Chapter 8 . 1 Patterns for Organizational Modeling

Organizational modeling is concerned with analyzing and understanding the or ganizational context within which a software system will eventually function. This paper proposes organizational patterns motivated by organizational theories intended to facilitate the construction of organizational models. These patterns are defined from real world organizational settings, modeled in i* and formalized using the Formal Tro pos language. Additionally, the paper evaluates the proposed patterns using desirable qualities such as coordinability and predictability. The research is conducted in the context of Tropos, a comprehensive software system development methodology. IntroductIon Analyzing the organizational and intentional context within which a software system will eventually operate has been recognized as an important element of the organizational mod eling process also called early requirements engineering (see e.g., Anton, 1996; Dardenne, van Lamsweerde, & Fickas, 1993; Yu, 1995). Such models are founded on primitive concepts such as those of actor and goal. This paper focuses on the definition of a set of organi zational patterns that can be used as building blocks for constructing such models. Our proposal is based on concepts adopted from organization theory and strategic alliances lit erature. Throughout the paper, we use i* (Yu, 1995) as the modeling framework in terms of which the proposed patterns are presented and accounted for. The research reported in this paper is being