A participative
modelling project has been started| Prepare for the modelling session | On the basis of performed interviews and/or possibly on the result of the previous modelling sessions, the project manager and the modelling facilitator(s) together with other members of the technical team, must prepare a plan of action for the modelling seminar. This plan should include the major questions to be posed to the group as well as an analysis of possible results and how to structure them. Possible obstacles and conflicts should be analysed. For the first session, information from the interviews will normally give hints about personal characteristics of the participants, as well as about "bombs that can explode" unless managed properly. |
| Perform the modelling session | The participative seminar is typically carried out using a large plastic sheet on the wall where participants post their descriptions of different components of the models used, such as goals, problems, and opportunities. The first session is normally started with a short introduction to the EKD sub-models and information about how the modelling process will proceed. Guidelines are given on how to formulate goals, problems, etc. Guidelines are also give about certain participative modelling rules, such as "better to formulate something semi-perfect today than fully perfect in the future", etc. The seminar should not take more than 3-4 hours. The result of this seminar is normally less well structured graphs covering some of the EKD submodels. |
| Work with the result of the session: critique, detail and precision | After the modelling session, the modelling technicians role is first
to transport the model on the plastic sheet to a computerised model using
the tool-set. Next, the model is analysed and restructured. Redundant statements
are eliminated, components strongly related are brought (physically) close
to each other. Descriptions as well as proposed relationships are critically
analysed. Components are generalised as well specialised (detailed). Questions
and critical comments are documented.
In many cases it is, however, important also to maintain a version of the models produced in a shape that is as close to what the participants did develop in the previous modelling sessions. This is in order not to make the participants "alienated" from their earlier work. |
| Consult modelling participants | After refining the model, the technicians are normally forced to consult the modelling participants using the questions and critical remarks from the previous step. Possible changes and extension to the model are discussed with individual participants. The time span between the first and the second walk-through sessions (see below) is typically one to three weeks. |
| Improve overview and presentation of the model | Discussion of the previous step gives information how to improve the model. This is technically done by the modelling technicians. It is at this stage also necessary to develop a (often a hierarchically decomposed) description of the model at this stage in order to make it more easy to perceive by modelling participants and by other involved people. |
| Perform the ”walk-through” modelling session using computer support | The new version of the model, including overview information (text, bullet lists, aggregated graphs) does now exist in computer form. The walk-through seminar may then take place in a laboratory equipped with sufficient means to expose the result to a group of persons. In our case we advocate the use of a back-projection screen and a suitable projector. The screen size in the KTH laboratory is 2 x 1,5 meters (a better resolution can be obtained by using 4 projectors and a somewhat larger screen size). The task of the ”walk-through facilitator” is now to expose the results obtained so far to the modelling group, and to invite them to critical and constructive comments and suggestions for changes. All comments and suggestions should be documented using the tool-set. In some cases at Vattenfall it was found that using only computer-based documentation introduced some "confusion" and lack of understanding among the modelling participants. In such cases it is advisable to present the structured models in a similar way as in the first session, i.e. by using the large plastic sheet on a wall. |
| Continue work on modelling and implementation in the organisation | Work based on the two modelling seminars above normally does not result in a sufficiently complete nor ”correct” model. Additional analysis and restructuring work and additional ”walk-throughs” are necessary in order to achieve a useful result. Continued work, therefore, typically proceeds as iterations including the work between the first seminar and the walk-through seminar, including it. The ”stopping rule” is a set of models, described in sufficient detail so they can be used as a basis for continued work of selecting among alternatives of future state models and/or for implementing the suggestions in the models. Note that "sufficient detail" can vary considerably depending on expectations and needs of the organisation. Typically, the level of detail is higher if the purpose of the project is to arrive at requirements for a computer based information system for the organisation. The level of detail can be much less pronounced if the expectations are to suggest strategic change actions in the organisation. The models are typically refined and expanded in an iterative manner where the sub-models are developed in a spiral manner. This means that the various sub-model can have a different level of "completeness" at a certain point in time. Within each sub-model there can be a number of partly overlapping models each focusing on a certain aspect of the problem at hand. |
A participative
modelling project has been started
Any EKD model