system developers and researchers in the area of conceptual modelling, software and methods engineering. Finally, this project will contribute to the further development of one of the most popular ontologies currently used in the discipline of Information Systems - the BWW models.

Approach

The proposed research will be divided into three main phases, viz., evaluation, comparison, and engineering of integrated process modelling techniques.

In the first phase, we will convert the already existing parts of the ER-based meta model for the representation model into a UML model. This activity will be followed by the completion of the meta model for the entire representation model as well as the design of meta models for the state-tracking model and the good decomposition model. This meta model is targeted for completion within the first six months after the project start. The critical review of the meta model will be the first milestone of this project.

This completed meta model will form the basis for an ontological evaluation of ARIS. As ARIS is already documented in a UML-based meta model (Scheer 2000), this task will include the bi-directional mapping of constructs and relationships of the BWW model and ARIS. Initial work done by Green and Rosemann [under review with Information Systems] will serve as input in this phase. However, a detailed and complete evaluation has not taken place yet. The outcome of this phase will be an evaluation of the ‘ontological goodness’ of ARIS including a structured list of ontological weaknesses.

Subsequent work will focus further on these identified weaknesses. These weaknesses are based on the application of a generic ontology while ARIS was developed for the specific needs of business modelling. Thus, it is a consequent next step to empirically test the practical relevance of these weaknesses. For these purposes, propositions and hypotheses will be derived from the outcomes of the analysis. These hypotheses form the structure of a questionnaire and the basis of an international empirical study. Intensive and experienced users of popular modelling tools will be identified. In addition to the questionnaire, selected interviews will take place with experienced international ARIS users. The consolidation of the identified ontological weaknesses together with the results of this empirical study will critically be reviewed in the second milestone of this project.

Based on the experiences gained through the analysis of ARIS, a similar ontological evaluation of UML will take place. The developed BWW meta model will be applied to the meta model already available for UML - the de facto standard for object-oriented modelling. Again, the identified weaknesses will be consolidated and propositions will be derived. An empirical study using a questionnaire with a structure corresponding to the one used for the ARIS study will be distributed. All these activities can be summarised as ontologically-based evaluation of integrated process modelling techniques.

The next main phase, Comparison, will involve the ontologically-based comparison of integrated process modelling techniques. In this phase, the results of the ARIS and UML analyses will be consolidated. Ontological weaknesses that both grammars have in common will be identified. As this task might indicate general ontological weaknesses, further selected studies in other process modelling techniques (e.g. Petri Nets) might verify this situation. Furthermore, differences in the results could be used for a study into the individual advantages/disadvantages of ARIS and UML respectively. However, of equal importance is the potential finding that common so-called "weaknesses" of ARIS and UML might indicate shortcomings in the BWW models. Thus, to what extent these results might motivate a further development or a modification of the BWW models will be investigated. This second phase will have a duration of four months.

The final phase, Engineering, will cover the ontologically-based development of integrated process modelling techniques. The results up to this phase will serve as input for the selective development of improvements for ARIS and UML. These suggestions will be measured by the degree to which they help to overcome identified ontological weaknesses that were perceived as relevant in the empirical studies. The last eight months of this project will be invested in performing this third phase.

Procedures

On the basis of the analyses of ARIS and UML, hypotheses will be developed for each modelling grammar respectively.  These hypotheses will then be translated into two survey instruments.  The construction of these survey instruments will be based on that constructed, validated, and used for a similar purpose by Green [1997].  The two newly constructed instruments will be validated in pilot tests.

Structured interview protocols will be developed from the respective validated instruments.  These interview protocols will then be administered in tape-recorded interviews with a small number of customers of IDS and Rational Rose.  The purpose of these qualitative interviews is two-fold:

1. a multiple-method research methodology allows the researchers to avoid methodology bias in the responses; and
2. the addition of the qualitative technique allows deeper probing on the issues contained in the study, and thus, may inform any non-supported hypotheses that result from the quantitative studies.

Analyses

The results of the surveys will be summarised and analysed using standard statistical tests for significance available in such packages as SPSS.  The tape-recorded structured interviews will be transcribed into standard Word documents.  These text documents will then be coded and analysed using a standard qualitative text pattern matching analytical package like Nud-ist.

Research team

Professor Michael Rosemann
Professor Peter Green (University of Queensland)
Ms Islay Davies
Marta Indulska (University of Queensland)

Publications

The research has been presented in research seminars at Edith Cowan University (March 2002), Nanyang Technological University (April 2002), and the University of Sydney (July 2002).

I. Davies, M. Rosemann, P. Green: Exploring Proposed Ontological Issues of ARIS with Different Categories of Modellers. Proceedings of the 15th Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS 2004), Hobart, Tasmania, 1-3 December 2004.

P. Green, M. Rosemann: Ontologies and Business Systems Analysis. IDEA Publisher 2004 (in press).

P. Green, M. Indulska, M. Rosemann: A Reference Methodology for Conducting Ontological Analyses. Proceedings of the International Conference on Conceptual Modelling (ER 2004). Shanghai, 8-11 November 2004.

I. Davies, P. Green,. M. Rosemann, S. Gallo: Conceptual Modelling Why do we do it? Proceedings of the International Conference on Conceptual Modelling (ER 2004). Shanghai, 8-11 November 2004.

P. Green, M. Indulska, M. Rosemann: A Procedural Model for Ontological Analyses. Proceedings of the Second Information Systems Workshop (ISF 2004). Eds.: S. Gregor. Canberra, 17/18 July 2004.

P. Green and M. Rosemann, 2004, "Applying Ontologies to Business and Systems Modelling Techniques and Perspectives Lessons Learned", Journal of Database Management, Special Issue 2004.

I. Davies, P.Green, S. Milton and M. Rosemann, 2004, "Analysing and Comparing Ontologies with Meta Models", in Modelling Methods and Methodologies, Eds. J. Krogstie, T. Halpin and K. Siau. IDEA 2004.

I. Davies, P. Green and M. Rosemann, 2003, "Conceptual Modelling in Practice Myth or Reality?" CAiSE 2003 Short Paper Forum.

I. Davies, P.Green, S. Milton and M. Rosemann, 2003, "Using Meta Models for the Comparison of Ontologies", in proceedings of the 8th EMMSAD 2003 Workshop. Velden, Austria. Eds. J. Krogstie, T. Halpin and K. Siau

P. Green, M. Rosemann: Usefulness of the BWW Ontological Models as a 'Core' Theory of Information Systems. In: Information Systems Foundations: Building the Theoretical Base. Eds.: S. Gregor, D. Hart, published by: School of Business and Information Management, ANU, Canberra,pp. 147-164, 2002

I. Davies, P. Green and M. Rosemann. 2002. "Facilitating an Ontological Foundation of Information Systems with Meta Models". Proceedings of the 13th Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS 2002). Eds.: A. Wenn, M. McGrath, F. Burstein, Melbourne, 3-6 December, pp. 937-947, 2002

Green, P. & Rosemann, M. 2002. “Perceived Ontological Weaknesses of Process Modelling Techniques: Further Evidence”, in Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Information Systems – ECIS 2002. Ed.: S. Wryca. Gdansk, Poland, 5-8 June, pp. 312-321.

Rosemann, M & Green, P. 2002. “Developing a meta model for the Bunge-Wand-Weber ontological constructs”, Information Systems, 27(2), pp. 75-91.

Green, P & Rosemann, M. 2000. "Integrated Process Modeling: An Ontological Evaluation", Information Systems, 25(2), pp. 73-87.

Rosemann, M. & Green, P. 2000. "Integrating Multi-Perspective Views into Ontological Analysis", in Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2000), Brisbane, Australia, 10-13 December.

Green, P & Rosemann, M. 2000. "Ontological Analysis of Integrated Process Modeling: Some Initial Insights", in Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS 2000), Brisbane, Australia, 6-8 December (selected as one of the best papers).

Rosemann, M. & Green, P. 2000. "Enhancing the Process of Ontological Analysis: The "Who Cares" Dimension", in Proceedings of the Information Systems Foundations Workshop - Ontology, Semiotics, and Practice, Dampney, C.N.G. (Ed.), Macquarie University: Sydney, ISBN: 1 86408 524 X, pp. 39-54.

Green, P. & Rosemann, M. 1999. "An Ontological Analysis of Integrated Process Modelling", Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE 99), Springer: Berlin, pp. 225-240 (selected as one of the best papers).

Green, P.F. 1997. "Use of Information Systems Analysis and Design (ISAD) Grammars in Combination in Upper CASE Tools - An Ontological Evaluation," Proceedings of the Second (Caise97/IFIP 8.1) International Workshop on Evaluation of Modeling Methods. In Systems Analysis and Design (EMMSAD97). Barcelona, June, pp. 1-17.

Green, P.F., Wand, Y., & Weber, R. 1997. "Ontological Analysis of Information Systems Analysis and Design (ISAD) Grammars - Experiences and Results to Date", Panel paper, Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Vol. III, pp. 1539-1541.

Green, P.F. 1997. "An Ontological Analysis of Information Systems Analysis and Design (ISAD) Grammars in Upper CASE Tools," Presentation to Open Forum session at IFIP TC8 WG8.6 International Working Conference on Diffusion, Adoption, and Implementation of Information Technology, Ambleside, UK, June.