Enterprise Architecture Quarter

Product Design Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the third of four lectures of Project Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise design, or, in other words, to concepts related to creating architecture for achieving enterprise goals; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Lecture outline

The predecessor lecture is Business Analysis Quarter.

Concepts

• Feature. A cohesive bundle of externally visible functionality that should align with business goals and objectives. Each feature is a logically related grouping of functional requirements or non-functional requirements described in broad strokes.

1. Product. A solution or component of a solution that is the result of a project.
   • Product vision statement. A brief statement or paragraph that describes the why, what, and who of the desired software product from a business point of view.
   • Product backlog. A set of user stories, requirements or features that have been identified as candidates for potential implementation, prioritized, and estimated.
   • Product scope. The features and functions that characterize a product, service or result.

• Agile
• System. A set of interrelated and interdependent parts arranged in a manner that produces a unified whole.
• Open system. A system that interacts with its environment.
• Closed system. A system that is not influenced by and does not interact with its environment.

1. Systems engineering.
   • Datapoint-device architecture.
   • Configuration management.
2. Informational architecture.
   • Graphic design.
   • Usability.
   • UX design.

• Action design. A change process based on systematic collection of data and then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicate.
• Commitment concept. Plans should extend for enough to meet those commitments made when the plans were developed.
• Load chart. A modified Gantt chart that schedules capacity by entire departments or specific resources.
• Organizational development. A collection of planned change interventions, built on humanistic-democratic values, that seeks to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being.
• Organizational development. Change methods that focus on people and the nature and quality of interpersonal work relationships.
• Process. An action that individuals, groups, and organizations engage in as a result of inputs and that leads to certain outputs.

1. • Output. An immediate and direct result of a process.

• Statement of work (SOW). A narrative description of products or services to be supplied under contract.

1. • Statement of work (SOW). A formal document that defines the entire scope of the work that shall be completed in order to implement the proposed change.

• Input. A variable that leads to processes.

Practices

• Activity diagram. A model that illustrates the flow of processes and/or complex use cases by showing each activity along with information flows and concurrent activities. Steps can be superimposed onto horizontal swimlanes for the roles that perform the steps.
• Activity. A unit of work performed as part of an initiative or process.
• Association. A link between two elements or objects in a diagram.
• Assumption. Assumptions are influencing factors that are believed to be true but have not been confirmed to be accurate.
• Attribute. A data element with a specified data type that describes information associated with a concept or entity.
• Benchmarking. A comparison of a process or system's cost, time, quality, or other metrics to those of leading peer organizations to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Brainstorming. Brainstorming is a team activity that seeks to produce a broad or diverse set of options through the rapid and uncritical generation of ideas.
• Business analysis approach. The set of processes, templates, and activities that will be used to perform business analysis in a specific context.
• Business analysis communication plan. A description of the types of communication the business analyst will perform during business analysis, the recipients of those communications, and the form in which communication should occur.
• Business analysis plan. A description of the planned activities that the business analyst will execute in order to perform the business analysis work involved in a specific initiative.
• Business architecture. A subset of the enterprise architecture that defines an organization's current and future state, including its strategy, its goals and objectives, the internal environment through a process or functional view, the external environment in which the business operates, and the stakeholders affected by the organization's activities.
• Business case. An assessment of the costs and benefits associated with a proposed initiative.
• Business constraint(s). Business constraints are limitations placed on the solution design by the organization that needs the solution. Business constraints describe limitations on available solutions, or an aspect of the current state that cannot be changed by the deployment of the new solution. See also technical constraint.
• Business domain model. A conceptual view of all or part of an enterprise focusing on products, deliverables and events that are important to the mission of the organization. The domain model is useful to validate the solution scope with the business and technical stakeholders. See also model.
• Business event. A system trigger that is initiated by humans.
• Business goal. A state or condition the business must satisfy to reach its vision.
• Business policy. A business policy is a non-actionable directive that supports a business goal.
• Business process. A set of defined ad-hoc or sequenced collaborative activities performed in a repeatable fashion by an organization. Processes are triggered by events and may have multiple possible outcomes. A successful outcome of a process will deliver value to one or more stakeholders.
• Business rule(s). A business rule is a specific, actionable, testable directive that is under the control of the business and supports a business policy.
• Capability. A function of an organization that enables it to achieve a business goal or objective.
• Cardinality. The number of occurrences of one entity in a data model that are linked to a second entity. Cardinality is shown on a data model with a special notation, number (e.g., 1), or letter (e.g., M for many).
• Change control board (CCB). A small group of stakeholders who will make decisions regarding the disposition and treatment of changing requirements.
• Change-driven methodology. A methodology that focuses on rapid delivery of solution capabilities in an incremental fashion and direct involvement of stakeholders to gather feedback on the solution's performance.
• Class. A descriptor for a set of system objects that share the same attributes, operations, relationships, and behavior. A class represents a concept in the system under design. When used as an analysis model, a class will generally also correspond to a real-world entity.
• Class model. A type of data model that depicts information groups as classes.
• Code. A system of programming statements, symbols, and rules used to represent instructions to a computer.
• Commercial-off-the-shelf software (COTS). Software developed and sold for a particular market.
• Competitive analysis. A structured process which captures the key characteristics of an industry to predict the long-term profitability prospects and to determine the practices of the most significant competitors.
• Constraint. A constraint describes any limitations imposed on the solution that do not support the business or stakeholder needs.
• Context diagram. An analysis model that illustrates product scope by showing the system in its environment with the external entities (people and systems) that give to and receive from the system.
• Cost-benefit analysis. Analysis done to compare and quantify the financial and non-financial costs of making a change or implementing a solution compared to the benefits gained.
• Data dictionary. An analysis model describing the data structures and attributes needed by the system.
• Data entity. A group of related information to be stored by the system. Entities can be people, roles, places, things, organizations, occurrences in time, concepts, or documents.
• Data flow diagram (DFD). An analysis model that illustrates processes that occur, along with the flows of data to and from those processes.
• Data model. An analysis model that depicts the logical structure of data, independent of the data design or data storage mechanisms.
• Decision analysis. An approach to decision-making that examines and models the possible consequences of different decisions. Decision analysis assists in making an optimal decision under conditions of uncertainty.
• Decision table. An analysis model that specifies complex business rules or logic concisely in an easy-to-read tabular format, specifying all of the possible conditions and actions that need to be accounted for in business rules.
• Decision tree. An analysis model that provides a graphical alternative to decision tables by illustrating conditions and actions in sequence.
• Decomposition. A technique that subdivides a problem into its component parts in order to facilitate analysis and understanding of those components.
• Defect. A deficiency in a product or service that reduces its quality or varies from a desired attribute, state, or functionality. See also requirements defect.
• Deliverable. Any unique and verifiable work product or service that a party has agreed to deliver.
• Desired outcome. The business benefits that will result from meeting the business need and the end state desired by stakeholders.
• Dialog hierarchy. An analysis model that shows user interface dialogs arranged as hierarchies.
• Dialog map. An analysis model that illustrates the architecture of the system's user interface.
• Domain. The problem area undergoing analysis.
• Domain subject matter expert (SME). A person with specific expertise in an area or domain under investigation.
• Enterprise. An organizational unit, organization, or collection of organizations that share a set of common goals and collaborate to provide specific products or services to customers.
• Enterprise architecture. Enterprise architecture is a description of an organization’s business processes, IT software and hardware, people, operations and projects, and the relationships between them.
• Entity-relationship diagram. An entity-relationship diagram is a graphical representation of the entities relevant to a chosen problem domain, the relationships between them, and their attributes.
• Evaluation. The systematic and objective assessment of a solution to determine its status and efficacy in meeting objectives over time, and to identify ways to improve the solution to better meet objectives. See also metric, indicator and monitoring.
• Event. An event is something that occurs to which an organizational unit, system, or process must respond.
• Event response table. An analysis model in table format that defines the events (i.e., the input stimuli that trigger the system to carry out some function) and their responses.
• Evolutionary prototype. A prototype that is continuously modified and updated in response to feedback from users.
• External interface. An interface with other systems (hardware, software, and human) that a proposed system will interact with.
• Feasibility study. An evaluation of proposed alternatives to determine if they are technically possible within the constraints of the organization and whether they will deliver the desired benefits to the organization.
• Fishbone diagram. A diagramming technique used in root cause analysis to identify underlying causes of an observed problem, and the relationships that exist between those causes.
• Force field analysis. A graphical method for depicting the forces that support and oppose a change. Involves identifying the forces, depicting them on opposite sides of a line (supporting and opposing forces) and then estimating the strength of each set of forces.
• Glossary. A list and definition of the business terms and concepts relevant to the solution being built or enhanced.
• Impact analysis. An impact analysis assesses the effects that a proposed change will have on a stakeholder or stakeholder group, project, or system.
• Implementation subject matter expert (SME). A stakeholder who will be responsible for designing, developing, and implementing the change described in the requirements and have specialized knowledge regarding the construction of one or more solution components.
• Incremental delivery. Creating working software in multiple releases so the entire product is delivered in portions over time.
• Indicator. An indicator identifies a specific numerical measurement that indicates progress toward achieving an impact, output, activity or input. See also metric.
• Initiative. Any effort undertaken with a defined goal or objective.
• Inspection. A formal type of peer review that utilizes a predefined and documented process, specific participant roles, and the capture of defect and process metrics. See also structured walkthrough.
• Interface. A shared boundary between any two persons and/or systems through which information is communicated.
• Interoperability. Ability of systems to communicate by exchanging data or services.
• Interview. A systematic approach to elicit information from a person or group of people in an informal or formal setting by asking relevant questions and documenting the responses.
• Knowledge area. A group of related tasks that support a key function of business analysis.
• Lessons learned process. A process improvement technique used to learn about and improve on a process or project. A lessons learned session involves a special meeting in which the team explores what worked, what didn't work, what could be learned from the just-completed iteration, and how to adapt processes and techniques before continuing or starting anew.
• Metadata. Metadata is information that is used to understand the context and validity of information recorded in a system.
• Methodology. A set of processes, rules, templates, and working methods that prescribe how business analysis, solution development and implementation is performed in a particular context.
• Metric. A metric is a quantifiable level of an indicator that an organization wants to accomplish at a specific point in time.
• Model(s). A representation and simplification of reality developed to convey information to a specific audience to support analysis, communication and understanding.
• Monitoring. Monitoring is a continuous process of collecting data to determine how well a solution is implemented compared to expected results. See also metric and indicator.
• Objective. A target or metric that a person or organization seeks to meet in order to progress towards a goal.
• Object-oriented modeling. An approach to software engineering where software is comprised of components that are encapsulated groups of data and functions which can inherit behavior and attributes from other components; and whose components communicate via messages with one another. In some organizations, the same approach is used for business engineering to describe and package the logical components of the business.
• Operational support. A stakeholder who helps to keep the solution functioning, either by providing support to end users (trainers, help desk) or by keeping the solution operational on a day-to-day basis (network and other tech support).
• Operative rule(s). The business rules an organization chooses to enforce as a matter of policy. They are intended to guide the actions of people working within the business. They may oblige people to take certain actions, prevent people from taking actions, or prescribe the conditions under which an action may be taken.
• Opportunity analysis. The process of examining new business opportunities to improve organizational performance.
• Optionality. Defining whether or not a relationship between entities in a data model is mandatory. Optionality is shown on a data model with a special notation.
• Organization. An autonomous unit within an enterprise under the management of a single individual or board, with a clearly defined boundary that works towards common goals and objectives. Organizations operate on a continuous basis, as opposed to an organizational unit or project team, which may be disbanded once its objectives are achieved.
• Organization modeling. The analysis technique used to describe roles, responsibilities and reporting structures that exist within an organization.
• Organizational process asset. All materials used by groups within an organization to define, tailor, implement, and maintain their processes.
• Organizational readiness assessment. An assessment that describes whether stakeholders are prepared to accept the change associated with a solution and are able to use it effectively.
• Organizational unit. Any recognized association of people in the context of an organization or enterprise.
• Plan-driven methodology. Any methodology that emphasizes planning and formal documentation of the processes used to accomplish a project and of the results of the project. Plan-driven methodologies emphasize the reduction of risk and control over outcomes over the rapid delivery of a solution.
• Prioritization. The process of determining the relative importance of a set of items in order to determine the order in which they will be addressed.
• Problem statement. A brief statement or paragraph that describes the problems in the current state and clarifies what a successful solution will look like.
• Process map. A business model that shows a business process in terms of the steps and input and output flows across multiple functions, organizations, or job roles.
• Process model. A visual model or representation of the sequential flow and control logic of a set of related activities or actions.
• Project. A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.
• Project charter. A document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project, and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.
• Project scope. The work that must be performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions. See also scope.
• Regulator. A stakeholder with legal or governance authority over the solution or the process used to develop it.
• Relationship. A defined association between concepts, classes or entities. Relationships are usually named and include the cardinality of the association.
• Relationship map. A business model that shows the organizational context in terms of the relationships that exist among the organization, external customers, and providers.
• Repository. A real or virtual facility where all information on a specific topic is stored and is available for retrieval.
• Return on investment. A measure of the profitability of a project or investment.
• Risk. An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, will affect the goals or objectives of a proposed change.
• Root cause analysis. Root cause analysis is a structured examination of an identified problem to understand the underlying causes.
• Scenario. An analysis model that describes a series of actions or tasks that respond to an event. Each scenario is an instance of a use case.
• Scope. The area covered by a particular activity or topic of interest. See also project scope and solution scope.
• Scope model. A model that defines the boundaries of a business domain or solution.
• Sequence diagram. A type of diagram that shows objects participating in interactions and the messages exchanged between them.
• Service. Work carried out or on behalf of others.
• Span of control. Span of control is the number of employees a manger is directly (or indirectly) responsible for.
• Stakeholder analysis. The work to identify the stakeholders who may be impacted by a proposed initiative and assess their interests and likely participation.
• Stakeholder list, roles, and responsibility designation. A listing of the stakeholders affected by a business need or proposed solution and a description of their participation in a project or other initiative.
• State diagram. An analysis model showing the life cycle of a data entity or class.
• Structural rule. Structural rules determine when something is or is not true or when things fall into a certain category. They describe categorizations that may change over time.
• Structured walkthrough. A structured walkthrough is an organized peer review of a deliverable with the objective of finding errors and omissions. It is considered a form of quality assurance.
• Subject matter expert (SME). A stakeholder with specific expertise in an aspect of the problem domain or potential solution alternatives or components.
• Swimlane. The horizontal or vertical section of a process model that show which activities are performed by a particular actor or role.
• SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a model used to understand influencing factors and how they may affect an initiative.
• System. A collection of interrelated elements that interact to achieve an objective. System elements can include hardware, software, and people. One system can be a sub-element (or subsystem) of another system.
• Technical constraint(s). Technical constraints are limitations on the design of a solution that derive from the technology used in its implementation. See also business constraint.
• Technique. Techniques alter the way a business analysis task is performed or describe a specific form the output of a task may take.
• Temporal event. A system trigger that is initiated by time.
• Timebox. A fixed period of time to accomplish a desired outcome.
• Unified modeling language (UML). A non-proprietary modeling and specification language used to specify, visualize, and document deliverables for object-oriented software-intensive systems.
• Variance analysis. Analysis of discrepancies between planned and actual performance, to determine the magnitude of those discrepancies and recommend corrective and preventative action as required.
• Work breakdown structure (WBS). A deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. It organizes and defines the total scope of the project.

The successor lecture is Project Management Quarter.