COM332 – SA3

WISDM & SSM

• Web development approaches – Focused on the user interface and in particular the

look and feel of a web site– Failed to address the wider aspect of web-based

information systems. • Traditional IS development methodologies

– Have struggled to accommodate web specific aspects into their methods and work practice.

• Web based information system requires a mixture of web site development techniques together with traditional IS development competencies in database and program design.

• WISDM is based on Multiview frame work • Multiview is framework that provides the basis

for constructing a situation–specific methodology.

• The WISDM matrix– The IS development matrix categorise the

methods in two dimension • Socio (organisation and people) and technical (the

things)• On one hand analysis (what is required) and on the other

design (how it will be achieved).

Organisational analysis – value creation

Information analysis – Requirements specification

Work design –User satisfaction

Technicaldesign –Software model

HCI –user interface

DESIGN(how)

ANALYSIS(what)

SOCIO

(people and organis-ations)

TECHNICAL

(things)

• Hard (engineering) based approaches to IS development concentrate on right hand side of the matrix – The generation of requirements specification and

its stepwise refinement into a software model.

• Multiview approach is more even handed – Seek a socio technical solution giving a balance to

the left and right hand side of the matrix

• The matrix does not require activities to be carried out in any particular sequence or hierarchy

• Vidgen et al. (2002) offer the metaphor of a film camera – “The focus of attention changes as the camera

zooms in and then out …; moves from one aspect to another; revisits an aspect and finds that the situation has changed. One aspect might be the focus of attention …, but the other aspects are in peripheral vision and can still make their presence felt … It is possible to see all five aspects at the same time, but only by sacrificing the level of resolution. By contrast, it is possible to focus in and examine one particular aspect in great detail, but at the expense of losing some of the context”

• ORGANISATIONAL ANALYSIS

• Represents value creation.– Compare the place of strategy in the

traditional systems development life cycle.– Does strategy play a more important rôle in

web-based systems? – What is the strategic horizon?

• INFORMATION ANALYSIS• Represents requirements specification.

– Data and process requirements need to be modelled

• Any form of model may be used – A verbal descriptive model

– A graphical (diagrammatic) model such as SSADM’s entity relationship diagrams and dataflow diagrams

– The WISDM indicative approach is to use UML (Unified Modelling Language) – this implies that an object-oriented approach is followed

» Strictly speaking, we should not talk of data and process being modelled separately, since the OO philosophy is that they should not be separated.

• TECHNICAL DESIGN

• Represents the software model.– Effectively, this will be the database

design. • For a relational database, this may well be

derived from an entity-relationship diagram– Need to be read in conjunction with the UML class

diagrams produced as part of the Information analysis.

• An ER diagram can be seen as a design derived from a UML analysis

• HCI– Represents the user interface.– Part of technical and work design

• WORK DESIGN– Represents user satisfaction.– The WISDM indicative approach for users inside

the organisation is to use Enid Mumford’s ETHICS (Mumford, 1995) method or one of the family of methods known as the Scandinavian approach.

– Web-based systems are characterised by users who are outside the organisation (particularly customers),

• Additional approach such as Webqual (Barnes & Vidgen, 2002) is recommended in this case.

SOFT SYSTEMS METHODOLOGY• Hard approach: characterised by

– Engineered – Systematic

• reduce to parts– Structured– Clear boundary– Clear objectives

• Solve the problem

• Soft approach: characterised by– Systemic

• Holistic view– ill-structured– unclear (fuzzy) boundary– unclear (fuzzy) objectives:

• structure the problem

• Hard approach:– Concerned with artefacts

• Soft– Concerned with systems (emergent

properties)

• Hard approach seeks:– Technical solutions

• Soft approach seeks:– Social, political, economical and technical solution

• Soft System Methodology– An organised way of tackling the messy

situation in the real world – Helps managers of all kinds and all levels

to cope with their tasks – Based on system thinking

• Enables it to be highly defined and described but is flexible in use and broad in scope.

• Peter Checkland (1984) systematised the soft approach into SSM (Soft Systems Methodology).

• The systems approach means that it’s important to look at the whole context, – Hard systems thinking assumes that a scientific

approach - to achieve a specific goal - will always work,

– Soft thinking recognises that problems are never clearly defined.

• The systems principle also implies that we must try to develop applications systems for the organisation as a whole rather than for functions in isolation.

• SSM was developed through action research, – The investigator takes part in the process;

the focus was the search in each case for a set of assumptions (Weltanschauung or world-view).

• There are even stages in SSM. – There are real world activities and system

thinking.

• The sequence is merely a logical sequence, it is possible to start the project at any step.

1.      The problem situation unstructured

2.      The problem situation expression

3.      Root definitions of relevant system

4.      Conceptual model

5.      Comparing 4 & 2

6.      Feasible, desirables changes

7.      Action to improve the problem situation

• First two stages is concerned with finding about the problem situation from as many peoples in that situation as possible.

• There will be many different views.

• Given the informal view of the problem situation gathered in stage 1, stage 2 attempts to express the problem situation in more formal way.– Rich pictures is widely used for this purpose.

• A picture of the situation and environment in diagrammatic and pictorial form

• It will show the people involved, problem areas, controlling bodies and sources of conflict.

• Aid in discussion between the problem owner and problem solver

• To help the problem solver better understand the problem situation.

– From rich picture problem solver extracts problem themes, things noticed in the picture that are, or may be, causing problems

– Rich pictures intended to help in identifying problem, not for recommending solutions

• Next, possible systems that would be useful in this situation are identified from the rich picture.– Problem :– conflict between two departments– Relevant system :– systems for reducing

department boundaries.• Root definitions are produced for each

system using the CATWOE criteria (client, actor, transformation, world-view, owner, environment).

• Root definition is a concise tightly constructed description of a human activity system which states what the system is.

• Next, a conceptual model showing subsystems and their interaction is developed. – Conceptual model is a diagram of activities

showing what the system, described in the root definition, will do.

• Then the conceptual model is compared with real life in order to arrive at a useful course of action. – Comparison of rich picture to conceptual model. – The debate about possible changes should lead to

a set of recommendations regarding the change in order to help the problem situation.

• Next stage concerns an analysis of proposed changes from stage 5 to draw up proposals for those changes which are considered both feasible and desirable.

• Final stage is about recommending action to help the problem situation. – The methodology does not describe a method for

implementing the solution.

• SSM provides all actors including the analysts the opportunity to understand and to deal with the problem situation.

• The process is iterative and the analysts learn about the system and are not expected to follow a laid down set of procedures.

• SSM mode 1 is still the version most commonly referred and most useful in an information system context.

• There is an alternative version SSM mode 2 proposed by Checkland and Scholes (1990).

• People using SSM mode 2 follow two strands of enquiry.– Logic-driven stream

• Models human activity system– Cultural stream

• Examines three aspects of problem situation – The intervention itself, the situation as a social system, and

the situation as a political system