Enabling Normalized Systems in Practice - Exploring a Modeling Approach

Abstract

Contemporary organizations are required to adapt to a changing environment in an agile way, which is often deemed very challenging. Normalized Systems (NS) theory attempts to build highly evolvable software systems by using systems theory as its theoretical underpinning. A modeling method which supports the identification of the NS elements, required for building NS sofware in practice, is currently missing. Therefore, the paper introduces an approach for creating both data models and processing models in the context of NS, as well as their integration. It is discussed how these models can be taken as the input for the actual creation of evolutionary prototypes by using an earlier developed supporting tool. The modeling approach and its suitability for feeding the tool are evaluated to discover their current strengths and weaknesses.