Urbanization (data-processing)

The concepts of the Urbanisation of the human Habitat (organization of the cities, of the Territoire) were re-used in Informatique (in particular by Jacques Sassoon in the Années 1990 in the sector Bancaire) to formalize or model the fitting of the information system (IF) of the Entreprise.

Introduction

Definition suggested by the Urba-EA Club:

To urbanize, it is to organize the progressive and continuous transformation information system aiming simplifying it, optimizing its added-value and at making it more reactive and flexible with respect to the strategic evolutions of the company, while being based on technological opportunities of the market.

town planning defines rules as well as a coherent, stable and modular framework, to which the various recipients refer for any decision of investment in the information system.

More concise definition: To urbanize, it is to direct the transformation continues information system to simplify it durably.

One uses the term rather Urbanisation than that of Urbanisme to stress the progressive work necessary to make evolve the Information system to a correctly urbanized target.

The evolutions of the Stratégie S of the companies (regroupings and fusions, Acquisition S, diversification of the commercial offers, E-trade, Gestion of the client relationship, novel modes or channels of Distribution, Partenariat S, reorganization, Externalisation, redeployment of the functions of back and face office, etc) imply important structural changes and increase the interdependence (mutualized dependence) and the overlap of the data-processing applications with the risk to reinforce flat effect the “of spaghettis” of the Information system or IF.

This increasing complexity has consequences on the costs, the durations and the Risque S of the Projet S of evolution of IF.

To gradually control the evolution of SO with the reactivity necessary and to reduce the Cost S data processing, an answer is brought by the step of urbanization of the information systems and by its prolongation to the level of the Architecture of the computing systems.

In addition, this step of urbanization meets one of the concerns of the Maîtrises of work: the strategic Alignment of the information system on the trade .

See:

• Functions in the control of work,
• strategic Alignment.

Urbanization in Télécoms

Definition suggested by Dr. M.F.Menaï (France Telecom Group - Research and development)

The urbanization starts to make its way in other disciplines, in particular the core activity of architectures of telecommunications. This type of urbanization uses the same tools and methods that the urbanization of SO while concentrating on optimization of architectures of the systems for telecommunications (audio-visual Voice services, services, grid systems data processing, etc…).

The urbanization of the télécoms makes it possible to improve quality of a target system having vocation to evolve/move.

Application of the concepts of urbanization

The data-processing urbanization defines the organization of a Information system (IF) in the image of a Ville.

It aims to SO able to support and accompany the Stratégie by the Entreprise within the best costs ratio/quality/times.

It makes it possible to improve the reactivity and to invest only in the produced S and generating services of Added-value, while controlling the data-processing loads and the Return on investment.

The tools of EAI support this step which can be implemented:

• in an opportunist way : at the time of a development project, of recasting or maintenance,
• in a voluntarist way more : within the framework of a building site of urbanization.

Zone, district and block

The urbanization consists in cutting out SO in autonomous modules, of increasingly small size:

• the zones ,
• the districts (and the small islands so necessary),
• the blocks (building blocks).

Between each module (zone, district, small island, block) take shape zones of exchange of information which allows to uncouple the various modules so that they can evolve/move separately while preserving their capacity at Interagir with the remainder of the system.

More particularly, the urbanization aims:

• to reinforce the capacity to build and integrate subsystems of various origins,
• to reinforce the capacity to make interact to make the subsystems of IF and them interact with others IF (Interworking),
• to reinforce the capacity with being able to replace some of these subsystems (interchangeability).

and in a general way for SO with:

• to support its evolutionarity, its perenniality and its independence,
• to reinforce its capacity to integrate heterogeneous solutions (Software package S, elements of various platforms, etc).

Various types of zones

In the cutting of a IF one distinguishes usually various types of zones :

• zones of the exchanges with the outside of IF: Acquisition/émission de/vers the Partner S: customer S, Supplier S, etc;

• zones of the operational activities: management of the bank transactions, management of the business transactions, management of the internal logistic operations, etc;

• zones of management of the Bench-mark datum common to the whole of IF: the Reference frame S of given structured (Given S customers, Catalog of produced S and services, etc);

• zones of management of the data sources : together daily produced information, communes with the whole of IF (given production, etc);

• zones of the activities of support : Accounts Department, human Resources, etc;

• zones of the treatments for the assistance with the Decision and the piloting : Data-processing decisional.

In the case of very large companies, it is materially impossible to urbanize the totality of SO in the same movement. That explains why one cuts out SO company in autonomous perimeters; for example: by great directions. Each perimeter is then regarded as SO autonomous which is urbanized individually. Its zone of exchange manages thus as well flows extra-companies " IF ⇔ IF extérieurs" that business flows " IF ⇔ others SO of the entreprise".

Example of cutting

As illustration, part of the information system division of a Bank:

• together of the zones of operational activities
• banking zone production
• district management of the appropriations
• small island management of the real estate credits
• building block management of unpaid a

Four levels of concern

The four levels of concern indicated correspond to those of the Méta-model of town planning, except the strategic sight, which however must integrate the aspects of the material, the context, of human resources, etc the material is found in the technical sight of the Méta-model of town planning.

Strategic sight

This sight is consisted the description

• objective S of the Entreprise,
• of the objective S of the Information system to urbanize
• mapping between these two kinds of objectives: the strategic Alignment.

These objectives can be modelled

• either like a hierarchical display of topics and of under topics,
• or like a Diagramme of causes and effects, or diagram of Ishikawa (in fish-bone), which indicates the causes (Matière, Matériel, method, human Resources, medium/context) which produce effects.

The list of topics can be obtained by the Analyze of the requirements of the Système.

The study of the Diagram of causes and effects must analyze each type of cause:

• Matter : this cause comprises the stakes of Raw materials.

• Material : the material includes the Computer materials and the Logiciel S, which correspond to the fourth sight of the Méta-model of town planning. This cause can comprise Enjeu X very important of Sécurité.

• Method : for example, how is the Communication managed?

• human Resources : for example, how the intellectual capital is evaluated?

• Context : to consult Communication, Context (communication), Perception of the environment, Theory of the contexts.

The system trade

The system trade is consisted of the whole of the trades and the process of the Entreprise and the organizations which contribute to it.

The definition of the strategy of the company results in indexing:

• the strategic trades that she exerts with respect to her Marché and around of which she structure her activities and her organization - a strategic trade (examples: granting of credit, broking of insurance, production line, etc) correspond to a combination of:

• market segments,
• commercial offers or technical Marketing,
• of Distribution;

• the operational trades which she exerts within the framework of each strategic trade (examples: production, Marketing, management of the Risk S, etc)
  

The activities carried on by the company, are several types:

• the operational activities which contribute to the manufacture of the produced S sold or to the development of the rendered services to the customers,

• activities of Management,

• activities of piloting.

The analysis of the system trade can be based on the techniques of BPM (Business Process Management or Business Process Modeling or Gestion of the processes trade ) which aim to:

• to model the process in a transverse way to the company, within the framework of a Management of program,

• to equip these processes to facilitate a fluid execution (Driving Workflow, of rules or execution),

• to control the activity of these processes by means of indicators (Management of quality, performance).

One of the objectives of the BPM is to carry a diagnosis on the processes of the company and to thus determine in which sectors the evolutions of IF offer best the Return on investment.

The system of information

See also: Information system

The information system (IF) is consisted of the unit:

• of the Objects trades,
• of the functions,
• of the Information S,
• and of the Rules of management,

used by the trade S and the process implemented by the same organisational entity of the Undertaken.

A IF urbanized must be able to easily uncouple the subsystems from information supporting various trades and being able to evolve/move in the long term worms of the autonomous information systems. For example, a company can want in the long term to give itself the possibility of separating its trades from distribution (sale) of its trades from production (management of the products) in distinct organisational units.

Urbanization of IF combines:

• will to be able to isolate some from its parts to be able to make them evolve/move easily
• and the objective of mutualiser (to share with SO of other partners) or of externaliser of other more stable parts, strategic, to realize savings.

With this intention, the functional architecture counts inside each zone, district and small island, the building blocks which use the composition of IF so that it supports the processes trades of the company.

The building block ensures:

• a strong cohesion , cohesion between the objects which it manages and functions that it ensures,
• a weak coupling , that is to say a limited number of exchanges with the other blocks of IF.

The granularity of the building block (the level of mesh of cutting) must:

• to facilitate its re-use in various processes and to reinforce the modularity of IF
• to support its replacement by an offering block of the equivalent functionalities.

The building block constitutes the exchangeable unit of SI.
A building block is defined by:

• the objects trade which it manages on behalf of IF,
• " functional services , interfaces making it possible to exchange with the other blocks of IF, that includes flows which it deals with and those that it produces,
• functions that it gathers (functions related to the trade objects), and rules of production of the data that it communicates.

The data-processing system

See also: Computing system

The computing system consists of a structured unit:

• of material components ,
• of components Software S,
• and of Given S,

allowing to automate whole or part of a information system, and whose administration and exploitation are ensured by the same organisational entity (unit of administration and exploitation).

The computing system is described by:

• its applicative architecture,
• its technical architecture,
• its physical architecture.

In the study of existing, it is necessary to take into account these three types of architecture, in order to evaluate the Vulnérabilité S of the subsets, which can be made only by taking of account the levels technical and physical. For the definition of target architecture, one can limit oneself to applicative architecture. The applicative architecture defines the whole of the software components constituting the automated part of an information system like their methods of assembly and communication.
It is an instanciation of the functional architecture of SO in a given technical environment and of exploitation.

The applicatif block is a whole of software components which present a functional coherence

• : data and treatment on the same trades objects,
• technical: total implementation mono-platform

The applicatif block is autonomous insofar as its operation must be independent of the way which information will have followed upstream and will continue downstream.

The applicatif block is described in term of:

• of structures of data which it manages,
• functional procedures that it carries out,
• services applicatifs that it places at the disposal of other blocks or the users
• the messages that it receives (events which he treats) and which he publishes (reports of events or operations that he produces).

The components of the applicatif block (given and services) can be public (the block gives the visibility of it to make it possible other blocks to use them) or private (for the internal needs for the block).

A applicatif block is a concrete software object which, in a given technical context, offers to the whole of IF, the implementation of the functionalities of the taken defined by the building block corresponding. A applicatif block communicates with the other blocks per exchange of messages and call of services.

Correspondences between system trade, information system and computing system

The table hereafter presents principal equivalences of vocabulary between the three levels of concern defined higher:

• system trade,
• Information system,
• Computing system.

Urbanization of IF consists in describing these three levels of SO by using a variety of concepts described previously. It is of use to represent these concepts on a diagram called méta-model of town planning. It is about a Diagramme of classes UML in which each class represents a concept of town planning.

Methodology of urbanization

The step of urbanization is articulated on 3 key axes which feed mutually:

• the modeling of the strategy
• the cartography of the existing systems (trade, functional, applicatifs, techniques)
• determination of the target systems (trade, functional, applicatifs, techniques)

The distinction strong between existing and target is an essential factor of clarification.

The step of urbanization of IF consists with:

• to define IF target, aligned on the strategy of the company,
• to determine the trajectory to follow to reach this IF target.

See also

See too

in anglophone Wikipedia

• Méta-model of town planning

• SOA: Service Oriented Structures
• Information system
• Computer security
• Data security
• EAI
• ESB
• Middleware or intergiciel
• software Architecture
• Business package integrated

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