Reflecting Business Process Variability in Information Systems

Information systems are a fundamental support for the business processes of a firm. Information systems should be shaped on the needs of the business process throughout the life of the firm. This poses the problem of tracking changes in the business process and to reflect those changes in the information system. Assumptions and constraints are necessary in any real software project but can impair flexibility and evolution. The paper discusses variability in information systems as a consequence of variability in business processes and analyzes this topic under three perspectives: requirements, architecture, and components.