Modeling and eliciting organizational and information system requirements

Two things have influenced organizational development more than any other: the coffee machine and the computer. The reason for this is that they mediate social relationships. Computers are also being used more and more within every type of organization in an attempt to make the organization faster, more cost efficient, and more competitive. With the adoption of such technology we need to recognize that computers encapsulate social values and can consequently be seen as instruments of power. Within the area of safety critical systems, such as a medical information system, it is vital that, when specifying and capturing requirements about the system, the technical and social values are identified and made explicit. In this paper an outline of a modeling framework will be presented that allows for the encapsulation and analysis of the social and technical aspects of an organizational information system. A modeling language and notation will be constructed and used to construct and analyze both the static and dynamic models of organizations and organizational behavior. The construction and analysis is achieved through the use of concepts such as role and responsibility. The conceptual modeling framework is then applied to a case study. This case study is based upon an accident and emergency department of an inner-city hospital situated within the center of Dublin, Ireland.