Time, costs, robustness, agility, balance: model-controled IT solutions are powerful allies .
The underlying idea is quite simple: IT applications get control information and building blocks at runtime from the domain meta model , which is a global model of the enterprise's overall process. Therefore, changes in the model have immediate and direct impact.
Process Control Systems
For clarification, let us consider an example: the process chain of a consulting firm embraces the development of a survey, consisting of several tightly related documents.
We assume that several teams and departments co-operate in multiple work steps. The involved groups contribute various kinds of information to the overall survey, such as the financial view, the technical feasibility assessment, the environmental view and the legal view. Further groups take over process-spanning tasks, such as the project leading, statistical analyses and the design of the documents' overall layout.
In some process steps, specialized software applications are deployed; so, for instance, the survey group and the statisticians use a database system and software for performing statistical calculations. For the survey's layout design software for graphical design is used. All other groups are solely deploying universally applicable off-the-shelf text processing applications.
In order to support the business process effectively, it is vital to recognise the fact that each task contributes specifically to the overall result, in this case, the survey. Therefore, based on an information-centric process analysis, the domain meta model will be designed in a way enabling it to provide geared-for-each-other building blocks for all process steps. The envolved staff members use the building blocks to develop their contribution.
Now, some features of the product product shall be changed (it does not matter, whether it is a technical or non-technical product). For example: the firm expands its survey service offers by a new subject area (we also call "domain"). Another example: the surveys will consider new aspects, such as the political situation.
In order to introduce the new product features into the business process, new building blocks are added to the domain meta model . Because all software applications are constantly retrieving current meta information while being used, the meta model's new contents are ready-to-use within the applications immediately. Observing the same principle, the domain meta model is also used to automate individual work steps in a flexible manner. From these measures, an agile overall process arises, delivering results that are always logically consistent.
Please note: Unlike with conventional solutions the described model-driven approach is characterized by the fact that decision-providing information retrievals replace hard-coded behaviour; adopting this approach allows for implementing product changes without having to change interfaces or software applications. This process is agile, as it is easy to control and always in line with the enterprise's goals.
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