System design is an important phase of system engineering, determining system architecture to satisfy specific requirements. System design focuses on analyzing performance requirements, system modeling and prototyping, defining and optimizing system architecture, and studying system design tradeoffs and risks. Modern enterprise information systems (EIS) are distributed systems usually built on multitiered client server architectures, which can be modeled using well-known frameworks, such as Zachman enterprise architecture or open distributed processing reference model (RM-ODP). Both frameworks identify different system models, named views, corresponding to discrete stakeholder’s perspectives, specific viewpoints, and could serve as a basis for model-based system design. The main focus of this chapter is to explore the potential of model-based design for enterprise information systems (EIS). To this end, the basic requirements for model-based EIS design are identified, while three alternative approaches are discussed based on the above requirements, namely, rational unified process for systems engineering (RUP SE), UML4ODP and EIS design framework.
