Business Principles¶
Having solid business principles is key for a successful company. Small or large. Having good and solid business principles is key for developing a good architecture within solid time and cost constraints. Business principles SHOULD be defined and agreed upon within a solid process with all key business stakeholders involved. The list below with principles below can give you a head start, since these principles are collected from various successful businesses.
Solution space¶
Statement
Never try to use technical solutions to a non-technical problem.
Rationale
Of course some IT and technology can help to solve problems, but
technology and IT is never enough. A non technical activity, process,
behaviour change, etc is always needed.
Implications
Do not focus on technology and IT solution only when solving problems.
Start simple¶
Statement
Start simple.
Rationale
Start simple. Build a high quality solution to a real problem for a
cohesive group of people. If you solve one problem really well, then you
can move on to the next problem (one simple approach at a time) instead
of trying to tackle several things at once and, as a result, not really
solving anything. Product development is about earning the right to
build the next thing.
Implications
Complexity will come later when having invest lots of time and money and
simple adjustments have more impact. Fixes will be more complex when
products are mature anyway due to backward compatibility requirements.
Create a MVP fast¶
Statement
If your MVP takes a year to build…it’s not an MVP.
Rationale
Creating a MVP should take not more than 1 month.
Implications
A created MVP is not ready for sale, but ready to learn from for later
stages.
First, make it easy. Then make it fast.¶
Statement
First, make it easy. Then make it fast. Then make it pretty.
Rationale
When launching a new product cost are high. Making a good performing
product is complex and expensive. So when working on a MVP, try to make
a product easy to use and easy to create. Focus on UX.
Implications
Difficult back-end performance and scaling issues are handled later.
This can increase development cost if performance is never accounted for
in a design.
Use Open Data, Open Standards, Open Source, and Open Innovation¶
Statement
Use Open Data, Open Standards, Open Source, and Open Innovation
Rationale
Too often in international development, scarce, public resources are
spent investing in code, tools, and innovations that are either locked
away behind proprietary, fee-based firewalls, or created in a bespoke
way for use in sector-specific silos. This principle: Use Open Data,
Open Standards, Open Source, and Open Innovation provides a framework to
consider an “open” approach to technology-enabled international
development.
Implications
Adopt and expand existing open standards.
Open data and functionalities and expose them in documented APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) where use by a larger community is possible.
Invest in software as a public good.
Develop software to be open source by default with the code made available in public repositories and supported through developer communities.
Strategic focus¶
Statement
Investment decisions are driven by business requirements
Rationale
Core government needs and priorities should be the primary drivers for
investment. Investment decisions should be defined by the agency’s
vision and strategic plans as well as the requirements of the business.
These should also take into account whole-of-government strategic
guidance. A business-led and business outcome-oriented architecture is
more successful in meeting strategic goals, responding to changing needs
and serving consumer expectations. Government service requirements will
define any required technological support.
Implications
Agencies need to align with whole-of-government strategic direction. •
Agency’s strategic plans need to align with whole-of-government
strategic direction. • Investment decisions should be made in accordance
with the agency’s vision and strategic plan. • Changes to processes,
applications and technology should be made in response to an approved
business initiative. • Design of business solutions will need to be
aligned with, and traceable to strategic goals and outcomes. • Services,
processes and applications will need to be designed from the perspective
of the service user. • Building or redevelopment of applications and
solutions will be undertaken only after business processes have been
analysed, simplified or otherwise redesigned as appropriate. •
Applications are delivered in a collaborative partnership with the
business owners to enable solutions to meet user-defined requirements
for functionality, service levels, cost and delivery timing.
Make things open: it makes things better¶
Statement
Make things open: it makes things better
Rationale
We should share what we’re doing whenever we can. With colleagues, with
users, with the world. Share code, share designs, share ideas, share
intentions, share failures. The more eyes there are on a service the
better it gets — howlers are spotted, better alternatives are pointed
out, the bar is raised. Much of what we’re doing is only possible
because of open source code and the generosity of the web design
community. We should pay that back.
Implications
Maximize Benefit to the Enterprise¶
Statement
Information management decisions are made to provide maximum benefit to
the enterprise as a whole.
Rationale
This principle embodies ‘‘service above self ’’. Decisions made from an enterprise-wide perspective have greater long-term value than decisions made from any particular organizational perspective. Maximum return on investment requires information management decisions to adhere to enterprise-wide drivers and priorities. No organization Unit will detract from the benefit of the whole. However, this principle will not preclude any organization Unit from getting its job done.
Decisions made from an enterprise-wide perspective have greater long-term value than decisions made from any particular organizational perspective. Maximum return on investment requires information management decisions to adhere to enterprise-wide drivers and priorities. No minority group will detract from the benefit of the whole. However, this principle will not preclude any minority group from getting its job done.
Implications
Achieving maximum enterprise-wide benefit will require changes in the way we plan and manage information. Technology alone will not bring about this change. Some organizations may have to concede their own preferences for the greater benefit of the entire enterprise.
Application development priorities must be established by the entire enterprise for the entire enterprise. Applications components should be shared across organizational boundaries. Information management initiatives should be conducted in accordance with the enterprise plan. Individual organizations should pursue information management initiatives which conform to the blueprints and priorities established by the enterprise. We will change the plan as we need to.
Reliability¶
Statement
Information and information systems are reliable, accurate, relevant and
timely
Rationale
The take-up and use of lower cost channels will depend on users of
services trusting the ability of the organization to provide reliable,
accurate, relevant and timely information to consumers.
Implications
Good processes create good data. Processes will need to be the focus of
ongoing continuous improvement (which in turn will improve reliability,
accuracy, relevancy and timeliness). Our organization needs to deliver
information which customers can rely upon.
Reuse and Improve¶
Statement
Reuse and Improve
Rationale
As the use of information and communications technologies in
international development has matured, so too has a base of methods,
standards, software, platforms, and other technology tools. Yet too
often we see scarce resources being invested to develop new tools when
instead existing tools could be adapted and improved. This principle:
Reuse and Improve highlights ways that adaptation and improvement can
lead to higher quality resources available to the wider community of
international development practitioners.
Implications
Use, modify and extend existing tools, platforms, and frameworks when possible.
Develop in modular ways favoring approaches that are interoperable over those that are monolithic by design.
Reuse before Buy, Buy before Build¶
Statement
Prior to acquiring new assets, the company will reuse applicable
existing information and technology assets. If no existing internal
asset is available for reuse, the company prefers to acquire, by
purchasing or licensing, applicable externally available assets. The
company least preferred option is to custom build a new asset.
Rationale
Reusing IT assets (for example, IT systems or data) that are already available is often the simplest, quickest, and least expensive solution, assuming that the IT assets in question sufficiently fit the intended purpose.
It is less expensive to buy standard IT solutions than to custom build them, as long as they are not adapted and maintenance is left to the product supplier.
Many authoritative data sources make their data products available (or offer data acquisition / generation services), reducing the company’s need to generate such data itself.
Custom development of IT assets is often very expensive to sustain.
Implications
When functionality is required, existing IT assets in the organization must be evaluated and used first, unless they do not exist and/or are a significant mismatch to the required functionality.
To ensure that IT assets are being reused as much as possible, business areas must be prepared to adapt to existing solutions that provide adequate functionality, particularly in situations where the accountable governance body does not deem that business area’s practices to be required to be different from industry standard practices.
The company will prefer COTS products and particularly those that are configurable. Some products are so configurable that there is little difference between extensive configuration and custom development. The company y must clearly understand when configuration equates to custom development (that is, the level of configuration is so high that the COTS solution is essentially the same as custom development). In these cases, the scenario will change from buy to build.
Agreements or licenses to use data may have legal implications and legal consultation should be part of the process of deciding to use a new data source.
Routine Tasks are Automated Where Appropriate¶
Statement
Routine tasks that can be automated are automated, where the benefit
justifies the cost.
Rationale
Routine tasks require relatively little specific knowledge and can be automated fairly easily.
Automated tasks are more cost efficient and timeefficient, and less errorprone, than manual tasks.
Employee capacity requirements can be optimized, freeing them up to focus on more complex activities.
Implications
The knowledge required to perform certain tasks is analyzed and embedded in an IT system when it can be easily formalized.
Nonroutine tasks may not be automated.
Individual performers will need to be able to automate their own tasks. Business areas should integrate automated work flows, where one business unit receives another business unit’s automated output as its input.
Give before receiving¶
Statement
Give before receiving
Rationale
Giving is the only way to establish a real relationship and a lasting
connection. Focus solely on what you can get out of the connection and
you will never make meaningful, mutually beneficial connections and a
sustainable business
Implications
Invest time and money in all stakeholder relations.
Information Management is Everybody’s Business¶
Statement
All organisations in the enterprise participate in information
management decisions needed to accomplish business objectives.
Rationale
Information users are the key stakeholders, or customers, in the
application of technology to address a business need. In order to ensure
information management is aligned with the business, all organisations
in the enterprise must be involved in all aspects of the information
environment. The business experts from across the enterprise and the
technical staff responsible for developing and sustaining the
information environment need to come together as a team to jointly define
the goals and objectives of IT.
Implications
To operate as a team, every stakeholder, or customer, will need to
accept responsibility for developing the information environment.
Commitment of resources will be required to implement this principle.
IT Responsibility¶
Statement
The IT organisation is responsible and accountable for owning and
implementing all IT processes and infrastructure that enable solutions
to meet business-defined requirements for functionality, service levels,
cost, and delivery timing. Decisions should always align back to the
requirement of the Business.
Rationale
Effectively align expectations with business requirements and our
overall capabilities so that all projects are cost-effective and can be
completed in a timely manner. Efficient and effective solutions should
have reasonable costs and clear benefits relative to the business
proposition.
Implications
The IT function must define processes to manage business expectations
and priorities. Projects must follow an established process to reduce
costs and to ensure the project has a timely completion. Data,
information, and technology should be integrated to provide quality
solutions and to maximise results.
Ease-of-Use¶
Statement
Applications are easy to use for end-users and administrators.
Rationale
The more a user has to understand the underlying technology, the less
productive that user is. Avoid mistakes due to difficult comprehension
interaction with a system. Most of the knowledge required to operate one
system will be similar to others. Using an application should be as
intuitive as driving a different car.
Implications
The underlying technology is transparent to users.
Training is kept to a minimum, and the risk of using a system improperly is low.
Default (de-facto) GUI’s are used for interacting with the system.
No large user manual is needed.
Be Collaborative¶
Statement
Be Collaborative
Rationale
The saying: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go
together.” is attributed to an African proverb, but could easily be a
mantra for technology-enabled development projects. The principle: Be
Collaborative suggests strategies for leveraging and contributing to a
broader commons of resource, action, and knowledge to extend the impact
of development interventions.
Implications
Engage diverse expertise across disciplines and industries at all stages.
Work across sector silos to create coordinated and more holistic approaches.
Document work, results, processes and best practices and share them widely.
Publish materials under a Creative Commons license by default, with strong rationale if another licensing approach is taken.
Business continuity¶
Statement
Business continuity of Corporate activities must be maintained, despite
IT interruptions.
Rationale
Hardware failures, natural disasters, and lack of data integrity must
not interrupt business activities.
Implications
Recoverability, redundancy, and maintenance must be approached at inception. - Applications must be assessed regarding criticality and impact on the company’s mission to determine which continuity level is required and which corresponding recovery plan must be implemented. - A business continuity plan must be present/developed.
Business Principle¶
Statement
These architectural principles will apply to all organisational units
within the enterprise.
Rationale
The only way the University will be able to provide a consistent and
measurable level of appropriately robust, reliable, sustainable services
and quality information to decision-makers, is if all stakeholders abide
by the University’s overarching principles for its technology,
information and business architectures.
Implications
This fundamental principle will ensure inclusion, consistency, fairness
and continual alignment to the business. Without this the management of
our technologies, information and business processes would be quickly
undermined. Business Partners engaging with the business will work to
find accommodation between interested parties around any conflicts with
a principle relevant to the proposal.