Enterprise Integration-Business Processes Integrated Management: a proposal for a methodology to develop Enterprise Integration Programs

An approach to develop Enterprise Integration Programs to assist enterprise s in their migration path towards integration is proposed. It is called IE- GIP (Enterprise Integration-Business Processes Integrated Management, acron yms in Spanish). The topic is very important in industrial engineering nowa days because of the growing need to improve existing industrial systems and to organise such complex systems faster, better, and in a more systematic way. The contribution to the field of Enterprise Integration is mostly a me thodological one. More specifically, it is based on the integration of Purd ue Enterprise Reference Architecture (PERA) and Open System Architecture fo r Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIMOSA) principles to propose an integ ration approach for industrial enterprises. Starting from existing leading proposals (CIMOSA, PERA, GERAM), a methodology has been defined and some ex tension to an architecture and supporting computer tools are discussed. The proposal covers the Life cycle of an Enterprise Integration Program in a t op-down approach. The approach is centred on the business process concept, but is based on a vision/process/people/technology view of the enterprise. The methodology divides the work into two major phases before system constr uction: master planning and CIM programme development. The method adapts th e system life cycle of PERA but uses, whenever possible, the CIMOSA archite cture with its business process approach. New CIMOSA-like constructs are in troduced to be used in activities along with the methodology when necessary . To support the modelling phases of the proposal and to provide guidance t o users of the methodology, computer supported tools have been developed in the course of this work. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.