Applying Axiomatic Design and Conceptual Independence in the Domain of IT Systems

HAN University of Applied Sciences, Arnhem and Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Abstract

In this paper we explain why Axiomatic design has not been applied in large system of systems information technology architectures in health care organizations in the Netherlands. We have found in extensive case studies of IT systems that the Independence axiom could not be found in the existing Information systems. This causes great concern for the adaptability of systems. Although best practices in system engineering advice decoupling of system functionality, findings show that the Independence Axiom has not been applied to functional requirements. A number of difficulties was exposed to the researcher and IT architects, when they tried to identify and to demarcate functional requirements in existing systems. In IT systems a distinction is made between business and system functions and software engineers emphasize decoupling of system functions. That has resulted in a strong coupling of business information and technical application logic. This means Conceptual dependencies are often at the heart of the difficulties. Decoupling these dependencies in applications seems a candidate for ordering requirements in a way that keeps the functional requirements independent from each other. Conceptual independence signifies a complete decoupling of the concepts and relations of the Business domain from the technical functionality. The paper describes the difficulties when applying the Independence Axiom in the Information systems domain and argues that a combination of Conceptual independence and Axiomatic design is achievable. The authors adapt the Design matrix with Conceptual independence. We conclude that applying Conceptual independence is crucial when constructing IT systems based on Axiomatic design.