In the area of information systems design it is important to select an appropriate methodology in order to get an information system that functions as expected. The perspective behind the methodology is seldom stated explicitly. The epistemology that a methodology is based on has impacts on the design of the system. Therefore, the process of selecting an appropriate methodology is important. The aim of this work is to study how the process of metamodelling or metathinking is considered in the area of information systems design. Interviews and a study of the literature have been performed in order to investigate the awareness of metamodelling thinking in the area of information systems design.In the literature we found that only a small part dealt with the process of metamodelling. The method engineering (ME) approach was found as a way of thinking that seems to consider metamodelling thinking. We have evaluated ME according to a synthesis of the works by van Gigch, Churchman, and Flood and Carson. The evaluation has shown that ME deals with metamodelling thinking. In order to improve the metamodelling thinking in ME, it is important to explicitly define how ME considers the aspect of participation of motivated actors and the iterative process. The interviews have shown that information systems designers use some kind of metamodelling thinking, but they do not seem to be aware of the process. In an information system design process, it is important to shift perspectives from reality to modelling, and to the metamodelling level, in order to apply metamodelling thinking. Further work should be performed with the purpose of making the information systems designers aware of the importance of applying metamodelling thinking.

The increasing complexity of Information Systems (IS) calls for IS development methods to be adapted to the specific situations of the projects at hand. Method engineering is important because it focus on the creation of new methods that can be used in the system development process with the aim of constructing new information systems. The size and complexity of projects for developing information systems are becoming larger and more complicated. Therefore, development methods turn out to be one of the most significant key factors to achieve great success of development projects. The discipline of Situational Method Engineering (SME) focuses on the creation of new project specific methods. SME is a reuse strategy to assemble reusable method fragments or method chunks originating from different methods. New methods can be constructed from a method repository by selecting the chunks that are the most appropriate to a given situation. Thus, method chunks are the basic building blocks for constructing methods in a modular way. This dissertation have identified, analyzed and categorized a set of interoperability problems for the content of a method chunk repository. These problems have been represented as a set of patterns. The patterns will facilitate the understanding of specific interoperability problems that belong to a specific method chunk. If we are aware of the different interoperability problems that exist it is more likely that we can use a method chunk successfully within the context of SME.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Software development organizations are involved in different scenarios with distinct projects in relation to specific project characteristics and demands. There isn´t a software process model appropriate for all projects and/or organizations. The best process depends of the project context. Situational Method Engineering (SME) proposes the building of specific software development methods for each project according to its situational characteristics from method fragments stored in a repository. This work proposes a systematic approach for building a specific development software process for each project through tailoring process based on SME concepts, called OSPTA Octopus SME Process Tailoring Approach. OSPTA uses stored method fragments which include practices recommended by agile and planned process. These fragments are retrieved according to one or more tailoring criteria (tailoring process requirements) and are prioritized from contextual factors defined by Octopus Model. The technique used for this prioritization is Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique to guide the process engineers in choosing the best fragments to include into organization s standard software process (PSPO). A metamodel was proposed to define method fragments. A support tool was developed to validate the proposed approach through case studies which use project risks as tailoring criteria. / As organizações de desenvolvimento de software estão envolvidas em um ambiente dinâmico, com diferentes cenários de acordo com as características e demandas específicas de cada projeto de software. Não há um processo de software que atenda as necessidades específicas de todos os projetos e/ou organizações. Assim, a adequação de um processo de desenvolvimento de software depende do contexto do projeto. Situational Method Engineering (SME) propõe a construção de métodos de desenvolvimento de software específicos para cada projeto de acordo com as características situacionais dos mesmos a partir de fragmentos de métodos armazenados em um repositório. Este trabalho propõe uma abordagem sistemática para a construção de processos de desenvolvimento de software específicos para cada projeto a partir da adaptação de processos, com base em conceitos de SME, chamada OSPTA Octopus SME Process Tailoring Approach. OSPTA utiliza fragmentos de métodos armazenados em um repositório, os quais incluem práticas preconizadas por processos ágeis e planejados. Tais fragmentos são recuperados de acordo com um ou mais critério de adaptação, ou requisitos para o processo adaptado, e são priorizados de acordo com fatores de contextualização de projetos de software definidos no Octopus Model. A técnica usada para esta priorização é Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), para guiar os engenheiros de processo na escolha dos melhores fragmentos para serem incluídos no processo de software padrão da organização (PSPO), dando origem ao processo adaptado, específico para o projeto. Um metamodelo foi proposto para a definição de fragmentos de métodos para serem utilizados na abordagem. Foi desenvolvida uma ferramenta para apoiar a abordagem proposta. Estudos de caso considerando riscos do projeto como critério de adaptação foram elaborados para validar a abordagem.

Esta tese propõe o desenvolvimento de SMAs centrados em organizações de forma disciplinada, mesmo nos casos em que os modelos organizacionais de agentes utilizados não estejam incorporados aos métodos oferecidos pela Engenharia de Software Orientada a Agentes (AOSE). A fim de atingir tal objetivo, esta tese adota os princípios da Engenharia de Método Situational e propõe o Ateliê Medee, que permite a composição de métodos situacionais para SMAs usando fragmentos de método adequados à situação de cada projeto. Este ateliê oferece um repositório de fragmentos de método que contempla distintas fases de desenvolvimento de um projeto, tais como elucidação de requisitos, análise, design, e implementação, envolvendo os principais componentes de um SMA, como agentes, ambientes, interações e organizações. Tal repositório contém fragmentos extraídos de diversas abordagens para o desenvolvimento de SMAs, entre elas os métodos Gaia, Tropos, Ingenias, PASSI, e os modelos organizacionais MOISE+ e OperA. Além disso, esta tese mostra como tais métodos situationais podem contribuir no estabelecimento de um ciclo de melhoria do método de desenvolvimento para SMAs. Este ciclo aplica os princípios da Engenharia de Software a fim de prover um procedimento empírico para a adaptação, avaliação e melhoria de métodos situacionais para o desenvolvimento de SMAs centrados em organizações. Dessa forma, este ciclo contribui para uma utilização mais ampla de aplicações orientadas a agentes pela indústria.de software. Finalmente, esta tese apresenta um estudo de caso conduzido para investigar o uso do Ateliê Medee na composição de métodos situacionais para SMAs. Este estudo de caso envolveu o desenvolvimento de SMAs centrados em organizações para resolver o problema proposto pelo Torneio de Programação Multiagentes usando dois métodos situacionais distintos, compostos a partir de fragmentos de método extraídos de Tropos, Gaia e MOISE+. / This thesis proposes the development of organization centered MAS in a disciplined way, even though some agent organizational models are not currently incorporated into AOSE methods. In order to do that, this thesis proposes the Medee Framework for composing MAS situational methods out of method fragments according to a given project situation, by applying the principles proposed by Situational Method Engineering. Thus, it offers a method fragment repository that covers different development phases, like requirements, analysis, design, implementation, as well as the main components of a MAS application, such as agents, environments, interactions, and organizations. Such a repository has been sourced from several MAS development approaches, as such Gaia, Tropos, Ingenias, PASSI, MOISE, and OperA. Furthermore, this doctoral dissertation shows how such MAS situational methods could contribute to establish a method improvement cycle. Such a cycle applies principles of the Software Engineering discipline to provide an empirical procedure for tailoring, evaluating, and enhancing MAS situational methods. In this way, this cycle allows the continuous improvement of the Medee Method Repository, towards a steady and well founded path for MAS method maturation and, consequently, for a broader utilization of agent-oriented software development in the software industry. Finally, this dissertation presents a case study conducted to investigate the use of the Medee Framework for composing MAS situational methods, sourced mainly from Tropos, Gaia, and MOISE+. Moreover, these situational methods were used within an improvement cycle for MAS development methods. This case study, called the USP Farmer project, involved the development of organization centered MAS to solve the problem proposed by the Multiagent Programming Contest.

<p>The world of systems engineering methods is changing as rigorous ‘off-the-shelf’ systems engineering methods become more popular. One example of such a systems engineering method is Rational Unified Process. In order to cover all phases in a software development process, and a wide range of project-types, such methods need to be of an impressive size. Thus, the need for configuring such methods in a structured way is increasing accordingly. In this thesis, method configuration is considered as a particular kind of method engineering that focuses on tailoring a standard systems engineering method. We propose a meta-method for method configuration based on two fundamental values: standard systems engineering method’s rationality and reuse. A conceptual framework is designed, introducing the concepts Configuration Package and Configuration Template. A Configuration Package is a pre-made ideal method configuration suitable for a delimited characteristic of a (type of) software artifact, or a (type of) software development project, or a combination thereof. Configuration Templates with different characteristics are built combining a selection of Configuration Packages and used as a base for a situational method. The aim of the proposed meta-method is to ease the burden of configuring the standard systems engineering method in order to reach an appropriate situational method.</p>

Esta tese propõe o desenvolvimento de SMAs centrados em organizações de forma disciplinada, mesmo nos casos em que os modelos organizacionais de agentes utilizados não estejam incorporados aos métodos oferecidos pela Engenharia de Software Orientada a Agentes (AOSE). A fim de atingir tal objetivo, esta tese adota os princípios da Engenharia de Método Situational e propõe o Ateliê Medee, que permite a composição de métodos situacionais para SMAs usando fragmentos de método adequados à situação de cada projeto. Este ateliê oferece um repositório de fragmentos de método que contempla distintas fases de desenvolvimento de um projeto, tais como elucidação de requisitos, análise, design, e implementação, envolvendo os principais componentes de um SMA, como agentes, ambientes, interações e organizações. Tal repositório contém fragmentos extraídos de diversas abordagens para o desenvolvimento de SMAs, entre elas os métodos Gaia, Tropos, Ingenias, PASSI, e os modelos organizacionais MOISE+ e OperA. Além disso, esta tese mostra como tais métodos situationais podem contribuir no estabelecimento de um ciclo de melhoria do método de desenvolvimento para SMAs. Este ciclo aplica os princípios da Engenharia de Software a fim de prover um procedimento empírico para a adaptação, avaliação e melhoria de métodos situacionais para o desenvolvimento de SMAs centrados em organizações. Dessa forma, este ciclo contribui para uma utilização mais ampla de aplicações orientadas a agentes pela indústria.de software. Finalmente, esta tese apresenta um estudo de caso conduzido para investigar o uso do Ateliê Medee na composição de métodos situacionais para SMAs. Este estudo de caso envolveu o desenvolvimento de SMAs centrados em organizações para resolver o problema proposto pelo Torneio de Programação Multiagentes usando dois métodos situacionais distintos, compostos a partir de fragmentos de método extraídos de Tropos, Gaia e MOISE+. / This thesis proposes the development of organization centered MAS in a disciplined way, even though some agent organizational models are not currently incorporated into AOSE methods. In order to do that, this thesis proposes the Medee Framework for composing MAS situational methods out of method fragments according to a given project situation, by applying the principles proposed by Situational Method Engineering. Thus, it offers a method fragment repository that covers different development phases, like requirements, analysis, design, implementation, as well as the main components of a MAS application, such as agents, environments, interactions, and organizations. Such a repository has been sourced from several MAS development approaches, as such Gaia, Tropos, Ingenias, PASSI, MOISE, and OperA. Furthermore, this doctoral dissertation shows how such MAS situational methods could contribute to establish a method improvement cycle. Such a cycle applies principles of the Software Engineering discipline to provide an empirical procedure for tailoring, evaluating, and enhancing MAS situational methods. In this way, this cycle allows the continuous improvement of the Medee Method Repository, towards a steady and well founded path for MAS method maturation and, consequently, for a broader utilization of agent-oriented software development in the software industry. Finally, this dissertation presents a case study conducted to investigate the use of the Medee Framework for composing MAS situational methods, sourced mainly from Tropos, Gaia, and MOISE+. Moreover, these situational methods were used within an improvement cycle for MAS development methods. This case study, called the USP Farmer project, involved the development of organization centered MAS to solve the problem proposed by the Multiagent Programming Contest.

The practice of developing information systems with the support of information systems development methods is not new. A vast number of systems development methods have been suggested over the years in an attempt to solve the problems a development organisation might encounter. From early approaches like the Waterfall model to more modern monolithic methods such as the Rational Unified Process and the newest approaches exemplified in the Agile methods, the ambition has often been to find the silver bullet and the most effective ways to produce quality systems. Methods are prescriptive by nature as they suggest action and as such they represent rationale. Thus, one can speak of a method rationale as the dimension within methods that motivate their existence. Method rationale is understood as the goal and value rational relations between a method’s underlying philosophy and its proposed actions. During the methods’ evolution, the practice of systems development and the supporting systems development methods have been subjected to research from many perspectives. One possible way to understand the nature of the existing research is to separate it into two fields. The suggested fields have different strengths and weaknesses. The field of traditional research on information systems development (ISD) emphasise relevance in their studies but often overlook aspects of generalisation. The field of method engineering (ME) is highly formalistic and emphasise rigour but often miss aspects concerning relevance, such as the role methods play in peoples daily systems development efforts. In this dissertation, a polarisation of existing systems development method research is suggested in order to find a synthesis more capable of serving as a common ground for method research and for the understanding of the systems development method phenomenon. This is achieved through a proposed extension of the field of ME into the field of extended method engineering (EME). The foundation of the EME is found in the concept of method rationale and a method component concept design capable of carrying and expressing method rationale. The method component concept design is applied, evaluated, and re-designed in three different empirical settings in order to ascertain its practical potential and the benefits in explicating the dimension of method rationale.

Capability is a long-established term and concept that has found its way to be used to describe organisations. It provides the basis for a genre of analysis, design and planning methods used in several fields. In enterprise architecture  frameworks, capability has become a central architectural and fundamental element. In the field of strategic management, it was used in the 1990s to describe the resources and core competencies that a company needs in order to compete in a market, while in military applications, the concept of capability is used for mission planning. It has also been suggested that the design of information systems could be based on the concept of capability. There is no broad agreement on the nature of capability in the enterprise architecture, strategy, planning and engineering literature. This may lead to problems, as differences in perception and use in and across work practices may hamper the utility of the concept of capability in practical approaches encompassing many different kinds of stakeholders, perspectives and work practices. The overall research goal of this thesis is to design a general concept of capability, a capability viewpoint and a capability situating method that can be used to adapt the concept of capability for use within enterprise architecture frameworks, to support different work practices, and at the same time to support coherence between work practices. The research methodology used in this thesis is based on the design science paradigm, which has the primary aim of creating innovative artifacts and new knowledge to solve general and practical problems. The thesis contributes to a deepened understanding of the varying uses and utility of the concept of capability in different work practices, through an empirical case study of a mega-scale programme. This work also presents three novel artifacts, a general capability pattern, a base capability viewpoint and a capability situating method, which can be used to increase the relevance, use and utility of the concept of capability in the different types of work people do themselves and together with others in organisations. The method provides a way to adapt and tailor the concept of capability to existing enterprise architecture frameworks and to different work practices, in order to lower the barriers of application, and to improve the facilitating conditions for and actual use of capability analysis, design and planning. The results contribute to the field of enterprise architecture by enabling the creation of ISO 42010 compliant situated capability viewpoints through the application of this method.

The world of systems engineering methods is changing as rigorous ‘off-the-shelf’ systems engineering methods become more popular. One example of such a systems engineering method is Rational Unified Process. In order to cover all phases in a software development process, and a wide range of project-types, such methods need to be of an impressive size. Thus, the need for configuring such methods in a structured way is increasing accordingly. In this thesis, method configuration is considered as a particular kind of method engineering that focuses on tailoring a standard systems engineering method. We propose a meta-method for method configuration based on two fundamental values: standard systems engineering method’s rationality and reuse. A conceptual framework is designed, introducing the concepts Configuration Package and Configuration Template. A Configuration Package is a pre-made ideal method configuration suitable for a delimited characteristic of a (type of) software artifact, or a (type of) software development project, or a combination thereof. Configuration Templates with different characteristics are built combining a selection of Configuration Packages and used as a base for a situational method. The aim of the proposed meta-method is to ease the burden of configuring the standard systems engineering method in order to reach an appropriate situational method.