From chaos to the systematic harmonization of multiple reference models: A harmonization framework applied in two case studies

At the present time, we can observe that in an effort to deal with the issue of quality, a variety of models, standards and methodologies have been developed to give support in different domains of the IT industry. This wide range of heterogeneous models makes it possible to resolve multiple needs. In recent years, as the integration of different models has increased, organizations have started to note that their business and technical processes can be aligned with more than one model. Currently, however, we are not aware of any other attempts to provide an explicit and systematic solution that would allow us to address the issue of harmonization of multiple reference models in such a way as to satisfy the needs of the companies. In the quest to help support the work of harmonization of multiple models, this paper presents (i) a framework that defines elements needed to support the harmonization of multiple reference models, (ii) a process, which is the backbone and way of integrating all the elements defined in the framework thus allowing the implementation of a harmonization project to be guided systematically, harmonizing multiple models through the configuration of a harmonization strategy, and (iii) a set of methods, which allows us to know "what to do", as well as "how to put" two or more models in consonance with each other. The experience of the application of our proposal is illustrated in two case studies. The findings obtained show that the harmonization process has enabled us to harmonize and put the models involved in consonance with each other