Defining Early IT System Requirements with Regulation Principles: The Lightswitch Approach

In this paper we present the Lightswitch approach, an approach for defining early requirements for enterprise IT systems. Using the approach, engineers can model the way an enterprise regulates its relationships with its environment, identify changing conditions within the enterprise and its environment, and propose options for changing this regulation. The engineers can then define initial IT system goals necessary for the above changes. The use of the approach is shown in the real case of a hospital’s sterilization department.