Intentional Modeling for Problem Solving in

Enterprise ArchitectureSagar Sunkle, Vinay Kulkarni, and Suman Roychoudhury

Tata Consultancy Services, India

Quick Background Modeling at Tata Consultancy Services and R&D Early effort in Enterprise Modeling with ArchiMate Using Intentional Modeling [i*] for goal modeling

Motivation Basic Idea Details Issues

Agenda

Cost of incorrect decisions in enterprise systems is prohibitively high

Multiple change drivers along business, IT, and infrastructure dimensions

Holistic view provided by enterprise architecture frameworks- mainly what and how but not why

BMM by OMG, ArchiMate motivation extension provide blueprint treatment of reasons behind decisions- They are less actionable and also difficult to automate

Motivation

Enterprise Model

Basic Idea

Model of Enterprise based on ArchiMate Metamodels

Intentional Model

Model of Strategic Intentions of the Enterprise

Descriptive in nature Prescriptive in nature

Enterprise Model

Basic Idea

Intentional Model

Enterprise-Intentional Metamodel Mapping

Arch

iMat

e

i*Intentional Model

Enterprise Model

Basic Idea

Intentional Model

Enterprise-Intentional Metamodel Mapping

Devoid of Goals

Arch

iMat

e

i*Intentional Model

Enterprise Model

Basic Idea

Intentional Model

Enterprise-Intentional Metamodel Mapping

Devoid of Goals

Intentional Model

Introduce Goals; Goals are problems to be

solved

Evaluate Goals, revise enterprise model

Arch

iMat

e

i*Intentional Model

Enterprise Model

Mapping EA and Intentional Entities

Intentional Model

Enterprise-Intentional Metamodel Mapping

Devoid of Goals

Active [Structure] Entities perform

[Behavior] Entities using Passive Entities

Actors perform Tasks using Resources

Arch

iMat

e

i*Intentional Model

Enterprise Model

Mapping EA and Intentional Entities

Intentional Model

Devoid of Goals

Enterprise-Intentional Metamodel Mapping

Active [Structure] Entities perform

[Behavior] Entities using Passive Entities

Actors perform Tasks using Resources

Arch

iMat

e

i*Intentional Model

To achieve

goals

Problems in Enterprise Models as Goals in Intentional Model

Enterprise-Intentional Metamodel Mapping

Enterprise Model

Enterprise-Intentional Metamodel Mapping

Problems in Enterprise Model as Goals in Intentional Model

Intentional Model

with Goals Represent the problems as

goals

To achieve

goals

Arch

iMat

e

i*Intentional Model

Intentional Model

Devoid of Goals

Model-driven

Development Unit

Intentional Model without

goals

Sub-teams of Solution Architect, MDE Specialist, Developer

working in MD way

Case Study

If development teams were distributed, how best to

partition access to models and code and enable distributed

development?

As-is enterprise To-be enterprise

Model-driven

Development Unit

Intentional Model without

goals

Sub-teams of Solution Architect, MDE Specialist, Developer

working in MD way

Case Study

Distributed development as main goal,

other requirements as sub-goals

If development teams were distributed, how best to

partition access to models and code and enable distributed

development?

Alternative chains of tasks performed by existing or more actors using existing or more resources to achieve geographically distributed development while enabling efficient implementation of performance intensive operations and synchronization

As-is enterprise To-be enterprise

Distributed Development

Enabled

Intentional Model without

goals

Case Study

Distributed development as main goals,

other requirements as sub-goals

Chosen alternative may result in adding further responsibilities to existing actor(s),

or adding actor(s)- this is reflected back into the enterprise model

Distributed Development

Enabled

Intentional Model without

goals

Case Study

Distributed development as main goals,

other requirements as sub-goals

Resulting enterprise model shows who needs to do what and which resources are needed to achieve required goals-

spanning business, IT, and infrastructure layers

Key Issues

Contribution

Metamodel mapping from enterprise model to intentional model enables automated derivation of intentional models from enterprise models

In the reverse direction, chosen alternatives for achieving goals are reflected into enterprise model

First steps toward expressing problems in enterprise systems in terms of goals to be achieved

Key Issues

Further Improvements

Representing goals in enterprise models, here, using ArchiMate motivation extension- drivers, assessments, requirements and goals in ArchiMate motivation extensions may map to soft-goals and goals in i*

Diff between as-is enterprise model and the resultant to-be enterprise model with intentional analysis reflected in terms of changes in actors and their tasks so as to get a recipe of what needs to be done

Conclusions

Apart from What and How, Whys of Enterprises must be addressed

Intentional models provide way to express goals and evaluate alternatives to achieve same goals

BMM, ArchiMate can be used to further streamline capturing of enterprise goals in conjunction with intentional models