Visual Modeling Editor and Ontology API-based Analysis for Decision Making in

Enterprises- Experience and Way Ahead

Sagar Sunkle and Hemant RathodTata Research Development and Design Center,

Pune, India.

Enterprise

Evolving Market ConditionsCompetitive Pressure

Technology Obsolescence and Advance

Dynamic Supply ChainsRegulatory Compliances

Inte

rnal

Exte

rnalChange Drivers

Motivation

Enterprise AS-IS

Inte

rnal

Exte

rnalChange Drivers

Enterprise TO-BE

Document-oriented

Reliance on ExpertNormal

Practice

Motivation

Enterprise AS-IS

Inte

rnal

Exte

rnalChange Drivers

Enterprise TO-BE

Using Purpose-specific Models

For Both Business-As-Usual Improvement/Transformation

Our Initial Approach

Enterprise AS-IS

EA-based Descripti

ve Models

[ArchiMate]

Prescriptive Intentional Models

[i*] Not just a soft

approach!Enterprise TO-BE

Internal External

Change Drivers

Solution Iteration 1

Enterprise AS-IS

Enterprise TO-BE

Archi OpenOME

EA-based Descripti

ve Models

[ArchiMate]

Prescriptive Intentional Models

[i*] Not just a soft

approach!

Solution Iteration 1

Internal External

Change Drivers

Enterprise AS-IS

Enterprise TO-BE

Archi OpenOME

Strategic Alternatives

Enterprise Entities

Problem- specific Models Actors and tasks

for TO-BE operationalization

Solution Iteration 1

Internal External

Change Drivers

Solution Iteration 1 ArchiMate motivation extensions provide goal

modeling constructs– At a very high level- Goals, Assessment, Drivers- but no goal

modeling specific syntax or semantics– i* provides well constructed goal/intention modeling syntax

and semantics

ArchiMate + Intentional Models

Enterprise AS-IS

Enterprise TO-BE

Archi OpenOME

Strategic Alternatives

Enterprise Entities

Problem- specific Models Actors and tasks

for TO-BE operationalization

Two Problems !!

Difficult to keep Archi[ArchiMate] and OpenOME[i*] models in sync Each purposive model needs specific tool

Reflection 1

Internal External

Change Drivers

Extended Archi with requisite concepts for Visual Models

+Ontology with ArchiMate + i* concepts for analyzable models

From Visual Models to analyzable

models

.csv .xlsx .owl

Exp

ort

Imp

ort

Protégé editor, Jena OWL ontology API, Pellet Reasoner API, SPARQL query language

Solution Iteration 2

Extended Archi with requisite concepts for Visual Models

+Ontology with ArchiMate + i* concepts for analyzable models

Reflection 2

Possible to model “Why + What + How” Ontological representation for constructing enterprise and intentional

analyses− EA Change Impact Analysis- Change ripples computed based on semantics

attributed to ArchiMate relations− EA Landscape Mapping- Retrieving specific pairs of EA elements from EA

model- set of business processes, application services they use, and business services that expose the functionality in business processes

− Intentional Analyses- Label propagation for computing relative strengths of alternatives, aggregate analyses such as ability, workability, and viability of a course of action

Combined EA + Intentional analyses− How to execute best strategic alternative on top of AS-IS EA

Idea validated, but scalability and modeling facility remain an issue

Future Solution Iteration 3

Extended Enterprise

MetamodelModel

Visual Modeling

Analysis

Extended Archi

Conforms To

Extended Enterprise

MetamodelModel

Visual Modeling

Analysis

ADEX

Conforms ToOntology

Symbol Designer OMGen

Features of Solution Iteration 3

Modeling/Analysis Feature

Archi (Eclipse EMF)

Adex Required For

Metamodeling Yes Yes Purpose-specific modeling extensions e.g. simulation of enterprise models

Visual Modeling Yes Yes Representing visual syntax agreed upon by community

Scripting No [EMFScript and other]

Yes [OMGen] For programming purpose-specific analyses

Database Support XML, CSV File, in memory, MySQL, Oracle etc. Supporting modeling and analysis lifecycle

including role-based access to modeling artifacts, and versioningMulti-user/Role

SupportNO Yes

Versioning

Diff-Merge

(Pre) Reflections on Solution Iteration 3 Scoping EA models

− Modeling enterprise without a clear problem definition is futile- intentional models help define the problem and possible solutions

Adjusting syntax of purpose-specific modeling languages− Enterprise and related models should focus mainly on analysis and lead to decision

execution− Accordingly, standard syntax of modeling languages may need tweaking

Enabling domain experts− So far, interaction was team of modelers who knew modeling languages + domain

experts- very difficult to make domain experts spare time− Could domain experts model on their own as a matter of practice?

− Then they have to learn at least the domain-specific language syntax but this should be OK

• Could domain vocabularies + rules help?− Not only to enable different modeling languages talk with each other− But also toward creating models of domain which could then be analyzed purposively

Questions?

I can be reached at sagar.sunkle@tcs.com