dimanche 17 mars 2013

A study case on "digital enterprise"

DIGITAL ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE : what value added for the enterprise ?


Digital might be defined as IT + IP (intellectual property)

A discussion triggered by latest comments of "EA Is ofter left in IT beacuse it cas only handle tame problems".

From The Enterprise Architecture Network Linkedin group
Started by Tru Dô-Khac middle of February
Comments as of March 17 : 467

Reproduced with authorisation from JD Beckingham

A "real case study" is
  1. a case : a problem to solve, a deliverable to make, a question to answer, a "what if" to think
  2. to study : has a learning purpose or a research purpose
  3. in a real context : no mediator, no storyboard, direct access to the case actors

(...)
 

  Tru - are you suggesting combining author (developer) and publisher into a single business? 

If you follow the approach of Kevin Smith (and Tom Graves) then there will be both physical and digital 'books'.
Industry: IT Management Consultant
Possible Product: IT Management Framework
Value System Position: Combined Author (Developer) and Publisher

Tru DO KHAC • 
JD
if we contemplate what M. Kevin Smith (or M. Zachman, the INSEAD professors authors of Blue Ocean Strategy,...) is doing :
authoring, publishing, training services, consulting services and IT Management framework consulting licences.

(...)

Tru DO KHAC JD
the management consulting (authoring, publishing, training, consulting, framework licensing) case study is relatively straight forward.

Great.
Then, i would feel that most of us should be able to hold both roles : the "entrepreneur" and the enterprise architect.

(...)


JD Beckingham •  
Tru- Case Study: Management Consulting
Following your Authoring, Publishing, Training, Consulting, Licensing list, here is my 'first take'.
1. Authoring - All material can and should be produced electronically

2. Publishing – both electronic and physical are needed; On-line for eBook, and POD for physical book.
From a business strategy viewpoint it’s a good idea to (a) have some physical books to give to client, potential clients, etc., and (b) sell some thru Amazon as this increases reach and exposure.
Physical books are put on bookshelves, and printouts of e-Books are put in desk draws.

3. Training - some *could* be done on-line, and some *must* be done in person. Training handouts will need to be POD (Xerox or actual POD).

4. Consulting: must be physical, no practical or effective way of doing consulting engagements on-line. Part of any consulting engagement is person-to-person 'selling' of additional services such as publications, training, or consulting.

5. Electronic licensing is required for all e-material; copyright for all physical material.

FYI, the Strategy & Architecture services we offer are in the form of "a combined Training, Methodology, Handbook, and Consulting package". The items are not available individually.
There are some advantages to thinking in terms of individual products, services, and "packages of products & services". Clients like the idea of having technical and business people trained in the same method and talk the same EA 'technical' language.


JD Beckingham
 • Tru- Case Study: Management Consulting
Part 2 –'first take' Business Applications "Needs"

0. General
0.1 General accounting application
0.2 Payroll application
0.3 Billing application (receivable)
0.4 Purchasing application (payable)
0.5 Electronic payment processing application
0.6 HR application
0.7 Office productivity applications for consultants and staff. MS Office as example
0.8 e-Mail customer contact application

1. Authoring - All material can and should be produced electronically
1.1 Productivity Applications for text and graphics creation, and electronic publishing
1.2 Content and document management application
1.3 Application for production and editing of Webcasts
1.4 Open access web-site for products and service details, contact information, etc.

2. Publishing – e-Book, Physical Book, Webcasts
2.1 e-Book
2.1.1 On-line application for book review, ordering, payment, and download
2.1.2 Application for managing purchases, digital rights, and entitlements
2.2 Physical book
2.2.1 On-line application for book review, ordering, payment
2.2.2 On-line connection to POD supplier for physical books
2.2.3 Application for managing book sales
2.3 Webcast
2.3.1 Application of Webcast availability, registration, delivery

3. Training – On-line and In-person

3.1 In-Person
3.1.1 In-Person training application for managing Availability, Scheduling, Enrollment, Payment
3.1.2 In-Person training On-line connection to POD supplier for training handouts

3.2 On-Line
3.2.1 On-line selection, enrolment, payment
3.2.2 On-line self-paced, multi-media training delivery
3.2.3 Application for tracking on-line training entitlement

4. Consulting
4.1 Consulting leads management and proposal application
4.2 Consultant scheduling and consulting engagement management
4.3 Restricted web-site for consultant support
4.4 Restricted web-site for customer support

5. Electronic licensing is required for all e-material; copyright for all physical material.
5.1 Electronic licensing and tracking application for publications and frameworks



JD Beckingham •  
Tru- Case Study: Management Consulting
Part 3, Business Applications continued. Collectively, these business application 'needs' could be considered as:

1. General accounting application
2. Payroll application
3. Billing application (receivable)
4. Purchasing application (payable)
5. Electronic payment processing application
6. HR application
7. Office productivity applications
8. e-Mail customer contact application

9. Authoring applications for text and graphics, electronic publishing
10. Content and document management
11. Application for production and editing of Webcasts

12. Consulting lead management and proposal
13. Consultant scheduling and consulting engagement management

14. In-Person Training Availability, Scheduling, Registration, Payment management
15. Managing digital purchases, IP licensing, rights, training entitlements
16. On-line connection to POD supplier for physical publications and training handouts
17. Application for managing book sales

18. Open access web-site for products, services, contact details
19. On-line application for book review, ordering, payment, and download
20. On-line training availability, enrollment, payment
21. On-line Webcast availability, registration, delivery
22. Restricted web-site for self-paced on-line multi-media training delivery
23. Restricted web-site for consultant support
24. Restricted web-site for customer support, report download, additional information 


JD Beckingham  
Alan Really! - Parts 1, 2, 3 are some of the WHAT aspects. "how big is the software at the front end of the business" that is what you have to determine as part of the technical HOW architecture.

”What's the outcome and who will use it and why" Your kidding right!

Let me give you some hints:

Users - Publications, Training, Consulting Customers, Consultants, Authors, etc.

None of the 24 "business applications" are particularly difficult.
(1) Envisage and describe some on-line services
(2) workout the end-to-end flows
(3) create some customer numbers
(4) create some workload (transaction, request/response sets) numbers
(5) work out what is required.

Surely you guys are trained & experience in how to "size" on-line systems and equipment: instruction path lengths, number of disk IOs, database IOs, Inbound/Outbound network message sizes and volumes, etc.

There are many on-line systems sizing resources if you search the web. 

(...)

Tru DO KHAC
 JD,
thank you for part 1 :
1. Authoring - All material can and should be produced electronically

2. Publishing – both electronic and physical are needed; On-line for eBook, and POD for physical book.
(...)

3. Training - some *could* be done on-line, and some *must* be done in person. Training handouts will need to be POD (Xerox or actual POD).

4. Consulting: must be physical, no practical or effective way of doing consulting engagements on-line.

5. Electronic licensing is required for all e-material; copyright for all physical material.

"Part of any consulting engagement is person-to-person 'selling' of additional services such as publications, training, or consulting"

(...)

JD Beckingham •  
Tru – "Should it be read that the main business driver is physical consulting?" as you are the 'owner' of the case study that is your decision.

My observations:
1) In the case of a management/strategy consultancy, physical consulting is the primary driver.
2) In the case of an organization producing a framework/methodology, the primary revenue drivers are selling licenses and training.
3) A small consultancy is better served by a triple pronged framework, training, consulting approach. It provides the best approach to creating revenue opportunities and managing people resources.

IMO 3) is the optimal approach; I would enhance my service offerings by offering publications, framework, training, consulting as a single 'package'.
Should it be read that the main business driver is physical consulting ? 

Tru DO KHAC • 
  JD
"publications, framework, training, consulting as a single 'package'"

Does it mean that you would not show the prices by items (ie show just a total price) ? 

(...)

JD Beckingham •
  Tru offer and price each product & service item individually, and then have a separate price for the 'package'. There is no need to discount the package price as its value is in having a your consultancy do many things at the same time: License framework, provide framework publications, train team in framework, lead a consulting project. This is valuable stuff for any organization.

(...)

Tru DO KHAC • JD,
- offer and price each product & service item individually,
- a separate price for the 'package'.

when you price a package, do you show the breakdown ?
- consulting and deliverables
- framework licence to use your deliverables 


JD Beckingham •  
Tru - only describe the "contents" of the package: framework license plus training for N people plus N days consulting/project leadership, etc. 


Tru DO KHAC •  
JD,
content of package :
+ framework license
+ training for N people
+ N days consulting/project leadership,

For the licence, is it for N people, for a site, for the whole enterprise or else ?
 

JD Beckingham •  
Tru that is a business decision and, in part, depends on the structure of business units. Where possible license the whole enterprise, it avoids arguments later.
For training/consulting start with N people/days per separate business unit, and treat 'corporate/HQ' as a separate business unit; if you need a couple of extra days, of they add a couple of extra people, think of it a good public relations. Quid pro quo, they now owe you a favor.
 

Tru DO KHAC
 JD,
how about licence term ?
 

JD Beckingham •
  Perpetual. Unlike software, no practical way of withdrawing knowledge. But, there could be an annual subscription fee for updates and improvements. 


Tru DO KHAC
Indeed.
Kind of maintenance.
How about assistance after the consulting/training is over ?

JD Beckingham
Tru Its more consulting work and revenue  

Tru DO KHAC 
JD
on consulting/traning after a main engagement (eg N work days)
Part 2
1. Consulting
Consulting leads management and proposal application
Consultant scheduling and consulting engagement management
Restricted web-site for consultant support
Restricted web-site for customer support

Part 3
On-line training availability, enrollment, payment
On-line Webcast availability, registration, delivery
Restricted web-site for self-paced on-line multi-media training delivery
Restricted web-site for consultant support
Restricted web-site for customer support, report download, additional information

Would you use social network services ? (such as LinkedIn but for a private group)


JD Beckingham
 Tru "Would you use social network services?"

If you feel it would be advantageous, a "company Linked-In group" could be included under "0. General" as item 0.9 Linked-In application as it might be used for all consulting, training, publications business services.

Linked-In provides APIs and a developers console to enable integration of Linked-In with internal applications, such as e-Mail list, content management, client management, or HR.
If you consider a Linked-In integration application, it might be application number 25 "Linked-In Integration application" in part 3.

For the sake of clarity we should add "0.10 Customer details management application" under 0. General; and as number 26 in part 3. Each of the applications mentioned in part 3 is a 'conceptual application'.


JD Beckingham 
Matt – as previously posted and discussed 'the what the business does context' for the case study is:
(1) Develop, publish, and license frameworks and methods,
(2) Provide training in the frameworks and methods, and
(3) Provides consulting services in its areas of expertise.
 

I hope the case study 'business context' is now clear to you.


As for where to send the bill, the advice provided was insufficient to warrant any charges. 


Tru DO KHAC •  
Matt,
on business context : three cases that have been identified above
How about these additions in [ ] 


I) [global and large (above 2000 consultants)] management/strategy consultancy,
physical consulting is the primary driver. 


II.1)an organization producing a framework/methodology, [(a professional association "non profit")]
the primary revenue drivers are selling licenses and training.

II.2) an organization producing a framework/methodology, [(a private "for profit" business)]
the primary revenue drivers are selling licenses and training.

III)A small consultancy (under 100 consultants - 10 partners) triple pronged framework, training, consulting approach.

 
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