1
METHOD
1 Introduction
Due to increasing hardware standardization and a dramatic drop in hardware prices the focus of
information system development tasks has changed considerably.
In the past, system design and system integration had the greatest potential for optimization. In
recent years, however, the focus has shifted more and more towards creating solutions for the
special demands of individual sectors. The fact that decentralized information systems became
available and that it was possible to incorporate them into integrated information system
infrastructures created new cost saving potential regarding the organizational design of
companies.
Organizational structures were formerly broken down functionally and established centrally
because they were mostly based on centralized host environments with only limited capabilities.
As a consequence, companies suffered a loss of flexibility. In the beginning, few people realized
or paid attention to the new prospects resulting from the increase in decentralization of computer
services and parallel development of new information system architecture concepts (e.g.,
client/server, workflow management).
Today, steadily intensifying competition has turned this potential into the number one topic for
every single company. Flexible structures that persistently focus on internal business processes
are becoming the decisive competition factor for companies. However, only a holistic view of all
business processes enables a company to recognize, streamline, and support interconnected
processes through optimized information system infrastructures. Compared with the
management of centralized business environments, the management of these new structures is
significantly more complex. Facing this challenge requires unequivocal assignment of
responsibilities, maximum transparency of structures, homogeneous communication throughout
all company levels, and streamlined project management based on defined business objectives.
Enterprise modeling methods assist business managers in accomplishing these complex tasks.
Enterprise models are a crucial prerequisite for analyzing business processes, bringing projects in
line with the overall business objectives, and using information system infrastructures in the form
of composite distributed and integrated systems to optimally support these lean organizational
structures.
Thus, modeling the company's actual situation - and, in doing so, examining holistic business
processes - is becoming more and more the focus of the discussion. The diversity and increasing
multitude of modeling methods used to result in complexity and confusion. Consequently, efforts
were made to define standardized framework concepts (architectures) for development and
modeling methods.
One of these architectures is the Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS©)
developed by Scheer (see Scheer, Architecture of Integrated Information Systems, 1992). This
architecture concept enables methods to be evaluated and organized by focusing on their main
points, and it serves as an orientation framework for complex development projects because due
to its structuring elements, it contains an implicit procedure model for developing integrated
information systems.
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