Download Business Processes

Business Architectures,
Federal Transition Framework and
Semantic Interoperability
Presentation to Best Practices Committee
September 13, 2006
Denise Bedford
Business Architecture in Enterprise
Architecture
• Descriptions of Enterprise Architecture present typically
include 3 layers:
– Technology architecture
– Information architecture
– Services architecture
• A critical layer, though, is often overlooked - Business
Architecture
• Goals of Business Architecture
– Designing our technologies to support the business – the way
we work
– Align and evaluate the use of all of our assets around business
– Provide a perspective on the business without having to realign
the administrative or organizational structure
Business Architecture in the FTF
Performance Layer
SPC Measurement Area
SPC Measurement Category
Outcome
Requirement
Mandate
Line of Business
Business Process
Business Layer
Common Business Process
Business Subprocess/Task
Data Layer
Entity
Business Function Schema
Excchange Package
Service Type
Business Function Value
Query Point
Data Asset
Shared Service
Component Repository
Service Component
Service Component
Layer
Shared Component
Technology Layer
Tech Service Category
Tech Service Standard
Business Layer
•
Business Layer describes the common business processes and initiatives across the
organization. These are aligned with a logical business architecture model which is
described in greater detail below (Question 3).
•
Lines of Business are defined generally as a set of business processes that generate
lines or families of products and services.
•
Business Processes are defined generally as sequential set of activities having a
beginning and ending point, generating results (outputs and/or outcomes) of
measurable value to the organization.
•
Business Subprocesses are defined generally as a set of activities which cannot
stand on their own – but are leveraged by a business process (get a name and
address)
•
Business Activities or Tasks are defined generally as individual steps that make up
either a business process or a subprocess.:
•
Common Business Process is a process which has been rationalized across the
organization. Common Business Processes may have variations in practice which
are documented in the business architecture.
Information (Data) Layer
•
Information Layer describes the common information exchange packages,
information repositories and standards which support the business
architecture.
•
It includes entities and relationships pertaining to information exchanged as
part of a common business process. The data layer foundation should be a
fully elaborated corporate data model. The data layer includes:
•
Business Function Scheme is a critical component of this layer –
represented as a controlled hierarchical structure.
•
Scheme is a representation of the Business Architecture -- a progressive
decomposition of Business Areas, Lines of Business, Business Processes,
Business Subprocesses and Tasks. This schema is used to categorize all
kinds of information and assets to business perspectives.
•
Business Function Values the actual values which are used to describe the
five layers of the business architecture and to categorize assets wherever
they live and are managed.
Business Process Architecture – High Level Framework
Enterprise Goals
Business Area
Key Performance Indicators,
Strategic & Performance
Contracts
Inputs, Outputs,
Products, Services,
Resources
Lines of Business
Business Processes
Business Subprocesses and Tasks
Business Area – Level 1
• Business Areas represent the organization’s highest
level strategy and performance goals. Business Areas
are identified by the organization’s senior management
and are published in the World Bank’s Strategy and
Performance Contracts. There are currently two
Business Areas defined through 2008
– Financial, Administrative and Corporate Business Area – which
may be broken down into client or internal facing lines of
business;
– Operational Business Area – which may be broken down into
network or regional operational lines of business.
Line of Business
• A Line of business (LOB) is defined in terms of
lines or groups of products or services.
• Set of criteria for World Bank Lines of Business - describe the line of business wholistically.
• A Line of Business is identified only when all of
these criteria are met.
Criteria for a Line of Business
Definition
There must be an accepted and published definition of the business line which is accepted by the organization.
Policies and Governance Processes
There should be a published policy or set of policies pertaining to a business line.
Products & Services
Business lines must generate products and services which are required to sustain the organization’s business.
Budget
A line of business must have a defined budget line and recurring budget allocations.
Risks
If a line of business is needed to support an enterprise there is a business risk if it is not available; each line of
business should have a business continuity risk rating.[i]
Service Standards/Metrics
Any product or service line must have published service standards and quality metrics.
Clients/Stakeholders
Business lines must have defined clients and stakeholders, internal or external to the organization.
Human Resource Assets
Lines of business use people to perform work, have a set of core competencies that define the work, have
pertinent job profiles, and human resource assets that sustain them.
Facilities, Technology & Information
Assets
Lines of business are supported by facilities (office space, equipment, and supplies; consume energy; use
communication resources; technology assets; data/information assets)
Comparable Industrial
Sector/Competencies
Most lines of business within organizations have a comparable external economic product or service line/sector.
Known Business Processes
A line of business must have one or more associated business processes.
Business Area
A line of business must be publicly acknowledged and associated with a Business Area as defined in the
Strategic and Performance Contracts.
Examples of Lines of Business
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Asset Management Services
Auditing Services
Business Continuity Services
Capacity Building and Training
Products and Services
Conference Services
Corporate Budget Services
Corporate Legal Products and
Services
Corporate Management
Services
Corporate Procurement
Services
• Corporate Risk Management
Services
• Development Research
Products and Services
• External Affairs Management
• Facilities Services
• Fiduciary Products and
Services
• Food Services
• Graphics, Cartography and
Photography Services
• Health Services
• Human Resource
Management Services
• Information Services
Business Process
• Business process is defined as a set of one or more linked
procedures or activities which collectively realize a business
objective or policy goal, normally within the context of an
organizational structure defining functional roles and relationships
• Business process generates a product or service
• This is the first level in the business architecture which is
‘executable’ at the workflow level
• Business processes should be represented as business process
models
• Business process modeling should identify all the assets, products
and services associated with business subprocesses and activities
Example of a Business Process
This model describes how we establish funding and obtain external funds
This is
an event
This is a
step
This is a unit that
performs the step
This is a
system
Let’s compose this
subprocess
Criteria for Business Process
Definition
Has defined conditions triggering its initiation in each new instance (e.g. the arrival of a request) and
defined outputs at its completion
Inputs/Outputs
Has defined inputs which are converted directly into outputs at the end of the process.
Business Subprocesses or Tasks
Can be decomposed into subprocesses or directly to tasks.
Procedures and Best Practices
Is more likely to be addressed by best practices and procedures than policy statements and governance
models. May be represented as a manual or digital procedural model. Policies are implemented at the
process level, and procedures are the rules we design to implement the process. [i]
Business Process Model
Can be represented as a business process model, adhering to modeling guidelines. Business processes
are represented as business process models.
Budget
A business process should be able to accumulate costs across organizational units, regardless of where it
is performed.
Risks
Business processes may inherit or may have a distinct business risk of their line of business. At the
business process level is where we should see controls implements to mitigate risks, as well as an
institutional view of the level of risk that is acceptable. Business processes will have different types of
risks, and perhaps multiple types of risks (business continuity, fiduciary, legal).
Service Standards/Metrics
There may be service standards/metrics associated with a specific business process.
Clients/Stakeholders
Business processes generate a product or service for a client or stakeholder, internal or external.
Human Resource Assets
Both LOB and BP consume human resources, one at a group level and the other at an individual level.
have a set of core competencies that define the work, have pertinent job profiles, and human resource
assets that sustain them. It should be possible to use the TRS data to identify which HR assets are
being consumed by and allocated to a particular business process.
Data/Information Assets
Uses instances of data/information at different steps in the business process/subprocess.
Financial Resources
Tracks resources required to produce individual products or services.
Technology Assets
May be supported by one or more technical components, or by no technology.
Business Subprocess & Activity
• Business Subprocess is a sequence of activities which do not stand
on their own – they are called by an initiating process.
• A Business Activity is a description of a piece of work that forms one
logical step within a process. An activity is the smallest unit of work
which is scheduled in a process.
• One activity may result in multiple work items being assigned to a
participant or actor.
• At the levels of Business Process, Business Subprocess and Activity
– we want to see
–
–
–
–
–
Human resources
IT resources
Financial resources
Information assets
Facilities
Elements of Semantic Interoperability
• Business Architecture is a very important component of semantic
interoperability but it is very challenging to achieve
• Organization has to agree to have or map to a single view
• Governance and business stewardship are important aspects of
‘interoperability’ at this level
• Business Function Scheme is important for achieving semantic
interoperability – without this there is no ‘backbone’
• Programmatic categorization is key to semantic interoperability –
without this, there is no practical application or implementation – it’s
all just fancy shelfware
View of the Business Function Scheme
Programmatic Categorization to Business
Perspective
• Model the ‘decision making’ process of people – rules
are not always straight forward
• Person reads the first portion of a document – looking for
key terms which signify a process
• Use ‘concept extraction’ to identify the key phrases
• Use ‘semantic conditions’ to review key portions of the
document to find these phrases
• Use categorization tools to model the semantic
conditions
Enterprise Level Profile for Categorization to Business Perspective
UCM Service
Requests
Update & Change
Requests
Enterprise Metadata Profile
Data Governance
Process for
Topics, Business Function,
Country, Region, Keywords,
People, Organizations, Project ID
Concept Extraction Technology
Country
Organization Name
People Name
Series Name/Collection Title
Author/Creator
Title
Publisher
Standard Statistical Variable
Version/Edition
Categorization Technology
Topic Categorization
Business Function Categorization
Region Categorization
Sector Categorization
Theme Categorization
e-CDS Reference Sources for
Country, Region, Topics
Business Function, Keywords,
Project ID, People, Organization
Rule-Based Capture
Project ID
Trust Fund #
Loan #
Credit #
Series #
Publication Date
Language
Enterprise Profile
Development &
Maintenance
System 5
Summarization
TK240 Client
Teragram Team
System 4
System 1
System 2
System 3
Content Owners
Content Owners
APIs &
Integration
Dedicated Server –
Teragram Semantic
Engine – Concept Extraction, Categorization,
Clustering, Rule Based Engine, Language Detection
ISP Integration
APIs &
Integration
IRIS Integration
Business Analyst
Content
Capture
XML Wrapped
Metadata
Enterprise
Metadata
Capture
Strategy
TK240 Client
Functional
Team
Content
Capture
XML Wrapped
Metadata
XML Output
APIs &
Integration
ImageBank Integration
Enterprise
Profile
Development &
Maintenance
APIs &
Technical Integration
Factiva Metadata
Database
Reference Sources
Indexers
Librarians
Sustaining Interoperability for Business Function
How Do We Get There?
• Model business processes working with business process managers
• Identify business stewards and formalize a governance model
• Formalize the scheme as a representation of the overall architecture
• Align assets with business processes
• Build profiles to represent the rules a human follows to discover a
business process
• Programmatically tag assets to business scheme