SIMON: an object-oriented information system for coordinating strategies and operations

It is argued that successful future organizations must possess information processing capabilities oriented toward actively supporting organizational strategies. Such an information system would support organizationally intelligent behavior, since the system would facilitate purposeful, goal-oriented operations. An information system needs at least three characteristics to map organizational strategies into operational transaction processing: it must model various organizational levels, it must support information processing across organizational levels, and it must support information processing across functional levels. A computer-based information system designed with these characteristics has the potential to take an active role in supporting organizational decision-making activities. The concepts of an intelligent organization and the information system required to support it are presented. An object-oriented prototype that implements key components for supporting organizationally intelligent behavior is described. The advantages of this design are discussed, along with issues yet to be resolved