About this page:

Organizations are constantly searching for improving their Information Technology Systems, aimed at automating as many as possible tasks and providing management with reliable information for better decision making.

IT is the strongest enabler for gaining higher efficiency and better customer satisfaction.

Very often implementing new IT system goes in parallel to conducting business process analysis, so they will complement each other.

Ez-B-Process motto is To Bring Simplicity, Efficiency, And Effectiveness To Business.

Ez-B-Process has conducted many IT projects for Small, Mid-size, and Large Organizations.

Our projects include all phases of IT development lifecycle, from initialization through development to implementation and  maintenance.

We master both Waterfall, Structured Lifecycle (SSADM) and the Agile,  incremental approach to IT development.

We utilize Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture, in many or our recent IT projects.

We have undertaken the comprehensive approach to implementing both standard ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems and improved processes and procedures.

 

This page is aimed at increasing clients' understanding of key aspects in IT lifecycle, and adjusting their expectations from the process and its possible implications.

 

In This Page you'll find issues related to the different aspects of IT Strategic Architecture and Software Development, presented in an academic manner:

• SSADM - Structured Systems Analysis & Design Method,

• Agile IT Development philosophy,

• DSDM - Dynamic Systems Development Method,

• Time-boxing concept,

• Good Object Oriented Procedure,

• Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture,

• RUP - Rational Unified Process,

• UML - Unified Modelling Language,

• DFD - Data Flow Diagrams,

• IDEF process mapping.

You may also want to view the other pages related to business consulting services; Business Process Reengineering, and Small Businesses as well as the Resources page.

Please Contact us for more information about our Business Consulting Services (Please do not modify the subject line of the email).

SSADM - Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method

• "SSADM is a set of standards developed in the early 1980s for systems analysis and application design. Unlike Rapid/ Agile Application Development, which conducts steps in parallel, SSADM builds each step on the work that was prescribed in the previous step with no deviation from the model.

• SSADM fits the "Waterfall" Project Management Methodology.

• Advantage:

  • because of the rigid structure of the methodology, SSADM provides better control over projects.

• Disadvantage:

• IT development projects are long in time, with each phase being approved by client each phase's products, once approved, are "frozen" for requirements

• the developed system, even if fits its formal requirements, not necessarily meets the user's concurrent needs.

• Techniques: SSADM uses a combination of three techniques, each of which provides a different viewpoint of the same system, and each viewpoint is required to form a complete model of the system being designed. Logical Data Modelling, Data Flow Modelling, and Entity Behaviour Modelling

   Agile IT Development

 

The Iterational - Incremental Development Concept
According to RUP Methodology 

WHY? An initial design is likely to be flawed with respect to its key requirements. Late discovery of design defects results in costly over-runs and, in some cases, even project cancellation. The earlier in the lifecycle those flaws are found, the lesser the consequences are. Many risks are not discovered until the system's integration and implementation. Also - requirements change during the development time, as stakeholders learn more and new technology evolves.

HOW? In a Waterfall lifecycle, you figure out whether the system meets its stakeholders' needs only after the entire system is developed and integrated. In an iterative lifecycle, you select what increment to develop in an iteration based on list of key risks. Since the iteration produces a tested executable, you can verify whether you have mitigated the targeted risk or not - after short time.

BENEFITS:   Risks are mitigated earlier, because elements are integrated progressively Changing requirements and tactics are accommodated.

                      Improving and refining the product is facilitated, resulting in a more robust product.

                     Organizations can learn from this approach and improve their process.

                      Re-usability is increased.

 

Agile Alliance Article Library

   

Originally known as Dynamic Systems Development Method, DSDM is defined as “A Framework for Business Centered Development”. (www.dsdm.org/)

DSDM Nine Characteristics

• Active user involvement

• Development team empowerment

• Frequent product delivery

• Business fitness is key

• Iterative/ incremental development

• All changes are reversible

• Requirement set at high level only

• Testing is integrated throughout lifecycle

• Collaboration between stakeholders! 

 

DSDM Project Management Implication

• Control on Products and Requirements

• Time-boxing: fixed time-scales, in contrast with critical-path Need manage and motivate user involvement

• MORE management needed, not less!

• DSDM is Calendar-Driven project management approach: it is characterized by an obsessive focus on schedule.

             Risk of calendar-driven:

• chaotic development methods

• lack of business sustainability (e.g., scaleability, extensibility, etc)

• long-term stress and demotivation.
   

• DSDM is also seems to be Requirements-Driven: rigid focus on the system's outwardly observable behaviour.

Risk of requirements-driven:

• lack of motivation to deal with sustainability

• architecture: large number of independent functional components.

Time-Boxing Concept

One of the core concepts of DSDM is called “time-boxing”, and is seen to be in contrast with a project’s critical-path. Geoff Randall, a DSDM strategy & Innovation Director at IBM, described DSDM and the concept of “time-boxing”:

“Companies are business focused, demand rigid deadlines and work within constrained resources and cost limits. They need regular refinement of their direction and need to prioritize and compromise. The same is true of people in their daily lives. We are constrained by fixed appointments and deadlines, constantly re-appraising and re-prioritizing the next action while accepting that what can’t be achieved within the available time must be either rescheduled or dropped. However, even in this environment of compromise, essential things obviously must be done”.

 Read: DSDM in Controlled Industries. By Steve Messenger, Director, DSDM Consortium.

Good Object Oriented Procedure     (According to Booch)

1. Ruthless focus on providing essential minimum requirements

2. Focus on results

3. Effective use of OO modelling

4. Strong architectural vision

5. Well-managed iterative/ incremental development lifecycle

 

Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture

This, five-by-six matrix, highlights the roles played by key actors (e.g., owners and users) in the creation of artefacts. It addresses their involvement in the related processes, and their unique informational needs and contributions.

The six columns of the matrix can be tied to "the basic set of interrogative primitives: what, how, where, who, when, and why". In the framework these could be translated to data, function, network, people, time, and motivation.
 

The five rows of the matrix represent the needs of different stakeholders and their concerns. The rows indicate

(1) contextual architecture's scope (planner viewpoint),
(2) conceptual enterprise business model (owner viewpoint),
(3) logical system model (designer viewpoint),
(4) physical technology model (builder viewpoint), and
(5) detailed component model (contractor viewpoint).
 

                                        The Artefacts for Rows 1&2 of the framework.

                                        Visit John Zachman's home page,

       

    Recommended article by Lyer & Gottlieb (2004), IBM Systems Journal, 43(3), 587-597.            

    The Four Domain Architecture: An Approach to Support Enterprise Architecture Design 

 

 

RUP - Rational Unified Process

Read an article by Kruchten, Philippe. (1996, July 6).
A Rational Development Process. Crosstalk, 9(7), 11-16.

 

 

Read an article: Inter-Operability of DSDM with RUP.


 

Read Chapter 6 of this book: The Lifecycle of  a Use Case

 

 View online presentation on Writing Good Use Cases (75 minutes)

 

Open and view: Agile Unified Process (AUP) and Rational Unified Process (RUP) Lifecycle Diagrams.

      

 

        

"Modeling is the designing of software applications" www.UML.org
 

 

Since 1997, Object Management Group (OMG)'s  UML has become a standard modeling language for object-oriented applications.

Advantage:

• Standardised notation without sacrificing specialised model data

• Common language that can be used from inception to transition, from high level contextual to detailed system modelling

• Reduced learning curve across projects

• Increased domain and design model reuse

View The UML Poster and The UML Diagrams

Detailed UML Diagrams by SmartDraw:

• Class Diagrams

• Use case Diagrams

• Sequence Diagrams

• State Transition Diagrams

• Activity Diagrams
   

Download a Free Trial of  SmartDraw  
                                      
Download a Free Trial of Microsoft Visio 2003  

Pacestar UML Diagrammer can help you generateall varieties of UML diagrams Easily, Quickly, and Inexpensively.    
 

Amazing Visio is a tool-set to add true power to your Visio drawings.
 

DFD - Data Flow Diagrams

DFDs show the flow of data from external entities into the system, show how the data move from one process to another, as well as its logical storage.

DFD diagrams have only four symbols:

• Squares representing external entities, which are sources or destinations of data.

• Rounded rectangles representing processes, which take data as input, do something to it, and output it.

• Arrows representing the data flows, which can either be electronic data or physical items.

• Open-ended rectangles representing data stores, including electronic stores such as databases or XML files and physical stores such as or filing cabinets or stacks of paper.

Take Free DFD Online Tutorial

  IDEF is described as “A combination of graphic and narrative symbols and rules designed to capture the processes and structures of an enterprise.” (Hunt, 1996)

 

An IDEF0 Function modelling provides for each function Input, Output, Mechanism and Control.

From IDEF0 to IDEF5 the family of IDEF products are aimed at Function modelling, Information modelling, Data modelling, Process modelling, Object oriented design modelling.
 

           View Ezra's MBA Dissertation, IDEF0 diagrams for Clinical Trial.

            See an online example of Process Mapping using IDEF0