These functions can be used as a reference by different domain experts to develop IT-systems as part of a co-operative information-driven enterprise.
In this way, both software engineers and enterprise architects can create an information-driven, integrated organizational environment.
When an integrated software system needs to be developed and implemented several tasks and corresponding responsibilities can normally be divided: The described work division is in reality much more complex and also involves more actors but it outlines the involvement of people with different backgrounds in creating a software system that enables the organization to reach business objectives.
Setting strategic objectives (step 1) and the corresponding search for business opportunities and weaknesses is a subject extensively discussed and investigated for more than a hundred years.
Recent studies have shown that these enterprise architectures can be developed by several different methods and techniques.
As the boundary of an enterprise is extended, it becomes increasingly important that a common "big picture" of needed business, people and IT system activities is developed and shared by all the parties involved.
However, this objective can only be reached when combined methods result in clear and rich functional software architectures that are developed and used by both parties.
[2] Within the area of enterprise engineering formal methodologies, methods and techniques are designed, tested and extensively used in order to offer organizations reusable business process solutions: These methodologies/techniques and methods are all more or less suited in modeling the enterprise and its underlying processes.
So, which of them are suited for the further development of information technology systems that are needed for effective and efficient (re)designed processes?
More important, why using a time-consuming enterprise methodology when information and software engineers can’t or won’t use the unclear results in the development of efficiency enabling IT systems?
CIMOSA provides templates and interconnected modeling constructs to encode business, people and IT aspects of enterprise requirements.
It shows information needs for different enterprise functionalities (activities, processes, operations) and corresponding resources.
these positive characteristics make it a powerful method for the development of functional software architectures.
In recent years several attempts have shown that Petri nets can contribute to the development of business process integration.
Sometimes these are called the "enterprise building blocks", which includes resources, processes, goals, rules, and metamodels.
In this way, EFD has many similarities with IDEF0 diagrams, which also represent in a hierarchical way business processes as a combination of functions and triggers.