Project Requirements Process R065

R065 - Create & Maintain Enterprise Business Model

DEFINITION

Set up the initial enterprise business model and put in place maintenance procedures to ensure it remains up-to-date throughout the project.

SUMMARY

The purpose of an enterprise business model is to produce a road map of where the company has been, where it is going, and how to get there.  The model produced now will play a significant role in customisation and progress tracking.  In part, it can be used to build package functionality automatically, based upon standard elements supplied with the package or available within the Consultant organisation.

The enterprise business model should involve partial models pertaining to relevant aspects of the information system being instigated.  The partial models include:

• data model
• function model
• process flow model
• organisation model.

PATH PLANNING GUIDANCE

This process is optional.  It is used in projects using an initial Project Model and building an enterprise business model for use in iterative prototyping.

DEPENDENCIES

Prerequisites (Finish-Finish):

• Select base business model templates (R055)

Dependent procedures (Finish-Finish):

• Agree initial enterprise business model (R069)

Dependent procedures (Finish-Start):

• Schedule initial process modelling workshops (R067)
• Conduct initial process modelling workshops (R068)

RECEIVABLE

• Business Process Re-engineering results (R050)
• Foundation (R010)
• Constraints (R040)

DELIVERABLES

• Enterprise Business Model (and partial models)

TOOLS

• Example - ARIS Toolset

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TASKS

Introduction

When planning the business information-processing concept, business operational aspects should be developed in which to document requirements in a beneficial fashion.  Written specifications should be supplemented by graphical descriptions in order to achieve greater clarity.

Build upon reference business model templates (levels 1, 2, and 3) as appropriate and adapt them to fit the business needs.  Where possible, cross reference package module functionality to current business processes.

Modelling

By modelling the functions of the package, a business reference model serves to minimise the complexity of the information system by means of abstraction and graphical visualisation.  The initial model provides a foundation for follow-on activities within the scope of customisation and system adaptation.

As information is gathered, it should be stored in various partial models to reduce overall complexity.  The partial models will, at some point, be re-integrated.  For that reason, as the partial models are developed, they should be co-ordinated with one another.

Some relevant partial models are described below:

• Data model - depicts data at a level spanning various functions.  This model portrays the information objects of relevance to a company and their relationship from a business standpoint.  The data model contains logical data structures from the user level and transcribed into concepts for the formal data structures.  The main objective of a data model is to see whether the package can handle all needed data.  Refer to “Build / maintain data dictionary / data model” (D170).
• Function model - used to define the needed Software Application functionality in prototyping.  The basic model portrays the information flows in the data model through the organisation’s functional network as a static structure.  Permissible operations are shown graphically by its position above or below another function, and by relative grouping on the function tree.  The extent of subdivisions in a functional area depends on the relative business importance of that function.  Business functions are defined based on the business content of the input and output data, with elementary functions performed as a complete unit.
• Process flow model - portrays the dynamic aspects of the information system.  This model should be based on existing reference templates and adapted to company specifications for use in the initial process modelling workshops - Process R068.  The goal of the process model is to illustrate the dependencies between functions:  an event is one function being triggered by another within the process model to show the information input required for execution, the generated information output, and the organisational unit responsible for executing a given function.
• Organisation model - future oriented to depict the organisational goal of the developing information system.

BPR - BPI

The overriding objective of enterprise models is to generate a model of actual operations as a basis for planning a structured information system.  The important questions stated during the enterprise modelling process are:

• What information exists in the company and how can this information be managed within the package’s architecture?
• How is this information shared and how is exchange of data between package applications supported?
• Which functions should be included in the proposed information system, and what business functions of relevance are provided by the package’s application software?
• In what logical sequence can functions be implemented, and how can they be supported by the package?
• When, which, and how will information be required when implementing the functions?

Specialised tools

There are a variety of tools to aid in enterprise modelling.  

Model Maintenance

Keeping the models up-to-date should be a regular task.  Following the business modelling workshop, the models should all be current to begin further work.