Strategic modelling of enterprise information requirements: A normative model of information domains and information types

Abstract

We illustrate a model to define information requirements for the whole Enterprise. The key novelty is that the model is a normative one. Actually it assists the analyst in defining the contents data bases should have. The approach is founded on some key ideas. First, an enterprise processes information on domain families, that include stakeholders, products, process and contexts. By specializing these domain families the analyst identifies domains specific to an individual enterprise. Second, information of a given domain includes different information types, namely master information, that defines structural properties, transaction information, performance/analytical indicators. By crossing information domains and information types the analyst identifies normative entities, that can be used to assess effectiveness and coverage of actual data bases and other IT strategy issues and, of course, to design a top-down design of the data base. The model develops and generalizes the Aggregate Business Entity incorporated the e-TOM framework, a reference model developed for telecommunications, and it has been tested in a pilot project in health care. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.