Solution Architects | QualiWare Center of Excellence

Business Canvas

Purpose: The Business Canvas, is a strategic management and entrepreneurial template. It allows you to describe, design, challenge, invent, and pivot your business model.

Core Concerns: The core elements of the business canvas are framework cells that define a strategic or organizational entities and, if needed, connections between them. The Business Model can be structured any way you wish. The most well know structure of a business model is Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas.

The above picture shows a blank Business Model Canvas where each area is represented by a framework cell.

The strategic or organizational entities can then be enriched with an extended portfolio of strategic symbols such as vision, mission, goals, stakeholders, information systems and business processes.

Full content list of the extended portfolio:

Vision
Mission
Business Object
Market
Competitive Advantage
Technology
Competence
Capability
Performance Indicator

Business Function
Business Process
Organization Unit
Stakeholder
Information System
External Entity
Location
Channel
Goal

Opportunity
Threat
Trend
Material Asset
Intellectual Capital Asset
Business Rule
Key Performance Indicator

The picture below shows a Business Model Canvas that is filled out with symbols from the extended portfolio.

Relation to other templates: The Business Canvas can link to multiple related templates detailing the businesses capabilities, business processes, strategy and more.

Properties and metadata: The Business Canvas Diagram can for example retain the following information:

A description of the diagram
Link to the owner of the application architecture
Link to the one responsible for the application architecture
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

Architecture Framework

Purpose: The purpose of the Architecture Framework template, is to provide an overview of the enterprise, and the context for a diagram, showing where in the architecture and repository it belongs. An Architecture Framework shows the overall structure of the architecture and the structure with which it is represented in the repository.

Core concerns: The Architecture Framework template consists of FrameWorkCells, FrameWorkColumns, FrameWorkRows and LineOfBusinesses. You can choose to model the framework to fit the one your organization is using – QualiWare supports a wide range of architecture frameworks out of the box such as Zachman, TOGAF , OIOEA, EA3 Cube, EDGY, QualiWare EA Framework, and many more.

Below, you can see an example of the QualiWare EA Framework:

Below, you can see an example of a TOGAF framework:

Relation to other templates: The Architecture Framework template is used to represent the repository’s architecture in the form of a specific framework. If CXO dashboards are to be created, the Strategy Model should be used instead.

An ArchitectureFramework can be modeled using FrameWorkRows, FrameWorkColumns, and FrameWorkCells

Properties and metadata: The Architecture Framework can for example retain the following information:

A description of the diagram
Link to Architecture principles and project models
Link to the owner of the framework
Link to the one responsible for the framework
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

The above picture shows the properties dialogue window for the Architecture Framework where you can view and edit the diagram’s properties in QualiWare Lifecycle Manager.

Application Functionality Context

Purpose: The purpose of the Application Functionality Context template is to document the in which Activities and/or Business Processes a given Application Functionality is used.

Core concerns: The Application Functionality Context template can be used to create graphical views showing where Application Functionalities are used. The template enables you to model Application Functionalities, Activities and Business Processes. The Business Processes and Activities are connected to Application Functionalities using Functionality Usage.

Below, you can see an example of an Application functionality contest diagram, where the context for the DocCom – Create and Store Document functionality is shown:

The diagram shows which Business Processes use the Application Functionality as well as which Information System delivers it.

Relation to other templates: To map applications hardware, the Application Architecture Diagram or Infrastructure Diagram template should be used. The Application Functionality Context template graphically connects functionalities of Information Systems to the Processes and Activities in which they are used. It offers an additional view to Application Architecture Diagrams, Workflow Diagrams, Business Process Diagrams and Business Process Networks.

Properties and metadata: The Application Functionality Context template can for example retain the following information:

A description of the diagram
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

The above picture shows the properties dialogue window for the Application Functionality Context template where you can view and edit the diagram’s properties in QualiWare Lifecycle Manager.

Application Architecture Diagram

Purpose: The purpose of an Application Architecture Diagram is to show the structure of an Information System and its relations to other Information Systems.

Core concerns: The Application Architecture Diagram is used to document the application/systems layer. It can show information flows and system dependencies between Information Systems as well as depict system components and system areas.

The above picture shows an example of an Application Architecture Diagram depicting an overview of the Information Systems related to BEO. The information systems are connected by arrows that symbolize system dependencies.

Other functionalities: Application Architecture Diagrams can be analyzed in QualiWare via the toolbar for Application Portfolio Management. The Application Portfolio Management tools offers analysis for redundant functionalities, performance matrix generation, system heat map generation, asset lifecycle view (se below picture), lifecycle dependencies, and capabilities delivered by multiple information systems.

The above picture shows the Asset Lifecycle of the Information System ‘BEO’ and the Information Systems related to it is shown. The information depicted is pulled from the Information Systems’ metadata.

Relation to other templates: The elements depicted in the Application Architecture Diagram can be described in further detail in another Application Architecture Diagram, or in related diagrams such as a Data Flow Diagram.

The above picture shows an example of a more detailed view of an information system. In this Application Architecture Diagram the System Components are visible.

For documentation of a physical or hardware layer, the Infrastructure Diagram template can be used.

Properties and metadata: The Application Architecture Diagram can for example retain the following information:

A description of the diagram
Link to the owner of the application architecture
Link to the one responsible for the application architecture
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

The above picture shows the properties dialogue window for the Application Architecture Diagram where you can view and edit the diagram’s properties.

Activity Diagram

Purpose: The purpose of the Activity Diagram is to show the overall flow of control through workflows for computational and organizational processes using the UML standard.

Core concerns: The Activity Diagram enables you to document stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency. The template allows you to connect the following objects using either Control Flows, Object Flows or Exception Handlers:

Below, you can see two different examples of an Activity Diagram. The first illustrates a structure for an ideation process, the second shows the process for Booking an order – divided into two different Activity Partitions:

Relation to other templates: The Activity Diagram can be used instead of a Workflow Diagram or a Business Process Diagram, though the different languages have their own pros and cons. The Activity Diagram is part of the UML templates QualiWare supports along with the Communication Diagram, Deployment Diagram, Class Diagram, Composite Structure Diagram, State Diagram, Package Diagram, Component Diagram, Sequence Diagram, Use case diagram and Timing Diagram.

Properties and metadata: The Activity Diagram can for example retain the following information:

A description of the diagram
Link to the owner of the diagram
Link to the one responsible for the diagram
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Extensions: Stereotypes, constraints and tagged values
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

The above picture shows the properties dialogue window for the Activity Diagram where you can view and edit the diagram’s properties in QualiWare Lifecycle Manager.

For more information: about the UML and Activity Diagram, please visit the Object Management Group’s Website, where you can find the complete specification.