Title: IMS5024%20Information%20Systems%20Modelling
1IMS5024 Information Systems Modelling
2Content
3Why consider human behaviour?
- Started with participation
- History of participation - refer back to
Hirschheim et al. - Early ISD payed lip service to participation
- System technically viable but fails because?
4History of ISD methodologies
Generation Principle management and organisational issues
Formal life-cycle approaches Control of SDLC guidance through standardization
Structured approaches Productivity, better maintainable systems, control over analyst/programmer
Prototyping and evolutionary approaches Speed and Flexibility, overcome communication gap, right kind of system instead of getting system right
5History of ISD methodologies(2)
Generation Principle management and organisational issues
Socio-technical, participatory approaches Control of ISD by users through participation conflict management joint optimisation
Sense-making and problem formulation approaches Multiple perspectives in problem framing software development as social reality construction
6History of ISD methodologies(3)
Generation Principle management and organisational issues
Trade-Union led approaches Labour/ management conflict workers rights industrial democracy
Emancipator approaches Improve communication furthering emancipatory effects of ISD
7Answers to these problems
- More than interviews
- HCI
- End user computing
- JAD and JRP
- Prototyping
8Three levels of participation
- Consultative lowest level
- Representative design group, equal say
- Consensus- involve all user department staff,
user driven
9Human Activity modelling view of ISD
Human-oriented
Conventional
after Fig 7.1 Avison Fitzgerald
10Soft Systems Methodology
- (always abbreviated to SSM)
- came from the failure of systems engineering to
solve management problems - applies systems thinking to messy problems
- not a development methodology
11rationale for SSM
- humans attribute meaning to what they experience
and observe - we form intentions and take action based on the
meanings we derive - new experiences can change the meaning we
attribute - this is called learning
12application of SSM
- people take purposeful action
- using Information Systems as tools
- if analysts understand their intentions we can
build better tools - SSM brings rigour to the process of understanding
13the basic shapeof SSM
Checkland and Scholes (1990) p29
14the process of doing SSM
- a situation is interpreted by some as being a
problem which they want to fix - the situation is a product of history
- it has a cultural dimension and a logic-based
dimension - the one informs the other so that agreed action
is both culturally feasible and systemically
desirable
15activities in an SSM study
- identify and engage the problem situation
- express the problem situation
- define systems which might be relevant
- model the relevant systems
- compare them with the real world and discuss
- identify changes agreed to be feasible and
desirable - take action to change the situation
16the cultural enquiry
- understand the situation
- record your understanding diagrammatically
- analyse the intervention
- identify the roles being played
- place the roles in their social context
- try to identify the political dimension in the
problem situation
17understanding the situation
- Rich Picture Diagram
- interested parties
- alliances
- feuds
- values
- constraints
- perceptions
- documents the people-related issues
18Rich Picture Diagrams
- you dont have to be an artist!
- it would take too many words to express
- shows complexity better than linear prose
- for the use of the analyst alone not a
communication tool - refer Lewis, Avison Wood-Harper, Avison
Fitzgerald
19Rich PictureDiagram
Checkland and Scholes (1990) p47
20RPD examples
- Checkland and Scholes (1990) figures 2.13, 2.14
pp46-47 - Avison and Fitzgerald (1995) figure 4.2 p112
- Lewis P.J in EJIS 1,5 pp351-360
21Analysis One
- analysis of the intervention itself
- who is the client?
- who is the would-be problem solver?
- who is the problem owner?
22Analysis Two
- roles
- norms
- values
- the interaction of these three determines the
social fabric of the situation
23Analysis Two
Checkland and Scholes (1990) p49
24Analysis Three
- who has power in the situation?
- how is it manifest?
- who can you believe?
- you cant ask straight questions
- what do you do when they wont tell you?
- can the politics ruin the whole exercise?
25Content
- Rich pictures
- Root definitions
- Conceptual models
- SSM
- Others (Multiview, Ethics)
- Place in ISD
- Evaluation of Human Activity modelling
26Reading for next week
- Checkland and Scholes. 1999. Chapter 2, pp 44-58
- Lewis, P. 1992. European Journal of Information
Systems 1, 5, pp351-360 - Davies, L. 1988. Journal of Applied Systems
Analysis 15, 1, pp31-36
27human activity systems
- like natural systems and designed systems, they
are useful descriptors - different from the actions which people undertake
in life - a conceptual rather than a descriptive model
- but, a conceptual model from somebodys point of
view
28Relevant Systems
- a system to
- .perfectly perform some function
- each person involved will have a point of view on
what is the perfect performance
29selecting relevant systems
- no system is inherently relevant to a given
problem situation - Primary Task system
- Issue-based systems
- metaphors can help conceptualise systems
30Relevant system
- a system (in the philosophical sense) that is
helpful for understanding a real-world situation - scope / boundary
- defined purpose
- input - transformation - output
- consistent / dependable
- it is a human activity system
31naming relevant systems
- a Root Definition (the name) expresses the
essence of a particular relevant system - It is a transformation from input to output
- A system to do X by means of Y in order to
achieve Z - best done by considering the elements of the
CATWOE mnemonic
32CATWOE mnemonic
- C ustomers
- A ctors
- T ransformation
- W eltanschauung
- O wners
- E nvironment
The Core issues
33Relevant system / Root Definition
- There may be many for any one real world
situation - One primary task Root Definition
- Many issue-based task Root Definitions
34conceptual models
- the minimum set of activities necessary to
undertake the transformation - based on logical contingency
- may be hierarchically decomposed
- represented as process bubbles linked by
contingency arrows - includes monitoring and control
35conceptual model structure
Must do this before the last activity 2
Do this activity first 1
Take control action
Then you can do this activity 3
Only do this after the other activities 4
Monitor 1 - 4
Define performance criteria
36what use is the model?
- it is an ideal type relevant to the problem
- it is neither valid nor invalid, only defensible
or indefensible in terms of the problem - Used to start a discussion about the model and
its relevance to the problem - Does this model suggest some action for
improvement of the problem situation?
37achieving results
- several methods of testing the models
- search for agreement not compromise
- the whole problem wont be solved
- make the agreed changes
- reflect on their outcome
- do the whole process over again until agreement
to finish
38comparison matrix
from Checkland Scholes (1990) p43
39Advantages/ Benefits of Human Activity modelling
- Include different perspectives on a problem
situation - Compare reality with the conceptual model
- Participation of affected people essential
- Change is a central element of the process
- Others??
40Disadvantages of Human Activity modelling
- Only useable in soft problems
- Can take a long time to reach consensus
- Some managers see this as silly
- Not well used
- Others??
41References
- Checkland and Scholes (1990) Soft Systems
Methodology in Action. John Wiley Sons - Avison and Fitzgerald (2003) Information Systems
Development. 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill - Stowell (1995) Information Systems Provision.
McGraw-Hill.