集成化信息系统需求描述的综合模型

集成化信息系统比一般软件复杂得多，环境发生了很大的变化．不能简单把软件开发的方法和技术移植到集成化信息系统开发中去，这就要求我们去研究新的方法和技术．本文给出一个集成化信息大系统的需求说明综合模型．     

信息系统综合集成的发展及其若干问题

本文介绍了信息系统集成的概念、特点、系统集成思想的演变及国内外关信息系统集成研究的方向和动态、概括了今后信息系统集成研究的主要内容和主要任务,并对信息系统综合集成研究的发展问题提出若干思路。     

An Agent-Based Socio-Technical Approach to Impact Assessment for Cyber Defense

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a novel simulation for estimating the impact of cyber attacks. Current approaches have adopted the probabilistic risk analysis in order to estimate the impact of attacks mostly on assets or business processes. More recent approaches involve vulnerability analysis on networks of systems and sensor input from third-party detection tools in order to identify attack paths. All these methods are focusing on one level at a time, defining impact in terms of confidentiality, integrity, and availability, failing to place people and technology together in an organization’s functional context. We propose an interdependency impact assessment approach, focusing on the responsibilities and the dependencies that flow through the supply chain, mapping them down into an agent-based socio-technical model. This method is useful for modeling consequences across all levels of organizations networks—business processes, business roles, and systems. We are aiming to make chaining analysis on threat scenarios and perform impact assessment, providing situational awareness for cyber defense purposes. Although the model has various applications, our case study is specifically focusing on critical information infrastructures due to the criticality of the systems and the fact that the area is still lacking security-focused research and heavily relies on reliability theory and failure rate.     

Characteristics of IT artifacts: a systems thinking‐based framework for delineating and theorizing IT artifacts

The information technology artifact (ITA) has been suggested as the core of information systems (IS) research, and the research community has been encouraged to deeply engage with the ITA. Various studies highlight, however, that the ITA continues to receive only limited attention and thus, little foundation exists for IS researchers to delineate and theorize about the ITAs studied. In this paper, we develop a framework that can be utilized as a language for articulating and theorizing the ITA in IS research. Our framework builds on the multi‐faceted theoretical paradigm of systems thinking from which we derive several concepts and appropriate them to the context at hand, resulting in a seven‐dimensional framework of characteristics for ITAs. In a literature survey of research on enterprise systems and enterprise resource planning systems in top IS journals, we show how ITA characteristics are currently included to present details of the relevant ITA instance and identify theoretical relationships between ITA characteristics and outcomes. We conclude the study by demonstrating the use of the ITA framework for delineating and theorizing the ITA in IS research.     

Ergonomics issues in future systems

The paper starts by discussing some of the historical background to the design of systems and the development of systems thinking, from the perspective of Ergonomics. This is followed by an attempt to describe the likely future for systems design and operation; critical points being that these systems will interoperate with other systems; they will be long-lived; and we cannot afford for them to fail. This leads on to a discussion of complexity and its effects. The paper then goes on to discuss how and why Ergonomics practitioners should be interested in these effects. This includes dealing with intrinsic complexity (inherent in the purposes of the system) and induced complexity (introduced by the the organization, process design and operation of the system), the significance of trust, shared situation awareness and sense-making, the need for excellent communications, the importance of knowledge, experience and governance. Finally, a brief section, pointing to other sources, outlines possible approaches for designing these future systems.     

Employing early model-based safety evaluation to iteratively derive E/E architecture design

ISO 26262 addresses development of safe in-vehicle functions by specifying methods potentially used in the design and development lifecycle. It does not indicate what is sufficient and leaves room for interpretation. Yet the architects of electric/electronic systems need design boundaries to make decisions during architecture evolutionary design without adding a risk of late changes. Correct selection of safety mechanisms from alternatives at early design stages is vital for time-to-market of critical systems. In this paper we present and discuss an iterative architecture design and refinement process that is centered around ISO 26262 requirements and model-based analysis of safety-related metrics. This process simplifies identification of the most sensitive parts of the architecture, selection of the best suitable safety mechanisms to reduce thereby failure rate on the system level and improve the metrics defined by the standard. To support the defined process we present the metamodels that can be integrated with existing DSL (domain-specific language) frameworks to extend them with information supporting further extraction of fault propagation behavior. We provide a framework for architecture model analysis and selection of safety mechanisms. We provide details on the model-based toolset that has been developed to support the proposed analysis and synthesis methods, and demonstrate its application to analysis of a steer-by-wire system model and selection of safety mechanisms for it.     

The human immune system as an information systems security reference model

The controls an organization places in its information systems are largely determined by its employee's thinking. Employee awareness of system vulnerabilities and the recognition that information is a strategically important organizational resource are two central ideas critical to effective information systems security thinking. For many years a military physical security environment has been the reference model (or a way of thinking) to which people refer when attempting to organize their thoughts about the complex systems security environment. While certainly still of use, this reference model has severely limited the thinking of those of us in the systems security field. This article defines both a new reference model with which people can view information systems security and several reasons why this new reference model should be adopted.     

Human Values and the Management of Technological Change

This paper looks at how human values influence the reception of technology in organisations. It suggests that we need to know what values are and how value systems evolve in order to manage technological change effectively. This proposition is based on research into the issues surrounding performance measurement as part of an information system, the cognition of which contains many parallels with that of technology. The analysis places human values’ theory within the context of systems thinking, where values are taken as system components, their groupings as systems and the expectations and behaviour produced by them as emergence.     

Fault-tolerant Control Systems—An Introductory Overview

This paper presents an introductory overview on the development of fault-tolerant control systems. For this reason, the paper is written in a tutorial fashion to summarize some of the important results in this subject area deliberately without going into details in any of them. However, key references are provided from which interested readers can obtain more detailed information on a particular subject. It is necessary to mention that, throughout this paper, no efforts were made to provide an exhaustive coverage on the subject matter. In fact, it is far from it. The paper merely represents the view and experience of its author. It can very well be that some important issues or topics were left out unintentionally. If that is the case, the author sincerely apologizes in advance.After a brief account of fault-tolerant control systems, particularly on the original motivations, and the concept of redundancies, the paper reviews the development of fault-tolerant control systems with highlights to several important issues from a historical perspective. The general approaches to fault-tolerant control has been divided into passive, active, and hybrid approaches. The analysis techniques for active fault-tolerant control systems are also discussed. Practical applications of fault- tolerant control are highlighted from a practical and industrial perspective. Finally, some critical issues in this area are discussed as open problems for future research/development in this emerging field.     

Dialectical hermeneutics: a theoretical framework for the implementation of information systems

Abstract. Despite the proliferation of information technology, the implementation of information systems remains problematic. Many systems fail to live up to expectations and some end up as disasters. Research on implementation has been conducted for the past two decades, but no theoretical framework for IS implementation has been widely accepted. This paper proposes dialectical hermeneutics as a theoretical framework for IS implementation research. Dialectical hermeneutics, as an integrative theoretical framework, combines both interpretive and critical elements, and addresses those social and organizational issues which are critical to the successful implementation of information systems. The case study research method was used to examine the implementation of systems in three organizations.     

Choosing Between Competing Design Ideals in Information Systems Development

Whenever information systems are developed, they serve some interests at the expense of others. Just what those interests are and who possesses them need to be understood and debated as they involve value judgments. This paper contends that advice concerning the design of information systems must not be limited to technical design, but should also address what is good or bad, or right or wrong in any particular situation—a notion termed a design ideal. The paper offers an approach on how such value judgments involving competing design ideals may be approached in a rational way. This necessitates the adoption of a wider concept of rationality, one, which allows the insights of critical philosophical analysis to be brought to bear on the question of how information systems can best serve all project stakeholders. In order to address likely objections to our proposal, the conclusions discuss several research issues.     

Conception and Implementation of an Object Request Broker for the Integration of the Process Level in Manufacturing Systems

In order to be able to react quickly to altering production states, planning tools such as Manufacturing Resource Planning and Enterprise Resource Planning heavily rely on up to date information about the process itself. Thus, access to process level data is one of the most important issues within the production industry. However, the process level lacks support for open, connective communication systems as the number of incompatible fieldbus systems shows. Current solutions, e.g., OLE for Process Control, only focus on a unified interface to the process level, but do not allow to access the functionality of a field device directly. The approach presented in this paper introduces FIMO, the Fieldbus Messaging Object Request Broker, to be deployed in field devices and utilizing the existing fieldbus protocols. With the use of FIMO, devices connected to a fieldbus can be seamlessly integrated in the whole manufacturing hierarchy. The paper gives a brief overview of thestate of the art for accessing process level data. Then, the FIMO architecture is presented in detail including its core services and the mapping of the communication services to the underlying fieldbus system.     

A meta-process model for the planned development of integrated systems

Maturity of technologies from one side and customers' demands from the other side have led to the need to develop increasingly large and complex systems. The problem we face is to structure the development of these types of systems and the systems themselves in a useful way and to support the development process from its conceptual foundation to its tool aspect.We believe that we must take one step beyond the current software engineering methodology to be able to cope with this task. What we propose is a framework, a meta-process model, that allows one to develop in a flexible but integrated manner a distributed, open, and integrated system with a planned approach. Based on the premise that the main factor is to build a common culture of understanding and conceptual thinking in an application domain, we suggest an additional level of coordination and modeling above the various development projects. In analyzing this two-leveled process model, we identify the major processes and models involved. While we focus on the process model itself, we discuss also in some more depth the two major concepts of domain analysis and integration architecture design as they relate to our approach. A strategy for realizing the meta-process model based on the notion of Application Machines is described.     

'Soft' systems thinking and information systems: a framework for client-led design

Abstract. Since the mid-1980s there has been a growing interest in the application of soft systems methodology (SSM) to the information systems design process. This interest has resulted from attempts to overcome the recognized deficiencies of conventional computer systems analysis methods and techniques. A particular problem which has received attention over the past 5 years is the epistemological and operational differences between the investigative process of the pre-design stage and the technological specification. We suggest that this argument is somewhat unproductive and advocate a necessary rethinking about the nature of information systems and the use of technology to support their activities. A re-evaluation of the way that we set about designing computer-based information systems suggests that many of the problems of conventional systems analysis methods may be alleviated by an approach that allows the 'client', or 'user', to have a greater control over the identification, specification and development of their information system(s). The authors' belief in this course of action has led to the development of client-led design as an underpinning philosophy for user participation in the design of computer-based information systems. Client-led design draws upon and develops concepts and tools from 'interpretive', or 'soft', systems thinking and, in particular, can be seen as providing a framework for the type of subjective inquiry that Checkland & Scholes (1990) referred to as 'ideal-type' mode 2 SSM. This paper is related to the papers published in the Journal of Information Systems (Vol. 3, No. 3), which was a special edition to illustrate the influence of 'soft' systems thinking upon information systems design and development.     

Managing the introduction of information security awareness programmes in organisations

Several studies explore information security awareness focusing on individual and/or organisational aspects. This paper argues that security awareness processes are associated with interrelated changes that occur at the organisational, the technological and the individual level. We introduce an integrated analytical framework that has been developed through action research in a public sector organisation, comprising actor-network theory (ANT), structuration theory and contextualism. We develop and use this framework to analyse and manage changes introduced by the implementation of a security awareness programme in the research setting. The paper illustrates the limitations of each theory (ANT, structuration theory and contextualism) to study multi-level changes when used individually, demonstrates the synergies of the three theories, and proposes how they can be used to study and manage awareness-related changes at the individual, organisational and technological level.     

Stakeholders, soft systems and technology: separation and mediation in the analysis of information system requirements

This paper describes the application of stakeholder analysis and soft systems thinking for an investigation of information system requirements. It is argued that it is appropriate to approach IS development as an exercise in managing complexity (soft systems) and pluralism (stakeholder analysis). A framework for investigating IS requirements is proposed that contrasts the current situation with the future situation and the real world with conceptual thinking about the real world. These aspects are viewed as outcomes of the process of IS requirements analysis, for which the metaphor of mediation is adopted in preference to presenting requirements analysis as a binary distinction between social construction and objectivity. The IS requirements analysis framework is applied in action research and the findings and learning that arose are presented.     

What is a materials data system?

During the last two decades considerable efforts have been made to develop computerized data systems for engineering materials. The results have not come up to the expectations of systems that can be used by designers for selecting of materials. Some factors have been recognized as responsible for the slow progress. It has proved difficult, however, for those involved in this development to make use of such information about the systems in question. Conflicts have occurred between different parties involved. It now seems that too little attention has been paid to the historical background of knowledge and systems related to civiliziation and society. A recently published review of world history from the point of view of the emergence of information technology has provided a basis for some considerations about the nature and roles of data systems. It can be shown that certain activities or features characterize each period of civilization and the development of computers and computerization should be considered as part of this sequence. The same is true for the world history of thinking and knowledge. In the present paper these historical considerations are combined with the observation that in their thinking and perception of ideas people appear to carry with them traditions from the past in varying degrees. Hence differences of opinion about the nature and roles of materials data systems may be explained by differences in the imprint of historical developments on people's ideas. In order to apply this lesson to the development of materials data systems, one has to learn also from the varying interpretations of world history that have been written through the ages. The best approach will probably be incremental and pragmatic rather than holistic and synoptic.     

Organizational identity and information systems: how organizational ICT reflect who an organization is

The work reported here contributes to our understanding of organizational identity regarding its influence on organizational action related to the development of information and communications technologies (ICT). The empirical basis of this work comes from case studies of integrated criminal justice information systems (IJIS). IJIS are organizational and technological ensembles created to facilitate inter-organizational information sharing among criminal justice agencies. The focus of these case studies was to examine how organizational identity shapes organizational ICT. This research found that organizational identity shapes an organization’s ICT-related processes and is reflected in the material configurations of an organization’s ICT; and that organizations with different identities exhibit those differences in their ICT. Three implications of this research are that organizational identity serves as both an enabler and constraint on organizational ICT development; organizational identity commitments will likely serve as a barrier to large-scale integration of different organizations’ systems; organizational identity is relatively static and difficult to change.     

An ontology for commitments in multiagent systems:

Social commitments have long been recognized as an important concept for multiagent systems. We propose a rich formulation of social commitments that motivates an architecture for multiagent systems, which we dub spheres of commitment. We identify the key operations on commitments and multiagent systems. We distinguish between explicit and implicit commitments. Multiagent systems, viewed as spheres of commitment (SoComs), provide the context for the different operations on commitments. Armed with the above ideas, we can capture normative concepts such as obligations, taboos, conventions, and pledges as different kinds of commitments. In this manner, we synthesize ideas from multiagent systems, particularly the idea of social context, with ideas from ethics and legal reasoning, specifically that of directed obligations in the Hohfeldian tradition.