Guidelines for Modelling

The best advice/guidelines that I usually lay down for a modelling process especially a client facing data model is as follows :

•  Model should be iterative
•  Model should be dynamic
•  It should be economical in data
•  It should be economical in its views
•  Concepts should be clear and recognized
•  Model structure should be clear and recognized
•  Models should be consistent to previously available models ie. -  if they exist
•  Try and make models as correct and complete as required
•  The different concerns/viewpoints regarding the components should be treated orthogonally rather than in a scattered manner.

If you want some perspective on how you or your company needs to enhance their Sales/Client Management Capabilities, please email me at shubhanjan.saha@gmail.com

Basic Modelling Activities

As real life modelling is usually not linear and tends to be highly interactive, I have often tried to detail the activities involved in a modelling process, some of them are explained as follows :

1. Establishing the purpose, scope and focus- What part of reality will be described (Mine usually consists of three categories - conservative,normal, optimistic
- What aspects will be described - (probably the features of the product)
- What level of detail will be available - (Very important aspect as a lot of detail tends to confuse people...;-))
2.Selecting one or more viewpoints
3.Creating and structuring the model- Enterprise architecture to be used/not used ?
- Can you elicit and add additional info if you need
- Based upon the available information  you then engineer a model
- Or you can create a model via a visual representation
4. Visualizing/Using/Testing the model- Validation.Obtaining Commitment (The hardest part, so be ready to fight it out !)
- Informing the other stakeholders
5. Maintaining the model

If you want some perspective on how you or your company needs to enhance their Sales/Client Management Capabilities, please email me at shubhanjan.saha@gmail.com

The Zachman Framework - Helping define perspective

Whenever asked to advise on a framework that helps project an ideal set of rules and architecture for the management of complex IT products, I have always recommended the Zachman Framework as it helps define how perspectives are related according to certain rules or abstractions and also the schema of the architecture

All in all It allows different people in the team to look at the same thing from different perspectives. This helps create a holistic view of the environment, an important capability illustrated in this figure provided by zachman

If you want some perspective on how you or your company needs to enhance their Sales/Client Management Capabilities, please email me at shubhanjan.saha@gmail.com