Applying Axiomatic Design and Conceptual Independence in the Domain of IT Systems

Debbie Tarenskeen,René Bakker,L Slatineanu

doi:10.1051/matecconf/201712701006

Abstract

In this paper we explain why Axiomatic design has not been applied in large system of systems information technology architectures in health care organizations in the Netherlands. We have found in extensive case studies of IT systems that the Independence axiom could not be found in the existing Information systems. This causes great concern for the adaptability of systems. Although best practices in system engineering advice decoupling of system functionality, findings show that the Independence Axiom has not been applied to functional requirements. A number of difficulties was exposed to the researcher and IT architects, when they tried to identify and to demarcate functional requirements in existing systems. In IT systems a distinction is made between business and system functions and software engineers emphasize decoupling of system functions. That has resulted in a strong coupling of business information and technical application logic. This means Conceptual dependencies are often at the heart of the difficulties. Decoupling these dependencies in applications seems a candidate for ordering requirements in a way that keeps the functional requirements independent from each other. Conceptual independence signifies a complete decoupling of the concepts and relations of the Business domain from the technical functionality. The paper describes the difficulties when applying the Independence Axiom in the Information systems domain and argues that a combination of Conceptual independence and Axiomatic design is achievable. The authors adapt the Design matrix with Conceptual independence. We conclude that applying Conceptual independence is crucial when constructing IT systems based on Axiomatic design.

Highlights

In this paper we will argue that Axiomatic design cannot be applied in IT systems consisting of many subsystems, because of Conceptual dependencies
We have found that the IT systems in health care include Electronic Health records, in the Netherlands called Electronic Patient Dossier, systems for financial administration, systems for management, systems for special equipment such as MRI scan, systems for Enterprise resource management, systems for procurement. 3.1 Functional Requirements In Information technology a distinction can be made between system functions and business functions
3.3 Conclusion of applicability of Axiomatic design If we take the statements of IT engineering at face value, we can conclude that Axiomatic design can be achieved in designing and realizing IT systems

Summary

Introduction

In this paper we will argue that Axiomatic design cannot be applied in IT systems consisting of many subsystems, because of Conceptual dependencies. In a paper of Suh in 1998, he argues that Axiomatic design can be applied in system design for different kinds of systems, including systems for Information technology [1]. The authors found in three case studies that IT systems were hard to change. They examined the IT systems and detected that Axiomatic design had not been applied. We even encountered difficulties when trying to restructure the systems according to the Independence axiom

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion