Sistema de conceitos para actividades de intervenção de sistemas de informação

Abstract

O SCAISI, Sistema de Conceitos para Actividades de Intervenção de Sistemas de Informação, identifica duas realidades: a metodologia de intervenção, representada através do SCAISI mi, e o objecto de intervenção que neste caso é o Sistema de Informação (SI), representado através do SCAISI si. Inclui também a definição de padrões de conhecimento sobre o SI para as diferentes práticas de actividades de intervenção identificadas: Desenvolvimento de Sistemas de Informação, Planeamento de Sistemas de Informação, Reengenharia de Processos Organizacionais e Gestão para a Qualidade Total. A aplicabilidade do SCAISI foi ilustrada através da análise de casos e validado através da opinião de um painel de especialistas. O SCAISI serve como um instrumento de reflexão para intervenções, e contribui para a resolução das necessidades associadas à prática deste tipo de actividades.

Organizational change has become essential to any organisation willing to survive and has been closely related with the redesign of its information systems. The need for information system intervention activities is a natural consequence, as they provide significant organisational improvements and enable organisations to execute new actions that were not possible until then. The emergence of different intervention practices and schools has, however, contributed to a fuzzy situation demanding for the systematisation and representation of the concepts involved in information system intervention activities. This work proposes a system of concepts for information systems intervention activities here referred as SCA1SI, aiming to address the requirements of the practice and study of these activities. It is envisaged that SCAISI can be used as a methodological tool by any agent involved in the change as well as by al information system professionals concerned with the theoretical foundations of this kind of activities. SCAISI identifies two realities: the intervention methodology referred as SCA1SI_mi, and the intervention object, that is the information system, referred as SCAIS1_si. Knowledge patterns are also defined for the different practices of the intervention activities identified: Information System Development, Information System Planning, Total Quality Management and Business Process Reengineering. The applicability of SCAISI is illustrated with the analysis of cases and is validated by a panel of specialists. The value of SCAISI is in its use as a reflection tool for information system intervention activities and in its contribution to the resolution of the problems associated with the practice of this kind of activities.