Combining Top-down and Bottom-up Enterprise Modelling Snorre Fossland 1 , John Krogstie 2* 1 eFaros Ltd, Oslo, Norway snorre@efaros.com 2 NTNU, Trondheim, Norway John.krogstie@idi.ntnu.no Abstract. Modeling approaches started to be used in a large scale around 40 years ago, using simple diagrams. Still the main focus in modelling is for intermediaries to document the knowledge as held by different stakeholders for further use, rather than for people that has the core knowledge themselves to use modeling for their own needs. Although top-down modeling by experts is useful e.g. for enterprise architecture and systems development, for modeling to have a larger effect in the representation and reuse of knowledge in organizations, we propose to enable all knowledge workers to be active modelers. This paper provides an overview of interactive models for knowledge articulation combined with supporting knowledge maturing as an approach to support bottom-up modeling, and gives an overview of the how this can be supported in an existing enterprise modeling environment. We also discuss necessary future development to make this a reality on a large scale. Keywords: Enterprise process modelling, bottom-up modeling 1 Introduction According to [18] enterprise modelling is typically done by only a few people in the organization who are specially trained to use modelling methods for knowledge representation. What is captured in models, often in a top-down fashion, by this small group and made available for organizational purposes is only a fragment of the enterprise knowledge that potentially could be captured, discussed and communicated. Many people actually develop some kind of models without thinking upon it as such [6]. Examples are spreadsheets 1 used to capture essential features of products and their dependencies, presentation slides with architecture and process descriptions, or sketches in drawing tools defining the information flow in a business service. The content of such files can be highly valuable, but difficult or even impossible to retrieve. (Enterprise) models are used for many different purposes [10] such as model mapping, human sense-making [20], communication among stakeholders, model simulation and analysis [16], quality assurance, model deployment and activation, systems development, model implementation and standardization. Many traditional 1 Much data relevant for engineers and other business professionals is developed and resides in office automation tools like Excel [5].