Internal Benefit Measurement of SEPO Project

In our project of Internal Benefit Measurement of SEPO, we use four different webpage formats to analyze, guide format, benefit format, quick answer format, and smart answer format.

1. Guide Format Description

This first format refers to pages giving information of guidance and procedure description. A guide format may include information as followed:

(1) Basic bullets for guidance of a step-by-step process

(2) Basic information in several aspects on a procedure or a concept

(3) Reference links to other pages

2. Benefit Format Description:

Benefit formats describes pages, which could help citizens do the following things on-line:

(1) Pay for tax/fine/transport fee and so on.

(2) Apply for TFN/ ABN/GST and so on.

(3) Other government-related business which citizens could do on-line.

3. Quick Answer Description:

Quick answer formats describes simple information pages, which give citizens clear answer based on unambiguous key words.

4. Smart Answer Description:

The smart answer format is a good way to lead the user into the appropriate government department by asking answers of certain questions. A smart answer format may include the information as follow:

(1) One or more dialog boxes for user to fill

(2) One or more drop-down lists for user to choose

After gathering and analyzing the information automatically, the user can be lead to a certain page to proceed. We list out two examples from the SA government website using the format.

And in each of the four parts, we provide some examples from SA government website to demonstrate. In addition, performance measurement is also used in demonstrate the potential internal benefits in each of the four formats.

To calculate the overall internal benefit, the evaluation equation can be used:

Success degree * Guide format + Success degree * Benefit format + Success degree * Quick answer format + Success degree * Smart answer format

Performance Measurement

Performance measurement is a process for collecting and reporting information regarding the performance of an individual, group or organizations. It can involve looking at process/strategies in place, as well as whether outcomes are in line with what was intended or should have been achieved. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_measurement)

And also, Performance measurement can help in analyze the performance of our products, services, and the processes that produce them. It can help us understand, manage, and improve how our organizations do. Performance measures let us know:

·  how well our product is doing

·  if our product is meeting the production goals

·  if our customers are satisfied with the product

·  if our service processes are in statistical control

·  what we can do to improve them.

As a process itself, performance measurement is an overall management system involving prevention and detection aimed at achieving objects of the work product or service to your customer's requirements. In addition, it is concerned with process optimization through increased efficiency and effectiveness of the process or product. These actions occur in a continuous cycle, allowing options for expansion and improvement of the work process or product as better techniques are discovered and implemented. (http://www.orau.gov/pbm/handbook/Section-1.html)

There are six general categories which can be used as performance measurement groups.

1. Effectiveness: A process characteristic indicating the degree to which the process output (work product) conforms to requirements. (Are we doing the right things?)

2. Efficiency: A process characteristic indicating the degree to which the process produces the required output at minimum resource cost. (Are we doing things right?)

3. Quality: The degree to which a product or service meets customer requirements and expectations.

4. Timeliness: Measures whether a unit of work was done correctly and on time. Criteria must be established to define what constitutes timeliness for a given unit of work. The criterion is usually based on customer requirements.

5. Productivity: The value added by the process divided by the value of the labor and capital consumed.

6. Safety: Measures the overall health of the organization and the working environment of its employees.

(http://www.orau.gov/pbm/handbook/p2.html)

In the project of SEPO, we used the first five categories to analyze the internal benefit of the project.

SOA and EA

Blog 9

=======

Other activities which are similar to enterprise architecture and Business-IT alignment.

SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) is an activity similar to EA. The concept of SOA is announced by Gartner in 1996. SOA concept supplies a kind of Architecture style, which can simplifies the business and inter-operability between different business units. It can strengthen the connection between the units, thus identify capability of the enterprise quickly and avoid duplicate capability among different business fields, departments, and units.

SOA focus on building application system with more flexibility, which is of importance in to day complex and high-speed developing business environment.

In the implementation of SOA, because of the finer granularity it brings, the complexity unavoidably happens in the total system. Therefore, there are some aspect should be think of in the implementation:

1. The understanding of the relationship between technology groups and service groups

2. Tracking business to IT system

3. Platform and inter-operability

4. Performance visualization and optimization

Layer interaction in SOA

If these aspects cannot be solved appropriately, the SOA project will suffer considerable risk in the following aspects:

1. Cannot evaluate the project correctly. This may lead to overspending in infrastructure or low-quality service.

2. Lead to islands in services according to the implement details, thus cause the IT architecture fragile and great amount maintain cost.

3. Cannot help the potential consumers identify the reusable services, thus cause the duplication in services, lack of visibility and complexity increase in integration.

It is a good way to develop EA in the company to ensure the implementation of SOA.

As to SOA, EA provide a series of tools and technologies which can help build relationship between business-dominant SOA and developer-dominant SOA, thus solve the problems SOA is facing:

1. EA links the IT capital and business in clear and quantified ways. With amplified context, these models can effectively support evaluation and project portfolio management.

2. EA defines principles, framework, patterns and standards, ensures the inter-operability and reusability.

3. EA links different opinions of single business project among different departments, provide a consistent model.

The EA uses a kind of unified, standardized, broad language, linking the strategy, vision, motivation, business ability gaps, and etc. All of these would be described in detail in the architecture documentation, with which can easily track, analyze and certify the support degree to the business.

EA Tool Evaluation

Blog 10
=======
Write about EA tools. What do you think of them? Are they really useful? How about cost?

What should be considered in evaluating an EA tool?

The evaluation process should consist of two dimensions: the basic functionality of the tool, and the utility of the tool to different professionals.

When reviewing an EA tool’s basic functionality, the tools basic functionality should be examined in the following areas:

Methodologies and Models;

Model Development Interface;

Tool Automation;

Extendibility and Customization;

Analysis and Manipulation;

Repository;

Deployment Architecture;

Costs and Vendor Support;

Architecture Results.

When considering the tool’s utility to different professionals, captures the fitness for purpose of the tool, and describes how useful the tool would be to particular professionals. The types of professionals considered were:

Enterprise Architects;

Solution Architects

Strategic Planners / Management;

Enterprise Program Managers

Software Architects / engineers

External Partners.

After the evaluation in all these factors, the architect should fill in the following blanks.

Model Development Interface:

The overall quality of the model development interface is an important characteristic of any enterprise architecture development tool. The interface must support the modeling activity well, and must also be intelligently structured, make good use of limited screen space, be logical and consistent to use and navigate.

Tool Automation:

Developing and populating enterprise architecture models is often the most time consuming part of the enterprise architecture development activity. By providing support for automating parts of the enterprise architecture development processes, a tool can help speed up the overall development activity.

Extendibility and Customization:

This functional group captures how well an enterprise architecture tool can be modified to meet the unique enterprise architectural requirements of a unique organization. Enterprise Architecture tools may support customization by allowing users to add new modeling approaches or to modify the modeling approaches already supported by the tool.

Analysis and manipulation:

Analysis support provided by a tool may simply examine how correct or complete the model is, relative to a particular modeling approach used. More sophisticated analysis support may allow the model to be interrogated in some way, or be subjected to particular analysis methods. Analysis support may include the ability to compare different versions of models, allowing current and to-be enterprise architectures to be compared. Manipulation functions capture a tool’s ability to change the way the models are represented and viewed. This may include the ability to view models from particular perspectives.

Repository:

Most of the tools on the market make use of some kind of data repository to hold the developed models. The functions provided by the tool’s repository have a significant impact on the overall functionality, scalability and extendibility of an enterprise architecture tool.

Deployment Architecture:

A tool’s deployment architecture describes the tool’s software structure and software implementation. Generally, enterprise architecture tools tend to adopt one of two deployment architectures: either a single user/single client structure, or a simple two-tier client/server structure.

Costs and Vendor Support:

Also important in the overall cost of adopting an enterprise architecture tool, are the cost and type of maintenance and/or after sales support contracts offered by the vendor.

EA methodology implementing

The following diagram shows how an EA project be implemented.

The 4 phases are quite same in different methodologies. And the thread is clear in defining ‘‘where, what, why, who, and how we do architecture’’.

The main aspects are as follows:

Define the enterprise

Identify key drivers and elements in the organizational context

Define the requirements for architecture work

Define the architecture principles that will inform any architecture work

Define the framework to be used

Define the relationships between management frameworks

Evaluate the enterprise architecture maturity

In the implementation of TOGAF 9, there are 10 steps designed by Open Group in TOGAF 9 handbook:

1) Define the Enterprise: the question “why we have this business” can help the architecture team understand the enterprise business target and help them identify those have actual influence on enterprise.

2) Identify the key elements influence the organization: architects should understand the motivation inside the industry, to ensure that in the new plan implementation, the framework design is suitable for the enterprise.

3) Clarify the duty of framework development: EA developers must have interactions with employees of all the levels, from managers to basic level staff, and also the manufacturers, suppliers, and regulatory authorities.

4) Identify framework principle, link it with organizational value and motivation: different organizational value means distinction in organizational culture, structure and the attitude in treating risks.

5) Understand architecture governance:

6) Combine the architecture development process with other management framework: ADM can be used as an independent method, and can also be integrated into other frameworks.

7) Make architecture maturity assessment: Use Capability Maturity Mode to judge the readiness of changing with adopting EA method.

8) Bring architecture functions into the organization:

9) Customize TOGAF:

10) Documentation system.