Business renovation: business rules (still) the missing link

The main aim of this paper is to present the characteristics of business renovation efforts and research into some aspects of the business process and information modelling. Different business-rule categories are discussed and the relationships that exist between business rules and other business-related concepts are presented. The paper also introduces a business activity meta-model as an integration link between business and information modelling. Its motivation is to help establish an environment in which business rules can be traced from their origin in the business environment through to their implementation in information systems. Introduction Business renovation (BR) is presented as the highest level of a strategy for managing change that usually cannot be handled by continuous improvement and re-engineering methods or organisational restructuring (Kovacic, 2001). Process renovation is a re-engineering strategy that critically examines current business policies, practices and procedures, re-thinks them through and then redesigns mission-critical products, processes, and services (Prasad, 1999). BR argues for a balanced approach in which we attempt to manage realistic changes rather than always seeking radical change. According to Jacobson (1995), we view BR as an umbrella concept for strategic information system (IS) planning, and both business process re-engineering (BPR) and business improvement. For their thorough and effective renovation, organisations should combine a radical shift with those that permanently increase business efficiency and effectiveness. We also observe that BR is taking significant roles in business processes – creating new business rules, causing new product development and commanding new procedures. Following the full implementation of an IS in an organisation, these internal changes may also lead to broader shifts in products, markets and society as a whole (Bosilj-Vuksic et al., 2001). The relationship and influence between BPR and IS strategies is a key part of the classic texts in the area (Davenport, 1993; Hammer and Champy, 1993). Rapid and constant changes that are very common to the present business environments affect not only business itself, but also its supporting business ISs. As a result, ISs require constant change, renovation and adaptation to meet the actual business needs. In the development of business IS, the existence of three elements has long been recognised: data, processes and rules. Whereas the first two have been integrated using the object-oriented paradigm, rules are commonly neglected and left implicit in the programme code (Diaz et al., 1998). The problem was identified in Appleton (1984) as the missing link between high-level data architecture and project-level physical-database design or data-processing. Appleton was a visionary. According to Appleton, the fundamental information question was “Which ontology is being represented on our computers? In the early 1980s, it has become the ontology of process, e.g. marketing and product design, and in the next decade (1990s) it will become the ontology of an enterprise, or business”. Appleton was right. We can only The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm