Risk Identification with Entity Attributes Diagrams in Business Process Modeling

Abstract

Business process models in systems engineering describe authority, communications, procedures, flows of information and goods, capacity growth, etc. Within business process models, the information modeling method or IDEF1 describes attributes and relationships among entities of a system. Previous efforts introduced IDEF0 for risk identification. IDEF0 describes the activities of an organization, while IDEF1 describes the attributes of entities as a set of rules. This paper joins risk identification with entity attributes of the IDEF1 model with the aim to be more comprehensive in tracking sources of risk. The approach of the paper is an augmented IDEF1 model that identifies and tracks sources of risk as features of the model. The approach is demonstrated via three examples: (1) generic procurement process, (2) production tracking for raw materials, and (3) an authenticator and transmitter system. Future efforts will integrate other business process models, including IDEF 1X, 2,3,4, 5 etc., with risk identification. The results assist with risk management in systems acquisition, systems design and evaluation, systems testing, etc.