Section 2 Simulation Use

**13**

**Chapter 2**

**Abstract**

ship traffic flow

**1. Introduction**

the expanded channel.

*Tang Guolei and Qi Yue*

Simulation Modeling for Ship

Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel

The design of coastal entrance channel is a complex challenge, considering the stochastic environment and time-consuming calculation works. Therefore, we implement a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO) using Java language to help the designers to determine the dimensions of entrance channels. The PI-SMSO component simulates ships in and out through a one- or two-way traffic channel, or a one-way channel with a ship-passing anchorage, and ships discharging/loading at berths. Finally, we apply the PI-SMSO to a Chinese coal-import terminal, to explore its possible bottlenecks by evaluating the performance of entrance channel system, and determine the available improvement strategies according to the simulated port performance. The case study proves that the proposed PI-SMSO effectively simulates the ship traffic flow in entrance channel and provides a decision support for evaluating entrance channel system.

**Keywords:** entrance channel, stochastics, process-interaction-based simulation,

A coastal entrance channel linking the berths of a port and the open sea is required to provide safe and convenient navigation for ships calling at ports. Recently, the rapid increase in the number and size of ships leads to further pressures on the entrance channels [1, 2]. For example, the Senate Appropriations Committee appropriated \$33.5 million to deepen and widen the Houston Ship Channel, which deepened the channel from 12.2 to 13.7 m and widened it from 122 to 162 m [3–5]; Guangzhou Port will invest \$484 million to expand its 66.6 km entrance channel into two-way traffic for container ships of 100,000 deadweight tons (DWT) [6]. Considering the high costs to expand entrance channels, a tool or model is needed to help the designers to evaluate the capacity of entrance channel and then to determine when to expand the channel and to select the dimensions of

An entrance channel system can only be schematized as a complex system as it integrates with different ship types, the layout of water areas, and berths. In consideration of the stochastic characteristics of a port system, to explore the performance of integrated system, queuing theory is not applicable, and a simulation technique has to be used by simulating ship operations in and out of a port via entrance channels, e.g., a one- or two-way channel, especially a longer one-way channel with passing places [7, 8]. To simulate the complex port system, the "process description method" or "object-oriented method" is considered to be appropriate and efficient

## **Chapter 2**

## Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel

*Tang Guolei and Qi Yue*

## **Abstract**

The design of coastal entrance channel is a complex challenge, considering the stochastic environment and time-consuming calculation works. Therefore, we implement a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO) using Java language to help the designers to determine the dimensions of entrance channels. The PI-SMSO component simulates ships in and out through a one- or two-way traffic channel, or a one-way channel with a ship-passing anchorage, and ships discharging/loading at berths. Finally, we apply the PI-SMSO to a Chinese coal-import terminal, to explore its possible bottlenecks by evaluating the performance of entrance channel system, and determine the available improvement strategies according to the simulated port performance. The case study proves that the proposed PI-SMSO effectively simulates the ship traffic flow in entrance channel and provides a decision support for evaluating entrance channel system.

**Keywords:** entrance channel, stochastics, process-interaction-based simulation, ship traffic flow

## **1. Introduction**

A coastal entrance channel linking the berths of a port and the open sea is required to provide safe and convenient navigation for ships calling at ports. Recently, the rapid increase in the number and size of ships leads to further pressures on the entrance channels [1, 2]. For example, the Senate Appropriations Committee appropriated \$33.5 million to deepen and widen the Houston Ship Channel, which deepened the channel from 12.2 to 13.7 m and widened it from 122 to 162 m [3–5]; Guangzhou Port will invest \$484 million to expand its 66.6 km entrance channel into two-way traffic for container ships of 100,000 deadweight tons (DWT) [6]. Considering the high costs to expand entrance channels, a tool or model is needed to help the designers to evaluate the capacity of entrance channel and then to determine when to expand the channel and to select the dimensions of the expanded channel.

An entrance channel system can only be schematized as a complex system as it integrates with different ship types, the layout of water areas, and berths. In consideration of the stochastic characteristics of a port system, to explore the performance of integrated system, queuing theory is not applicable, and a simulation technique has to be used by simulating ship operations in and out of a port via entrance channels, e.g., a one- or two-way channel, especially a longer one-way channel with passing places [7, 8]. To simulate the complex port system, the "process description method" or "object-oriented method" is considered to be appropriate and efficient

[4, 5, 7]. Moreover, other important procedures, such as model verification and validation and simulation replication determination, should be conducted before productive simulation runs are started. It seems obvious that these procedures are impossibly time-consuming and complex for the designers. Therefore, we first developed a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO), which involves moving in and out of a port through entrance channels and handling cargoes at berths and automatically evaluates the performance of the stochastic port system. Finally, the effectiveness and applicability of the PI-SMSO are supported by a case study conducted at a coal terminal in China.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. First, the processes of ship operation in entrance channels are discussed for one- and two-way channels and one-way channels with ship-passing anchorage (SPAC). Next, this study implements a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO), and it classes for PI-SMSO. Then, the proposed PI-SMSO is applied to a Chinese coal-import terminal and used to evaluate entrance channel system and available improvement strategies. Finally, concluding remarks and future researches are presented.

## **2. Ship operation in entrance channels**

## **2.1 Entrance channel types**

The process of ship operation depends on the types of entrance channels, such as one- or two-way channels, and one-way channels with ship-passing anchorage (SPAC) [2, 4, 5, 9]. As shown in **Figure 1**, one-way channels only allow vessels to move in the same direction (**Figure 1(a)**), which is used for low ship traffic or when excavation of larger channel would be very expensive; two-way channels reduce one-way restrictions and allow inbound and outbound ships to pass each other (**Figure 1(b)**), which is considerable for improving navigation efficiency. However, expanding into a two-way channel costs highly by dredging/excavation especially for the very long channel. In some cases, a compromise is created by constructing SPAC along the longer one-way channel [7]. As illustrated in **Figure 1(c)**, the SPAC divides the channel into two parts (Channel *A* and *B*) and provides temporary moorings for lower-time-value ships (outbound ships in **Figure 1**) waiting until other vessels from opposite directions pass by. In this case, when outbound ships are traveling in Channel *B*, inbound ships can enter Channel *A* rather than waiting in the outside anchorage as shown in **Figure 1(a)**. In this way, ships traveling in opposite directions in a one-way channel can pass each other similar to a two-way channel.

## **2.2 Ship operation process**

## *2.2.1 Ship traffic flow for one- and two-way channels*

**Figure 2** describes the flow of ship operations in one- and two-way entrance channels, which focuses on the activities conducted in the anchorage area, entrance channel, and at berths. As illustrated in **Figure 2(a)**, ship operation begins with the arrival of an inbound ship. This inbound ship may or may not wait in the anchorage area, depending on the state of weather, berth congestion, and channel navigability. As illustrated in **Figure 2(b)**, on days with good weather, the berth-assigned ship enters entrance channel in the following two cases: (1) for a one-way channel, no outbound ships are in the channel, and both the navigable depth and the distance between fore-and-aft inbound ships (if there are inbound ships in the channel, we call safety distance) satisfy the navigation requirement or

**15**

year.

**Figure 1.**

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel*

(2) for a two-way channel, both the navigable depth and the safety distance satisfy the navigation requirement. Usually, this ship is guided by one or more tugboats to the assigned berth through entrance channel and then starts to unload (load) the cargoes onto (from) the quay after necessary preparation. Finally, once cargo unloading and loading is finished, outbound ship leaves berth, enters channel, and leaves port in the following three cases as illustrated in **Figure 2(c)** [7, 10]: (1) for a one-way channel, no inbound ships are in the channel, and both the navigable depth and safety distance satisfy the safety requirement or (2) for a two-way channel, both the navigable depth and safety distance satisfy the navigation requirement. If a port or entrance channel (or both) is closed due to adverse weather (i.e., strong winds, high waves, or heavy fog), we must know the number of days with adverse weather and how these heavy-weather days are usually distributed in a

*one-way channel with a SPAC. (a) Ship traffic flow for a one -way traffic channel. (b) Ship traffic flow for* 

*A diagram of ship traffic flows in entrance channels including one- and two-way channels and a* 

*a two-way traffic channel. (c) Ship traffic flow for a one-way traffic channel with a SPAC.*

**Figure 3(a)** shows the overall logic of ship operations in a one-way channel with a SPAC. Setting a SPAC in a one-way channel changes the logic of checking channel availability in **Figure 2(a)**. The detail on changes is discussed in the following:

(1) **Figure 3(b)** illustrates the logic flowchart for checking channel availability for an inbound berth-assigned ship (CCA4IS). As shown in **Figure 3(b)**, on days with good weather, the berth-assigned inbound ship enters entrance channel in the

*2.2.2 Ship traffic flow for a one-way traffic channel with a SPAC*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

## *Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

## **Figure 1.**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

**2. Ship operation in entrance channels**

**2.1 Entrance channel types**

**2.2 Ship operation process**

[4, 5, 7]. Moreover, other important procedures, such as model verification and validation and simulation replication determination, should be conducted before productive simulation runs are started. It seems obvious that these procedures are impossibly time-consuming and complex for the designers. Therefore, we first developed a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO), which involves moving in and out of a port through entrance channels and handling cargoes at berths and automatically evaluates the performance of the stochastic port system. Finally, the effectiveness and applicability of the PI-SMSO

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. First, the processes of ship operation in entrance channels are discussed for one- and two-way channels and one-way channels with ship-passing anchorage (SPAC). Next, this study implements a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO), and it classes for PI-SMSO. Then, the proposed PI-SMSO is applied to a Chinese coal-import terminal and used to evaluate entrance channel system and available improvement

The process of ship operation depends on the types of entrance channels, such as one- or two-way channels, and one-way channels with ship-passing anchorage (SPAC) [2, 4, 5, 9]. As shown in **Figure 1**, one-way channels only allow vessels to move in the same direction (**Figure 1(a)**), which is used for low ship traffic or when excavation of larger channel would be very expensive; two-way channels reduce one-way restrictions and allow inbound and outbound ships to pass each other (**Figure 1(b)**), which is considerable for improving navigation efficiency. However, expanding into a two-way channel costs highly by dredging/excavation especially for the very long channel. In some cases, a compromise is created by constructing SPAC along the longer one-way channel [7]. As illustrated in **Figure 1(c)**, the SPAC divides the channel into two parts (Channel *A* and *B*) and provides temporary moorings for lower-time-value ships (outbound ships in **Figure 1**) waiting until other vessels from opposite directions pass by. In this case, when outbound ships are traveling in Channel *B*, inbound ships can enter Channel *A* rather than waiting in the outside anchorage as shown in **Figure 1(a)**. In this way, ships traveling in opposite directions

are supported by a case study conducted at a coal terminal in China.

strategies. Finally, concluding remarks and future researches are presented.

in a one-way channel can pass each other similar to a two-way channel.

**Figure 2** describes the flow of ship operations in one- and two-way entrance

channels, which focuses on the activities conducted in the anchorage area, entrance channel, and at berths. As illustrated in **Figure 2(a)**, ship operation begins with the arrival of an inbound ship. This inbound ship may or may not wait in the anchorage area, depending on the state of weather, berth congestion, and channel navigability. As illustrated in **Figure 2(b)**, on days with good weather, the berth-assigned ship enters entrance channel in the following two cases: (1) for a one-way channel, no outbound ships are in the channel, and both the navigable depth and the distance between fore-and-aft inbound ships (if there are inbound ships in the channel, we call safety distance) satisfy the navigation requirement or

*2.2.1 Ship traffic flow for one- and two-way channels*

**14**

*A diagram of ship traffic flows in entrance channels including one- and two-way channels and a one-way channel with a SPAC. (a) Ship traffic flow for a one -way traffic channel. (b) Ship traffic flow for a two-way traffic channel. (c) Ship traffic flow for a one-way traffic channel with a SPAC.*

(2) for a two-way channel, both the navigable depth and the safety distance satisfy the navigation requirement. Usually, this ship is guided by one or more tugboats to the assigned berth through entrance channel and then starts to unload (load) the cargoes onto (from) the quay after necessary preparation. Finally, once cargo unloading and loading is finished, outbound ship leaves berth, enters channel, and leaves port in the following three cases as illustrated in **Figure 2(c)** [7, 10]: (1) for a one-way channel, no inbound ships are in the channel, and both the navigable depth and safety distance satisfy the safety requirement or (2) for a two-way channel, both the navigable depth and safety distance satisfy the navigation requirement. If a port or entrance channel (or both) is closed due to adverse weather (i.e., strong winds, high waves, or heavy fog), we must know the number of days with adverse weather and how these heavy-weather days are usually distributed in a year.

## *2.2.2 Ship traffic flow for a one-way traffic channel with a SPAC*

**Figure 3(a)** shows the overall logic of ship operations in a one-way channel with a SPAC. Setting a SPAC in a one-way channel changes the logic of checking channel availability in **Figure 2(a)**. The detail on changes is discussed in the following:

(1) **Figure 3(b)** illustrates the logic flowchart for checking channel availability for an inbound berth-assigned ship (CCA4IS). As shown in **Figure 3(b)**, on days with good weather, the berth-assigned inbound ship enters entrance channel in the

## **Figure 2.**

*The overall logic flowchart of ship operation simulation in one- and two-way traffic channels. (a) Overall logic flow. (b) Check channel availability for inbound ships. (c) Check channel availability for outbound ships.*

following two cases: (1) if no outbound ships are traveling in both Channels *A* and *B*, both the navigable depth and safety distance satisfy the navigation requirement or (2) if only lower-priority outbound ships are traveling in Channel *B*, the SPAC

**17**

**Figure 3.**

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel*

can accommodate these outbound ships, and the last outbound ship in Channel *B*

*The logic flowchart of ship operations for cargo-import ports with a SPAC (a) overall logic, (b) CCA4IS, (c)* 

(2) **Figure 3(c)** shows the logic of checking the availability of Channel *B* for an outbound ship at berth after finishing cargo unloading (CCBA4OS). As illustrated in **Figure 3(c)**, the ship deberths and enters entrance channel in the following two cases: (1) if no inbound ships are traveling in Channel *A*, the navigable depth and safety distance satisfy the safe navigation requirement or (2) if one or more inbound ships are traveling in Channel *A*, the SPAC has at least one idle mooring

can reach the SPAC before this ship does.

*CCBA4OS, and (d) CCAA4OS.*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

## *Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

**16**

**Figure 2.**

following two cases: (1) if no outbound ships are traveling in both Channels *A* and *B*, both the navigable depth and safety distance satisfy the navigation requirement or (2) if only lower-priority outbound ships are traveling in Channel *B*, the SPAC

*The overall logic flowchart of ship operation simulation in one- and two-way traffic channels. (a) Overall logic flow. (b) Check channel availability for inbound ships. (c) Check channel availability for outbound ships.*

### **Figure 3.**

*The logic flowchart of ship operations for cargo-import ports with a SPAC (a) overall logic, (b) CCA4IS, (c) CCBA4OS, and (d) CCAA4OS.*

can accommodate these outbound ships, and the last outbound ship in Channel *B* can reach the SPAC before this ship does.

(2) **Figure 3(c)** shows the logic of checking the availability of Channel *B* for an outbound ship at berth after finishing cargo unloading (CCBA4OS). As illustrated in **Figure 3(c)**, the ship deberths and enters entrance channel in the following two cases: (1) if no inbound ships are traveling in Channel *A*, the navigable depth and safety distance satisfy the safe navigation requirement or (2) if one or more inbound ships are traveling in Channel *A*, the SPAC has at least one idle mooring

position for this outbound ship, and this outbound ship can arrive at the SPAC before the first inbound ship in Channel *A*.

(3) **Figure 3(d)** checks the availability of Channel A for an outbound ship from the SPAC (CCAA4OS), and the ship leaves SPAC and enters Channel *A* in the following two cases: (1) no ships are traveling in Channel *A*, and no higher-priority ships are waiting in the outside anchorage or (2) if outbound ships are traveling in Channel *A*, both the navigable depth and the safety distance satisfy the safe navigation requirements.

## **3. Simulation modeling of ship operation**

To evaluate the performance of the stochastic port system, we implement a process-interaction-based simulation model in Java™ [11], which simulates ship operations in one- or two-way channels, and a longer one-way channel with a SPAC according to the logic flowchart in Section 2.

## **3.1 Process-interaction-based simulation**

There are basically three approaches that can be used for discrete event simulation: the event-based, the activity-based, and the process-interaction approach. Process-interaction simulation is a typical discrete event simulation paradigm. Since processes resemble objects in the real world, process-interaction simulation is often easy to understand, which is used in HLA (high-level architecture), DIS (distributed interactive simulation), and other object-oriented distributed simulations [12]. Therefore, we apply the process-interaction approach to the ship operation simulation model in this study.

The process-interaction worldview provides a way to represent a system's behavior from the active entities point of view according to the authors of SIMULA [13]. Thus, a system is modeled as a set of active entities in interaction, and the life cycle of each active entity consists of a sequence of events, activities, and delays. So in the ship operation simulation, a ship is an example of an active entity. Each ship performs the following sequence of activities: arrive at a port area, wait in the anchorage area, transit from anchorage area to berth, get cargo handled, leave the berth and enter the channel, and depart from port. Besides, the model also includes other components providing services for ships, such as anchorage area, entrance channel, and berth.

## **3.2 Simulation implementation**

According to the process-interaction worldview, an active entity requires special mechanisms for interrupting, suspending, and resuming its execution at a later simulated time. Thus, Java programming language is suitable as it offers at least a SIMULA's coroutine-like mechanism. Therefore, we implement a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO) in Java programming language, and the implemented Java classes consist of foundational class library for process-interaction simulation (PIS library) and business class library for ship operation simulation (SOS library), as shown in **Figure 4**.

PIS library is a collection of public classes for process-interaction simulation, such as *Process*, *Entity*, *Queu***e**, and *Simulation* as shown in **Figure 4**. The *Process* class is the base class for a process-interaction simulation which extends *java.lang. Thread* and provides all of the necessary operations for the simulation system to control the simulation entities within it, and for them to interact with it and each

**19**

as follows:

**Figure 4.**

simulation experiment.

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel*

other, such as activate, suspend, reactivate, and terminate a process. The *Entity* class represents the entities within a simulation which is derived from *Process* and has an independent thread of control associated with them at creation time, allowing them to convey the notion of activity necessary for participating in the simulation. The *Queue* class stores the inactive simulation processes within the simulation. The *Simulation* class derived from *Process*, which starts and stops a simulation, schedules the simulation processes: remove the process at the head of the queue and reactivate it. In simulation models, *Process*es are managed by a *Simulation* scheduler and are

*Static structure diagram of classes implemented for ship traffic flow simulation.*

SOS library is a collection of classes specialized for ship operation simulation, which are derived from the PIS library. Based on the components in a ship operation system, SOS library mainly consists of *Ship*, *Port*, *Terminal*, *Anchorage*, *EntranceChannel*, *ArrivalSimulation*, and *EntranceChannelSystem* classes as shown in **Figure 4**. The *Port*, *Terminal*, *Anchorage*, and *EntranceChannel* classes are permanent entity objects to provide services for *Ship* entities. The *ArrivalSimulation* class generates *Ship* entities randomly according to the ship arrival pattern. The *EntranceChannelSystem* class, a subclass of *Simulation*, schedules the processes of ship entities in and out of the port, makes a statistics analysis on simulation results, and outputs every ship's waiting time and berth's utilization ratio. The *Ship* class, a subclass of *Entity*, represents a ship entity, which is the core component of a process-interaction ship operation simulation model. The primary Java classes of PI-SMSO are illustrated in **Figure 4**, and it runs a simulation experiment

(1) Class *ShipOperationSimulation* is the control class of a simulation experiment.

It initializes and activates the ship arrival process (Class *ArrivalSimulation*) and initializes port resources (e.g., Class *Port*, *Berth*, *Anchorage*, and *EntranceChannel*) and environmental conditions (e.g., Class *Current*, *Wave*, and *Tide*), then starts the

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

placed on a *Queue* (the event list).

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

### **Figure 4.**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

tion requirements.

before the first inbound ship in Channel *A*.

**3. Simulation modeling of ship operation**

according to the logic flowchart in Section 2.

**3.1 Process-interaction-based simulation**

simulation model in this study.

channel, and berth.

**3.2 Simulation implementation**

(SOS library), as shown in **Figure 4**.

position for this outbound ship, and this outbound ship can arrive at the SPAC

(3) **Figure 3(d)** checks the availability of Channel A for an outbound ship from the SPAC (CCAA4OS), and the ship leaves SPAC and enters Channel *A* in the following two cases: (1) no ships are traveling in Channel *A*, and no higher-priority ships are waiting in the outside anchorage or (2) if outbound ships are traveling in Channel *A*, both the navigable depth and the safety distance satisfy the safe naviga-

To evaluate the performance of the stochastic port system, we implement a process-interaction-based simulation model in Java™ [11], which simulates ship operations in one- or two-way channels, and a longer one-way channel with a SPAC

There are basically three approaches that can be used for discrete event simulation: the event-based, the activity-based, and the process-interaction approach. Process-interaction simulation is a typical discrete event simulation paradigm. Since processes resemble objects in the real world, process-interaction simulation is often easy to understand, which is used in HLA (high-level architecture), DIS (distributed interactive simulation), and other object-oriented distributed simulations [12]. Therefore, we apply the process-interaction approach to the ship operation

The process-interaction worldview provides a way to represent a system's behavior from the active entities point of view according to the authors of SIMULA [13]. Thus, a system is modeled as a set of active entities in interaction, and the life cycle of each active entity consists of a sequence of events, activities, and delays. So in the ship operation simulation, a ship is an example of an active entity. Each ship performs the following sequence of activities: arrive at a port area, wait in the anchorage area, transit from anchorage area to berth, get cargo handled, leave the berth and enter the channel, and depart from port. Besides, the model also includes other components providing services for ships, such as anchorage area, entrance

According to the process-interaction worldview, an active entity requires special mechanisms for interrupting, suspending, and resuming its execution at a later simulated time. Thus, Java programming language is suitable as it offers at least a SIMULA's coroutine-like mechanism. Therefore, we implement a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO) in Java programming language, and the implemented Java classes consist of foundational class library for process-interaction simulation (PIS library) and business class library for ship operation simulation

PIS library is a collection of public classes for process-interaction simulation, such as *Process*, *Entity*, *Queu***e**, and *Simulation* as shown in **Figure 4**. The *Process* class is the base class for a process-interaction simulation which extends *java.lang. Thread* and provides all of the necessary operations for the simulation system to control the simulation entities within it, and for them to interact with it and each

**18**

*Static structure diagram of classes implemented for ship traffic flow simulation.*

other, such as activate, suspend, reactivate, and terminate a process. The *Entity* class represents the entities within a simulation which is derived from *Process* and has an independent thread of control associated with them at creation time, allowing them to convey the notion of activity necessary for participating in the simulation. The *Queue* class stores the inactive simulation processes within the simulation. The *Simulation* class derived from *Process*, which starts and stops a simulation, schedules the simulation processes: remove the process at the head of the queue and reactivate it. In simulation models, *Process*es are managed by a *Simulation* scheduler and are placed on a *Queue* (the event list).

SOS library is a collection of classes specialized for ship operation simulation, which are derived from the PIS library. Based on the components in a ship operation system, SOS library mainly consists of *Ship*, *Port*, *Terminal*, *Anchorage*, *EntranceChannel*, *ArrivalSimulation*, and *EntranceChannelSystem* classes as shown in **Figure 4**. The *Port*, *Terminal*, *Anchorage*, and *EntranceChannel* classes are permanent entity objects to provide services for *Ship* entities. The *ArrivalSimulation* class generates *Ship* entities randomly according to the ship arrival pattern. The *EntranceChannelSystem* class, a subclass of *Simulation*, schedules the processes of ship entities in and out of the port, makes a statistics analysis on simulation results, and outputs every ship's waiting time and berth's utilization ratio. The *Ship* class, a subclass of *Entity*, represents a ship entity, which is the core component of a process-interaction ship operation simulation model. The primary Java classes of PI-SMSO are illustrated in **Figure 4**, and it runs a simulation experiment as follows:

(1) Class *ShipOperationSimulation* is the control class of a simulation experiment. It initializes and activates the ship arrival process (Class *ArrivalSimulation*) and initializes port resources (e.g., Class *Port*, *Berth*, *Anchorage*, and *EntranceChannel*) and environmental conditions (e.g., Class *Current*, *Wave*, and *Tide*), then starts the simulation experiment.

(2) Class *ArrivalSimulation* generates a series of *Ship*s according to an interarrival time distribution [10, 14, 15]. For example, negative exponential distributions (NEDs) can be used to describe the arrival process [2], and its density function is *f*(*t*) <sup>=</sup> <sup>λ</sup> *<sup>e</sup>* −*t* (*λ* = arrival rate; *t* = inter-arrival time).

(3) Class *Ship* performs all activities of a ship as illustrated in **Figure 5** and records all necessary times related to performance measures.

Method *arrive* records the ship's arrival time and initializes its attributes (e.g., ship tonnage, dimensions, and cargo capacity).

Method *allocateBerth* requests for a berth according to berth allocation policy and queue priority [16], such as first-come-first-serve rule, longest/shortest processing time, and largest/smallest ship size. If a berth is assigned to this ship, the method records the time of berth availability and steps to Method *checkECA4IS*. Otherwise, this ship enters anchorage and waits (Method *waitInAnchorage*).

Method *checkECA4IS* checks weather, water depth, safety distance, and traffic situation for permission to enter channel as illustrated in **Figures 2** and **3**. In case a problem exists, the ship enters and waits in anchorage (Method *waitInAnchorage*). Otherwise, it steps to Method *enterPort*.

Method *waitInAnchorage* checks the availability of a free berth for no-berthassigned ships (Method *allocateBerth*) and/or the availability of entrance channel

**Figure 5.**

*UML sequence diagram for simulating ship operation in anchorage area, entrance channel, and berths.*

**21**

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel*

tion or channel unavailability, and enters Method *enterPort*.

Channel *A*, and steps to Method *leaveFromPort* finally.

**3.3 Model verification and validation**

**3.4 Port performance indicators**

[21], and (5) berth utilization ratio (*ρ*) [21, 22].

*k t k*−1 *e* −*kt*

for berth-assigned ships (Method *checkECA4IS*). Once all states meet safety requirements, the ship leaves anchorage, records the waiting time caused by berth occupa-

Method *enterPort* transits this ship to the assigned berth via entrance channel

Method *handleCargo* discharges/loads cargoes from/onto the ship over a random berth service time and steps to Method *checkECA4OS*. For example, berth service time for each type of ship is fitted to an Erlang-k distribution [2, 17], and its prob-

Method *checkECA4OS* checks weather, water depth, safety distance, and traffic situation for permission to enter channel and leave the port. For one- and two-way channels without SPAC, if the *checkECA4OS* is "RURE," the outbound ship leaves the berth, travels through channel, and steps to Method *leaveFromPort*. For one-way channels with a SPAC, if the Channel *B* is available, the outbound ship leaves the berth, seizes an anchorage in SPAC, then travels through Channel *B*, and steps to

Method *waitInSPAC* records the time of arrival at SPAC, accommodates outbound ship mooring, and waits until Channel *A* is accessible. If Chanel *A* is accessible, the ship leaves the SPAC and enters Channel *A* and records the time of departure from SPAC, releases the occupied SPAC's anchorage, travels through

Method *leaveFromPort* makes the ship entity exit the port system and records its

(4) Class *ShipOperationSimulation* finally stops the simulation experiment, updates the turnaround time and number of inbound and outbound ships, performs necessary statistical analysis, and outputs the values of port performance

This PI-SMSO model is verified and validated to confirm that it is correctly implemented with respect to the process of ship operation; we can use it to evaluate the port performance and then do more analysis. First, the model is developed through sub-models and individually examined by a subject-matter expert. Second, tracing approach comparing the simulation results with manual calculations is used to check the logic implemented in the model throughout the development of simulation model. Finally, we performed several simulation experiments based on real data on hand and compare the simulated values of key performance indicators with the real operational data, to check the accuracy of the model's representation of the real system [14, 18]. In this study, the key performance indicators we focus on are average turnaround time, average waiting time, average service time, waiting-

Port performance measures the quality of service provided by ports, which are used to select an optimal design alternative [2, 19]. The most used indicators are (1) average turnaround time (ATAT) [20], (2) average waiting time (AWT) [4, 5, 21], (3) average service time (AST), (4) waiting-time/service-time ratio (AWT/AST)

The ATAT is the total time between ship arrival and departure, which portrays the port capability and the ability to provide services with high productivity and

time/service-time ratio, and berth utilization ratio; see Section 3.4.

/(*<sup>k</sup>* <sup>−</sup> 1)! (*μ* = the number of ship services per

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

and steps to Method *handleCargo*.

ability density function is *f*(*t*) <sup>=</sup> (*k*)

day, and *k* = shape parameter).

Method *waitInSPAC*.

departure time.

indicators.

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

−*t*

Otherwise, it steps to Method *enterPort*.

ship tonnage, dimensions, and cargo capacity).

function is *f*(*t*) <sup>=</sup> <sup>λ</sup> *<sup>e</sup>*

(2) Class *ArrivalSimulation* generates a series of *Ship*s according to an interarrival time distribution [10, 14, 15]. For example, negative exponential distributions (NEDs) can be used to describe the arrival process [2], and its density

 (*λ* = arrival rate; *t* = inter-arrival time). (3) Class *Ship* performs all activities of a ship as illustrated in **Figure 5** and

Method *arrive* records the ship's arrival time and initializes its attributes (e.g.,

Method *allocateBerth* requests for a berth according to berth allocation policy

Method *checkECA4IS* checks weather, water depth, safety distance, and traffic situation for permission to enter channel as illustrated in **Figures 2** and **3**. In case a problem exists, the ship enters and waits in anchorage (Method *waitInAnchorage*).

Method *waitInAnchorage* checks the availability of a free berth for no-berthassigned ships (Method *allocateBerth*) and/or the availability of entrance channel

*UML sequence diagram for simulating ship operation in anchorage area, entrance channel, and berths.*

and queue priority [16], such as first-come-first-serve rule, longest/shortest processing time, and largest/smallest ship size. If a berth is assigned to this ship, the method records the time of berth availability and steps to Method *checkECA4IS*.

Otherwise, this ship enters anchorage and waits (Method *waitInAnchorage*).

records all necessary times related to performance measures.

**20**

**Figure 5.**

for berth-assigned ships (Method *checkECA4IS*). Once all states meet safety requirements, the ship leaves anchorage, records the waiting time caused by berth occupation or channel unavailability, and enters Method *enterPort*.

Method *enterPort* transits this ship to the assigned berth via entrance channel and steps to Method *handleCargo*.

Method *handleCargo* discharges/loads cargoes from/onto the ship over a random berth service time and steps to Method *checkECA4OS*. For example, berth service time for each type of ship is fitted to an Erlang-k distribution [2, 17], and its probability density function is *f*(*t*) <sup>=</sup> (*k*) *k t k*−1 *e* −*kt* /(*<sup>k</sup>* <sup>−</sup> 1)! (*μ* = the number of ship services per day, and *k* = shape parameter).

Method *checkECA4OS* checks weather, water depth, safety distance, and traffic situation for permission to enter channel and leave the port. For one- and two-way channels without SPAC, if the *checkECA4OS* is "RURE," the outbound ship leaves the berth, travels through channel, and steps to Method *leaveFromPort*. For one-way channels with a SPAC, if the Channel *B* is available, the outbound ship leaves the berth, seizes an anchorage in SPAC, then travels through Channel *B*, and steps to Method *waitInSPAC*.

Method *waitInSPAC* records the time of arrival at SPAC, accommodates outbound ship mooring, and waits until Channel *A* is accessible. If Chanel *A* is accessible, the ship leaves the SPAC and enters Channel *A* and records the time of departure from SPAC, releases the occupied SPAC's anchorage, travels through Channel *A*, and steps to Method *leaveFromPort* finally.

Method *leaveFromPort* makes the ship entity exit the port system and records its departure time.

(4) Class *ShipOperationSimulation* finally stops the simulation experiment, updates the turnaround time and number of inbound and outbound ships, performs necessary statistical analysis, and outputs the values of port performance indicators.

## **3.3 Model verification and validation**

This PI-SMSO model is verified and validated to confirm that it is correctly implemented with respect to the process of ship operation; we can use it to evaluate the port performance and then do more analysis. First, the model is developed through sub-models and individually examined by a subject-matter expert. Second, tracing approach comparing the simulation results with manual calculations is used to check the logic implemented in the model throughout the development of simulation model. Finally, we performed several simulation experiments based on real data on hand and compare the simulated values of key performance indicators with the real operational data, to check the accuracy of the model's representation of the real system [14, 18]. In this study, the key performance indicators we focus on are average turnaround time, average waiting time, average service time, waitingtime/service-time ratio, and berth utilization ratio; see Section 3.4.

## **3.4 Port performance indicators**

Port performance measures the quality of service provided by ports, which are used to select an optimal design alternative [2, 19]. The most used indicators are (1) average turnaround time (ATAT) [20], (2) average waiting time (AWT) [4, 5, 21], (3) average service time (AST), (4) waiting-time/service-time ratio (AWT/AST) [21], and (5) berth utilization ratio (*ρ*) [21, 22].

The ATAT is the total time between ship arrival and departure, which portrays the port capability and the ability to provide services with high productivity and

performance [5, 20]. The AST is the average value of the time between ship berthing and departure. The AWT is the average value of waiting time for the availability of a berth (AWTB) and the entrance channel (AWTC) [4, 5, 21]. AWT/AST is the ratio of the AWT to the AST, which is widely used as a measure of the service level of a terminal [21]. Berth utilization is the ratio of time the berth is occupied by vessels to the total time (1 year). High berth occupancy is a sign of congestion (>70%) and hence decline of services, while low berth occupancy signifies underutilization of resources (<50%) [22].

## **4. Case study**

A specialized coal terminal in southern China serves local coal imports mainly from ports of Qingdao and Rizhao. Currently, this terminal has three berths and a one-way entrance channel, and its port throughputs is 16 million tons per year. According to its master planning, the throughputs of coal imports will be expected to increase to 20, 24.5, and 36 million tons per year in sequence as shown in **Table 1**, considering the rapid development of thermal power generation and steelmaking industries. Thus, as shown in **Tables 1** and **2**, more ships, even larger ships (e.g., 70,000- and 100,000-DWT bulk carriers), will call at this terminal, which leads to further pressures on the berths and entrance channel. Therefore, we initiate an evaluation of port system for Stages II, III, and IV, including entrance channel (see **Table 3**) and berths, to evaluate its performance (i.e., AWT/AST, AST, ATAT, AWTC, AWTB, and AWT, and the acceptable AWT/AST is 0.4) and identify the possible bottlenecks and then explore improvement strategies to improve its port performance based on a proactive long-term vision.

## **4.1 Simulation experiments**

## *4.1.1 Stochastic characteristics*

**Table 4** lists the characteristics of environmental conditions including tides, waves, and current. We also collected historical data, such as the intervals between successive inbound ships, berth service times for each design ship, and port performance (ATAT, AWT, and AWT/AST). And we deduce that both intervals between ship arrivals and berth service time follow exponential distribution, and the parameters of each distribution (*μ* and λ) are listed in **Table 5**.


**23**

**Table 4.**

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel*

**Molded breadth,** *B* **(m)**

10,000 135 20.5 8.5 10,000 8.6 15,000 150 23.0 9.1 12,000 10.4 20,000 164 25.0 9.8 16,000 12.0 35,000 190 30.4 11.2 28,000 19.4 50,000 223 32.3 12.8 40,000 26.0 70,000 228 32.3 14.2 56,000 27.5 100,000 250 43.0 14.5 80,000 25.0

**Static draft,** *T* **(m)**

**Actual load capacity,** *G* **(t)** **Mean service time,** *ts* **(h)**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

**Overall length,**  *Loa***(m)**

*The specifications of the bulk ships calling at this coal terminal.*

*Existing entrance channel dimensions and its port performance.*

*Environmental conditions including tides, waves, and current.*

**Width Depth length Navigable** 

**Deadweight tonnage(t)**

**Table 2.**

**Channel type**

> Oneway traffic

**Table 3.**

*4.1.2 Verification and validation*

We run a series of simulation experiments based on **Tables 4** and **5** and compare the simulated results with real data from this coal terminal of Stage I to verify and validate the proposed simulation model. **Table 6** shows the simulation results for running the simulation model for 60 replications with each replication lasting for 1 year and gets the simulated average values of performance indicators. From the

**Environmental condition Item Value** Tides Tide type Semidiurnal tide

Waves Height of H4% (m) 2.0

Current Velocity (m/s) 0.66

Adverse weather days (days/year) 20

**Channel dimensions (m) Port performance**

178 15.6 8620 0.30 0.38 1.3 4.7 21.7

**AWT/AST AWTC** 

**(h)**

Average tidal range (m) 1.30 Average level (m) 1.34 Design high water level (m) 2.72 Design low water level (m) 0.30

Period (s) 5.8 Angle to channel (degree) 22.5

Angle to channel centerline (degree) 45

**AWTB (h)**

**ATAT (h)**

**water level**

## **Table 1.**

*The specifications of berths and their serving design ships and expected port throughputs.*


## *Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

**Table 2.**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

performance based on a proactive long-term vision.

parameters of each distribution (*μ* and λ) are listed in **Table 5**.

DWT

50,000- DWT

70,000- DWT

100,000- DWT

*The specifications of berths and their serving design ships and expected port throughputs.*

**4.1 Simulation experiments**

*4.1.1 Stochastic characteristics*

Number of berths 35,000-

Expected port throughput (104

**4. Case study**

performance [5, 20]. The AST is the average value of the time between ship berthing and departure. The AWT is the average value of waiting time for the availability of a berth (AWTB) and the entrance channel (AWTC) [4, 5, 21]. AWT/AST is the ratio of the AWT to the AST, which is widely used as a measure of the service level of a terminal [21]. Berth utilization is the ratio of time the berth is occupied by vessels to the total time (1 year). High berth occupancy is a sign of congestion (>70%) and hence decline of services, while low berth occupancy signifies underutilization of resources (<50%) [22].

A specialized coal terminal in southern China serves local coal imports mainly from ports of Qingdao and Rizhao. Currently, this terminal has three berths and a one-way entrance channel, and its port throughputs is 16 million tons per year. According to its master planning, the throughputs of coal imports will be expected to increase to 20, 24.5, and 36 million tons per year in sequence as shown in **Table 1**, considering the rapid development of thermal power generation and steelmaking industries. Thus, as shown in **Tables 1** and **2**, more ships, even larger ships (e.g., 70,000- and 100,000-DWT bulk carriers), will call at this terminal, which leads to further pressures on the berths and entrance channel. Therefore, we initiate an evaluation of port system for Stages II, III, and IV, including entrance channel (see **Table 3**) and berths, to evaluate its performance (i.e., AWT/AST, AST, ATAT, AWTC, AWTB, and AWT, and the acceptable AWT/AST is 0.4) and identify the possible bottlenecks and then explore improvement strategies to improve its port

**Table 4** lists the characteristics of environmental conditions including tides, waves, and current. We also collected historical data, such as the intervals between successive inbound ships, berth service times for each design ship, and port performance (ATAT, AWT, and AWT/AST). And we deduce that both intervals between ship arrivals and berth service time follow exponential distribution, and the

**Item Port scale DWT of design** 

**Stage II**

t) 1600 2000 2450 3600

**I**

**Stage this berth (t)**

2 2 2 2 10,000, 20,000,

1 1 1 1 20,000, 35,000,

**Stage IV**

1 1 35,000, 50,000,

**Stage III**

**ships calling at** 

35,000

50,000

70,000

1 50,000, 70,000, 100,000

**22**

**Table 1.**

*The specifications of the bulk ships calling at this coal terminal.*


## **Table 3.**

*Existing entrance channel dimensions and its port performance.*

## *4.1.2 Verification and validation*

We run a series of simulation experiments based on **Tables 4** and **5** and compare the simulated results with real data from this coal terminal of Stage I to verify and validate the proposed simulation model. **Table 6** shows the simulation results for running the simulation model for 60 replications with each replication lasting for 1 year and gets the simulated average values of performance indicators. From the


## **Table 4.**

*Environmental conditions including tides, waves, and current.*


### **Table 5.**

*Simulation parameters of simulation model for this coal terminal.*


### **Table 6.**

*Comparison of simulation results and actual data.*

results from **Table 6**, we find that all average values of simulation results lie within 7% difference from the actual values, which means the established simulation model built for this terminal is considered to be close to the actual system.

## **4.2 Results and discussions**

## *4.2.1 Evaluation of current berths and channel system*

We evaluate the performances of the berths and entrance channel system for Stages II, III, and IV using the proposed simulation model, provided that the dimensions of entrance channel remain unchanged. **Table 7** shows the channel dimensions, the values of port performance indicators for Stages II, III, and IV.

**25**

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel*

**Item Stage I Stage** 

*The channel dimensions and measures of port performance for Stages I, II, III, and IV.*

Entrance channel Channel type One-way channel

**II**

Width (m) 178 178 180 224 Depth (m) 15.6 15.6 17.1 17.6 Length (m) 8620 8620 9810 10,200

*ρ* 0.52 0.62 0.55 0.58 ATAT 23.6 35.4 28.9 39.4 AST 15.7 15.6 18.6 22.2 AWT 6.0 17.9 7.6 14.0 AWTC 1.3 1.8 1.5 1.9 AWTB 4.7 16.1 6.0 12.1

**Stage III**

**Stage IV**

(1) In Stage II, the annual port throughput is expected to hit 20 million tons of coal. If the berths and channel dimensions remain unchanged, the AWT/AST is as high as 1.15 beyond the accepted AWT/AST of 0.4 as shown in **Table 7**. So the terminal will be running with an extremely low efficiency, which leads to higher vessel wait. Note that 90% of the AWT (17.9 h) is spent waiting for the availability of a berth (AWTB = 16.1 h). Therefore, it seems that more berths should be provided in

Port performance AWT/AST 0.38 1.15 0.41 0.63

(2) In Stage III, the expected port throughput is 24.5 million tons of coal; the channel is still a one-way channel, but a new 70,000-DWT berth is built to accommodate deeper-draft bulk carriers. Thus, for serving larger ships, the entrance channel has to be expanded as shown in **Table 7**: the channel depth being expanded to 17.1 m, channel width being expanded to 180 m, and channel length being expanded to 9810 m. Meanwhile, by building a new berth, the AWT/AST falls to 0.41 from 1.15, the ATAT falls to 28.9 h from 35.4 h, and the AWTB is only 6.0 h with a decrease of 10 h from 16.1 h. Therefore, in Stage III, the terminal with a one-way channel will be operated with an acceptable service level without expanding one-

(3) In Stage IV, the expected port throughput is 37 million tons of coal; the channel is still a one-way channel, but a new berth is built to serve the 100,000-DWT bulk carriers. So to serve 100,000-DWT ships, the dimensions of one-way channels are expanded to 17.55 m depth, 224 m width, and 10,200 m length. Meanwhile, the AWT/AST is 0.63, higher than the accepted service level of 0.4. And the ships take 86% of the AWT to wait for the availability of a berth. Therefore, expansion strate-

According to simulation results and analysis, we propose three types of improve-

We run the simulation models to get simulation results for all proposed alterna-

ment strategies for Stages II and IV, including setting a ship-passing anchorage (SPAC), expanding into a two-way traffic channel (E2TWC), and building new

gies are needed to improve port performance in Stage IV.

berths (BNB), and the detailed parameters are given in **Table 8**.

tives and to explore the performance improvements as follows.

*4.2.2 Improvement strategies and their performance*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

order to improve port performance.

**Table 7.**

way to two-way channel.


## *Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

**Table 7.**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

1*. Port characteristics*

2*. Ship characteristics*

3. *Simulation parameters*

**Table 5.**

**Table 6.**



**Item Unit Value**



• Stage I Hours 8.3 • Stage II 7.1 • Stage III 9.2 • Stage IV 8.3 -Ship specifications See Table 3


• One-way channel 20 • Two-way channel 40 • One-way channel with a SPAC 40

AWT/AST 0.38 0.36 −5.4 AWTC (h) 1.3 1.21 −6.9 AWTB (h) 4.7 4.43 −5.7 AST (h) 15.79 14.77 −6.5 ATAT (h) 23.6 23.21 −1.6 *ρ* 0.52 0.50 −4.2

**24**

**4.2 Results and discussions**

*4.2.1 Evaluation of current berths and channel system*

*Simulation parameters of simulation model for this coal terminal.*

**data**

**Performance indicator Actual** 

*Comparison of simulation results and actual data.*

results from **Table 6**, we find that all average values of simulation results lie within 7% difference from the actual values, which means the established simulation model built for this terminal is considered to be close to the actual system.

**Simulation results Difference percentage (%)**

We evaluate the performances of the berths and entrance channel system for Stages II, III, and IV using the proposed simulation model, provided that the dimensions of entrance channel remain unchanged. **Table 7** shows the channel dimensions, the values of port performance indicators for Stages II, III, and IV.

*The channel dimensions and measures of port performance for Stages I, II, III, and IV.*

(1) In Stage II, the annual port throughput is expected to hit 20 million tons of coal. If the berths and channel dimensions remain unchanged, the AWT/AST is as high as 1.15 beyond the accepted AWT/AST of 0.4 as shown in **Table 7**. So the terminal will be running with an extremely low efficiency, which leads to higher vessel wait. Note that 90% of the AWT (17.9 h) is spent waiting for the availability of a berth (AWTB = 16.1 h). Therefore, it seems that more berths should be provided in order to improve port performance.

(2) In Stage III, the expected port throughput is 24.5 million tons of coal; the channel is still a one-way channel, but a new 70,000-DWT berth is built to accommodate deeper-draft bulk carriers. Thus, for serving larger ships, the entrance channel has to be expanded as shown in **Table 7**: the channel depth being expanded to 17.1 m, channel width being expanded to 180 m, and channel length being expanded to 9810 m. Meanwhile, by building a new berth, the AWT/AST falls to 0.41 from 1.15, the ATAT falls to 28.9 h from 35.4 h, and the AWTB is only 6.0 h with a decrease of 10 h from 16.1 h. Therefore, in Stage III, the terminal with a one-way channel will be operated with an acceptable service level without expanding oneway to two-way channel.

(3) In Stage IV, the expected port throughput is 37 million tons of coal; the channel is still a one-way channel, but a new berth is built to serve the 100,000-DWT bulk carriers. So to serve 100,000-DWT ships, the dimensions of one-way channels are expanded to 17.55 m depth, 224 m width, and 10,200 m length. Meanwhile, the AWT/AST is 0.63, higher than the accepted service level of 0.4. And the ships take 86% of the AWT to wait for the availability of a berth. Therefore, expansion strategies are needed to improve port performance in Stage IV.

## *4.2.2 Improvement strategies and their performance*

According to simulation results and analysis, we propose three types of improvement strategies for Stages II and IV, including setting a ship-passing anchorage (SPAC), expanding into a two-way traffic channel (E2TWC), and building new berths (BNB), and the detailed parameters are given in **Table 8**.

We run the simulation models to get simulation results for all proposed alternatives and to explore the performance improvements as follows.


## **Table 8.**

*The details of the proposed improvement strategies.*


## **Table 9.**

*The AWT/AST between current and proposed alternatives for Stage II.*


## **Table 10.**

*The AWT/AST and channel construction costs between current and proposed alternatives for Stage IV.*

As shown in **Table 9**, for Stage II, when comparing the current AWT/AST of 1.15, the AWT/ASTs for SPAC, E2TWC, and BNB strategies are 0.77, 0.56, and 0.25. Therefore, strategies SPAC, E2TWC, and BNB all improve the service level, and the BNB strategy is the best way. However, according to the required AWT/AST of 0.4, only the BNB strategy by building a new 70,000-DWT berth is practicable in Stage II.

Similarly, we also collect the AWT/ASTs for both SPAC and E2TWC strategies in Stage IV and list them in **Table 10**. As shown in **Table 10**, the AWT/ASTs for SPAC and E2TWC strategies are 0.37 and 0.35, so that both SPAC and E2TWC strategies are most effective alternatives in Stage IV from point view of AWT/AST. However, considering the costs of these two strategies, we suggest the strategy SPAC as a practical alternative for Stage IV.

Finally, we list the proposed entrance channel and berths for Stages II, III, and IV in **Table 11**. Therefore, this application shows that the implemented simulation model is helpful for evaluating the capacity of entrance channel, identifying the bottlenecks in port system, and determining an optimal improvement strategy effectively for improving port performance.

**27**

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel*

agencies involved with the design of port systems.

the water areas and land areas are interlinked.

**Acknowledgements**

Increases in ship size and number lead to further pressures on the entrance channel to minimize time in port. Moreover, the design of an entrance channel system is a complex challenge, considering the stochastic environment and timeconsuming calculations. Therefore, we develop a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO) using Java programming language, to help the designers to evaluate the capacity of entrance channel and then to determine when to expand the channel and to select the dimensions of the expanded channel. The PI-SMSO simulates ship operation in the entrance channel including one- or two-way traffic channel, or a one-way channel with a ship-passing anchorage, and outputs the values of the selected port performance indicators. Finally, we apply the PI-SMSO to a Chinese coal terminal to explore its bottlenecks and to evaluate available improvement strategies for further development of this coal terminal. And the results prove that the implemented PI-SMSO performs well in evaluating the capacity of entrance channels and identifying the possible bottlenecks of a port system. Therefore, the proposed PI-SMSO provides a reference for government

I One-way 35,000, 35,000, 50,000 35,000, 35,000, 50,000 II 35,000, 35,000, 50,000,

III 35,000, 35,000, 50,000, 70,000

**Berths (DWT, t)**

35,000, 35,000, 50,000, 70,000, 100,000

**Master plan Proposed**

70,000

Moreover, the architecture PI-SMSO includes other water areas, such as outside anchorage area, maneuvering basin, and mooring basin; we can apply PI-SMSO to evaluate the capacity of water areas of a port. Besides, further researches will focus on optimizing the general layout of a port as a whole by integrating ship operation simulation in water area with port operation simulation in land area, considering

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51579035), Science and Technology Foundation of Liaoning Province, China (Grant No. 20170540150), and Support High-Level Talents Innovation and

Entrepreneurship Projects, Dalian, China (Grant No. 2016RQ024).

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

**type**

SPAC

*The proposed entrance channel and berths for Stages II, III, and IV.*

**Stage Entrance channel** 

IV One-way with a

**5. Conclusions**

**Table 11.**


**Table 11.**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

E2TWC Two-way

E2TWC Two-way

*The details of the proposed improvement strategies.*

As shown in **Table 9**, for Stage II, when comparing the current AWT/AST of 1.15, the AWT/ASTs for SPAC, E2TWC, and BNB strategies are 0.77, 0.56, and 0.25. Therefore, strategies SPAC, E2TWC, and BNB all improve the service level, and the BNB strategy is the best way. However, according to the required AWT/AST of 0.4, only the BNB strategy by building a new 70,000-DWT berth is practicable in

**Strategy Entrance channel type AWT/AST**

*The AWT/AST between current and proposed alternatives for Stage II.*

**channel type**

SPAC

Current One-way 1.15 / SPAC One-way with SPAC 0.77 33 E2TWC Two-way 0.56 51 BNB One-way 0.25 79

**Stage Strategy Entrance channel type Berths (DWT, t)** II SPAC One-way with SPAC 35,000, 35,000, 50,000

BNB One-way 35,000, 35,000, 50,000, 70,000

IV SPAC One-way with SPAC 35,000, 35,000, 50,000, 70,000, 100,000

**AWT/ AST**

Current One-way 0.63 / 0

E2TWC Two-way 0.35 44.2 2200

*The AWT/AST and channel construction costs between current and proposed alternatives for Stage IV.*

**AWT/AST Percentage decrease (%)**

**AWT/AST Construction cost of channel** 

**Percentage decrease (%)**

0.37 40.8 0

**(104 CNY)**

Similarly, we also collect the AWT/ASTs for both SPAC and E2TWC strategies in Stage IV and list them in **Table 10**. As shown in **Table 10**, the AWT/ASTs for SPAC and E2TWC strategies are 0.37 and 0.35, so that both SPAC and E2TWC strategies are most effective alternatives in Stage IV from point view of AWT/AST. However, considering the costs of these two strategies, we suggest the strategy SPAC as a

Finally, we list the proposed entrance channel and berths for Stages II, III, and IV in **Table 11**. Therefore, this application shows that the implemented simulation model is helpful for evaluating the capacity of entrance channel, identifying the bottlenecks in port system, and determining an optimal improvement strategy

**26**

Stage II.

**Table 10.**

**Table 9.**

**Table 8.**

**Strategy Entrance** 

SPAC One-way with

practical alternative for Stage IV.

effectively for improving port performance.

*The proposed entrance channel and berths for Stages II, III, and IV.*

## **5. Conclusions**

Increases in ship size and number lead to further pressures on the entrance channel to minimize time in port. Moreover, the design of an entrance channel system is a complex challenge, considering the stochastic environment and timeconsuming calculations. Therefore, we develop a process-interaction-based simulation model for ship operation (PI-SMSO) using Java programming language, to help the designers to evaluate the capacity of entrance channel and then to determine when to expand the channel and to select the dimensions of the expanded channel. The PI-SMSO simulates ship operation in the entrance channel including one- or two-way traffic channel, or a one-way channel with a ship-passing anchorage, and outputs the values of the selected port performance indicators. Finally, we apply the PI-SMSO to a Chinese coal terminal to explore its bottlenecks and to evaluate available improvement strategies for further development of this coal terminal. And the results prove that the implemented PI-SMSO performs well in evaluating the capacity of entrance channels and identifying the possible bottlenecks of a port system. Therefore, the proposed PI-SMSO provides a reference for government agencies involved with the design of port systems.

Moreover, the architecture PI-SMSO includes other water areas, such as outside anchorage area, maneuvering basin, and mooring basin; we can apply PI-SMSO to evaluate the capacity of water areas of a port. Besides, further researches will focus on optimizing the general layout of a port as a whole by integrating ship operation simulation in water area with port operation simulation in land area, considering the water areas and land areas are interlinked.

## **Acknowledgements**

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51579035), Science and Technology Foundation of Liaoning Province, China (Grant No. 20170540150), and Support High-Level Talents Innovation and Entrepreneurship Projects, Dalian, China (Grant No. 2016RQ024).

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

## **Author details**

Tang Guolei1 \* and Qi Yue2

1 Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

2 Transport Planning and Research Institute, Ministry of Transport, Beijing, China

\*Address all correspondence to: tangguolei@outlook.com

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**29**

2006

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel*

on throughput capacity of fairway in coastal bulk port. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering.

[10] Quy NM, Vrijling JK, van Gelder PHAJM. Risk- and simulation-based optimization of channel depths: Entrance channel of Cam Pha Coal Port. Simulation. 2008;**84**:41-55. DOI:

[11] Bruce E. Thinking in Java. 4th ed. New York: Prentice Hall PTR; 2006

[12] Liu BH. Object-Oriented Modeling and Simulation. Beijing: Tsinghua

[13] Holmevik JR. Compiling Simula: A historical study of technological genesis. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 1994;**16**(4):25-37. DOI:

[14] Banks J, Carson JS, Nelson BL, Nicol DM. Discrete event system simulation. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice

[15] Shabayek AA, Yeung WW. A simulation model for the Kwai Chung container terminals in Hong Kong. European Journal of Operational Research. 2002;**140**(1):1-11. DOI: 10.1016/

[16] Wanke P. Ship-berth link and demurrage costs. evaluating different allocation policies and queue priorities via simulation. Pesquisa Operacional. 2011;**31**(1):113-134. DOI: 10.1590/ S0101-74382011000100008

[17] Guo Z, Wang W, Song X, Tang G. A new method to measure the passing capacity of coastal waterway considering service level by simulation computation. Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies.

S0377-2217(01)00216-8

10.1177/0037549708088958

University Press; 2011

10.1109/85.329756

Hall; 2001

2012;**11**:124-127

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

[1] Design Code of General Layout of Seaport, JTS 165-2013. China: Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of

[2] PIANC MarCom Working Group 121. Harbour approach channels—Design Guidelines. MarCom Report 121; 2014

[3] Lardas M. The Port of Houston. United States: Arcadia Publishing; 2013

[4] Tang G, Wang W, Guo Z, Yu X, Wang B. Simulation-based optimization for generating the dimensions of a dredged coastal entrance channel. Simulation: Transactions of the Society for Modeling and Simulation International. 2014;**90**(9):1059-1070. DOI: 10.1177/0037549714540954

[5] Tang GL, Guo ZJ, Yu XH, Song XQ, Du PC. SPAC to improve port performance for seaports with very long one-way entrance channels. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering. 2014;**140**:04014011:1-13.

[6] Angela Y. Two-Way Channel Investment at Guangzhou port. 2015. http://www.joc.com/port-news/twoway-channel-investment-guangzhouport\_20150527.html. [Accessed: October

[7] Tang G, Wang W, Song X, Guo Z, Yu X, Qiao F. Effect of entrance channel dimensions on berth occupancy of container terminals. Ocean Engineering. 2016;**117**(1):174-187. DOI: 10.1016/j.

[8] Groenveld R. Ship Traffic Simulation Study Port Extension Maasvlakte 2 of the Port of Rotterdam. Portugal: Estoril;

[9] Song XQ, Zhang YC, Tang GL, Wang WY. Affection of turnout anchorage

DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE) WW.1943-5460.0000248

oceaneng.2016.03.047

1, 2015]

**References**

China. Beijing; 2014

*Simulation Modeling for Ship Traffic Flow in Entrance Channel DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80994*

## **References**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

**28**

**Author details**

Tang Guolei1

provided the original work is properly cited.

\* and Qi Yue2

1 Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

\*Address all correspondence to: tangguolei@outlook.com

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

2 Transport Planning and Research Institute, Ministry of Transport, Beijing, China

[1] Design Code of General Layout of Seaport, JTS 165-2013. China: Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China. Beijing; 2014

[2] PIANC MarCom Working Group 121. Harbour approach channels—Design Guidelines. MarCom Report 121; 2014

[3] Lardas M. The Port of Houston. United States: Arcadia Publishing; 2013

[4] Tang G, Wang W, Guo Z, Yu X, Wang B. Simulation-based optimization for generating the dimensions of a dredged coastal entrance channel. Simulation: Transactions of the Society for Modeling and Simulation International. 2014;**90**(9):1059-1070. DOI: 10.1177/0037549714540954

[5] Tang GL, Guo ZJ, Yu XH, Song XQ, Du PC. SPAC to improve port performance for seaports with very long one-way entrance channels. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering. 2014;**140**:04014011:1-13. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE) WW.1943-5460.0000248

[6] Angela Y. Two-Way Channel Investment at Guangzhou port. 2015. http://www.joc.com/port-news/twoway-channel-investment-guangzhouport\_20150527.html. [Accessed: October 1, 2015]

[7] Tang G, Wang W, Song X, Guo Z, Yu X, Qiao F. Effect of entrance channel dimensions on berth occupancy of container terminals. Ocean Engineering. 2016;**117**(1):174-187. DOI: 10.1016/j. oceaneng.2016.03.047

[8] Groenveld R. Ship Traffic Simulation Study Port Extension Maasvlakte 2 of the Port of Rotterdam. Portugal: Estoril; 2006

[9] Song XQ, Zhang YC, Tang GL, Wang WY. Affection of turnout anchorage

on throughput capacity of fairway in coastal bulk port. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering. 2012;**11**:124-127

[10] Quy NM, Vrijling JK, van Gelder PHAJM. Risk- and simulation-based optimization of channel depths: Entrance channel of Cam Pha Coal Port. Simulation. 2008;**84**:41-55. DOI: 10.1177/0037549708088958

[11] Bruce E. Thinking in Java. 4th ed. New York: Prentice Hall PTR; 2006

[12] Liu BH. Object-Oriented Modeling and Simulation. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press; 2011

[13] Holmevik JR. Compiling Simula: A historical study of technological genesis. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 1994;**16**(4):25-37. DOI: 10.1109/85.329756

[14] Banks J, Carson JS, Nelson BL, Nicol DM. Discrete event system simulation. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; 2001

[15] Shabayek AA, Yeung WW. A simulation model for the Kwai Chung container terminals in Hong Kong. European Journal of Operational Research. 2002;**140**(1):1-11. DOI: 10.1016/ S0377-2217(01)00216-8

[16] Wanke P. Ship-berth link and demurrage costs. evaluating different allocation policies and queue priorities via simulation. Pesquisa Operacional. 2011;**31**(1):113-134. DOI: 10.1590/ S0101-74382011000100008

[17] Guo Z, Wang W, Song X, Tang G. A new method to measure the passing capacity of coastal waterway considering service level by simulation computation. Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies. 2010;**8**:2272-2282. DOI: 10.11175/ eastpro.2009.0.422.0

[18] Kotachi M, Rabadi G, Obeid MF. Simulation modeling and analysis of complex port operations with multimodal transportation. Procedia Computer Science. 2013;**20**:229- 234. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j. procs.2013.09.266

[19] Yu X, Tang G, Guo Z, Song X, Yu J. Performance comparison of real-time yard crane dispatching strategies at nontransshipment container terminals. Mathematical Problems in Engineering. 2018:1-15. DOI: 10.1155/2018/5401710

[20] Rabadi G, Pinto CA, Talley W, Arnaout JP. Port recovery from security incidents: A simulation approach. In: Risk Management in Port Operations, Logistics and Supply-Chain Security. London: Informa Law from Routledge; 2007;**5**:83-94

[21] Said GA, El-Horbaty EM. A Simulation Modeling Approach for Optimization of Storage Space Allocation in Container Terminal. 2015. CoRR, abs/1501.06802

[22] Mwasenga H. Port performance indicators: A case of Dar es Salaam port. In: Proceedings of UNCTAD, Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on Assessing Port Performance. Geneva, Switzerland; 2012

**31**

**Chapter 3**

*Jan Trąbka*

**Abstract**

BPMN, UML

**1. Introduction**

The Proposal for Modeling

as practical examples from the actual ECM implementation.

Methodology for Enterprise

Content Management (ECM)

Systems: Modeling Tools Selection

Content management is one of the strategic directions of the ICT development in modern enterprises. This trend is spurred by the increasing amount of data, information, and explicit knowledge (that is content) whose characteristic features are lack of structure and multimediality. A dynamically growing market of ECM platforms, defined as the set of components and technologies used for managing content in any given area of the company, has emerged. Researchers focusing on ECM agree that the current aspect of content management is much more recognizable in the business practice rather than the theoretical and methodological ECM toolkit as a separate discipline of IS. This chapter presents the main elements of the author's methodology of modeling the enterprise that is preparing for the ECM platform implementation. The working name of this methodology is enterprise content management modeling method (ECM3). The modeling methodology is understood as a set of assumptions and perspectives of building the enterprise model, analytical tools to create it, and stages of the completion of the analytical process. The chapter presents the assumptions of methodology, selected analytical tools as well

**Keywords:** enterprise content management (ECM), enterprise content management modeling method, content workflow, organizational structure, locational structure,

Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge over the next few years that IT community will have to face is the exponential increase in the amount of data processed [1]. The IDC analysts quoted above estimate that 80% of data is produced by enterprises. The form of the data is significantly changing too with the domination of unstructured data, i.e., documents of various types and formats, e.g., announcements, e-mails, messages, sound and image recordings. Approximately, 90% of the data processed is unstructured [2]. This unstructured character of data has been encapsulated in the notion of content managed by processes and technologies which at the beginning of the century were collectively called enterprise content management (ECM). Current ECM definition, created and updated by Association for

## **Chapter 3**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

2010;**8**:2272-2282. DOI: 10.11175/

[18] Kotachi M, Rabadi G, Obeid MF. Simulation modeling and analysis of complex port operations with multimodal transportation. Procedia Computer Science. 2013;**20**:229- 234. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.

[19] Yu X, Tang G, Guo Z, Song X, Yu J. Performance comparison of real-time yard crane dispatching strategies at nontransshipment container terminals. Mathematical Problems in Engineering. 2018:1-15. DOI: 10.1155/2018/5401710

[20] Rabadi G, Pinto CA, Talley W, Arnaout JP. Port recovery from security incidents: A simulation approach. In: Risk Management in Port Operations, Logistics and Supply-Chain Security. London: Informa Law from Routledge;

[21] Said GA, El-Horbaty EM. A Simulation Modeling Approach for Optimization of Storage Space Allocation in Container Terminal. 2015.

[22] Mwasenga H. Port performance indicators: A case of Dar es Salaam port. In: Proceedings of UNCTAD, Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on Assessing Port Performance. Geneva, Switzerland;

CoRR, abs/1501.06802

eastpro.2009.0.422.0

procs.2013.09.266

2007;**5**:83-94

**30**

2012

## The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems: Modeling Tools Selection

*Jan Trąbka*

## **Abstract**

Content management is one of the strategic directions of the ICT development in modern enterprises. This trend is spurred by the increasing amount of data, information, and explicit knowledge (that is content) whose characteristic features are lack of structure and multimediality. A dynamically growing market of ECM platforms, defined as the set of components and technologies used for managing content in any given area of the company, has emerged. Researchers focusing on ECM agree that the current aspect of content management is much more recognizable in the business practice rather than the theoretical and methodological ECM toolkit as a separate discipline of IS. This chapter presents the main elements of the author's methodology of modeling the enterprise that is preparing for the ECM platform implementation. The working name of this methodology is enterprise content management modeling method (ECM3). The modeling methodology is understood as a set of assumptions and perspectives of building the enterprise model, analytical tools to create it, and stages of the completion of the analytical process. The chapter presents the assumptions of methodology, selected analytical tools as well as practical examples from the actual ECM implementation.

**Keywords:** enterprise content management (ECM), enterprise content management modeling method, content workflow, organizational structure, locational structure, BPMN, UML

## **1. Introduction**

Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge over the next few years that IT community will have to face is the exponential increase in the amount of data processed [1]. The IDC analysts quoted above estimate that 80% of data is produced by enterprises. The form of the data is significantly changing too with the domination of unstructured data, i.e., documents of various types and formats, e.g., announcements, e-mails, messages, sound and image recordings. Approximately, 90% of the data processed is unstructured [2]. This unstructured character of data has been encapsulated in the notion of content managed by processes and technologies which at the beginning of the century were collectively called enterprise content management (ECM). Current ECM definition, created and updated by Association for

Information and Image Management (AIIM), reads: "it is a dynamic combination of strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver information supporting key organizational processes through its entire lifecycle" [3]. Today, ECM is one of the strategic directions of the ICT development in modern enterprises. A market comparison of ECM tools and ERP systems is a good indicator of ECM's popularity and dynamic growth. For the last couple of years, ERP systems have been the most important component of enterprise infrastructure. "Research and Markets" agency reports show that the estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for global ECM market revenue for 2018–2022 is going to be 15.51% [4]. According to the same source, CAGR for the global ERP market for 2017–2025 is going to be 7.4% [5].

ECM is also a growing research area. Simons and Van Brocke in their study on the current position of ECM in the IS discipline stress its strategic and integrative character. The authors compared ECM development dynamics in technology and implementation practice to its theoretical and methodological aspects and pointed to evident deficiencies in the latter ones [6].

The author of this chapter has also encountered the problem in his research. Being a scientist and academic teacher engaged in IS analyses and design (mainly ERP, workflow, and BI), he participated in a project of ECM system implementation in a large Polish enterprise operating in the medical field. As a member of the analytical team, he was responsible for the preimplementation analysis and supervised the stage of the final solution's design once a supplier had been selected. From the project's beginning, one could see a blank area in the sector of methodologies and analytical tools dedicated to ECM systems. General methodologies, known from theory and practice, met the ECM requirements only to some extent. For the author, a business project transformed into research whose aim was to create an integrated modeling methodology for ECM systems implementation in an organization. The methodology was given a working name of enterprise content management modeling methodology (ECM3). The research adopted the design science research methodology approach. The methodology and research process used as well as the project's details will be presented in Section 3. ECM3 methodology development was initiated with the recognition of current ECM strategies and technologies state of the art, and indication of a set of tactical perspectives on an enterprise (based on the project experience). This initial stage was realized and described in the author's article [7]. The perspectives and ECM3 methodology's characteristics have been briefly characterized in Section 4. The core subject of the chapter is to present the second stage of the project, namely the process of modeling tool selection regarding individual perspectives. Its main part (Section 5) is devoted to analytical tool selection for each of the four key perspectives: content, processes, and organizational and locational structures. Conclusion contains a summary of the selection process' results and presents next steps of ECM3 methodology design.

## **2. ECM strategies and technologies: short overview**

ECM platform technological characteristics and evolution were extensively described in the author's articles [7, 8]. In this section, we will focus on the technological aspect driving the whole ECM area, which proved to be a great challenge when creating an analysis methodology and modeling an organization implementing an ECM system.

ECM systems are not monoliths but sets of components and technologies building the foundation for creation of functional modules supporting any processes and content collections in an enterprise. These characteristics are reflected in the

**33**

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems…*

literary and practical name of the platform—ECM [8]. The set of technologies which the platform embraces is huge and dynamically growing. This dynamics is reflected in a comparison of main ECM components performed by Gartner's analysts and published in the yearly "Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management" reports. In 2015, the components list included: document management, web content management, records management, image-processing applications, social content, content workflow, and extended components [9]. A year later, the set was extended with analytics/BI and packaged apps and integration [10]. In the same report, Gartner's analysts put forward their own integrative and elastic definition of ECM—"[it] is a set of services and micro-services, embodied either as an integrated product suite or as separate applications that share common APIs and repositories, to exploit diverse content types, and serve multiple constituencies and numerous use cases across an organization." This points to the persisting tendency to adapt other technologies to ECM services. For the methodology created, ECM3 is an indicator of a large and constantly widening range of objects and

processes modeled, a range not required for other class systems.

As far as strategies are concerned, there are a few approaches to the ECM domain

ECM3 methodology is created in accordance with a research rigor consisting in solving problems observed in a real-life project of ECM platform implementation in a large organization. The case study has become a place of problem identification where the solution is developed on the basis of the discipline's theoretical knowledge and the author's experience. Close cooperation between the researchers and the business people at most of the research stages will prove to be of key importance. The following sections thoroughly discuss the assumptions and research process of the design science research approach and provide a brief characteristic of the organization researched as well as the assumptions of the ECM platform

The ECM3 methodology components' (perspectives, tools, procedures) building process has been conducted on the basis of design science research methodology (DSRM) for information systems research [13]. DSRM consists in solving problems (often real business world ones) on the basis of an existing theory which is implemented, tested, and then modified according to researchers' experience and intuition [14]. Implementation and testing occur within organizations interested in utilization of the solution created. The method is characterized by close cooperation between the business world and researchers [15] as well as the problem-solving process' iteration and agility [16]. DSRM approach adopted in the article was supported by an analysis of an organization facing the challenges of ECM platform

which have been used for the ECM3 development. The first is "a framework for ECM research" proposed by Tyrväinen and others [11]. The framework consists of four strategic and integrated perspectives: content, technology, processes, and enterprise. The perspectives became a starting point for searching for tactical sections of ECM3 enterprise modeling. "A Unified Content Strategy" (UCS) is the second approach, which changed the outlook on unstructured content as an element extremely difficult to manage [12]. Its assumptions are very much used in content perspective modeling (see Section 5.1). More detailed characteristics and

other strategies used in ECM3 methodology building can be found in [7].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

**3. Research methodology**

implementation project.

**3.1 Research process**

## *The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

literary and practical name of the platform—ECM [8]. The set of technologies which the platform embraces is huge and dynamically growing. This dynamics is reflected in a comparison of main ECM components performed by Gartner's analysts and published in the yearly "Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management" reports. In 2015, the components list included: document management, web content management, records management, image-processing applications, social content, content workflow, and extended components [9]. A year later, the set was extended with analytics/BI and packaged apps and integration [10]. In the same report, Gartner's analysts put forward their own integrative and elastic definition of ECM—"[it] is a set of services and micro-services, embodied either as an integrated product suite or as separate applications that share common APIs and repositories, to exploit diverse content types, and serve multiple constituencies and numerous use cases across an organization." This points to the persisting tendency to adapt other technologies to ECM services. For the methodology created, ECM3 is an indicator of a large and constantly widening range of objects and processes modeled, a range not required for other class systems.

As far as strategies are concerned, there are a few approaches to the ECM domain which have been used for the ECM3 development. The first is "a framework for ECM research" proposed by Tyrväinen and others [11]. The framework consists of four strategic and integrated perspectives: content, technology, processes, and enterprise. The perspectives became a starting point for searching for tactical sections of ECM3 enterprise modeling. "A Unified Content Strategy" (UCS) is the second approach, which changed the outlook on unstructured content as an element extremely difficult to manage [12]. Its assumptions are very much used in content perspective modeling (see Section 5.1). More detailed characteristics and other strategies used in ECM3 methodology building can be found in [7].

## **3. Research methodology**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

to evident deficiencies in the latter ones [6].

results and presents next steps of ECM3 methodology design.

**2. ECM strategies and technologies: short overview**

ECM platform technological characteristics and evolution were extensively described in the author's articles [7, 8]. In this section, we will focus on the technological aspect driving the whole ECM area, which proved to be a great challenge when creating an analysis methodology and modeling an organization implement-

ECM systems are not monoliths but sets of components and technologies building the foundation for creation of functional modules supporting any processes and content collections in an enterprise. These characteristics are reflected in the

going to be 7.4% [5].

Information and Image Management (AIIM), reads: "it is a dynamic combination of strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver information supporting key organizational processes through its entire lifecycle" [3]. Today, ECM is one of the strategic directions of the ICT development in modern enterprises. A market comparison of ECM tools and ERP systems is a good indicator of ECM's popularity and dynamic growth. For the last couple of years, ERP systems have been the most important component of enterprise infrastructure. "Research and Markets" agency reports show that the estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for global ECM market revenue for 2018–2022 is going to be 15.51% [4]. According to the same source, CAGR for the global ERP market for 2017–2025 is

ECM is also a growing research area. Simons and Van Brocke in their study on the current position of ECM in the IS discipline stress its strategic and integrative character. The authors compared ECM development dynamics in technology and implementation practice to its theoretical and methodological aspects and pointed

The author of this chapter has also encountered the problem in his research. Being a scientist and academic teacher engaged in IS analyses and design (mainly ERP, workflow, and BI), he participated in a project of ECM system implementation in a large Polish enterprise operating in the medical field. As a member of the analytical team, he was responsible for the preimplementation analysis and supervised the stage of the final solution's design once a supplier had been selected. From the project's beginning, one could see a blank area in the sector of methodologies and analytical tools dedicated to ECM systems. General methodologies, known from theory and practice, met the ECM requirements only to some extent. For the author, a business project transformed into research whose aim was to create an integrated modeling methodology for ECM systems implementation in an organization. The methodology was given a working name of enterprise content management modeling methodology (ECM3). The research adopted the design science research methodology approach. The methodology and research process used as well as the project's details will be presented in Section 3. ECM3 methodology development was initiated with the recognition of current ECM strategies and technologies state of the art, and indication of a set of tactical perspectives on an enterprise (based on the project experience). This initial stage was realized and described in the author's article [7]. The perspectives and ECM3 methodology's characteristics have been briefly characterized in Section 4. The core subject of the chapter is to present the second stage of the project, namely the process of modeling tool selection regarding individual perspectives. Its main part (Section 5) is devoted to analytical tool selection for each of the four key perspectives: content, processes, and organizational and locational structures. Conclusion contains a summary of the selection process'

**32**

ing an ECM system.

ECM3 methodology is created in accordance with a research rigor consisting in solving problems observed in a real-life project of ECM platform implementation in a large organization. The case study has become a place of problem identification where the solution is developed on the basis of the discipline's theoretical knowledge and the author's experience. Close cooperation between the researchers and the business people at most of the research stages will prove to be of key importance. The following sections thoroughly discuss the assumptions and research process of the design science research approach and provide a brief characteristic of the organization researched as well as the assumptions of the ECM platform implementation project.

## **3.1 Research process**

The ECM3 methodology components' (perspectives, tools, procedures) building process has been conducted on the basis of design science research methodology (DSRM) for information systems research [13]. DSRM consists in solving problems (often real business world ones) on the basis of an existing theory which is implemented, tested, and then modified according to researchers' experience and intuition [14]. Implementation and testing occur within organizations interested in utilization of the solution created. The method is characterized by close cooperation between the business world and researchers [15] as well as the problem-solving process' iteration and agility [16]. DSRM approach adopted in the article was supported by an analysis of an organization facing the challenges of ECM platform

implementation (the organization and project have been described in the following section). The use case analysis contained not only the place of implementation, testing, and verification processes but also the source of the research problem definition and aim. The DSRM process proposed by Havner et al. [17] consists of six steps: problem identification, definition of solution's objectives, design and development, demonstration, evaluation, and communication. The process used to create ECM3 is presented in **Figure 1**.

## **3.2 The organization and project's characteristics**

To discuss the research problem and its solution developed correspondingly to the process shown in **Figure 1**, the organization and project's assumptions have been presented below. The enterprise subject to this research is one of the biggest medical diagnostics laboratories network in Poland (the company's board agreed to publish information without disclosing the company's name). Its organizational structure consists of 140 laboratories and over 600 collection stations which sum together to over 1000 organizational units. The laboratories perform 28 million tests a year and the enterprise employs about 4000 people. As the network covers the whole country, its organizational structure has been divided into eight regions which are evenly spread across the territory of Poland. Each of the regions is divided into branches operating in one or two voivodeships (Polish administrative areas). A branch is made

**35**

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems…*

up of a couple of laboratories located in bigger cities. Each laboratory is divided into laboratory units providing services for tens of sample collection stations. The company has a certified quality management system ISO 9001 as well as branch certificates PN-EN ISO 15189:2008 and PN-EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005. The territorial scope of the enterprise and the number of documents (200,000 documents a year in office circulation and 150,000 in quality management system) flowing between the organization's units gave rise to the board's decision to start a project aimed at selection and implementation of an ECM platform as a central electronic system for document and case circulation. The project was divided into three main areas: the incoming and outgoing correspondence called office document circulation, financial document circulation and approval (purchase and business trip invoices, etc.), and quality management documentation (with the required creation, acceptance, and distribution processes). The project started with a preimplementation analysis performed to build the organization's model and define its functional and nonfunctional requirements. The analysis outcome was a key to carry out the procedure of ECM platform supplier selection. Next stage consisted in developing a solution project, which was a task assigned to the researched company's analytical team and the contractor's analysts. The two abovementioned stages took 1 year. Currently, the

As has been mentioned in the introduction, the chapter's author was engaged in the project as an external expert for the analysis and design stages. In the course of these, a research gap was diagnosed—lack of ECM-platform-dedicated methodological and tool support. In the iterative research process (**Figure 1**), the author identified other significant analytical perspectives and selected tools for their modeling. The results were periodically demonstrated, tested, and corrected. The

Naming the operational analytical tools (that is, modeling languages or independent notations) is the second stage of the methodology's building. The first one is discovering the perspectives we are going to use to present a real object in order to make the model created complete and comprehensible so it can become the basis for designing new or improved objects (in our case, ECM systems). The author making use of the research process described in Section 3.1 finalized this stage and published its results in "A proposal for an ECM systems modeling method – defining tactical perspectives — lesson learnt from a case study" [7]. In the article, he identified the ECM3 methodology for the first time and pointed to its strategic attributes: integration and accessibility. In the course of the research process, there were presented six main perspectives on an organization preparing for ECM platform implementation, namely: content, process, organizational structure, locational structure, business rules, and IT environment. The perspectives are integrated, which means each of them directly or indirectly corresponds to the rest. The connections are so strong that it is practically impossible to model a perspective without considering at least one of the others. The processes perspective may serve here as a good example as it can hardly be modeled without roles, i.e., employees or groups of employees performing particular tasks. Information on roles and individual employees comes from organizational structure. When modeling a process whose core element is the question where the role is physically, we need to take into consideration the locational perspective. A typical process of financial document workflow is yet another example—without being familiar with the data structure the document contains, it is difficult to plan

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

project is in the end phase of implementation.

final results have been described further in the chapter.

**4. ECM3 methodology: assumptions and tactical perspectives**

## *The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

up of a couple of laboratories located in bigger cities. Each laboratory is divided into laboratory units providing services for tens of sample collection stations. The company has a certified quality management system ISO 9001 as well as branch certificates PN-EN ISO 15189:2008 and PN-EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005. The territorial scope of the enterprise and the number of documents (200,000 documents a year in office circulation and 150,000 in quality management system) flowing between the organization's units gave rise to the board's decision to start a project aimed at selection and implementation of an ECM platform as a central electronic system for document and case circulation. The project was divided into three main areas: the incoming and outgoing correspondence called office document circulation, financial document circulation and approval (purchase and business trip invoices, etc.), and quality management documentation (with the required creation, acceptance, and distribution processes). The project started with a preimplementation analysis performed to build the organization's model and define its functional and nonfunctional requirements. The analysis outcome was a key to carry out the procedure of ECM platform supplier selection. Next stage consisted in developing a solution project, which was a task assigned to the researched company's analytical team and the contractor's analysts. The two abovementioned stages took 1 year. Currently, the project is in the end phase of implementation.

As has been mentioned in the introduction, the chapter's author was engaged in the project as an external expert for the analysis and design stages. In the course of these, a research gap was diagnosed—lack of ECM-platform-dedicated methodological and tool support. In the iterative research process (**Figure 1**), the author identified other significant analytical perspectives and selected tools for their modeling. The results were periodically demonstrated, tested, and corrected. The final results have been described further in the chapter.

## **4. ECM3 methodology: assumptions and tactical perspectives**

Naming the operational analytical tools (that is, modeling languages or independent notations) is the second stage of the methodology's building. The first one is discovering the perspectives we are going to use to present a real object in order to make the model created complete and comprehensible so it can become the basis for designing new or improved objects (in our case, ECM systems). The author making use of the research process described in Section 3.1 finalized this stage and published its results in "A proposal for an ECM systems modeling method – defining tactical perspectives — lesson learnt from a case study" [7]. In the article, he identified the ECM3 methodology for the first time and pointed to its strategic attributes: integration and accessibility. In the course of the research process, there were presented six main perspectives on an organization preparing for ECM platform implementation, namely: content, process, organizational structure, locational structure, business rules, and IT environment. The perspectives are integrated, which means each of them directly or indirectly corresponds to the rest. The connections are so strong that it is practically impossible to model a perspective without considering at least one of the others. The processes perspective may serve here as a good example as it can hardly be modeled without roles, i.e., employees or groups of employees performing particular tasks. Information on roles and individual employees comes from organizational structure. When modeling a process whose core element is the question where the role is physically, we need to take into consideration the locational perspective. A typical process of financial document workflow is yet another example—without being familiar with the data structure the document contains, it is difficult to plan

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

create ECM3 is presented in **Figure 1**.

**3.2 The organization and project's characteristics**

implementation (the organization and project have been described in the following section). The use case analysis contained not only the place of implementation, testing, and verification processes but also the source of the research problem definition and aim. The DSRM process proposed by Havner et al. [17] consists of six steps: problem identification, definition of solution's objectives, design and development, demonstration, evaluation, and communication. The process used to

To discuss the research problem and its solution developed correspondingly to the process shown in **Figure 1**, the organization and project's assumptions have been presented below. The enterprise subject to this research is one of the biggest medical diagnostics laboratories network in Poland (the company's board agreed to publish information without disclosing the company's name). Its organizational structure consists of 140 laboratories and over 600 collection stations which sum together to over 1000 organizational units. The laboratories perform 28 million tests a year and the enterprise employs about 4000 people. As the network covers the whole country, its organizational structure has been divided into eight regions which are evenly spread across the territory of Poland. Each of the regions is divided into branches operating in one or two voivodeships (Polish administrative areas). A branch is made

**34**

**Figure 1.**

*The research process used in ECM3 methodology creation (based on DSRM).*

### **Figure 2.**

*ECM3 methodology's perspectives and subperspectives.*

next steps of its circulation. In this case, we need to use the content perspective, which is the document's internal structure. When describing the mechanism of the presented ECM3 tactical perspectives integration, one should emphasize that it is also used to examine the completeness and conciseness of the whole organization model. The mechanism is used in many methodologies, just to mention the structured ones [18].

The ECM3 perspectives are frequently so complex that they have been divided into subperspectives. The most compound content perspective has been split into three subperspectives: unstructured content, structured content, and ECM platforms map. Each of these represents content in different forms, which is the reason why tool selection will be determined on the subperspective level. More detailed characteristics of the perspectives, their subperspectives, and the process of analytical tool selection have been presented in the next section.

A set of ECM3 methodology perspectives and subperspectives has been depicted in **Figure 2**.

The ECM3 methodology's accessibility is vital when it comes to modeling tool selection. The accessibility consists in the fact that it uses standard, generally available, and open languages or modeling notations like Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) [19] or the Unified Modeling Language (UML) [20], both of which are completely free. It also allows us to access multiple IT tools, commercial and free ones, in which we can model in compliance with the indicated standards. The author considered using commercial methodologies like ARIS or BPMS in case of the organizational and locational perspectives. The results were discussed in [16].

## **5. Key ECM3 perspectives modeling tool selection**

Modeling tool selection was the next step taken after identifying tactical perspectives of the organization modeled. The project subject to this research contains descriptions of perspectives recognized in to date IS theory and practice, such as data and processes, and ECM-dedicated perspectives discovered in the course of project, namely content and the organizational and locational structures. The process of perspective identification and tool selection was asynchronous (for the perspectives) and iterative. The asynchrony was largely caused by the project's

**37**

structured one.

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems…*

scope covering the three areas to be supported by the ECM platform: office and financial documents flow as well as quality management. The research started with an analysis of the document types, tracking their source, authors, and flow in the organization. One may say it began with the classical structural approach focusing on data (currently on content) and their processing. The works started simultaneously in all areas. The stage exposed significant differences in the importance and time devoted to modeling individual perspectives. The office and financial areas were dominated by the process perspective (documents are structurally simpler, e.g., an invoice) where processes comprise of more steps and alternative courses. The quality management area was dominated by the content perspective as the documents processed there were more structurally and semantically varied. The other ECM3 perspectives were identified later in the project. The order in which the perspectives appeared does not denote their final chronology or significance in

The modeling tool selection was based on the criteria of their simplicity and comprehensibility for business people. Modeling is part of the business analysis stage supposed to give a clear view of the organization to be used later in IT tool design and implementation processes. Business users are data carriers; analysts provide tools and translate business knowledge to the model's formal language. One should remember that the model created needs to be verified and accepted by business people, which can only be done when it is intelligible and clearly expressed. The sections present tool selection for four ECM3 perspectives: content, processes, and the organizational and locational structures. The other perspectives will

Content is collection of structured and unstructured data, information, and explicit knowledge available in the electronic format (e.g., database records, digitalized documents, electronic documents, e-mails, messages sent through social media, or sound and image recordings) as well as the traditional format (i.e., paper or microfilm) [8]. Metadata used to describe content so that it can be later identified and categorized are the core of content management. In the DMS systems era, metadata were used to give document identification and library attributes to make it more easily searched for in electronic repositories. The original document in electronic form (scan, sound recording, or image) was attached to the set of metadata it was described by. We were able to manage the document as a whole but had no access to its actual contents. Today, when metadata can also carry document's semantic content, content management goes further—guided by the unified content strategy [12], we try to divide the document into semantic fragments and thus choose "information products" over uniform document. Information product can be further split into components consisting of elements. Such division allows us to provide access to semantic contents of a document and consequently make it reusable and adaptable. Information product (initial document) can be completely described (including its content) with metadata and stored directly in a database (not as an attachment in file system). One may conclude that currently content management is a process of converting unstructured content to semi- and fully

The ECM3 methodology content perspective has been divided into the following subperspectives: structured content, unstructured content, and ECM platform map. The first two require very similar tools, while the third one includes synthetic (bird's eye) view on all content resources available on an ECM platform. Modeling this aspect allows us to organize an organization's content resources (create its

be described with the progress of ECM3 methodology research.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

ECM3 methodology.

**5.1 Content perspective**

## *The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

scope covering the three areas to be supported by the ECM platform: office and financial documents flow as well as quality management. The research started with an analysis of the document types, tracking their source, authors, and flow in the organization. One may say it began with the classical structural approach focusing on data (currently on content) and their processing. The works started simultaneously in all areas. The stage exposed significant differences in the importance and time devoted to modeling individual perspectives. The office and financial areas were dominated by the process perspective (documents are structurally simpler, e.g., an invoice) where processes comprise of more steps and alternative courses. The quality management area was dominated by the content perspective as the documents processed there were more structurally and semantically varied. The other ECM3 perspectives were identified later in the project. The order in which the perspectives appeared does not denote their final chronology or significance in ECM3 methodology.

The modeling tool selection was based on the criteria of their simplicity and comprehensibility for business people. Modeling is part of the business analysis stage supposed to give a clear view of the organization to be used later in IT tool design and implementation processes. Business users are data carriers; analysts provide tools and translate business knowledge to the model's formal language. One should remember that the model created needs to be verified and accepted by business people, which can only be done when it is intelligible and clearly expressed.

The sections present tool selection for four ECM3 perspectives: content, processes, and the organizational and locational structures. The other perspectives will be described with the progress of ECM3 methodology research.

## **5.1 Content perspective**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

structured ones [18].

*ECM3 methodology's perspectives and subperspectives.*

**Figure 2.**

in **Figure 2**.

next steps of its circulation. In this case, we need to use the content perspective, which is the document's internal structure. When describing the mechanism of the presented ECM3 tactical perspectives integration, one should emphasize that it is also used to examine the completeness and conciseness of the whole organization model. The mechanism is used in many methodologies, just to mention the

The ECM3 perspectives are frequently so complex that they have been divided

A set of ECM3 methodology perspectives and subperspectives has been depicted

The ECM3 methodology's accessibility is vital when it comes to modeling tool selection. The accessibility consists in the fact that it uses standard, generally available, and open languages or modeling notations like Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) [19] or the Unified Modeling Language (UML) [20], both of which are completely free. It also allows us to access multiple IT tools, commercial and free ones, in which we can model in compliance with the indicated standards. The author considered using commercial methodologies like ARIS or BPMS in case of the organizational and locational perspectives. The results were discussed in [16].

Modeling tool selection was the next step taken after identifying tactical perspectives of the organization modeled. The project subject to this research contains descriptions of perspectives recognized in to date IS theory and practice, such as data and processes, and ECM-dedicated perspectives discovered in the course of project, namely content and the organizational and locational structures. The process of perspective identification and tool selection was asynchronous (for the perspectives) and iterative. The asynchrony was largely caused by the project's

into subperspectives. The most compound content perspective has been split into three subperspectives: unstructured content, structured content, and ECM platforms map. Each of these represents content in different forms, which is the reason why tool selection will be determined on the subperspective level. More detailed characteristics of the perspectives, their subperspectives, and the process

of analytical tool selection have been presented in the next section.

**5. Key ECM3 perspectives modeling tool selection**

**36**

Content is collection of structured and unstructured data, information, and explicit knowledge available in the electronic format (e.g., database records, digitalized documents, electronic documents, e-mails, messages sent through social media, or sound and image recordings) as well as the traditional format (i.e., paper or microfilm) [8]. Metadata used to describe content so that it can be later identified and categorized are the core of content management. In the DMS systems era, metadata were used to give document identification and library attributes to make it more easily searched for in electronic repositories. The original document in electronic form (scan, sound recording, or image) was attached to the set of metadata it was described by. We were able to manage the document as a whole but had no access to its actual contents. Today, when metadata can also carry document's semantic content, content management goes further—guided by the unified content strategy [12], we try to divide the document into semantic fragments and thus choose "information products" over uniform document. Information product can be further split into components consisting of elements. Such division allows us to provide access to semantic contents of a document and consequently make it reusable and adaptable. Information product (initial document) can be completely described (including its content) with metadata and stored directly in a database (not as an attachment in file system). One may conclude that currently content management is a process of converting unstructured content to semi- and fully structured one.

The ECM3 methodology content perspective has been divided into the following subperspectives: structured content, unstructured content, and ECM platform map. The first two require very similar tools, while the third one includes synthetic (bird's eye) view on all content resources available on an ECM platform. Modeling this aspect allows us to organize an organization's content resources (create its

repository) and plan which content areas and other ECM system's functionalities will be available to individual groups of employees.

## *5.1.1 Structured and unstructured content subperspectives*

XML is the basic tool used to convert a document into information products. At the stage of design and implementation, all types of content are stored and processed as XML documents and schemas. The question arises whether XML could also be used at the analytical stage to model the shape of final documents meeting ECM system's needs. The author's project experience demonstrates it is possible and effective and can be applied, especially to documents of simple (one- or twolevel) semantic structure, e.g., research procedures, instructions, quality manuals, which were all present in the quality management area of the project subject to this chapter. XML's definite advantage is the fact it has clear rules for tag interpretation and use in document's structure projection. The rules can be easily understood and learned by every business participant. Additionally, one can create tag names in the organization's business language. Creating an XML content model for a given type of quality document consists in indicating text fragments constituting the model's components and elements (in accordance with UCS) and equipping these with structural and semantical tags. The task can be performed directly in a text editor, e.g., MS Word, when analyzing examples of documents in their original form. The abovementioned MS Word is provided with special XML schema (.xsd) interpretation options and facilitates placing XML tags in the document's text. A document's analysis starts with selecting fragments of text and giving them tag names. On this basis, an analyst creates a draft of XML schema which is next attached to the document and the tagging process is repeated. XML schema is completed after a few iterations and builds foundations for respective structures in the ECM repository. These XML functionalities can be found in standard Word application since the 2007 release. **Figure 3** presents a research procedure document filled with XML schema tags.

When the documents modeled are relationally much more complex and their attributes are to be used in computational processes, we need to use other modeling techniques. In case of the project, the documents were contractor agreements, e.g., premises lease contracts. The main purpose here was to extract from the text any measurable, quantitative, or valuable attributes to build automatic mechanisms for controlling cost settlements ensuing from the agreements and, further, for their booking. Documents of this type were modeled in the entity-relationship (ER) notation and mirrored as relational data models. Less important descriptive parameters, such as rights and responsibilities of the parties, could be stored in separate metadata sets or left in the document original's scan saved as the agreements attribute. The modeling was performed following the entity relationship diagram (ERD) [18, 21], whose construction principles are extremely easy to convey to the analytical team members not acquainted with IT environment. In an exemplary document of premises lease contract, the objects specified were contract, contract subject, and premises. Next step consisted in determining the relations and attributes of individual objects. Project experience shows that employees of financial, audit, or administrative departments are well acquainted with the data relations concept as it is present in everyday use systems like ERP, CRM, or BI. Consequently, they are familiar with notions of foreign key or 1:N relations, and similar. **Figure 4** depicts a relational model of a car lease contract.

Alternatively, one can build conceptual models of documents such as contracts, using the class diagram belonging to UML [22]. Comparison of the two techniques was presented in [21]. An interesting approach to modeling advanced XML

**39**

**Figure 3.**

**Figure 4.**

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems…*

documents was described in [23] where UML, and in particular, class diagram were used. However, the author's project experience shows that when modeling content

ECM3 methodology also recognizes the perspective of structured content used

ECM platform is a place where each of the organization's employees gets access to important content (stored in the ECM system's repository). They can initiate or realize tasks in the processes of document creation and circulation—like correspondence, invoices, settlements of delegations, or quality procedures, and at the same time have access to social functionalities—notice boards, newsletters, forums,

ECM platforms are equipped with web content management (WCM) component (inherited from CMS systems). It allows us to create on an ECM platform a structure of internal sites and, in this way, give individual employees the access to various areas and functionalities of the platform. Sites can have different access configurations to the repository, processes, or social content. The ECM repository should be divided into subject areas (referred to as subjects further in the chapter) which facilitate giving the right to create, modify, or view content. In the project,

in ECM platforms in the form of lists (or dictionaries) gathering contractors, employees, organizational units, etc. These are ordered, most often relational data

perspective ERD notation is more intuitive and easier to use.

*5.1.2 ECM platform map subperspective*

*Relational model of a car lease contract (ERD notation).*

which can be best organized with ERD or class diagram notations.

blogs, wikibases (collectively called social content components).

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

*Content modeling using XML and MS Word 2007.*

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

**Figure 3.** *Content modeling using XML and MS Word 2007.*

## **Figure 4.**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

will be available to individual groups of employees.

*5.1.1 Structured and unstructured content subperspectives*

repository) and plan which content areas and other ECM system's functionalities

XML is the basic tool used to convert a document into information products. At the stage of design and implementation, all types of content are stored and processed as XML documents and schemas. The question arises whether XML could also be used at the analytical stage to model the shape of final documents meeting ECM system's needs. The author's project experience demonstrates it is possible and effective and can be applied, especially to documents of simple (one- or twolevel) semantic structure, e.g., research procedures, instructions, quality manuals, which were all present in the quality management area of the project subject to this chapter. XML's definite advantage is the fact it has clear rules for tag interpretation and use in document's structure projection. The rules can be easily understood and learned by every business participant. Additionally, one can create tag names in the organization's business language. Creating an XML content model for a given type of quality document consists in indicating text fragments constituting the model's components and elements (in accordance with UCS) and equipping these with structural and semantical tags. The task can be performed directly in a text editor, e.g., MS Word, when analyzing examples of documents in their original form. The abovementioned MS Word is provided with special XML schema (.xsd) interpretation options and facilitates placing XML tags in the document's text. A document's analysis starts with selecting fragments of text and giving them tag names. On this basis, an analyst creates a draft of XML schema which is next attached to the document and the tagging process is repeated. XML schema is completed after a few iterations and builds foundations for respective structures in the ECM repository. These XML functionalities can be found in standard Word application since the 2007 release. **Figure 3** presents a research procedure document filled with XML

When the documents modeled are relationally much more complex and their attributes are to be used in computational processes, we need to use other modeling techniques. In case of the project, the documents were contractor agreements, e.g., premises lease contracts. The main purpose here was to extract from the text any measurable, quantitative, or valuable attributes to build automatic mechanisms for controlling cost settlements ensuing from the agreements and, further, for their booking. Documents of this type were modeled in the entity-relationship (ER) notation and mirrored as relational data models. Less important descriptive parameters, such as rights and responsibilities of the parties, could be stored in separate metadata sets or left in the document original's scan saved as the agreements attribute. The modeling was performed following the entity relationship diagram (ERD) [18, 21], whose construction principles are extremely easy to convey to the analytical team members not acquainted with IT environment. In an exemplary document of premises lease contract, the objects specified were contract, contract subject, and premises. Next step consisted in determining the relations and attributes of individual objects. Project experience shows that employees of financial, audit, or administrative departments are well acquainted with the data relations concept as it is present in everyday use systems like ERP, CRM, or BI. Consequently, they are familiar with notions of foreign key or 1:N relations, and similar. **Figure 4** depicts a

Alternatively, one can build conceptual models of documents such as contracts, using the class diagram belonging to UML [22]. Comparison of the two techniques was presented in [21]. An interesting approach to modeling advanced XML

**38**

relational model of a car lease contract.

schema tags.

*Relational model of a car lease contract (ERD notation).*

documents was described in [23] where UML, and in particular, class diagram were used. However, the author's project experience shows that when modeling content perspective ERD notation is more intuitive and easier to use.

ECM3 methodology also recognizes the perspective of structured content used in ECM platforms in the form of lists (or dictionaries) gathering contractors, employees, organizational units, etc. These are ordered, most often relational data which can be best organized with ERD or class diagram notations.

## *5.1.2 ECM platform map subperspective*

ECM platform is a place where each of the organization's employees gets access to important content (stored in the ECM system's repository). They can initiate or realize tasks in the processes of document creation and circulation—like correspondence, invoices, settlements of delegations, or quality procedures, and at the same time have access to social functionalities—notice boards, newsletters, forums, blogs, wikibases (collectively called social content components).

ECM platforms are equipped with web content management (WCM) component (inherited from CMS systems). It allows us to create on an ECM platform a structure of internal sites and, in this way, give individual employees the access to various areas and functionalities of the platform. Sites can have different access configurations to the repository, processes, or social content. The ECM repository should be divided into subject areas (referred to as subjects further in the chapter) which facilitate giving the right to create, modify, or view content. In the project,

the repository was divided into the following subjects: Board, HR, Quality, IT, Technology, Microbiology, etc. Each of the subjects was assigned an editor in the form of the company's department overlooking the particular area of the enterprise. The stage of ECM platform design proliferates in site models for individual departments/subjects or groups of employees. The sites share the repository's subject areas. Each of the single site's models states who it is designed for, which subjects it will use, and what social functionalities it will have. It is a multifocused task whose components are nonhomogeneous, abstract, and informal. In the project, the technique used for site modeling was mind mapping. Mind mapping diagrams are very little formalized (they are based on just a few simple rules)—when used as tools for creative or project work, one should use their own symbols and colors [24]. Business users know mind mapping from trainings on creative thinking or project management and the technique is used by many in their day-to-day work [25]. Mind mapping as a tool for website content design was described by Deer [26]. According to him, content mapping is a "visual technique that will help you organize and understand the content of a website" and is "similar to mind maps, but it's focused on a site's content" [26].

In the project, mind maps were used to design sites for individual groups of employees or the entire organization. Single groups formed the roots of the mind mapping diagram (consequently, the site's physical name on the ECM platform was the same as the group's). **Figure 5** presents an example of a site dedicated to Laboratory Managers. The site had a few groups of employees and access to various content areas in the repository and social functions the group needed. Mind mapping notation is so simple and intuitive that ECM platform site modeling can be passed directly to target employees just providing them with the pattern. IT tools include many programs, both free and commercial, that support mind mapping. CASE-type packages also offer mind mapping diagrams as a complete analytical tool, as does the Visual Paradigm package used by the author [27].

## **5.2 Content processes perspective**

The processes responsible for creation, modification, distribution (as well as other stages of content lifecycle) of content processed in ECM systems have been named "Content Processes" or "Content Workflow" [28]. Literature research

**41**

location.

naming convention.

**5.3 Organizational structure perspective**

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems…*

and practical experience confirm that most of the content processes modeled are ordered workflows unlike ad hoc processes, which also appeared in the project. Since there are certain differences in understanding and modeling between the two types, each of them constitutes a separate ECM3 subperspective. Because of the fact workflows are prevailing and the chapter's length is limited, the ad hoc processes

Workflow processes have a defined path (compliant with organization's rules) including alternative and parallel executions. Ordering workflow processes present in the ECM area is a consequence of organizational rules, which determine what the correspondence flow, invoice authorization, or quality document preparation should look like. The rules are described in official regulations and procedures,

Workflow is based on roles resulting from the company's organizational structure. Assigning employees and groups of them to particular process activities realization occurs where the two perspectives meet. We may say that process described in this way becomes the basis to be implemented in ECM platform process engine. Today, selecting process modeling tools is much easier as in 2004, Object Management Group (OMG) published the first standard covering the area—Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) [19]. When it comes to ECM platform implementation, the standard's (currently v. 2.0) superiority manifests in the fact that process engines also make use of graphic notations, mostly BPMN. Using XML format like Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) for transferring models between various tools by other developers—CASE tools and the abovementioned process engines—is yet another advantage of the standard. The notation's foundations are easy to learn and comprehend by the model's receivers. A few-minute-long introduction to its principles and elements' meaning is enough for them to actively participate in the analytical team. BPMN has also another, extended "implementation" version; being much more complex and consisting of a

subperspective will be presented in the author's future articles.

accepted by the board and to be obeyed by every employee.

number of notation elements, it is rarely used at the analytical stage.

BPMN's swimlines are an extremely important concept in content workflow modeling. In large organizations, content workflow models do not consist of many activities or diverse paths (e.g., invoice circulation process is made up of registration, description, approval, and booking). The main focus there is to model who the activities will be performed by depending on the document's type or its target

BPMN is not devoid of disadvantages. As it is supposed to present the workflow

Organizational structure primarily "links organizational units and positions within an organization" [30]. When considering its significance in content workflows, we need to note its function in management theory. The organizational structure analysis performed by Stabryła [31] distinguishes its three outstanding functions vital to content workflow: designating the assignment of work within the system, placing the processes across time (harmonization) and space (shows where the processes are realized), and determining resources (informational and technical). Practical experience shows that proper understanding of the functions is crucial to modeling not only organizational structure but also other ECM3 methodology perspectives. Organizational structure provides content workflow

and communication between the process' participants, it does not show more detailed information on the documents or document sets being processed. The project used the recommendations offered in [29] and the author's own data objects

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

## **Figure 5.** *Content map of laboratory managers site (mind maps notation).*

## *The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

and practical experience confirm that most of the content processes modeled are ordered workflows unlike ad hoc processes, which also appeared in the project. Since there are certain differences in understanding and modeling between the two types, each of them constitutes a separate ECM3 subperspective. Because of the fact workflows are prevailing and the chapter's length is limited, the ad hoc processes subperspective will be presented in the author's future articles.

Workflow processes have a defined path (compliant with organization's rules) including alternative and parallel executions. Ordering workflow processes present in the ECM area is a consequence of organizational rules, which determine what the correspondence flow, invoice authorization, or quality document preparation should look like. The rules are described in official regulations and procedures, accepted by the board and to be obeyed by every employee.

Workflow is based on roles resulting from the company's organizational structure. Assigning employees and groups of them to particular process activities realization occurs where the two perspectives meet. We may say that process described in this way becomes the basis to be implemented in ECM platform process engine. Today, selecting process modeling tools is much easier as in 2004, Object Management Group (OMG) published the first standard covering the area—Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) [19]. When it comes to ECM platform implementation, the standard's (currently v. 2.0) superiority manifests in the fact that process engines also make use of graphic notations, mostly BPMN. Using XML format like Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) for transferring models between various tools by other developers—CASE tools and the abovementioned process engines—is yet another advantage of the standard. The notation's foundations are easy to learn and comprehend by the model's receivers. A few-minute-long introduction to its principles and elements' meaning is enough for them to actively participate in the analytical team. BPMN has also another, extended "implementation" version; being much more complex and consisting of a number of notation elements, it is rarely used at the analytical stage.

BPMN's swimlines are an extremely important concept in content workflow modeling. In large organizations, content workflow models do not consist of many activities or diverse paths (e.g., invoice circulation process is made up of registration, description, approval, and booking). The main focus there is to model who the activities will be performed by depending on the document's type or its target location.

BPMN is not devoid of disadvantages. As it is supposed to present the workflow and communication between the process' participants, it does not show more detailed information on the documents or document sets being processed. The project used the recommendations offered in [29] and the author's own data objects naming convention.

## **5.3 Organizational structure perspective**

Organizational structure primarily "links organizational units and positions within an organization" [30]. When considering its significance in content workflows, we need to note its function in management theory. The organizational structure analysis performed by Stabryła [31] distinguishes its three outstanding functions vital to content workflow: designating the assignment of work within the system, placing the processes across time (harmonization) and space (shows where the processes are realized), and determining resources (informational and technical). Practical experience shows that proper understanding of the functions is crucial to modeling not only organizational structure but also other ECM3 methodology perspectives. Organizational structure provides content workflow

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

focused on a site's content" [26].

**5.2 Content processes perspective**

*Content map of laboratory managers site (mind maps notation).*

the repository was divided into the following subjects: Board, HR, Quality, IT, Technology, Microbiology, etc. Each of the subjects was assigned an editor in the form of the company's department overlooking the particular area of the enterprise. The stage of ECM platform design proliferates in site models for individual departments/subjects or groups of employees. The sites share the repository's subject areas. Each of the single site's models states who it is designed for, which subjects it will use, and what social functionalities it will have. It is a multifocused task whose components are nonhomogeneous, abstract, and informal. In the project, the technique used for site modeling was mind mapping. Mind mapping diagrams are very little formalized (they are based on just a few simple rules)—when used as tools for creative or project work, one should use their own symbols and colors [24]. Business users know mind mapping from trainings on creative thinking or project management and the technique is used by many in their day-to-day work [25]. Mind mapping as a tool for website content design was described by Deer [26]. According to him, content mapping is a "visual technique that will help you organize and understand the content of a website" and is "similar to mind maps, but it's

In the project, mind maps were used to design sites for individual groups of employees or the entire organization. Single groups formed the roots of the mind mapping diagram (consequently, the site's physical name on the ECM platform was the same as the group's). **Figure 5** presents an example of a site dedicated to Laboratory Managers. The site had a few groups of employees and access to various content areas in the repository and social functions the group needed. Mind mapping notation is so simple and intuitive that ECM platform site modeling can be passed directly to target employees just providing them with the pattern. IT tools include many programs, both free and commercial, that support mind mapping. CASE-type packages also offer mind mapping diagrams as a complete analytical

The processes responsible for creation, modification, distribution (as well as other stages of content lifecycle) of content processed in ECM systems have been named "Content Processes" or "Content Workflow" [28]. Literature research

tool, as does the Visual Paradigm package used by the author [27].

**40**

**Figure 5.**

with individual activity performers (via roles which very often directly relate to positions, e.g., Lab Manager or professional superior). Roles also correspond to the employees' functions resulting from the organizational structure, e.g., warehouseman role indicates employee(s) of the Warehousing Department. Organizational structure is not only used in the processes but also in the content perspective when building ECM repository's layout, creating content access mechanism or platform sites' structure. The project execution has demonstrated that because of its significance, organizational structure perspective should be the foundation for model building in an organization implementing ECM.

Selecting suitable modeling tool is not easy as the perspective is relatively young and underestimated. The process included a comparison of ARIS, BPMS, EA, and OrgChart in the context of organizational structure and its results were presented in the author's article [16]. The tool picked was the oldest and most popular business notation—OrgChart [32]. OrgChart is an extremely simple notation—it consists of one notation element (denoting organizational unit or post) and single relation denoting subjection. It's simplicity, accessibility, and popularity, which make it so well received by business users, become limitations for analysts. The main one is the lack of clear distinction between organizational unit's artifacts: cell, post, person, and role. Another one is problem with mapping a large organization consisting of up to few hundred organizational units. In order to eliminate these restraints, stereotyping and decomposition were proposed. Stereotyping means the ability to divide notation elements into types (marked with <<..>> symbol known from UML). Decomposition consists in dividing a wide organizational structure into levels which ultimately provides us with a multilevel model equipped with a level navigation mechanism.

**Figure 6** presents a single diagnostic lab with its organizational cells, posts, persons, and roles. Stereotyping mechanism was used. The roles mentioned in the diagram will be part of the medical procedure document flow.

## **5.4 Locational structure perspective**

ECM platforms are popular in organizations searching for uniform, central, and common access content storage and processing space. Problems appear for

**43**

**6. Conclusion**

**Figure 7.**

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems…*

organizations consisting of an extensive structure of physical locations where their business is run. The company subject to this chapter is a multibranch organization spread across the whole country. Switching from traditional physical document circulation to electronic one required detailed planning of a countrywide locations network. Subsequently, we had to answer the question to which locations the documents were delivered (and in what form) and which locations they were sent from, taking into account both internal and external receivers. Next step consisted in defining the IT equipment requirements for the locations (scanners, barcode scanners, printers, etc.) as well as infrastructure and software, which would be used in each of the locations by employees realizing their tasks on ECM platform. One should note that locations are not identical with organizational units (it occurs occasionally in smaller organizations). When planning a locational structure, we

To date IS analysis and design methodologies have been practically devoid of the locational structure perspective. Some of its elements could be found in tools like BMPS or ARIS. Detailed comparison has been presented in one of the author's papers [16]. Since there were no ready tools dedicated to handle all the requirements, an attempt was made to extend one of the UML diagrams—deployment diagram. The diagram represents distribution of physical and software components (node elements) and their mutual relations [22]. The notation was extended with locational and organizational unit nodes support but the principles for the diagram's creation remained unchanged (named locational diagram). **Figure 7** presents a single location with two organizational units. The location is prepared to work on an ECM platform (is equipped with the right hardware, software, and connections). Decomposition

The chapter presents the second stage of the research whose aim was to create an integrated and comprehensive modeling methodology dedicated to organization preparing for ECM platform implementation, and specifically the process of analytical tool selection for key tactical perspectives on enterprise defined in the ECM3

have to consider which organizational units use individual locations.

can be used to build a collective locations network.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

*Single place of document inflow (locational diagram notation).*

**Figure 6.** *Single laboratory structure (OrgChart notation).*

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

### **Figure 7.**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

building in an organization implementing ECM.

diagram will be part of the medical procedure document flow.

ECM platforms are popular in organizations searching for uniform, central, and common access content storage and processing space. Problems appear for

**5.4 Locational structure perspective**

*Single laboratory structure (OrgChart notation).*

with individual activity performers (via roles which very often directly relate to positions, e.g., Lab Manager or professional superior). Roles also correspond to the employees' functions resulting from the organizational structure, e.g., warehouseman role indicates employee(s) of the Warehousing Department. Organizational structure is not only used in the processes but also in the content perspective when building ECM repository's layout, creating content access mechanism or platform sites' structure. The project execution has demonstrated that because of its significance, organizational structure perspective should be the foundation for model

Selecting suitable modeling tool is not easy as the perspective is relatively young and underestimated. The process included a comparison of ARIS, BPMS, EA, and OrgChart in the context of organizational structure and its results were presented in the author's article [16]. The tool picked was the oldest and most popular business notation—OrgChart [32]. OrgChart is an extremely simple notation—it consists of one notation element (denoting organizational unit or post) and single relation denoting subjection. It's simplicity, accessibility, and popularity, which make it so well received by business users, become limitations for analysts. The main one is the lack of clear distinction between organizational unit's artifacts: cell, post, person, and role. Another one is problem with mapping a large organization consisting of up to few hundred organizational units. In order to eliminate these restraints, stereotyping and decomposition were proposed. Stereotyping means the ability to divide notation elements into types (marked with <<..>> symbol known from UML). Decomposition consists in dividing a wide organizational structure into levels which ultimately provides us with a multilevel model equipped with a level navigation mechanism. **Figure 6** presents a single diagnostic lab with its organizational cells, posts, persons, and roles. Stereotyping mechanism was used. The roles mentioned in the

**42**

**Figure 6.**

*Single place of document inflow (locational diagram notation).*

organizations consisting of an extensive structure of physical locations where their business is run. The company subject to this chapter is a multibranch organization spread across the whole country. Switching from traditional physical document circulation to electronic one required detailed planning of a countrywide locations network. Subsequently, we had to answer the question to which locations the documents were delivered (and in what form) and which locations they were sent from, taking into account both internal and external receivers. Next step consisted in defining the IT equipment requirements for the locations (scanners, barcode scanners, printers, etc.) as well as infrastructure and software, which would be used in each of the locations by employees realizing their tasks on ECM platform. One should note that locations are not identical with organizational units (it occurs occasionally in smaller organizations). When planning a locational structure, we have to consider which organizational units use individual locations.

To date IS analysis and design methodologies have been practically devoid of the locational structure perspective. Some of its elements could be found in tools like BMPS or ARIS. Detailed comparison has been presented in one of the author's papers [16]. Since there were no ready tools dedicated to handle all the requirements, an attempt was made to extend one of the UML diagrams—deployment diagram. The diagram represents distribution of physical and software components (node elements) and their mutual relations [22]. The notation was extended with locational and organizational unit nodes support but the principles for the diagram's creation remained unchanged (named locational diagram). **Figure 7** presents a single location with two organizational units. The location is prepared to work on an ECM platform (is equipped with the right hardware, software, and connections). Decomposition can be used to build a collective locations network.

## **6. Conclusion**

The chapter presents the second stage of the research whose aim was to create an integrated and comprehensive modeling methodology dedicated to organization preparing for ECM platform implementation, and specifically the process of analytical tool selection for key tactical perspectives on enterprise defined in the ECM3


## **Table 1.**

*A set of selected perspectives and ECM3 methodology tools.*

methodology. ECM3's main perspectives are content, process (content workflow), organizational structure, locational structure, business rules, and IT environment. The chapter describes tools for the first four. An ordered list of the perspectives, subperspectives, and recommended tools is shown in **Table 1**.

The tools selected meet two core criteria—open accessibility and significant comprehensibility for non-IT business users participating in the platform's implementation. Fulfillment of the last criterion was verified in the project subject to this chapter—ECM platform implementation in a medical multibranch enterprise. All of the presented tools were demonstrated, tested, and enhanced by an analytical team which the author was a member of. Without problem reporting, criticism and numerous valuable ideas from the people cooperating with the author the ECM3 methodology's development would not be possible.

The author's next short-term research plans will focus on the description of tool selection for the two remaining ECM3 perspectives: business rules and IT environment. Next, more complex stages of ECM3 methodology development will be researched: analytical procedure, rules for analytical team member selection, and supporting IT tools. ECM3 is going to evolve for two reasons. First, the whole ECM domain is going to evolve—new technologies will be involved, new strategies created, completely new areas for the abovementioned elements' use will appear. Second, people facing the task of ECM tools implementation in an organization will have a much better knowledge and deeper experience in the subject area—the author invites all of them to cooperate.

## **Acknowledgements**

I would like to thank my Alma Mater, Cracow University of Economics, for sponsoring this publication. The research has been financed by the funds granted to the Faculty of Management, within the subsidy for maintaining research potential.

I would also like to thank the board of directors and the numerous employees of the case study company for their kindness, knowledge, and experience sharing and their consent to the case study results presentation.

**45**

**Author details**

Jan Trąbka

Poland

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

Department of Computer Science, Cracow University of Economics, Cracow,

\*Address all correspondence to: jan.trabka@uek.krakow.pl

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems…*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

*The Proposal for Modeling Methodology for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80718*

## **Author details**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

Processes (content workflow)

**Table 1.**

methodology. ECM3's main perspectives are content, process (content workflow), organizational structure, locational structure, business rules, and IT environment. The chapter describes tools for the first four. An ordered list of the perspectives,

**Perspective Subperspective Recommended modeling tools** Content Unstructured content XML, ERD, UML class diagram

> Work group ad hoc processes

Workflow BPMN

Organizational structure OrgChart (including the author's

Locational structure Locational diagram (the author's

Structured content ERD, UML class diagram ECM platform map Mind maps diagram

BPMN, CMMN

modifications)

proposition)

The tools selected meet two core criteria—open accessibility and significant comprehensibility for non-IT business users participating in the platform's implementation. Fulfillment of the last criterion was verified in the project subject to this chapter—ECM platform implementation in a medical multibranch enterprise. All of the presented tools were demonstrated, tested, and enhanced by an analytical team which the author was a member of. Without problem reporting, criticism and numerous valuable ideas from the people cooperating with the author the ECM3

The author's next short-term research plans will focus on the description of tool selection for the two remaining ECM3 perspectives: business rules and IT environment. Next, more complex stages of ECM3 methodology development will be researched: analytical procedure, rules for analytical team member selection, and supporting IT tools. ECM3 is going to evolve for two reasons. First, the whole ECM domain is going to evolve—new technologies will be involved, new strategies created, completely new areas for the abovementioned elements' use will appear. Second, people facing the task of ECM tools implementation in an organization will have a much better knowledge and deeper experience in the subject area—the

I would like to thank my Alma Mater, Cracow University of Economics, for sponsoring this publication. The research has been financed by the funds granted to the Faculty of Management, within the subsidy for maintaining research potential. I would also like to thank the board of directors and the numerous employees of the case study company for their kindness, knowledge, and experience sharing and

subperspectives, and recommended tools is shown in **Table 1**.

methodology's development would not be possible.

*A set of selected perspectives and ECM3 methodology tools.*

their consent to the case study results presentation.

author invites all of them to cooperate.

**Acknowledgements**

**44**

Jan Trąbka Department of Computer Science, Cracow University of Economics, Cracow, Poland

\*Address all correspondence to: jan.trabka@uek.krakow.pl

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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[14] Markus M, Majchrzak A, Gasser L. A design theory for systems that support emergent knowledge processes. MIS Quarterly. 2002;**26**(3):179-212

[15] Reeves T, Herrington J, Oliver R. Design research: A socially responsible approach to instructional technology research in higher education. Journal

**47**

2005. pp. 648-658

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[27] Visual Paradigm. Visual Paradigm Site. 2016. Available from: http://www. visual-paradigm.com/ [Accessed: Dec

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Understanding Organizational Behavior. A Multimedia Approach. Ohio: South

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modeling: Designing document structures for massive and systematic production of XML-based web contents. In: Briand L, Williams C, editors. Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer;

[23] Bia A, Gomez J. UML for document

[24] Buzan T, Buzan N. The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking

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2005;**16**(2):96-115

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of Computing in Higher Education, 2005;**16**(2):96-115

[16] Trąbka J. Modeling organizational and locational structure in enterprise content management system adoptions: Experience from a large polish medical. Information Systems Management. 2017;**34**(4):359-377

[17] Hevner R, March S, Park J, Ram S. Design science in information system research. MIS Quarterly. 2004;**28**(1):75-105

[18] Yourdon E. Modern Structured Analysis. New York: Prentice Hall; 1988

[19] Object Management Group. About BPMN. 2011. Available from: https:// www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/About-BPMN/. [Accessed: Jun 5, 2018]

[20] Object Management Group. About the Unified Modeling Language Specification Version 2.0. 2005. Available from: https://www.omg.org/ spec/UML/2.0/About-UML/. [Accessed: May 10, 2018]

[21] Wrycza S, Marcinkowski B, Wyrzykowski K. Język UML 2.0 w modelowaniu systemów informatycznych (UML 2.0 in Modeling Information Systems). Helion: Gliwice; 2005

[22] Coronel C, Moris S. Database Systems: Design, Implementation, & Management. 13th ed. Boston: Cengage; 2017

[23] Bia A, Gomez J. UML for document modeling: Designing document structures for massive and systematic production of XML-based web contents. In: Briand L, Williams C, editors. Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; 2005. pp. 648-658

[24] Buzan T, Buzan N. The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking

to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential. Plume: New York City; 1996

[25] Żbikowska K. Mapy myśli w biznesie. Jak twórczo i efektywnie osiągać cele za pomocą mind mappingu. Helion: Gliwice; 2012

[26] Deer J. Content Mapping [Internet]. 2012. Available from: https://www. webpagefx.com/blog/web-design/ content-mapping/ [Accessed: Feb 22, 2018]

[27] Visual Paradigm. Visual Paradigm Site. 2016. Available from: http://www. visual-paradigm.com/ [Accessed: Dec 12, 2016]

[28] Gilbert M, Shegda K, Chin K, Koehler-Kruener H. Magic Quadrant for ECM 2014. Gartner: Stamford; 2014

[29] Gawin B, Marcinkowski B. Symulacja procesów biznesowych. Standardy BPMS i BPMN w praktyce (Simulating business process. BPMS and BPMN standards in practice). Helion: Gliwice; 2013

[30] Nelson DL, Quick JC. Understanding Organizational Behavior. A Multimedia Approach. Ohio: South Western; 2002

[31] Stabryła A. Doskonalenie struktur organizacyjnych przedsiębiorstw w gospodarce opartej na wiedzy (Improving the Enterprise Organizational Structure in the Knowledge Economy). C.H. Beck: Warsaw; 2009

[32] Haskell A, Breaznell J. Graphic Charts in Business: How to Make and Use Them. New York: Codex Book Company; 1922

**46**

*Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory*

[1] Gantz J, Reiznel D. The Digital Universe in 2020: Big Data, Bigger Digital Shadows, and Biggest Growth in the Far East. 2012. Available from: http://www.emc.com/collateral/ analyst-reports/idc-the-digitalfrom a case study. In: Wrycza S, Maślankowski J, editors. Information Systems: Research, Development, Applications, Education. Berlin: Springer; 2017. pp. 136-151

[8] Trąbka J. Enterprise content management platforms: Concept update, role in organization and main technologies. In: Pańkowska M, Palonka J, Sroka H, editors. Ambient Technology

and Creativity Support Systems. Katowice: University of Economics in

[9] Koehler-Kruener H, Chin K, Hob K. Magic Quadrant for ECM 2015.

[10] Hobert K, Tay G, Mariano J. Magic Quadrant for ECM 2016. Gartner:

Katowice; 2013. pp. 192-205

Gartner: Stamford; 2015

[11] Tyrväinen P, Päivärinta T, Salminen A, Iivari J. Characterizing the evolving research on enterprise content management. European Journal of Information Systems.

[12] Rockley A, Cooper C. Managing Enterprise Content. A Unified Content Strategy. Second Edition. Berkeley: New

Rothenberger M, Chatterjee S. A design science research methodology for information systems research. Journal of Management Information Systems.

[14] Markus M, Majchrzak A, Gasser L. A design theory for systems that support emergent knowledge processes. MIS Quarterly. 2002;**26**(3):179-212

[15] Reeves T, Herrington J, Oliver R. Design research: A socially responsible approach to instructional technology research in higher education. Journal

[13] Peffers K, Tuunanen T,

Stamford; 2016

2006;**15**(6):627-634

Riders; 2012

2007;**24**(3):45-78

universe-in-2020.pdf [Accessed: Jun 12,

Information Management Compliance. 2004. Available from: http://www. tasmea.com/pdf/whitepapers/Industry\_ Watch\_Compliance.pdf [Accessed: May

[3] Association for Information and Image Management. What is Enterprise Content Management. 2018. Available from: http://www.aiim.org/What-is-ECM-Enterprise-Content-Management

[4] Research and Markets. Global ERP Software Market Analysis & Trends—Industry Forecast to 2025. 2017. Available from: https:// www.researchandmarkets.com/ reports/4399984/global-erp-softwaremarket-analysis-and-trends. [Accessed:

[5] Research and Markets. Global

com/research/wrsm97/global\_

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Market 2018-2022. 2018. Available from: https://www.researchandmarkets.

enterprise?w=5. [Accessed: 10-06-2018]

[6] Simons A, vom Brocke J. Enterprise content management in information systems research. In: vom Brocke J, Simons A, editors. Enterprise Content Management in Information Systems Research—Foundations, Methods and Cases. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 2014

[7] Trąbka J. A proposal for an ECM systems modeling method—Defining tactical perspective—Lesson learnt

[Accessed: Jun 5, 2018]

04-06-2018]

[2] Mancini J. The Emperor's New Clothes: The Current State of

2018]

**References**

20, 2018]

Section 3

Simulation Theory

49
