copyright © 2013-2014 curt hill components and artifacts products and services

Copyright © 2013-2014 Curt Hill

Components and Artifacts

Products and Services

Recall the Cube


Introduction• In this EA3 model there are five

levels• Goals and Initiatives• Products and Services• Data and Information• Systems and Applications• Network and Infrastructure• This considers the components and

artifacts of the Products and Services


Components

• There are three types of components at this level:– Business Products– Business Services– IT Capital Planning Portfolio

• First two make us money • We consider these and the EA

artifacts generated from them


Products• Every business produces something

– The sale of these products generated revenue

• These are often tangible products:– Tractors– Shoes

• In the information society it may often be intangible– Advice (eg. lawyers, doctors,

consultants)– Software


Audience Participation

• What product does VCSU sell?• Government?• A non-profit like Red Cross?


Services• A service in the enterprise in

support of the creation of the product– Not generally a service for sale

• Human resources fulfills the corporate obligations to employees as well as finding new ones– Happy workers are not the product,

but are required to create the product

• Many others as well• Research and development, accounting,

financing, marketing, administration …Copyright © 2013-2014 Curt Hill

Multiple Artifacts

• The average enterprise has many products and many services

• Each one needs description – An EA artifact

• Some of these artifacts will contain confidential information such as trade secrets– This means that the repository must

be secure so that only authorized people may access


Product and Service Artifacts

• These might include: – The business plan– Node connectivity diagram– Project process diagram– Process/Service model– Process/Product matrix– Use Case– Investment case


Business Plan• Statement of a set of business

goals, the reasons they are believed attainable and the plan for reaching those goals.

• It has varying forms based on its intended purpose– Often presented to convince a bank

or other investor to provide funding• Thus it is a specialized marketing piece

– Somewhat simpler if only used internally


Business Plan Contents• Overview or background

information• Market analysis• Marketing plan• High level product descriptions• Operational plan

– Manufacturing/deployment plan– Staffing needs– IT requirements

• Financing planCopyright © 2013-2014 Curt Hill

SBA’s Suggestions– (Suggestions to people trying to sell

the concept to a financier.)

• Executive Summary • Company Description • Market Analysis • Organization & Management • Service or Product Line • Marketing & Sales • Funding Request • Financial Projections



• What form would this take in the repository?– Would it be a single or multiple

document(s)

• How would a plan submitted to a bank be different than a plan submitted to a board of directors?


Node connectivity diagram• A high level diagram concerning

operational nodes and relationships• Two shapes make up the diagram• Circles represent nodes

– A person, group or program– Interior text identifies the node– Exterior text the type of processing

• Arrows are needlines– Flow of information or material from

one node to another– Text identifies what is flowing


Algebra Test Example


Project process diagram• This particular diagram covers how

a project gets started• It typically takes the form of a

swim lane diagram• Each lane represents a stakeholder

(or group of stakeholders) who must process the project proposal in some way

• It will either end in the project approved and ready to implement or sent back to the originator


Project process

• This does not analyze a particular project

• Instead it deals with the procedure in which a project gets initiated

• It details the steps a project must go through to be approved and get to the point of starting implementation – This models enterprise procedure


Example: New Course


Your Turn

• How well documented is this process before the first EA is created?– What would be the range?

• How would an architect discover the process?

• Is it different based on the originator? How?


Process/Service model

• Description of an activity• How do the steps in an activity

relate to one another• Commonly uses IDEF0• Shows the interaction of the steps

of a process


IDEF0

• Integration Definition for Function Modeling– A Federal Information Processing

Standard for function modeling from about 1993

• A function model is a structured representation of the functions, activities or processes within the modeled system or subject area.


A Function Template


Commentary• The box is a function or activity• Four arrows• Inputs are the data or material

– Enter from left

• Outputs are the transformed data or material– Exit on the right

• Controls regulate the activity– Entering the top

• Mechanism are the systems, equipment and people used in the step– Entering the bottom


Example


Other Possibilities

• A swim lane diagram might also be appropriate for describing a process or service– Observe the similarities between the

IDEF0 and the swim lane flow chart

• Often there are more lanes than are desirable for this type of diagram– In other cases this might be the best

way to describe a business process


Process/Product matrix

• A matrix with products on one side and line of business on another

• This allows easy viewing of the horizontal distribution of a component– Which LOBs use this product

• If the product has a lifecycle the stage of its lifecycle may be shown

• A service may be documented in similar fashion


Lifecycle


• Products go through a lifecycle• This may be categorized in several

ways• Market growth

– Development (not in market yet)– Introduction– Growth– Maturity– Decline– Discontinued

Product Market Graph


Lifecycle Again• Another way to think of the

lifecycle is the departments that are involved– Research & Development– Manufacturing– Distribution– Financial– Legal– Warehousing


Example


Product \ LOB Cars Trucks

Aviation

Marine

Super Carbs M M D R W

Anti Lock Brakes M D M

Radios M D W

M D D W

GPS R M D W

Networking M D R R

R = Research & DevelopmentM = ManufacturingD = DistributionW = Warehousing

Your Turn

• Why would documenting the product’s stage in its lifecycle be a good idea?


Use Case

• Describes the interaction between one or more stakeholders and the system

• The system may be people or computers

• Comes in several flavors– UML diagram – Text description


Text


• A use case has several components• Actors – who is involved

– Usually one is the primary

• Goals – what is the goal of this actor

• Story – how this actor interacts with the system to satisfy the goal

• Variations– Extensions are story variations

Example: Insurance Claim

• The primary actor is the insurance policy holder

• The goal is to get paid for damage to the actor’s car

• Main scenario has five steps


Scenario

1. Owner submits claim with evidence

2. Company verifies owner has policy

3. Company assigns agent to research claim

4. Agent finds no problems5. Company pays claim


Variations• 1a. Submitted claim is incomplete

– i. Company requests more data– ii. Owner provides missing data

• 2a. Owner has no valid policy– i. Company declines– ii. Process is ended

• 4a. Accident violates important policy– i. Company declines– ii. Record all information in case of suit– iii. Notify owner– iv. Process ended

• 4b. Accident violates minor policy– i. Begin negotiation


Example: Insurance Claim


Investment case

• Text report that considers the investment

• Summarizes the investment value, observable risk and possible return

• Goal is to supply enough information to make an intelligent decision

• Usually submitted to whomever has the power to invest the funds

• This may be a one pass or two pass process


What is included?• Identification

– Name of project, affected LOBs

• Costs, itemized by the years of the project

• The need for such a project• The costs of not having some

solution• Alternative solutions• Value and Risk formulations such

as Cost Benefit, ROI, NPV


Process• Once the business case as been

received by the deciding team it needs to be evaluated

• The results of the evaluation are added to the original document for the repository

• This work includes:– Check for existing solutions– Evaluation of the business case– Alignment with strategic goals

• If approved it is passed on for implementation


IT Capital Planning Portfolio• Most of the components at this

level are products the that the enterprise sells and and services that support this– This is the exception

• IT is used in support of the rest of the organization

• The business case that will produced has similar form to that we have seen earlier in this presentation


IT Business Case

• Will include – Requirements– Possible alternatives– Cost-Benefit analysis– NPV calculations– ROI calculations

• This should be considered as a separate presentation much later as well



• How does the business case for IT differ from the business case any project?


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