Information-centred enterprise design supported by a factory data model and data warehousing

Competitive enterprises must respond quickly to changes in their environment, and redesign themselves in short time scales. Good design requires collection and analysis of considerable amounts of information. Information models and data warehousing can both support the process of enterprise design. The factory model provides information about the capability of the proposed enterprise whereas the data warehouse provides information about the behaviour of the existing business. Both are vital in enterprise design and performance evaluation. Similarities and differences between the information sources are discussed and an example used to demonstrate valuable input to the factory design activities from the data warehouse and the factory model. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.