Business of Architecture to make
IT Business Value Driven:
Case Study
Dave Guevara
April 20, 2009
Principal Architect
P i i l A hit t
IASA Denver Chapter

Today’s Agenda
Background & Problem Statement
What are We Aligning?
How do We Align Simply & Quickly?
Agile SOA Alignment Example
Discussion
Note: Some materials are copyrighted
and IASA Denver Chapter is authorized
to redistribute. Other materials are not
and so the author’s contact info is provided
for those wanting to request that info.
IASA Denver Chapter 2

Business of Architecture Problem Statement
Even when architectures and design standards have been well
defined it seems that to the design and development teams they
are:
– Too abstract
– Irrelevant
– Ignored
– Unknown
New adopters of Agile development often have the misperception
that Agile minimizes or eliminates the need for good design and
architecture practices
How do we build enterprise class solutions, which require best
practices,
practices good architecture and standards and assure their
standards,
adoption and use by software and EDW/BI teams into operations?
IASA Denver Chapter 3

Background
Researching “Making EA Relevant to SW & EDW/BI project teams”
– Purpose is to assure that strategic/business intent persist through deployment
June 2008 IASA Denver Chapter we discussed the Business of
Architecture
Summer 2008 applied the Agile SOA Alignment to a project:
– Anu Ramaswamy, business analyst & business architect (in-training)
– Agile SOA examples are from her application and use
Nov 2008 to Mar 2009 applied the Strategic Alignment to scoping a
pp g g p g
multi-year, multi-$10M’s project
– Dave Guevara, program business architect
– Company is confidential due to competition sensitive info
April 2009 adapted Business Alignment to a 2-week rapid
assessment of a whether a strategic Agile enterprise SOA project
was aligned with the CEO’s strategic intent.
g g
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What Do We Do With This?
Provides “how to” guidance in support of TOGAF 9.0
This research is providing the materials and testing
ground for curriculum for IASA courses:
– Denver Chapter?
– IASA certification courses
Should be a book or couple of practical “how to” books
that:
– Pull the concepts together in a way that we can use just what
we need
– Are written at two levels of the project teams and their
management
IASA Denver Chapter 5

"Nothing is particularly hard if you
divide it into small jobs.“
jobs.“
Henry Ford
This is how you help many minds understand
their part of a complex solution
6

Our reality in IT project teams
We get less time than we need
– So there is no time to be a purist or altruistic
Our business world and rules are more complex
– But our brains want simpler (they are too full)
Stuff happens and things change “dynamically”
– M h says at all th wrong ti
Murphy t ll the times, no matter when
tt h
We have to use Agile, Waterfall, Standards…
– But no guidance on how to assure business value
More for less and faster
– General mandate from business to create more value
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THE Critical Outcomes of Business Alignment
Business & IT Speed
– Time to market
– Adaptability
– Agile development team’s velocity
team s
Reduce Friction
– What makes change hard?
– Where are there constraints (why we can’t do something)?
Two Primary Speed/Friction Determinants
– Technology
– People
p
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Why Increase Speed?
Speed?
Speed: SSC Ultimate Aero
– G i
Guinness f t t car in the world f 2007
fastest i th ld for
– 0-60 2.7 sec, 257 mph+, Twin Turbo V8 1183 hp
– $654,400 base price (yes base, you can buy options)
• Speed: Your business
p
is growing fast & you
did it all right…
9

Why Reduce Friction?
Friction: SSC Ultimate Aero
– C you accelerate t 60 on j t th rims, or t
Can l t to just the i two ti ?
tires?
– Can you get to 257 mph when you can’t close the
doors?
– How long will the Twin Turbo V8 run without oil?
• Friction: Core parts of
your business haven’t
been built for speed…
10

How do we get Speed and Low Friction?
1. Simplify your Business Model
2. Modularize the Blocks
3. Standardize the Interfaces
4. Look at points that change fast
5. g p
Know the overall economics & throughput
6. Focus on constraints to value throughput
7. Manage to the Vital Signs (
g g (3-5 KPIs) )
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How Do We Align Simply & Quickly?
Business Alignment Framework
Aligning IT to Business
Applied t Project Level
A li d at a P j t L l
Page 12

Business Alignment Framework Provides a COMMON Set of
Business Requirements Across All Programs
Enterprise Programs and Initiatives
Business & IT
Business Alignment Framework
Application
Infrastructure Development EDW/BI
Programs or Programs
Rationalization
©2009 David R Guevara Jr All Rights Reserved 13

Business Alignment Framework
Strategic Goals Tonight’s Chat
Strategic Operational Goals (business unit)
Capabilities
Operational Capabilities
p p
Alignment Business
Business Capabilities & Drivers Functional
Components
High Level Business Requirements
- Domains (eg analytics, governance)
- Environments (around lifecycles)
- Service Level Expectations
- Business Processes
Focus Biz/Org Capabilities Analysis on the Gap
Business Organizational
Capabilities Capabilities Detailed Business Requirements Map
Capabilities & A ti iti
Activities Components
& Gap
Alignment Technical Integration
Analysis
Software Functions & Features
Capabilities Capabilities
Focus Tech/Integ Capabilities Analysis on the Gap
Software
Design
Technical Solution Architecture Components
Capabilities
Software Design Components
Alignment
Software Implementation/Construction
©2009 David R Guevara Jr All Rights Reserved 14

Business Alignment of IT – the Puzzle Pieces
At a project level may or may not:
– Have clear business strategies in the business case.
– Clear context for the capabilities that are needed.
– Enterprise or design standards g
p g guidance or a design concept
g p
– Context of the project within the portfolio of other projects
– Resource contention with efficient means of reprioritization
Business C
B i Cases often h
ft have goals th t are di tl
l that directly
related to the outcomes of the project in terms of:
– Process improvements
– FTE or contractor reductions
– IT efficiencies – quicker & easier troubleshooting, upstream QA
– Dependencies of business and operating goals on specific
capabilities
©2009 David R Guevara Jr All Rights Reserved 15

Puzzle Master Basics
Define Dimensions and Service Level Expectations (SLE)
– Captures all the stuff that people are supposed to think of
Use Top-Down in combination with Bottoms-Up
– Like building the border of the puzzle then working the area where
the pieces clearly fit together
together.
Adapt Use Case Outline to manage User Story Inventories
– Connect User Stories together in context of the business value
– Carve up the problem into bite size pieces
Map Business Architecture to Solution Design Architecture
components
– This structure is used to assign capabilities to requirements to
designs
©2009 David R Guevara Jr All Rights Reserved 16

What are the Dimensions of Alignment?
3 Dimensions
– Business Processes
• Hierarchy from value chain
components
– Domains
• Non-process or Environment
– Environments
• Supports artifact life cycles
• Examples are Software,
Product, Customer, Work
Artifacts (bill, invoice)
( , )
Color of a Dimension
– Measure of Goodness
– S i L
Service Level E
l Expectations
t ti
©2009 David R Guevara Jr All Rights Reserved 17

High-
High-level business requirements within the
Business Alignment Framework
g
Business Processes:
Define these completely from external business interfaces through all workflows
Business Domains:
Not process or environment core competencies
Examples are analytics, governance, business economics
Business Environments:
Environments are the assets and resources that are required to support a life
cycle
Things that have life cycles: clients, products, projects, software, data
Service Level Expectations:
These are measures of “goodness”; how many, how fast, how well
©2009 David R Guevara Jr All Rights Reserved 18

Use Business Alignment Framework to Connect
Top Down with Bottoms Up Analysis
Structure that aligns enterprise strategies with tactical execution…
Strategies Initiatives
Business Architecture Enterprise Architecture
Business Value Governance
Value Management
Risk Management Roadmaps
Investments FSA Blueprints
Communication Plans Business Models
Business Alignment Business Biz & IT Environments Business Alignment
Framework Processes Domains Framework
SLEs
Activity / Event Technical
Composition
Management Governance
Lifecycle
Budgets Management Repositories
Technical, Information & Solution Architecture
Software Architectures Messaging Metadata
Services Projects
Solution Management Architecture
Infrastructure Security
©2009 David R Guevara Jr All Rights Reserved

Managing User Story Inventories for Completeness
How do you prove that the User Story inventory, for a given
release , will provide end-to-end process functionality?
Business Processes------>>> 1. Capture Application Information
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7
Associate application with rep
Get policy attribute from
mation
ributes
ote
Search for policy
ess
Capture Opp inform
es
Search for quo
n
Capture policy attr
Validate addre
Choicepoint
Activities / Functions
Requirements Tracking
Precedence Using a spreadsheet or
Basic Flow
Alternate Flows
tool like Rally, track User
Use Case Outline Stories to business
Exceptions Flows
reminds Data validations processes and the Use
Business Analyst, Business Rules
Case outline topics, eg
p , g
UI specifications
Scrum M t and
S Master d Interface specifications Basic Flow.
Lead Developer of Domain
Environment
what to consider
when defining User Value Realized from Activity ( % )
Stories or Epics
Project Tracking
R Requirements completed
S Sprint scheduled Simple status indicator
C Completed functionality
shows where in the design
cycle the User Stories
©2009 David R Guevara Jr All Rights Reserved functionality are currently.
20

Business to Solution Architecture
Domains,
Capabilities & Biz & Org
SLEs,
High Level Capabilities
Environments,
Requirements
R i t
Business Functional eg Quote to eg Channel
Component
C t Cash Process Sales Support
Architecture
Solution
Design eg Shared
Architecture Component Services
eg Policy
Capabilities & Implementation
Technical & (vendor specific)
Implementation Integration
Solutions Capabilities
21

Strategic Alignment Example
Strategic Goals to Business Capabilities
Due to confidential nature of information
much of thi example i redacted or generalized
h f this l is d t d li d
Page 22

Strategic Alignment Example Summary
IT had done three prior major programs lead by major SI’s (at
different times) with a very large investment and the business still
did not have what they needed.
Expanded Business Model – scalability and rapid time to market.
Caught Between – legacy systems not yet retired and new
systems.
Simultaneous Change – Several simultaneous transformational
change events while restructuring costs and moving to an
outsourced IT model.
Excessive Complexity – Current solutions were fragile, difficult to
change without breaking more than what was fixed, and there was
no architectural foundation from which build the new loosely
coupled, more adaptive solution and processes.
23

Outcome from Strategic Alignment
# of Capabilities (Org was out of scope)
– Business Unit 1: 348
– Business Unit 2: 83
– System-to-system Interfaces: 119 across 15 interfaces
y y
– Technical (core app and rules engine only): 284
All C
Capabilities were mapped t
biliti d to:
– Strategic and operational goals and initiatives
– First major release of two core systems and surrounding
interfaces
– Basis of estimate for a 3-year development and deployment
program
24

Strategic Capabilities Alignment
• To be strategic there should only be 2 to 3
Strategic • These provide multi-year guidance on what the company
Goals will do to be what the vision calls for and to create Durable
Competitive Advantage
Annual growth
Business Unit Goals 2009 2010 2011
Operational These goals should map directly to +X% +X% +X%
Goals strategic and operational goals. +X% +X% +X%
They should span at least 2 to 3 y
y p years. X X X
They MUST be measurable and the scope xx.x% xx.x% Xy.x%
of the project should produce reporting of
x x X
or to enable reporting these metrics
Operational
O ti l • To define Operational Capabilities answer this question:
Capabilities What are the capabilities or drivers we need to achieve each goal. Some
(11 total, capabilities support more than one goal, others may not. Be specific and
validate that these capabilities are what directors and managers are
p )
1 example)
doing in their current year and planning for ne t year.
c rrent ear next ear
25

Operational Goals to Operational Capabilities Alignment
Sustain/ Create
Operational Goals (eg typical 5 types) Increase Improve Governance or
Reduce Costs / Improve
(3 year Goals) 2009 to 2011 Revenue Efficiencies Risk Mitigation
Capabilities
Key Metrics Measureable Goals
Operational Capabilities
1. Answer the question: Map which Capabilities Will Produce Or Support
2. What are the drivers or capabilities Each Goal
3. That are needed to achieve
4. The Operational Goals?
5.
6. X X X X
7. X X X X X
8. X
9. X X X
10. X
X
11. X
26

Operational Capability: For Each OpCap
Capability:
Business Capabilities
5.1 Answer the question:
5.2 What are the Business Capabilities that are required to perform
5.3 The Operational Capabilities?
5.4
5.5
55 Business C
B i Capabilities are those that a role-based worker, th company or
biliti th th t l b d k the
5.6 A department must do to deliver Operational Capabilities.
5.7 Example: OpCap: Increase Cross-selling by X%.
BizCap: View likely cross-sell products when client is on the phone
Service Level Expectations
• Th
These ddescribe the overriding and shared expectations from the business about the
ib th idi d h d t ti f th b i b t th
systems and solutions that will deliver the Business Capabilities.
• Examples are uptime, availability during working hours, what functions are available during outages,
notification and response times of outages, business continuity timeframes for recovering after a disaster,
ease-of-use
ease of se across all Uis ease of administration across all s stem admin interfaces sec rit like single
Uis, ease-of-administration system interfaces, security
sign-on.
27

Agile SOA Example
Business Alignment to SOA Development Example
Implementation of this alignment was done by
Anu Ramaswamy
A R
anu_ramaswamy@csaa.com
Given the confidential nature of this project these slides will not be distributed but
Anu has offered to answer any questions. We hope to co-publish a white
paper that can be shared with a public audience.
Page 28

Agile Development Challenges
How do we assure that the User Stories completely
deliver the i
d li h intended b i
d d business value?
l ?
How do we plan releases that deliver meaningful and
visible business value to our business sponsors and
stakeholders?
How do we assure that the point count is complete and
that the velocity dependencies are accounted for?
How do we identify blockages early on that are beyond
the charter of the development team?
How do we know when we put all the pieces of the
puzzle together (the sprints) that it all fits and delivers
the intended value?
29

User stories alone can be problematic
This material is copyright protected by Jeff Patton
For this content and related materials please refer to the presentation
titled “patton_user_story_mapping”
on slide # 13
At this URL http://www agileproductdesign com/presentations/index html
http://www.agileproductdesign.com/presentations/index.html
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Accelerating Agile Requirements and Design
Example Business Requirements Alignment to SOA Agile Project
IASA Denver Chapter 31

Open Discussion: Q & A
For questions or suggestions contact:
Dave Guevara dguevara@ciber.com 303.885.9144
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