The assessment of defense information systems complexity: An addition to genetic taxonomy approach

Abstract

Defense organizations, like the ministry of defense, the armed forces, the general staff of the armed forces, the army, the navy, or the air force units, use a specific business technology. What makes their business technology specific is a predictable changeability of their business processes. Namely, these organizations function in more than one state, each having its own business processes. An organization transits from one state to another in a predictable manner, thus changing its business processes. This kind of business technology is not exclusively restricted to defense organizations, as it also applies to police as well as crisis management organizations. In order to develop information systems (IS) supporting these organizations properly, the complexity of their future IS should be assessed first. This assessment can be performed by relying on existing genetic taxonomies, i.e., by situating the planned defense IS inside the IS genetic taxonomy space, with regard of relevant characteristics of organizational processes supported by the IS. A behavioral dimension described in this paper addresses the dynamics of states defense systems operate in, offering to contribute to the understanding of defense systems’ response to changes in dynamic ecosystems, assisting thereby researchers and practitioners in describing dynamic properties of investigated systems.