Linking Business and IT Architecture

Linking Business and IT Architecture. Development of Methodology

Introduction

This paper outlines some thoughts on the development of enterprise architecture with the e4 framework. The proposition is how to bridge the activities of business strategy and business process design to the Information technology and solution selection and component design activity.

Specifically how to ensure the enterprise architecture components and choices are fully defined and explored in the technology design activities. Current methods and frameworks such as e4 and Catalyst provide elements and guidelines but further definition is felt needed to embrace the design principles and strategies that are becoming more evident in the marketplace. Notably:

• Service oriented architecture principles

• Automation tools for rapid design and delivery

• Evolution and position standards notably in service and business process design ; Java component design and in Open standards movements

• Support and “know-how” of meta models and governance practices to demonstrate reuse and managerial control and presence over the solution

• Evolution of Vendors and technology stack players towards component reuse and service orientation support

The aim is to provide some statements and equipment to build consistency between the business process activities and the technology solution activities that attempt to put a framework together to enable business process and strategy objectives.

Background

The development of methodology in Enterprise Architecture is positioned and repositioned during the life cycle of the bid and project phases. Experience shows that a number of elements come into play in defining the choice and use of the approach both within CSC and outside in the client, third party vendor domain and competitor activities.

The situation we are presented with in the life cycle covers potentially a number of overlapping important critical activities in both business and IT strategy and delivery. Many critical decision points are hit early on in the life cycle that have significant ramifications for downstream activities.

The challenge presented is to align the business activities with appropriate activities and decisions:

• Business strategic imperatives

• How the right strategy and choices for IT Portfolio are made

• Solution diagnostic

• The right method and approach to assessing the current and further technology needs of the organisation

• Process Improvement

• How business processes are improved and how this is supported with appropriate business and IT solution options and design

• Solution Options

• How the solution options are evaluated and made

• Process design

• How the detailed business solution design is achieved and delivered with the appropriate link between business and system models

• Solution choices

• How the choices and assessed and defined in logical and detail design stages

• Delivery

• Delivery models and tools

• Governance

• Methods and models

Historical road map

The development of Business Process Management (BPM) and the evolution of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) has led to a significant shift towards integration of IT to support business. New solution models where seen in early 2000/2001 with the rise of niche specialist solutions such as CRM, PDM, ECM and the introduction of integration backbone hubs (EAI) to enterprise strategies. This has further been developed through the evolution of standards and componentisation of solution functions to a point where front end and back end functionality (presentation and functional capability splits) have evolved into a range of potential solutions. Specific individual specialist solutions are no longer seen as “add-on” roles but can be integrated as part of a viable solution. Equally, once large scale monolithic ERP solutions are rapidly decoupling their technology stack to enable different choices and configurations to support both front, back end and middleware integration issues.

The consequences of these developments are has lead to a new set of challenges to meet this decoupling and distributed affect of IT alignment to business:

• The need to define standards for interoperability

• The need to establish a comprehensive set of meta models

• To define a rigorous performance infrastructure and optimisation to ensure QoS and on demand delivery of service.

• To provide presentation and channel services that meet needs of end users

• To define a rigorous security framework to support distributed services

• To support omni-presence in multi-channel technology developments e.g. telecoms.

We now see many cases in vendors and in competitor offerings that are demonstrating these trends.

The challenge for e4 and Enterprise Architecture

The e4 framework has evolved from the BPM and service orientation school of thought and presents current thinking initially defining from mid 90’s onward architectural design through to present day concepts in business and service design.

Enterprise Architecture Components

Architecture by definition is an activity of defining a set of logical and physical frameworks and design principles to a solution.

Enterprise Architecture Logical components

The following represent and major set of components required for consideration in Enterprise Architecture design. These are provided to aid discussion on the subject. These components should be further developed into a full scale Reference architecture model.

• Multi-channel Platform

• The different modes of technology delivery: mobile, IVR, Web, CC, IDTV, ..

• Portal Platform

• The different modes of presentation and components for presentation including Self service , Single sign-on, portlets ..

• Service Orchestration

• Methods and tools for process and service routing and activation. Includes BPM, Rules engines, Work flow.

• Service Performance Platform

• Different tools and methods for business and system service and IT optimisation delivery . Includes at least 7 types of logical platforms: SLA / OLA performance; simulation; Web service/message performance; interface and network performance; application event monitors. QoS and DQM quality optimisation tools

• Service Development Platform

• The development, test, integration and delivery environments. These now include a range of technologies in the SOA environment including: Web service automatic design generation; business and system modelling tools (e.g. rational, borland etc); Configuration and version control tools; meta model ontology management (Semantic standards models e.g. RDF, OWL); XML and interface design tools

• Service Delivery Platform

• The key tools and components for delivery of integration capabilities. These include: Service bus; service registry; service meta model library;

• Security Platform

• The comprehensive framework for services management and design of security within and outside of the solution. This includes both fine grain and coarse grained management tools including: DRM, LDAP, SSO, Database and message level security; web service security.

• Core Applications Platform(s)

• These are the range of potential functional applications. These include: ERP, CRM, SCM, PDM, DW, BI, ECM and many others

• Data Platform

• This is the meta models and specific data libraries and resources. A range of Information management models and tools are in this space: including: DQM, ECM, DW, BI, Meta Model management tools. This is discussed in a bit more detail next section.

(Please refer to the Magellan Database for further details on request)

Enterprise Architecture meta models

A key element of the Enterprise architecture design practice is the construction of reliable consistent meta models.

These models range from Business process models to the specific services and data and interfaces through which these are provided.

These models can exist in conceptual, logical, physical and executable forms.

Work needs to be done to define a consistency between these models.

There are wider concepts that are then modelled in strategy and governance and support environments:

How these models are defined need to be consist from strategy, business process to governance and support environments.

Standards

There are many taxonomy standards to be considered. A brief list is provided here for consideration: (please refer to the Magellan Database for further details on request)

• Open Source Standards

• ODF

• OpenXML

• OpenJMS

• OpenEJB

• OpenORB

• Castor

• Tyrex

• XSL:P

• SysML

• EA methodologies

• UML v2.0

• SysML

• MDA

• DoDAF

• MODAF

• UML Testing profile

• BPMN

• BPEL

• BPEL4People

• TTCN-2

• TTCN-3

• SDL

• OWL

• RDF/S

• Knowledge Management Standards

• CL

• Cyc and OpenCyc

• DAML+OIL

• Frame-based knowledge representation

• KIF

• OKBC

• Ontolingua

• Developer / SDK

• EJB 3.0 – future

• Java EE 5 – future

• JDO

• Multi-channel access

• HTTP/S

• HTML

• Javascript

• WML

• Enterprise portal

• iView

• JSP

• WS-RP

• ASP.NET

• JSR 168

• Collaboration

• ebXML

• Rossetta Net

• EDI

• XML

• SMTP

• BPM/ Business Integration

• BPMN

• BPML

• ARIS ML

• BPEL v2

• Application resources

• Web Services

• APEX-Oracle

• JDBC

• FTP

• Queues

• WebDAV

• J2EE Framework

• .NET Framework

• DotNET

• COBRA

• WSDL (W3C)

• WSDL (W3C) used to express related schema fragments constrain XML instance data being passed in and out of services

• W3C's XML Schema

• ISO/IEC 11179 Part 3 (ISO standard for metadata registries)

• OASIS ebXML Registry-Repository Technical Specifications

• OASIS UDDI Technical Specification

• UDDI version 2 (supports external UDDI) future moving to v3

• Federated ID using Liberty / SAML standard

• Support external access directories RAD NS and LDAP

• Netlogin (Activity Directory and LDAP

• X.509 Digital certificates and OCES Certificates

• Act 404

• Danish Standard DS 484

• TeleManagement SID Model

• Support web services; RMI, JMS queues

• Request-Reply

• Publish-Subscribe

• Replication

Mark Skilton

January 2006

#BPM #SOA #BusinessArchitecture #ITArchitecture #ArchitectureGovernance