Functional software architecture: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:20, 14 March 2007

Revision as of 03:44, 15 March 2007

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As the boundary of an enterprise is extended, it becomes increasingly important that a common “big picture” of needed business, people and IT system activities is developed and shared by all the parties involved [1]. A Functional Software Architecture does this by breaking down the organization in business functions and corresponding IT needs. In this way the enterprise engineer provides a rich schematic reference that can be used by the software engineer in the development of these IT-systems.

The development of a Functional Software Architecture can be done by a number of (combined) methods and techniques. Figure 1 outlines the methods and techniques that will be discussed. Filling in the “gab”“gap” between the enterprise engineers and software engineers through the use of different combinations of methods and techniques will be the main objective. However, this objective can only be reached when combined methods result in clear and rich functional software architectures that are developed and used by both parties.

Optimizing the internal and external business processes through process reengineering is one of the main objectives an enterprise can have in times of high external pressure. A [[business process]] involves value creating activities with certain inputs and outputs, which are interconnected and thereby jointly contribute to the final outcome (product or service) of the process. Process reengineering covers a variety of perspectives of how to change the organization. It is concerned with the redesign of strategic, value adding processes, systems, policies and organizational structures to optimize the processes of an organization [2]. This paper considers process (re)engineering as part of the broader enterprise engineering field.

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'''Figure 1: Methods and techniques for the development of FSA'''

The different methodologies, methods and techniques discussed in this entry are presented as grey boxes. Also the related tools, methods and techniques discussed in the introduction are given. The grey boxes can be connected with each other by lines, which indicate a combination of methods for the development of a FSA.

All boxes within the rectangle “Functional Software Architecture” are connected with the Enterprise Engineering box, which outlines the fact that these methods/methodologies can be used in “Enterprise Engineering”. Only the UML and Petri Net boxes are directly connected with the box containing “Software Engineering”. That is, these two are commonly used by software engineers for the design and coding of a system.

Figure 1 shows at the top-level the “Enterprise Engineering” field;

Optimizing the internal and external business processes through process reengineering is one of the main objectives an enterprise can have in times of high external pressure. A [[business process]] involves value creating activities with certain inputs and outputs, which are interconnected and thereby jointly contribute to the final outcome (product or service) of the process. Process reengineering covers a variety of perspectives of how to change the organization. It is concerned with the redesign of strategic, value adding processes, systems, policies and organizational structures to optimize the processes of an organization [2]. This paper considers process (re)engineering as part of the broader enterprise engineering field.

==Modeling the business==