a practical look at managing quality within an ea...

Managing Quality Within an EA

Repository

Version 01.00

Johan Schoeman

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Real IRM Solutions (Pty) Ltd

2008

Introduction

“Being good in business is the most

fascinating type of art” Andy Warhol, 1975

Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again)

RI Managing the Quality of an EA Repository v 01.0006/06/2008

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Introduction

“Architecture is the art of how to waste

space”Philip Johnson, 1964

New York Times, 27 December 1964


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Agenda

Case Study background

Challenges of repository quality management

Quality management process

Quality management reporting

Conclusion


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Case Study Background

Anglo Platinum is the world’s

largest primary producer of

platinum.

Anglo Platinum started with

their Enterprise Architecture in

2005 and has since invested a

significant amount in building up

content within the architecture

repository (ARIS), with

particular focus in the Business

Domain.


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Case Study Background (Cont.)

Real IRM provides outsource

EA services, including

repository management and

quality assurance.

Support to a number of

internal users, external

consultants distributed across

the Anglo Platinum operations.


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Agenda





Ongoing challenges


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Controlling the content of the repository, becomes increasingly difficult

because of the amount of ARIS users and information in the repository.

Models and Objects numbers are growing significantly over time, causing complexity

in the amount of information to manage

Users are subject to turnover and get reassigned to working within new areas without

the knowledge of other users and administrators. When queries on content arise,

people struggle to find the person that is responsible for a particular area.


Challenges for Repository Quality (Cont.)

Models 18207

Objects 99461

Users 80

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Challenges for Repository Quality (Cont.)

The variety of modeller backgrounds result in a variety of methodologies,

training and standards.


EmployeeRequired To

Attend To C...

EmployeeRequired To

Work Overtime

L4

Complete Pre-AuthorisedOvertime

Documentation

L4

Forward Pre-AuthorisedOvertime

Documentati...

L4

Determine IfPre-Authorised

OvertimeDocumentati...

L4 L3

Complete Pre-Authorised Overtime

Documentation

L3

Forward Pre-Authorised OvertimeDocumentation For

Capturing

L3

Determine If Pre-Authorised Overtime

DocumentationComplete

L3

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Challenges for Repository Quality

EA modelling tools provide limited control of input


SHE...

Rustenburg

Region

R

General...D

AnalyticalOccupatio...

Mine, Health

& Safety A...

OccupationalHygiene...

Area NoiseSurvey Report

SHE.14.03

L3

Analyse HygieneMeasurement

And MonitoringSamples

AreaIlluminati...

AnalyseHygiene...

Versi...

SIMRAC

Guideline

Mine

Manager...

A

Occupation

al Hygie...

E

Version 1.01

Mine Manager:Lower Mine...

A

ManagerEngine...

A


OccupationalHygiene Iss...

OccupationalHygiene Ri...


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Agenda





Ongoing challenges


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QM Process


In order to publish a model to the

production repository, the modeller

has to go through three stages:

Completing the EA model

Completing the Logical Quality

Assurance of the model

Completing the Technical Quality

Assurance of the model

Complete EAModel

Request LogicalQA of EA Model

Perform LogicalQA of EA Model

Logical QAPassed

Logical QA NotPassed

Yes No

RequestTechnicall QA of

EA Model

PerformTechnical QA of

EA Model

Technical QANot Passed

Technical QAPassed

NoYes

Publish Model inProductionRepository

CorrectTechnical QA

Errors

Simplified QA Process

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QM Process: Completing the EA Model Content


Complete EAModel



Logical QAPassed


Yes No


EA Model


EA Model


Technical QAPassed

NoYes


CorrectTechnical QA

Errors

The modellers have various tools

available that help and guide them

in producing quality content:

EA Meta-model

EA Standards and Guidelines

EA Training

Capturing Interfaces

Assigning responsible modellers

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EA Meta-model


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EA Standards and Guidelines


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EA Training

To be completed by every modeller before they can work within the repository

Training not only teaches how to use the tool, but how to do modelling within Anglo

Platinum’s context, i.e. Meta-model, standards, guidelines, etc.

Training course includes a case study and evaluation, which needs to be passed

before repository access is allowed


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Capturing Interfaces

Modellers use a form-based

interface with which to capture

model content, which ensures that

the right type of information is

captured at the appropriate levels.


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Assigning responsible modellers

ARIS users are assigned as

responsible modellers for the models

within the repository

This helps other users and

administrators keep track of the people

responsible for models, when queries

arise.

This gets logged within a read only

attribute in ARIS to ensure that it does

not get changed erroneously


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QM Process: Completing the Logical QA


Complete EAModel



Logical QAPassed


Yes No


EA Model


EA Model


Technical QAPassed

NoYes


CorrectTechnical QA

Errors

The Logical QA process ensures

that the model makes logical sense

and follows the logical guidelines. It

is essential for maintaining the

quality of the EA content.

Needs to be performed by a person

The Logical QA process consists out

of:

Requesting Logical QA

Performing Logical QA

Providing feedback on the Logical QA

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Modellers trigger a request for

Logical QA within ARIS

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This request logged into a read only

attribute within ARIS

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Performing Logical QA



This request logged into a read only

attribute within ARIS

This request is logged into an

external database that tracks the

QA history

QA DB

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Performing the Logical QA

The Quality Regulator evaluates the

model against a set of specified

criteria.

The result of the logical QA is

logged within a read only attribute in

ARIS.

The result is also logged into an

external database that tracks the

QA history.

QA DB

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Performing the Logical QA

Feedback is provided to the

responsible modeller, typicaly in

the form of a scanned model with

written comments.

This process continues until the

model passes the Logical QA

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QM Process: Completing the Technical QA


Complete EAModel



Logical QAPassed


Yes No


EA Model


EA Model


Technical QAPassed

NoYes


CorrectTechnical QA

Errors

The Technical QA process ensures

that the model follows meta-model

rules and guidelines. This QA is

essential for repository integrity.

Is automated

The Technical QA process consists

out of:

Requesting Technical QA

Automatically performing Technical QA

Providing feedback on the Technical

QA

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Performing the Technical QA

The content of the ARIS repository

is exported to an external database.

Predefined SQL queries that check

for technical errors are run

ARIS DB

Export

DB

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Providing Feedback on the Technical QA

The result from the Technical QA is logged within ARIS and the QA DB.

Spreadsheets that highlight the technical errors are sent back to the applicable

modeller to correct.

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QM Process: QA Completed


Complete EAModel



Logical QAPassed


Yes No


EA Model


EA Model


Technical QAPassed

NoYes


CorrectTechnical QA

Errors

ARIS

Development DB

ARIS Production

DB

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Quality Management Reporting


QA DB

ARIS DB

Historical QA Data

Point-in-Time Data

REPORT A

REPORT B

REPORT C

REPORT D

Export

DB

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QA Status

Helps with tracking the Quality Assurance process over time

Row Labels <1 Month 1 Month

4-6

Months

6-12

Months

> 1

Year

Grand

Total

Logical Fail 1 5 144 112 262

Logical Pass, Technical Fail 48 62 3 98 3 214

QA Backlog 20 20

Logical QA in Progress 1 1

Logical QA Requested 11 11

Passed 23 136 159

Technical QA Requested 14 14

Grand Total 63 78 26 379 135 681

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QA Status

Provides QA statistics per modeller

Responsible Ave Logical Cycles

user1 1

user2 6

user3 2

user4 2

user5 1

Row Labels user1 user2 user3 user4 user5

Logical Fail 21 8 102 5

Logical Pass, Technical Fail 6 88 3 25

QA Backlog 14

Logical QA in Progress 1

Logical QA Requested

Passed 99 1

Technical QA Requested

Grand Total 27 210 105 30 1

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Modelling Progress

Provides management with a point in time view of the status of the EA modelling

projects.


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Conclusion

Challenges are not individual to Anglo Platinum or ARIS alone, but are

very similar at a number of organisations and EA tools.

Using similar processes across clients with different toolsets

Quality Management is an ongoing and ever-increasing challenge and the

process and reporting has to mature over time


a practical look at managing quality within an ea...

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