Every good-looking building is the product of sound architecture and good planning. You`ll always know the difference. The flow between spaces is good, the traffic flow in the underground parking seamless, and somehow each office has a great view. Form follows function as the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright once said.
Key to the construction of the architecture is the need to build in flexibility from the beginning.
It`s the same with building an enterprise information delivery architecture, and in the case of building one to realise that in your information delivery there are similarities between the architecture and the model supply chain. Consider the (simplified for clarity) model in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1
Data can be likened to raw materials and products that a business buys and sells. If you think about it this way then imagine that your data are the products that you sell in the business on a daily basis. A manufacturer places orders for raw materials that are put through a process to create one or more products.
The finished products are then stocked in a "bulk" warehouse until such time that it is required for consumption. Ignoring wholesalers for the sake of simplicity, various retail outlets then place orders for and receive these products which are sold to customers (consumers and/or businesses) for final consumption.
Note that customers typically buy from the outlets rather than from the manufacturer directly. The reason is that the "bulk" warehouse has been built to stock and manage large volumes of items and hence is not suitable for "convenient shopping".
In very much the same way this is the case for an information delivery architecture.
In the information delivery supply chain, operational or raw data is the equivalent to raw materials. This data is put through a transformation (equivalent to manufacturing) process to create different types of information (equivalent to products). This information is stored in the enterprise data warehouse (equivalent to "bulk" warehouse) until such time as it is requested (ordered) by the data marts (equivalent to retail outlets). The purpose of the data marts is to meet the specific needs of the business users (consumers).
Building flexibility
Key to the construction of the architecture is the need to build in flexibility from the beginning. Business needs are changing so rapidly it is hard to fix what is required today and what will be required in the next six months. Therefore it has become imperative for businesses to create adaptive enterprise-wide architectures that will enable rapid change in business processes and applications.
The Meta Group points out this will enable business to create sustainable competitive advantage for the companies that implement them. This gives you the ability to quickly realign as and when the business changes.
Because the way that business is conducted is constantly changing, you will need to give your users the information as and when they require it - the right information delivered to the right person at the right time.
Your information delivery architecture must take into account the increased need for businesses to be fleet-footed. Users must be able to determine what they require from the data mart on an ad hoc basis, and this depends on your architecture. If your architecture cannot adapt to the business needs, then your company`s information delivery needs cannot be met.
And again, to quote the famous architect, the importance of a sound structure is underlined by the following saying: "The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his clients to plant vines."
Next week: We examine the information delivery methodologies that will set you on the path towards an information delivery reality.
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