Modeling of mobile information systems

Abstract

Conceptual modeling languages are used for among other things sensemaking and analysis of information systems. In the field of mobile information systems, there is a lack of modeling notations that cover the specific components which are common in this domain. This thesis explores creating a conceptual modeling notation suited for modeling the main components of interest for mobile systems. Particularly the Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor networks have been covered in the notation.

The approach used in this thesis has been a theoretical review of existing modeling notations to use as a base notation, which were further extended with constructs specifically targeting the mobile domain. Testing was conducted on an actual case to evaluate and improve the relevancy and usefulness of the notation.The result is a notation that is capable of representing a variety of IoT and sensor-related objects while maintaining best practices for visual modeling notations. The notation could readily be extended in the future to support other types of systems as well. In practice it still needs to be further tested and applied to other real cases, in order to accurately determine the domain appropriateness of the notation as well as whether it is comprehensible and useful for organizational needs.