The new European data protection regulation– are you prepared?

Update: Webinar with Andreas Richter on GDPR 24 March. Click here for registration.

The European Union’s new data protection regulation takes effect in 2018 and will have a bigger impact on European organizations than many might yet be aware of. For those approaching the subject from the right angle, the new rules do not just bring obligations, but also a variety of opportunities.

Since May 2016, the European Union’s new data protection rules (General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR) is in force, establishing a harmonized data protection framework for personal data across the entire European Union and European Economic Area (EEA). The regulation is now being transposed in all EA/EEA member states and will take effect as national law in May 2018. With this comprehensive regulation, the all Europeans are provided with a variety of new rights when it comes to protection and handling of our personal data. For all organizations collecting, processing and storing information, the new law first of all carries a broad range of obligations and new requirements they have to understand and comply with. Failing to keep personal data appropriately secure can result in fines of up to 20 million Euro or 4% of global annual turnover, whichever is greater.

The new regulation aims to strengthen people’s rights in the digital age and to simplify rules for internationally acting businesses by unifying them. After all, the data protection regulation is replacing varied national laws with just one framework that is equally valid in the entire EU/EEA. The ultimate goal is to give everybody more control over our personal data.

How are organizations affected?

The impact of the new regulation on organizations will be manifold and no business will remain unaffected, especially in the light of the ongoing digitalization. Organizations have to understand which of the information they are keeping are impacted by the regulation and how it is handled today, where and why it is kept and how it is protected. It requires understanding and adaption of business rules, business processes, information systems and IT infrastructure. Sounds like a complex and pretty big task to get on top of, and, bad news first, it is for sure not something that is done overnight. But the good news is that now is a good time for getting prepared, and that both methods and tools exist for getting a good grip on the job. Organizations that already have control over the enterprise’s architecture get a head start when it comes to understanding how they should react to changing market dynamics. And businesses that already today are managed with a strong process orientation can gain an advantage when it comes to easier transformation. QualiWare and Qualisoft, having over 20 years of experience as experts in the fields of Business Process Management (BPM) and Enterprise Architecture (EA), already started supporting our first customers in this transition with a structured approach. Such a structured, holistic approach is the perfect starting point for slicing the elephant of what is the new data protection regulation.

What is “personal data” and who is affected?

Understanding what “personal data” is a good thing to start with, and already comes as a surprise to many organizations. The EU defines “personal data” as “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person” – both directly and indirectly. Following this wide definition, not only names, addresses, credit card numbers or log in names, but also mailing lists, minutes of meeting, cookies or even photos from the last company picnic fall under this category (everything that makes somebody “personally identifiable”). Some data needs more protection and special rules apply for such sensitive data.

It becomes clear that the new regulation will affect virtually any company that is operating in the EU/EEA, not at least the public sector and those handling sensitive personal data. Most organizations are dealing with more personal data than they know. What you don’t know, you can’t control. It’s about time to get an overview.

What to do now?

It will take some time and resources to get accustomed to the new rules and transform the way of working in order to be compliant, so it is smart to start planning already now. But where to start? An issue that many will face is that it is not yet entirely clear to anybody what the new regulation will actually mean and how it actually will impact businesses. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet) is currently working through the 156 pages strong EU law, trying to break it down to practical guidelines and actionable tasks for getting a grip on the situation – but will not be finished with doing so until late 2017, only a few months before the regulation already becomes law. Do not wait that long. Even though you might not yet fully understand what the law will mean for your business and where you will actually need to adapt your policies and processes, there is a lot that you can do already now in order to be prepared. Be proactive rather than reactive. Start with understanding your organization and establish a sound information basis. This means you will need to:

  1. Get an overview over relevant requirements and where they are affecting your systems and processes
  2. Get an overview over which information you have today that is affected by the new law. Find out which data you are handling, why you are handling it and how it is used
  3. Ensure that the organization is compliant with the current law – this is the best possible basis!
The QualiWare/Qualisoft roadmap for achieving compliance towards the new EU data protection regulation: Start with getting an overview, understand where the law affects your business and plan for transformation.

The new law will affect organizations on many interrelated levels, from their processes down to the technology they are using internally and for exchanging information with third parties. Get an overview over both the current and the new law and understand where on those levels you are complying today and where your gaps are. After that, map up the information that your organization is using, where you are using it (processes) and where you are storing it (systems and technology). With your first comprehensive overview of how you are using personal data today, it allows you to easily identify requirements for your information and the rationale for handling it. A repository-based tool like QualiWare Lifecycle Manager will make your life a lot easier in these regards, both in terms of uncovering relations and dependencies as well as in terms of collaboration and maintenance.

The information basis that you now established is what you need to start your enterprise transformation journey – identifying gaps and defining necessary actions to close them through adapting your way of working through methods of business process transformation. The job of mapping up requirements against your organization that you did earlier will also help you here.

A repository-based tool like QualiWare will make it easier to gain an overview over relations across different perspectives, for example, where requirements touch your business processes

Establishing these overviews and relations before the new law takes effect in May 2018 will make you well prepared. Make sure you are not just waiting to see what will happen and trying to react as good as you can, but be proactive and gain control over both what you have and what you need to do. It is also a prerequisite for creating proper plans and allocate resources.

Enabling positive change

If you now think that the only answer to the question “Why do I need to do this?” is “Because I have to”, you can be assured that compliance is not the only thing you can gain from this exercise. It is not just a legal obligation; it is also an opportunity. If you approach the topic from the right angle, several benefits can be achieved:

  • Internationally operating companies can achieve substantial financial savings through unifying their policies and way of working
  • Demonstrating compliance with the new law will build trust of the customer and also promote innovative use of data
  • Process-based transformation and management leads to better business performance through a more coherent way of working, consistency in changes and increased consensus amongst employees
  • Better alignment of business and technology through a holistic architectural approach, resulting in saved IT cost and a more efficient processes
  • A generally improved approach to information security and compliance with international standards such as ISO 27001

Several of our clients have already started dealing with the new regulation and are gaining necessary overview through their management systems. After all, the most important advice for action is to not spend your time waiting. Be proactive, start looking into the new rules and understand where your organization is today. Are you prepared?

Further reading:

 

QualiWare + EA Professional Development Days 2017


presents the 2017 QualiWare + EA Professional Development Days 2017

Ottawa, February 6-10, 2017

Presentations – 2017 QualiWare+EA Professional Development Days Presentations (Ottawa, Canada)

CloseReach and QualiWare invite you to join us for the 3rd annual QualiWare + EA Professional Development Days. An event to promote networking, learning and collaboration for Architects and QualiWare enthusiasts, novices and experts alike.

Meet other QualiWare users, Business and Enterprise Architects, Project Managers, Analysts, BPM Specialists and Quality Managers. Share architecture and QualiWare experiences. Learn from customer case studies. Take part in interactive ideas exchanges. Influence product development.

Building on the success of 2016, we will be expanding your opportunities for learning and knowledge sharing. Join us for this excellent professional development opportunity:

Speakers Day (Monday) – the best place to hear about the latest developments in enterprise architecture and business transformation in Canada and globally. Speakers Day early bird pricing is in effect: $250 per person, 5-pack: $1,125.00, 10-pack: $2,125.00. HST extra. Includes a great day of speakers as well as breakfast and lunch.

Featured Speakers:

  • Kuno Brodersen – EA and Digital Transformation Strategies
    • A leader in the business modeling and enterprise architecture field for more than 30 years.
    • CEO and Co- Founder of QualiWare ApS. QualiWare provides comprehensive modeling tools and consulting services that focus on enhancing business efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, competitive positioning, and organizational profitability. QualiWare’s products and services help the customer succeed with Quality Management, Process Management and Optimization initiatives, Business Excellence programs, Enterprise Architecture initiatives, and/or IT solution development needs.
  • Roger Burlton – A Journey from Business Architecture to a Digital Process? A Case Study in Government Transformation
    • Respected pioneer in the introduction of innovative approaches for Business Architecture and Process Management
    • A leader in the field of Business Process Management, having authored one of the most
      read and followed books on the topic early in BPM’s growth.
    • Chair of the BPTrends.com Advisory Board
  • Stephen Challinor – Enterprise Architecture as a Business Enabler
    • Director Enterprise Architecture, Department of National Defence
    • Co-Chair Government of Canada EA Working Group
    • 27-year career as a public servant with a broad background in complex project and procurement management, weapon systems and equipment management, business and financial management, IM/IT systems and Alternate Service Delivery (ASD) initiatives.
  • Skip Lumley – Developing and Implementing a Pan-Canadian Standard for Public Sector Business Architecture
    • Co-founded and managed the consulting firm Chartwell IRM Inc. from 1984 until its acquisition in 2010 by KPMG Canada.
    • Leader in the development and support of government reference models: the Municipal Reference Model (MRM), the Public Service Reference Model (Province of Ontario) and the Governments of Canada Strategic Reference Model (GSRM).
    • Currently serving as an independent advisor to public and civic sector organizations on the use of reference models for program review, policy development, strategic planning and change management.
  • Stephen White – Digitalizing Your Business Processes
    • Business Process Management Institute (BPMI) Board of Directors
    • Former Chair of BPMI Notation Working Group and author/editor of Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) 1.0 & 2.0 Technical Specification
    • Chair of OMG Revision Task Force and Co-Chair of OMG FTF for BPMN 2.0
    • Contributor to OMG CMMN 1.0 specification
    • Co-Authored Book “BPMN modeling and reference guide”

Tool-Day (Tuesday) – How-To Seminars/Workshops: Business Modelling (BPMN, Capability Modelling, Requirements & Traceability); Collaboration using QualiWare Web Publishing; Change & Problem Management using QualiWare Governance Workflow Engine; Modelling Revision Management, Back-up and Recovery Strategies.

Tuesday seminars/workshops are offered at the nominal (full day) cost of $20.00 + HST per person with 100% of proceeds being donated to the Royal Ottawa PTSD Clinic.

Business Architecture Training (Tuesday-Friday) – “Made in Canada” Business Architecture training & certification with Roger Burlton.

QualiWare Training (Wednesday-Friday) – take full advantage of QualiWare’s EA software

  • QualiWare Data Visualization
  • QualiWare Command Language (QCL) Basic.

For more information or advance seating reservations for Speakers Day and all of the week’s events, contact Susan Wolfenden; susan@closereach.ca, 613-825-1769. Space is limited – call now!

Please feel free to share this invitation with colleagues.
Help us make this event the place to be in Canada for all things architecture related!

Enterprise Design Webinar Series

Our series of four webinars with Milan Guenther is now available for viewing at any time.

The webinars cover these topics:

  • Reinventing IT: How Strategic Enterprise Design Leads Digital Transformation
  • Experience Mapping: Customer Obsession for IT and Digital professionals
  • Enterprise Design Sprints: Empowering your Intrapreneurs for Rapid Innovation
  • Scaling Enterprise Design: a Management Framework for Agile Environments



QualiWare support the EDGY-language created by the Intersection Group.

Read more about how QualiWare supports the EDGY-language here:

3rd Enterprise Design retreat

eda.c and QualiWare team up and arrange the third gathering on Strategic Enterprise Design on March 6-8 in Tel Aviv. Over the course of 3 days at the Nalaga’at Center in Jaffa Port, we will jointly shape the emerging field of Enterprise Design.

In its 3rd edition after Barcelona and Iceland, our event brings together enterprise rebels inside and outside of organizations, and promote a trans-disciplinary exchange on common themes and challenges, tools and techniques, and new thinking. Despite our different backgrounds in design thinking and doing, enterprise and business architecture or analysis, brand, customer and user experience, culture or business transformation and systems thinking, we share a common goal: make enterprises act less awkward and more humane.

After two retreats, three conferences and with a growing community of practitioners, our focus shifts – from understanding what each other is actually doing, to how to achieve impact and collaborate.

See the program and register now.

Webinar on Design Sprints

Watch the recording

On 13 December 3pm CET, Milan Guenther will give a free webinar on Design Sprints and empowering your intrapreneurs for rapid innovation.

milanThe role of a change agent in an enterprise is no easy one. Even with the right entrepreneurial spirits in your teams, politics, silos, established cultural traits and operational challenges get in the way. This has led many enterprises to try a different way. Diving into intrapreneurship programs employing lean and agile approaches, organizations are attempting to catch up with the startup world.

The ideas of working in rapid iterative sprints and avoiding waste have proven vital to overcome the natural inertia of organizations. The Design Sprint was originally developed at Google Ventures with Silicon Valley pioneers. It is a rapid innovation workshop format that aims to tackle problems for teams of any size, validating the challenge and potential solutions before investing into their realization.

Milan Guenther

In this webinar, Milan will introduce Enterprise Design Sprints, a variant of the original tool developed working with the likes of Google, SAP and Toyota. It is designed specifically to get innovation initiatives up to speed, mapping complexity rather than ignoring it, and triggering transformation dynamics. Find out more about the Enterprise Design Sprint methodology and download the free Sprint Canvas here.

Register for the webinar now!

Milan Guenther is managing partner at eda.c, a strategic design consultancy, and Google certified Design Sprint Master. He is the author of INTERSECTION, a book introducing the enterprise design approach for holistic design in complex enterprises, and organising the INTERSECTION conference series about strategic enterprise design. Milan works with organisations like SAP, Boeing, Toyota and the UN, as well as smaller organisations and start-up companies. He has been a designer and architect for over 12 years. Before co-founding eda.c, he worked as a freelance UX strategist and launched a social software startup.

Experience Mapping – Customer Obsession for IT and Digital Professionals

Watch the recording of webinar, 2 December 2016

Customer Journey maps are a powerful tool to capture opportunities and pain points customers are experiencing, providing a basis for customer-centric transformation. But how to connect them to the reality of a complex, intertwined enterprise that needs to do things differently in order to deliver on these insights?

Too often, the links to the current architecture and organization are unclear, making it difficult to implement such initiatives. Enterprise Architecture teams find themselves stuck in a logic of operations far away from the customer, while those close to the customer struggle to make an impact on the way the enterprise actually works.

In this webinar, Katharina and Milan will share an approach to mapping the Customer Experience for prioritizing topics and challenges, looking at a practical Service Design scenario from the healthcare industry. Using the QualiWare modelling environment, they will look at what to capture, how to make this a part of an integrated Business Architecture model, and how to guide transformation through shared knowledge informing rapid Design Sprints.

Bios

katharinaKatharina Weber is a UX strategist and service designer from Berlin. She is working freelance and is a fellow with eda.c. Her main agenda is to help creating meaningful user experiences for complex applications and services. In her recent projects she explores the intersections between design and business in disciplines such as design management, organizational design and business modeling. Thereby working towards holistic solutions that fit both the business strategy and the user needs. Katharina is also regularly working as a Google Expert Mentor, teaching hands-on methodology for Product Strategy and User Experience design to young entrepreneurs of the start up scene.

milanMilan Guether is managing partner at eda.c, a strategic design consultancy with offices in Paris and Düsseldorf. He is the author of INTERSECTION, a book introducing the enterprise design approach for holistic design in complex enterprises, and co-organising the INTERSECTION conference series about strategic enterprise design. Milan works with organisations like Google, SAP, Boeing, Toyota and the UN, as well as smaller organisations and start-up companies. He has been a designer and architect for over 12 years. Before co-founding eda.c, he worked as a freelance UX strategist and launched a social software startup. Milan co-leads the Paris chapter of the Interaction Design Association and teaches Design Management at the Paris College of Art.

Sign up here.

Reinventing IT

Watch the recording

18 Nov webinar with Milan Guenther

In this first webinar of a series on Enterprise Design practice, Milan will show how to reposition architecture, analysis and design work to reclaim the driver’s seat in digital transformation. The webinar will cover these themes:

  • Working with the QualiWare modelling environment, we will cover
  • What the new digital customer means for enterprise modelling
  • Using a holistic approach to define challenges, scope and frame initiatives
  • Running projects in an agile and lean fashion using Design Sprints
  • Systemic and proactive modelling to drive the right conversations

As architects, analysts and IT professionals, we are challenged by our peers, clients and users: well beyond “keeping the lights on”, we need to lead the way into the digital future of the enterprise. With new relationships to empowered customers and users, trust in organizations in decline, and startup competition disrupting entire industries, this role has never been more important. Yet our methods and tools keep us busy documenting today’s complexity, making us seen like preventers rather than agents of change. We see people’s eyes glaze over at our complicated models, tired of the difficulties they entail. To reposition ourselves as the architects and designers of the enterprise, our focus has to shift from modelling the inner workings to covering our ecosystem, from mapping today’s complexity to informing future strategic scenarios, from operations and technology to customer value creation, and from busy diagrams to capturing what matters to our audience.

Milan Guenther

Register for this free webinar!

Milan Guenther is a Managing Partner at eda.c, a strategic design consultancy with offices in Paris and Düsseldorf. He is the author of INTERSECTION, a book introducing the Enterprise Design approach for holistic design in complex enterprises. Milan works with Google, SAP, Boeing, Toyota and the UN, as well as smaller organisations and start-up companies. 

Further reading: Milan’s blog post on Reinventing IT

The Webinar Series

  • Nov 18 – Reinventing IT: How Strategic Enterprise Design Leads Digital Transformation
  • Dec 2 – Experience Mapping: Customer Obsession for IT and Digital professionals
  • Dec 13 – Enterprise Design Sprints: Empowering your Intrapreneurs for Rapid Innovation
  • Jan 13 – Scaling Enterprise Design: a Management Framework for Agile Environments

ArchiMate 3.0 Webinar

Click here to watch the recording.

Are you using Archimate 3.0 Specification as your modelling standard? Do your current tools enable you to work with this and other standards as easily as you would like?

If not, you may be interested to find an easy-to-use, repository-based tool to fully support your requirements. You can manage all your architecture needs, and:

  • Reduce errors in managing the complexity of ArchiMate 3.0
  • Reduce amount of documentation required through re-using your objects and models
  • Save time and reduce duplication of work
  • Add properties to your ArchiMate symbols
  • Speed up work by using non graphical relations

QualiWare Enterprise Architecture Suite fully supports the new Archimate 3.0 Specification. This includes:

  • Support for all constructs, relationships, and controls for ArchiMate 3.0
  • Ability to link your Archimate models to models for other standards
  • Support for all new 3.0 viewpoints
  • Drag and drop any of the 56 symbols into your diagrams

Join our Archimate 3.0 webinar

Monday the 26th September at 4pm CET (3pm UK)

Through this webinar you’ll get a brief Introduction to QualiWare and ArchiMate. We will look at what’s new in ArchiMate3.0. How to draw ArchiMate3.0 diagrams in QualiWare and how you can link ArchiMate with other diagrams and standards.

Join us and learn about the new features in Archimate3.0 and QualiWare

Reimagining Management

23 August 2016

Roger Tregear’s 1-day seminar in Farum

The only way any organisation is able to create, accumulate, and deliver value to its customers is via collaboration across the organisation. There is no other way. Can any box on your organisation chart, by itself, deliver value outside your organisation? No, it can’t. This is the meaningful message of process-based management.

Roger Tregear
Leonardo Consulting


7Enablers

Toolkit for transformation

This seminar delivers a practical and pragmatic metamodel for business transformation. The 7Enablers is a systematic approach to the process of management. It reasserts the primacy of value creation, accumulation, and delivery. Organisations must take a step back and reimagine their operations as value creation and delivery flows. 7Enablers represents a breakthrough in process-based management theory and its practical implementation and operation.

Why should I attend?

Management Breakthrough Content
Learn about the 7Enablers approach to management excellence and how it can make a significant difference in your organization.

Make Process-Based Management Real
Understand how to realise the benefits of process-based management using pragmatic and proven approaches.

Focus On Value Creation, Accumulation, & Delivery
Learn how to create a management approach that persistently focuses the organisation, its people, and their teams on the delivery of value to customers and other stakeholders. 

Efficiency & Effectiveness Delivered
Learn why the inevitable directive to ‘do more with less’ is not an impossible demand for an organisation doing effective process-based management.

World Class Education Outcomes
Your trainer, Roger Tregear, brings international thought leadership combined with the practical insights to allow you to make process-based management work in your organisation.

Local Network Connections
This seminar connects you with other analysts and managers with an interest in developing better process management practices using contemporary, proven approaches.

Who should attend?

The seminar is for anyone involved in the management and improvement of organisational performance or the analysis and design of business systems, especially those who have an interest in process-based management. Executives, managers, business analysts, process practitioners, supply chain managers, and anyone involved in the management and improvement of organisational performance, will gain valuable and practical insights from this seminar.

What will I learn in the seminar?

In a day packed with pragmatic wisdom and practical case study examples, you will learn:

  • How organisational strategy is executed via business processes
  • Why only cross-functional processes can deliver value (products & services) to customers
  • Why process-based management allows managers to focus on the things that really matter
  • How the process view provides an effective framework for business requirements analysis
  • How to build awareness of performance and quality in every person across the organisation
  • How the 7Enablers defines, measures, improves, and maintains organisation performance
  • Why continuous improvement needs both performance-driven and idea-driven pathways
  • How the Virtuous Circles sustain effective process-based management

The 7Enablers is a systemic framework for sustained transformative management, replacing ‘random acts of management’ with commitment to deliberate operational excellence.The 7Enablers is a systemic framework for sustained transformative management, replacing ‘random acts of management’ with commitment to deliberate operational excellence.

When and where?

23 August 2016 at QualiWare HQ at Ryttermarken 15 in Farum.

Participation

The course fee is 5000 DKK plus VAT (if applicable). The fee includes seminar participation, breakfast and lunch, course material, and an optional follow-up visit by a QualiWare BPM expert.

Register here.

Roger Tregear is a Consulting Director with Leonardo Consulting. He delivers BPM education and consulting assignments worldwide. Based in Canberra (Australia), Roger spends his working life talking, consulting, thinking and writing about the analysis, improvement, innovation and management of business processes.

Reference Architectures for Industry 4.0

We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before.

Klaus Schwab
Founder and Executive Chairman
World Economic Forum

 

On our study trip to Automation Valley, we learned about Industry 4.0 and the digitalization of German manufacturing. On the way back to Denmark, one of the other participants said, “yep, the Germans set the standard”. This is indeed the case, even in a very literal sense: They’re making Industry 4.0 a German DIN Standard, and are aiming for international standardization.

Introducing RAMI 4.0

The German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association, and its partners, have developed the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0). Today supported by the Plattform Industrie 4.0 network, RAMI 4.0 is held as a key standard for Industry 4.0.

RAMI 4.0_neue Farben_849x566RAMI 4.0 consists of

a three-dimensional coordinate system that describes all crucial aspects of Industrie 4.0. In this way, complex interrelations can be broken down into smaller and simpler clusters.

The coordinate system is further described as follows:

The “Hierarchy Levels” axis:

Indicated on the right horizontal axis are hierarchy levels from IEC 62264, the international standards series for enterprise IT and control systems. These hierarchy levels represent the different functionalities within factories or facilities. In order to represent the Industrie 4.0 environment, these functionalities have been expanded to include workpieces, labelled “Product”, and the connection to the Internet of Things and Services, labelled “Connected World”.

The “Life Cycle & Value Stream” axis:

The left horizontal axis represents the life cycle of facilities and products, based on IEC 62890 for life-cycle management. Furthermore, a distinction is made between “types” and “instances”. A “type” becomes an “instance” when design and prototyping have been completed and the actual product is being manufactured.

The “Layers” axis:

The six layers on the vertical axis serve to describe the decomposition of a machine into its properties structured layer by layer, i.e. the virtual mapping of a machine. Such representations originate from information and communication technology, where properties of complex systems are commonly broken down into layers.

Together, the axes form a model that can be used as follows:

Within these three axes, all crucial aspects of Industrie 4.0 can be mapped, allowing objects such as machines to be classified according to the model. Highly flexible Industrie 4.0 concepts can thus be described and implemented using RAMI 4.0. The reference architectural model allows for step-by-step migration from the present into the world of Industrie 4.0.

In essense,

…RAMI 4.0 provides a common understanding for standards and use cases….RAMI 4.0 can be regarded as a kind of 3D map of Industrie 4.0 solutions: it provides an orientation for plotting the requirements of sectors together with national and international standards in order to define and further develop Industrie 4.0. Overlapping standards and gaps can thus be identified and resolved.

RAMI 4.0 is referencing three standards:

  • IEC 62890 – Life-cycle management for systems and products used in industrial-process measurement, control and automation. Note: Under development since 2013 and not available to the public until its release, scheduled for September 2016.
  • IEC 62264 – Enterprise-control system integration.
  • IEC 61512 – Batch control.

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) white paper on Factory of the Future explains further that when establishing interoperability in manufacturing environments, different dimensions of integration have to be considered:

  • Vertical integration, i.e. along the automation pyramid as defined by IEC 62264/IEC 61512. This includes factory-internal integration from sensors and actuators within machines up to ERP systems.
  • Horizontal integration, i.e. along the value chain and throughout production networks. This includes the integration of production networks on the business level as achieved by EDI-based supply chain integration, but might include more in the future, when close-to-real-time and product- or process-specific information is exchanged to increase the level of detail and quality in distributed manufacturing optimization.
  • Integration towards engineering and product/production life cycle applications (e.g. IEC 62890) in order to enable low-effort knowledge sharing and synchronization between product and service development and manufacturing environments.

Standardizing RAMI 4.0

RAMI4.0 has now been put forward for standardization in Germany as DIN SPEC 91345 – Referenzarchitekturmodell Industrie 4.0.  It often takes years for a DIN SPEC to become an official DIN Standard, but now the process has begun, and since Industry 4.0 seems to be a high priority area for DIN, they may decide to fast-track this standard.

So far, the standard is available in German language only, but should be available in English too soon. For now, the most comprehensive publications in English about RAMI 4.0 seem to be the 2016 status report and the 2015 status report.

IEC has put Industry 4.0, including RAMI, high on their agenda. In their call for their general assembly later this year, IEC outlines its future plans and strategic goals for Industry 4.0 reference models and architectures:

Developing a description of the reference models in dedicated standards. As with core models, reference models are also used in a wide variety of model solutions.

Defining reference models separately as independent standards for the purposes of simplification and avoidance of unintentional deviations, and for better understanding.

Implementing a nearly finished specification (DIN SPEC 91345 – publication planned Q2 2016) as Public Available Specification – PAS within IEC, starting with the new work item procedure in the relevant Technical Committee of the IEC.

The relevant IEC committee would probably be TC65 who also owns the three IEC standards included in DIN SPEC 91345, but there are likely many other TCs in IEC who eventually become involved with Industry 4.0. The same will many other standardization organizations and initiatives. The Technical Management Board (TMB) of the International Standard Organization (ISO) has set up a Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) on Industry 4.0/Smart Manufacturing. This SAG should cooperate closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and is supposed to report back by September 2016. Most of this work takes place behind closed doors, and the SAGs homepage is not very informative.

Analyzing RAMI 4.0’s roots

assets
Categories of technical assets.

The “Life Cycle & Value Stream” axis is based on an unpublished standard, and therefore difficult to assess. The 2016 status report shed some light on this, and states that:

It was one of the main design decisions of the RAMI4.0 architecture to model type descriptions as individual assets (with own life cycles) which are independent from specific products. To highlight this fact, the assets are divided along the x-axis into “types” (type descriptions) and “instances” (specific products).

And also, that,

This is just a very rough classification but it helps to separate the development and life-cycle management of product types (product families) from the production and lifecycle management of the individual products.

The distinction between type and instance is classic in software engineering and information modeling. RAMI 4.0 maps the asset categories to the life-cycle dimension and the value stream.

Architecturally, this is an interesting approach. But someone really needs to work on the visualization and explanation of the dimension. The status report hints that the IEC 62890 standard will explain it all.

The “Hierarchy Levels” (with IEC62264) dimension is based on the classic ISA-95 which dates back to the 1990s (but is still maintained).

PERA_Decision-making_and_control_hierarchy
Purdue Reference Model (Wikipedia)

ISA notes that the purpose of ISA-95 is:

To create a standard that will define the interface between control functions and other enterprise functions based upon the Purdue Reference Model for CIM (hierarchical form) as published by ISA. The interface initially considered is the interface between levels 3 and 4 of that model. Additional interfaces will be considered, as appropriate. The goal is to reduce the risk, cost, and errors associated with implementing these interfaces. The standard must define information exchange that is robust, safe, and cost effective. The exchange mechanism must preserve the integrity of each system’s information and span of control.

The Purdue Reference Model for CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) from 1989, published as ISA-95, became the de facto organizing logic for manufacturing information systems and defined that the 0-4 levels have core information systems: ERP at level 4, MES at level 3, and SCADA at level 2.

i40enhancementThe hierarchy in RAMI 4.0 is divided into two parts: products (and users) and equipment (field devices, control devices, stations, work units, enterprises and connected world).

The status report seems to acknowledge that RAMI 4.0 may not have hit the nail:

All in all, the ordering schema along the y-axis is just a presentation help for fostering an intuitive understanding of the architecture. In case the terms or aggregation steps do not fit into the respective domains, they can easily be readjusted.

The “Layers” axis

serve to describe the decomposition of a machine into its properties structured layer by layer, i.e. the virtual mapping of a machine. Such representations originate from information and communication technology, where properties of complex systems are commonly broken down into layers.

Layering is a classic theme in enterprise architecture. Although there are some critics, most current enterprise architecture frameworks use architectural layers (e.g., strategy, business, information, applications, infrastructure, and security in EA3).

“The nice thing about standards …”

“…is that you have so many to choose from,” Tanembaum‘s old “joke” about standardization, applies here: RAMI 4.0 is not the only standard for digital industry reference architecture.

The major other standard is the Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA) from the Industrial Internet Consortium, which is

IICthe open membership, international not-for-profit consortium that is setting the architectural framework and direction for the Industrial Internet. Founded by AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM and Intel in March 2014, the consortium’s mission is to coordinate vast ecosystem initiatives to connect and integrate objects with people, processes and data using common architectures, interoperability and open standards.

IIC is established by the Object Management Group (OMG). Many architects use OMGs modeling standards, including the Unified Modeling Language (UML), Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and Model Driven Architecture (MDA).

IIRA is presented as follows:

This Reference Architecture is a statement of what the most important Industrial Internet architecture components are, how they fit together and how they influence each other. It reflects consensus on major architecture questions among participants from energy, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation and public sectors.

I will look closer at IIRA in a future blog post.

IIC and Plattform Industrie 4.0 in March 2016 announced that they will work together to align RAMI 4.0 and IIRA – Cooperation Among Two Key Leaders in the Industrial Internet – see press release and blog. They released some initial mappings:

iici4map

iira-rami

Industrial cultures and their “movements”

RAMI 4.0 and IIRA are the two major deliverables from the two “movements”, Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet. Representatives from these “movements” were brought together in a panel here the other day at the Hannover Messe, and a report, BAM! POW! Industrie 4.0 Meets the Industrial Internet!, notes that

In the end, the panel did not agree on whether there would be ultimately one platform or many. But they did agree that they share a common view on the need to gain an understanding of how things should function and making sure that they interact.

Kris Bledowski from the US-based Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation compared the movements about a year ago:

comparsoni40iira
Comparison of Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet Consortium. Source: MAPI Foundation

Bledowski sums it up:

  • Industrie 4.0 strives to optimize production while the IIC’s research targets returns to any asset
  • Industrie 4.0 works on standardization whereas the IIC works on enabling platforms that might set future standards
  • Industrie 4.0 is reactive to a fast pace of high-tech innovation; the IIC proactively pushes the frontier of any internet-enabled application

Generalizing the Reference Architectures

The Purdue Reference Model is a key element in PERA, the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture, the early 1990s reference model for enterprise architecture. PERA is an example of what was then called Reference Architectures of type II. Other such architectures were GRAI-GIM and CIMOSA.

Over the years, many other “industrial” reference architectures have been established. Many of these are sector-specific. For example, in the oil industry, POSC Caesar Association (PCA) and MIMOSA have established PCA-MIMOSA Reference Architecture Framework for Integrated Engineering and Operations in 2013. It describes

a reference architecture for defining, designing and classifying IT applications, systems and infrastructure in the upstream oil and gas industry, downstream petrochemical industry, and for engineering, procurement and construction projects.

geram-figure1
GERAM framework components

In 1994 then came the Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology (GERAM), which also comprises a framework and methodology. GERAM became part of ISO 15704 “Requirements for Generalised Enterprise Reference Architectures and Methodologies” in 2000.

Fast forward, and many frameworks and methodologies later, GERAMs authors did a recent review of the last 20 years with reference architectures, and observed,

We believe that the future of EA is in its ability to develop an interdisciplinary language and theory enabling a concerted and synergistic application of contributions of underlying disciplines (results from management science, systems, industrial, manufacturing and software engineering, IS, Artificial Intelligence, and so on).

GERAM is a valuable baseline meta-framework  – to discuss the above, to create new theories, schools of thoughts, integration of engineering practices and tools, explanations of how technologies can be part of EA, methodologies for EA implementation, and Partial and Particular models for re-use.

As discussed in a previous blog post, and explored in a Special Issue on Future Perspectives On Next Generation Enterprise Information Systems of the Computers in Industry journal, we need to renew our reference architectures and architectural practices:

No doubt that the next generation of enterprise information systems will continue emphasising the need for scalable, reliable, extensible, flexible, highly available and maintainable systems architectures providing ubiquitous, plug-and-play, secure, interoperable and networked solutions to realise smarter and collaborative systems, platforms and ICT infrastructures for all entities operating in a common business ecosystem.

The reference architectures we define and use must reflect our architectural visions. RAMI 4.0 and IIRA are two different visions. Which one will be best? As we architects always say, “it depends”.