Practising Multiple Framing: Challenges in 11 Cases of Business Analysis

Understanding the business context of a current or future information system is crucial for obtaining maximum leverage and benefit. As the understanding of a business is dependent on how it is perceived and conceptualised, working with systems analysis and design benefits from employing multiple framing, taking different aspects into account. Building on theoretical foundations of business framing and modelling perspectives, this paper makes use of empirical material from 11 cases of business analysis, each documented using three types of graphical models: value models, process models, and concept models. Using mostly qualitative techniques, different challenges are distinguished and explored for each model type. Concluding the paper is a discussion of two main issues for analysts, teachers and researchers. The first issue concerns the distinction between perspective challenges and delimitation challenges; the second issue addresses the role of certain challenges in pointing to potential confusion between use of different perspectives.