Intentional Alignment and Interoperability in Inter-Organization Information Systems - Intentional Perspectives on Information Systems Engineering - page 106

Fig. 5 Goal hierarchy:
the component supplier

Do effective
retail

Stock parts of all
specifications

Stock parts of
different quality

Do delivery at
customer site

Fig. 6 Goal hierarchy of the
supply chain system

Assure price and
service

Minimize
material types

Assure supplier Assure Market

chain seeks to provide an assured supply of material at a good price - Assure price
and service . This goal can be decomposed into its next level, the suppliers must be
assured, the market must be assured, and the different part types must be minimized.
These three sub goals are shown in the figure. In the formation of the supply chain
both alignment and interoperability arise. The former because the supply chain sys-
tem must align to the needs of the supply chain and interoperability because three
different systems are to be brought together. We consider both these issues here.
Now consider the step (b) of dovetailing goal hierarchies with that of Fig. 6. For
alignment, it is necessary to ensure that the goals of the collaborating organizations
are aligned to the goals of the supply chain. First, consider the user organization. The
root goal of Fig. 3 broadly conforms to the root goal of Fig. 6. Therefore, one sees a
possibility of alignment. Going deeper, the sub goals of Fig. 3, Obtain at good price ,
Ensure quality material and Ensure timely delivery can be considered as members
of the decomposition of Assure price and service goal of Fig. 6. The exact position
of these in the goal decomposition hierarchy of Fig. 6 is now to be determined. It
can be seen that the sub goal Assure supplier of Fig. 6 can be decomposed to include
these. The intentional alignment of the user organization and supply chain goals is
shown in Fig. 7.
Further the last sub goal, Manage Inventory of Fig. 3 remains a private goal of
the user organization and does not directly participate in the supply chain. However,
it is affected by the Minimize material types sub goal of Fig. 6 in so far as there is
going to be a change in the material handled. Whereas, this may cause changes in the
operations of the organization, it does not present an alignment problem because the
supporting IS can gracefully handle a reduced number of material types. Evidently,
it is possible to align the goals of the user organization with those of the supply
chain.