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Integration of city systems is needed to provide flexibility, agility and access to real-time information for the creation and delivery of efficient services in a smart and sustainable city. Consequently, City Process Modelling (CPMo) becomes an essential element of connecting various city sectors. However, to date, there has been limited research on the requirements of an ideal CPMo approach and the usefulness of available Business Process Modelling (BPMo) approaches. This research develops a framework for CPMo to guide smart city developers when modelling city processes.

Data from literature analysis was gathered to derive capabilities of existing BPMo techniques. Then, semi-structured interviews were conducted to thematically and qualitatively explore the requirements, challenges and success factors of CPMo.

The interview findings offered 17 requirements to be addressed by a CPMo approach, along with several challenges and success factors to be considered when implementing CPMo approaches. Then, the paper presents the results of mapping these requirements against 12 existing BPMo capabilities, identified from the literature, concluding that a significant number of requirements (which are mainly related to inputs and visualisation) have been left unfulfilled by existing BPMo approaches. Hence, developing an innovative CPMo approach is necessary to address the components of unfulfilled requirements.

The innovative framework presented in this paper justifies the CPMo requirements, which are unexplored in existing SCD frameworks. Moreover, it will act as a guide for smart city developers, to model cross-sectoral city processes, helping them progress their SCD road map and make their cities smart.

Enterprise systems integration (ESI) is necessary for today’s business environment to access real-time data and quickly respond to fluctuating market demand. business process change (BPC) as a significant prerequisite of ESI encompasses various challenges that must be tackled by employing success factors, techniques and approaches. The purpose of this paper is to focus on BPC challenges and develop a conceptual framework for addressing BPC challenges in ESI.

BPC challenges and their success factors were first identified through a literature analysis. Then, the findings from the literature were thematically analysed and qualitatively validated through 35 unstructured interviews for developing the conceptual framework.

The findings from the literature suggested 17 BPC challenge along with their success factors. During the validation process, 15 BPC challenges were accepted by all interviewees, while most of the respondents disagreed with the two challenges of “consolidation of information system re-engineering with BPR”, and “customization”. Moreover, “risk” was suggested as a BPC challenge by several interviewees. Thus, the study offered a modified list of BPC challenges, which was empirically validated.

The study proposes a conceptual framework for addressing BPC challenges in ESI that enables enterprises to design their systems integration roadmap, based on an understanding of BPC challenges and their success factors, as well as supporting solution providers to develop solutions for effective and efficient BPC. Furthermore, the framework will act as a basis for BPC and developing a similar framework for other related contexts, such as smart cities.