Modelling information flows for organisations: a review of approaches and future challenges

Modelling is a classic approach to understanding complex problems that can be achieved diagrammatically to visualise concepts, and mathematically to analyse attributes of concepts. An organisation as a communicating entity is a made up of constructs in which people can have access to information and speak to each other. Modelling information flow for organisations is a challenging task that enables analysts and managers to better understand how to: organise and coordinate processes, eliminate redundant information flows and processes, minimise the duplication of information and manage the sharing of intra- and inter-organisational information.

The purpose of this article is to review literature for diagrammatically and mathematically modelling information flow for organisations and to identify problems facing information flow modelling research. The article will focus on research articles to identify: (1) approaches for diagrammatically modelling information flow, (2) approaches for mathematically modelling information flow, and (3) the current state of information flow modelling research. The article concludes by identifying and discussing possible future challenges for information flow modelling research.