FACET MODELLING: AN APPROACH TO FLEXIBLE AND INTEGRATED CONCEPTUAL MODELLING†

摘要

The paper points to weaknesses of conceptual modelling languages that are oriented towards certain aspects of the problem domain of information systems (IS) development, e.g., activities, information resources, objects, or actors. It is concluded that modelling languages are needed that allow modellers to 1) freely choose to represent a wide and extensible range of aspects of problem domain phenomena contingent on the problems at hand; 2) simultaneously co-represent several aspects of the same problem domain phenomenon whenever needed; 3) reflect semantical relations between these aspects in the problem domain models; and 4) extend the set of kinds of aspects that can be represented and visualised throughout problem analysis as understanding of the problem domain and the problems at hand increases. An approach called facet modelling of real-world problem domains is therefore outlined to deal with the complexity of contemporary analysis problems. It is shown how facet models can be defined and visualised, before facet modelling is discussed in relation to other recent ideas and techniques in the IS development field. Case studies are currently in progress to evaluate various implications of the facet modelling approach empirically. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd