Process thinking in support of system specification and selection

Process thinking supported by enterprise modelling can naturally inform and help structure, the engineering of large scale systems, but this potential has only partially been realised. To facilitate an advance in the application of process thinking, common properties of processes used in Manufacturing Enterprises (MEs) are discussed. This process characterisation is analysed with a view to specifying generic requirements of human and technical systems, against which common properties exhibited by IT systems used in MEs can be contrasted and compared. The paper concludes by illustrating how the combined use of characteristic models of ME processes and proprietary IT systems could lead to improved IT system specification and selection.