A Business Process Domain is a logical grouping of business systems dedicated to a common purpose. Such systems may be geographically co-located, thus emphasising their purpose; or they may grouped by some other constraint, such as a common systems availability target.
In order to demonstrate the responsiveness of the technical architecture to the business needs of the organization, among the various architecture views that are developed, a Business Process Domain View may be used. This describes the Technical Architecture from the perspective of the enterprise's key business process domains.
A business process domain view is a set of function views (as explained in Appendix A), aligned with the business process structure of the enterprise.
Business Process Domain Views are used during architecture development as a means of verifying, and demonstrating, that the architecture being developed is addressing the business requirements. (Specifically, they are an output of Phase C, and are used in Phase D of the ADM.)
Thorough and detailed application of the business scenario technique in the early stages of architecture development should provide an excellent foundation for a set of Business Process Domain views.
Each Business Process Domain view addresses components, interfaces, and allocation of services critical to the view. A typical structure is shown below.
Introduction | A description of the domain, its key applications and attributes that characterise the applications within the domain. |
Business Problem Statement | A short description of the important business problems relating to the domain, and how they are addressed in the target architecture. |
Applications Deployed within the Business Process Domain | A table listing currently deployed applications |
Assumptions, Constraints and Guidelines | General guidelines for developers, implementers and system suppliers |
Domain Structure | Target Architecture / Business Process Domain
Mapping: A table highlighting the Services and Building Blocks applicable to this domain. Application Topology: A figure showing the relationships between the major application elements within this domain |
Domain Service Qualities | A description of the service qualities (see Application Platform Taxonomy) that are important for each business process domain, and how they are achieved in the target architecture. |
Deployment Guidance Strategy | Lessons learnt with respect to deployment. The migration strategy for implementing the target architecture, as it applies to this business domain. Also any guidance for the implementation team responsible for deployment. |
Future Directions | Any important directions identified for systems within the domain |
References | Pointers to reference material |
Table 1: Business Process Domain Views - Description Structure
Copyright © The Open Group, 1999