*3.2.2 Ethically aligned design, development, management and implementation of IT systems, services and products*

There are currently a number frameworks and methods some of which have already been released, and others in their advanced stages of development. Although the frameworks have been designed and developed with Autonomous Intelligent Systems (AI/S) in mind, they can all be applied to semi-autonomous and other types of systems, products and services. In a way, they all come in as a response to early calls by the likes of Mumford and others [1] for incorporation of ethics into the development of IT systems and products. The key drivers to these frameworks are an Ethical or Values based approach to the entire Systems Engineering and Systems Development Processes, and of Data Engineering and Management

• **Ethical Value Based Requirements Engineering(evb-RE) for systems/ products/services:** The Systems Engineering Body Of Knowledge (SEBoK) states that "System Requirements are all of the requirements at the system

level that describe the functions which the system as a whole should fulfil to satisfy the stakeholder and requirements, and are expressed in an appropriate combination of textual statements, views and non-functional requirements, the latter expressing the levels of safety, security, reliability etc that will be necessary". The SEBoK further states that System requirements play major roles in systems engineering in that they form the basis of system architecture and design activities, form the basis of system integration and verification activities, act as reference for validation and stakeholder acceptance and provide a means of communication between the various technical staff that interact throughout the project. Incorporating Ethics/Values into Requirements elicitation adds another layer to traditional System Requirements [3] by incorporating ethics / values elicitation activities relevant to the domain culture and the surrounding environment where the system is to be deployed into a step which necessitates the introduction of additional activities or work items and skills requirements in the organisation. It further requires the involvement of a wider audience for quality purposes, dedication to human values. Falling short of using the term values, Bergman, et al., 2002, argues that effective requirements engineering brings together technical, social, economic and institutional factors, an approach which broadens the understanding which one gets of the domain of the System of Interest and helps to improve the effectiveness of the Requirements Engineering process [4]. The concept of evb-RE can be applied to Requirements Management in the TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Framework [5].

**Figure 2** is an illustration of how evb-BRE can be applied to TOGAF.

#### **Figure 2.**

*Illustration of how ethical values based requirements engineering could be applied to TOGAF.*

• **Ethical Risk Based Design**: The method works hand in hand with the Ethical Values Based Requirements Engineering [4]. It works by declaring identified values as values at risk (Ethical Value Risks) during the proposed system development effort. The identified values risks are treated through a repetitive and rigorous design process which aims to eliminate or minimise the risk to acceptable levels. Risk based design focuses on identifying stakeholders' attitudes and feelings about products and prototypes as an aid towards refining requirements with human centred values.

*How Factoring Ethics Encourages and Stimulates Innovative Development of IT Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97556*

*3.2.3 Using an appropriately designed well-being impact assessment framework to incorporate values into organisational processes, systems(including data), products and services requirements management systems*

The proposed framework defines well-being as the continuous and sustainable physical, mental, and social flourishing of individuals, communities and populations where their economic needs are cared for within a thriving ecological environment. Through an iterative well-being impact assessment (WIA) process during conceptualization, analysis, design, development, and throughout the life span of a system, product or service the method establishes values of various stakeholders including creators/developers and uses the assessment findings to develop and improve a product, service or system of interest. It makes use of known knowledge bases or databases of values and the indicators of how those values can be impacted by the proposed system, service or product. New values and indicators can be identified during well-being impact assessment processes and these new findings are added to the database thereby continuously improving its content.

The Well-being Impact Assessment framework can be applied to any process and at any stage or phase in the life cycle of a system, product or service. However, in the case of systems, services and products it is strongly recommended that it be applied right from the beginning or start - at ideation, right through specification, development, testing, implementation, use, management and decommissioning. In this context, the use of the Well-being Impact Assessment Framework may be illustrated as follows:


• from all of the above, the values reference databases are continuously updated with information which is used to continuously drive innovative thinking in building and improving products, systems and services.

Whilst currently there is no data to support the results of this framework, the theories and features the framework promotes among which are cultures of continuous engagement and collaboration between stakeholders at all levels (legislators, policy makers, business executives, subject matter experts, creators of systems, products and services) point to increased coverage and levels of activity in the ethical values based (EVB) creation, use and management of IT systems, products and services. All these put a lot of pressure on requirements for innovative thinking. The traditional IT Governance framework has tended to evolve mainly from discoveries at the operational and lower levels, and never sounded loud enough in advocating for values. The framework outlined above gives the push at all and from all levels - again putting pressure on a requirement for more innovative thinking at all levels.

An example reference framework is IEEE 7010–2020 Recommended Practice for Assessing the Impact of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems on Human Well-being [6]. It is illustrated in **Figure 3**. **Figure 4** illustrates how it would interface with Corporate Governance and its supporting and implementation Frameworks.

#### **Figure 3.**

*The IEEE 7010-2020 well-being impact assessment framework (adapted and reprinted with permission from IEEE. Copyright IEEE 2020. All rights reserved).*

*How Factoring Ethics Encourages and Stimulates Innovative Development of IT Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97556*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Illustration of how impact assessment driven values based design can be implemented trough the IT corporate governance framework.*

#### **3.3 Potential challenges with incorporating values/ethics into IT systems, products and services**

The following are some of the challenges that can be encountered when working with values


Dealing with the above challenges requires a lot of effort coupled with creativity

#### **4. Important observations**

#### **4.1 Values are a stimulus to thinking and therefore tend to motivate**

Today and the future are about value creation. There is focus on what values a system or product brings into a setting or organisation.

**4.2 Organisations which practice and value ethics continuously work to rediscover themselves so as to maintain their reputation as an organisation, and the reputation and quality of the organisation and services and products**

This calls for innovative thinking at all levels in the organisation – from strategy to policy making, policy implementation, operations and service delivery.
