Skip to main content

Connecting Business Modelling to Requirements Engineering

  • Chapter

Abstract

An outline method for design of inter-organisational relationships is described that builds on Williamson’s transaction cost theory. The method proposes criteria for analysing market conditions and heuristics for selecting the appropriate relationship type from the variables value of goods, frequency of transactions and risk of ensuring reliable supply. A taxonomy of transaction costs is proposed for relationship types that vary from markets, to contracts and hierarchical control. The requirements for computer system support of inter-organisational relationships and how transaction costs can be managed by IT systems are investigated. The method is illustrated in two case studies of inter-organisational relationships. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of how business theories can be used to predict or indicate appropriate IT requirements.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Cash, J.I. and Konsynski, B.R. (1985). IS redraws competitive boundaries. Harvard Business Review, 64(2), 134–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • DSDM Consortium (1995). Dynamic Systems Development Method. Tesseract, Farnham, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, C.P. (1995). Cooperative supply chain management: the impact of interorganisation information systems. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 4(2), 117–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malone, T.W., Yates, J. and Benjamin, R I (1988). Electronic markets and hierarchies. In Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Grief, I. (ed.). Morgan Kaufman, Los Altos, CA, pp. 581–607.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malone, T.W., Yates, J. and Benjamin, R I (1987). Electronic markets and hierarchies. Communications of the CAM, 30, 484–497.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massonet, P. and van Lansweerde, A. (1997). GRAIL/KAOS, analogical reuse of requirements frameworks. In Proceedings of 3rd IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering ‘87, Hietmeyer, C. and Mylopoulos, J. (eds). IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, pp. 26–37.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mylopoulos, J., Chung, L. and Nixon, B. (1992). Representing and using non-functional requirements: a process-oriented approach. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 18(6), 483–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, C. (1990). Determinants of Inter-organisational relationships: integration and future directions. Academy of Management Review, 15(2), 241–265.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J. and Salancik, G.R. (1978). The External Control of Organisation: A Resource Dependence Perspective. Harper & Row, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer, A.W. (1994). Enterprise-Wide Data Modelling. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W.R. (1998). Organisations: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutcliffe, A.G. (1997). A conceptual framework for requirements engineering. Requirements Engineering Journal, 1, 170–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutcliffe, A.G. (1999). Business modelling inter-organisational relationships. In Proceedings of SEBPC Workshop on Systems Modelling for Business Process Improvement, Colraine, N. Ireland, March 1999, Bustard, D. (ed.), pp. 185–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutcliffe, A.G. and Maiden, N.A.M. (1993). Bridging the requirements gap: policies, goals and domains In Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop of Software Specification and Design, Redondo Beach, CA, Feather, M.S and van Lamsweerde, A. (eds). IEEE Press, pp. 52–56.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sutcliffe, A.G. and Minocha, S. (1999). Linking business modelling to socio technical system design. In Proceedings of CAiSE ‘89, Advanced Information System Engineering, Jarke, M. and Oberweis, A. (eds). Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1626, Springer, Berlin, pp. 73–87.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, G. and Weber, D. (1984). A transaction-cost approach to make-or-buy decisions. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29, 373–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O.E. (1981). The economics of organisations: the transaction cost approach. American Journal of Sociology, 87, 548–577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O.E. (1992). Markets, hierarchies and the modern corporation: an unfolding perspective. Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, 17(3), 335–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu E.S.K. (1994). Modelling Strategic Relationships for Process Re engineering. Report, Department of Computer Science, in series: Research in Data and Knowledge base systems, University of Toronto, DKBS-TR-94–6, Ontario, Canada.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2000 Springer-Verlag London

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Sutcliffe, A.G., Li, G. (2000). Connecting Business Modelling to Requirements Engineering. In: Henderson, P. (eds) Systems Engineering for Business Process Change. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0457-5_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0457-5_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-1146-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-0457-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics