Organizational modeling in CommonKADS: the emergency medical service

Abstract

Analysis-oriented modeling can help identify possible solutions to organizational problems. It also aids investigation of the impacts of and organizational support for these solutions, which helps identify the most feasible solution. We look at the problem of adequately equipping an emergency medical service to diagnose and treat heart attacks. This project required building a knowledge-based system. For application projects such as this, the time and resources for developing an organization model are typically limited. Only rarely can a full and valid behavioral model be developed. Therefore, having no simulation model at all appears to be better than having an incorrect one. Thus, analysis-oriented modeling is probably preferable to behavior-oriented modeling. We have applied the CommonKADS organization model, an analysis-oriented model, to the EMS project. Organizational modeling in the CommonKADS framework helped identify several solutions to the problem, and aided the selection of the most feasible solution from an organizational viewpoint.