System and method for managing the complexity of large enterprise architectures
First Claim
1. A method for creating a minimally complex enterprise architecture, the method comprisingproviding a mathematical model for complexity byequating the number of possible states of a system with its complexity by equating states in a business process with decision points and decision branches, andequating states in an information technology system with variables and numbers of possible values,reducing the number of possible states of a system through mathematical partitioning, thereby diving the original system into subsets such that each element of the original system lives in one and only one subset, and using an equivalence relation to define the partitioning;
- providing, on a computer, a model for enterprise architectural complexity that maps back to the mathematical model for complexity; and
producing, with a process that is based on the model for enterprise architectural complexity, an enterprise architecture that is minimally complex as predicted by the model.
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Abstract
A process for developing Enterprise Architectures that results in a dramatic reduction in the complexity of the architecture and, therefore, in the cost of developing, implementing, and maintaining that architecture. The process is novel in that it is based on a mathematical model for complexity and how complexity can be reduced. The process for constructing enterprise architectures can also validate the architecture before it is implemented. The process begins by partitioning the Enterprise Architecture into autonomous subunits using the equivalence relation synergistic. It then uses type relations between these autonomous subunits to identify redundancies which can be simplified through consolidation. Once these autonomous subunits have been simplified as much as possible through consolidation, outsourcing, or functionality reduction, they are prioritized through risk/value analysis pictorially represented as Risk/Value Graphs.
15 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for creating a minimally complex enterprise architecture, the method comprising
providing a mathematical model for complexity by equating the number of possible states of a system with its complexity by equating states in a business process with decision points and decision branches, and equating states in an information technology system with variables and numbers of possible values, reducing the number of possible states of a system through mathematical partitioning, thereby diving the original system into subsets such that each element of the original system lives in one and only one subset, and using an equivalence relation to define the partitioning; -
providing, on a computer, a model for enterprise architectural complexity that maps back to the mathematical model for complexity; and producing, with a process that is based on the model for enterprise architectural complexity, an enterprise architecture that is minimally complex as predicted by the model. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification