Business reference model

Business reference model is a reference model, concentrating on the functional and organizational aspects of the core business of an enterprise, service organization or government agency.

In enterprise engineering a business reference model is part of an Enterprise Architecture Framework or Architecture Framework. An Enterprise Architecture Framework defines in a series of reference models, how to organize the structure and views associated with an Enterprise Architecture.

Overview

A reference model in general is a model of something that embodies the basic goal or idea of something and can then be looked at as a reference for various purposes. A business reference model is a means to describe the business operations of an organization, independent of the organizational structure that perform them. Other types of business reference model can also depict the relationship between the business processes, business functions, and the business area’s business reference model. These reference model can be constructed in layers, and offer a foundation for the analysis of service components, technology, data, and performance.

The most familiar business reference model is the "Business Reference Model", one of five reference models of the Federal Enterprise Architecture of the US Federal Government. That model is a function-driven framework for describing the business operations of the Federal Government independent of the agencies that perform them. The Business Reference Model provides an organized, hierarchical construct for describing the day-to-day business operations of the Federal government. While many models exist for describing organizations - organizational charts, location maps, etc. - this model presents the business using a functionally driven approach.^[2]

History

One of the first Business Reference Models ever defined was the "IMPPACT Business Reference Model" around 1990. This reference model was part of the "IMPPACT Reference Model": an approach to integrated product and process modeling for discrete parts manufacturing using advanced computer technologies. It consists of languages and methodologies for developing an information reference model, system architectures, a link with emerging new standards such as ISO STEP and CIMOSA, and a new approach for the definition of model semantics. The IMPPACT Business Reference Model described all interrelated manufacturing activities, information and material flow objects and resource objects for discrete part manufacturing.^[3]

Overall in the 1990s Business Reference Models were hardly an item. For example jJust one 1991 book about IT management mentioned that Kodak management had developed a business reference model 10 years earlier.^[4]. And a 1996 manual of the SAP R/3 enterprise resource planning software stipulated the existence on the business reference model of the R/3 System.^[5] In the new millennium Business Reference Models started emerging in a several fields from Network management systems.^[6], E-business^[7], and in the US Federal government. The US government published it's "Business Reference Model", Version 1.0 in February 2002.^[8]

Types of Business Reference Models

For Electronic Businesses

In 2000 Menascé and Almeida^[7] presented one of the first Reference Models for Electronic Business. The presented a reference model ment to provide a basis for defining conceptual activities in the electronic business and for identifying improvement opportunities. This reference model ranged from:

on top a business view on the nature of the business and the processes that provide the services offered by the electronic business site, to
on the bottum, a technological view on the way costumers technically interact with the site.

From top to bottum it defined a series of four models from the business model, the functional model, the customer model, to an resource model.^[7]

For Federal Government

The US Federal Governement has defined a Federal Enterprise Architecture structures of the five FEA reference models^[2]:

Performance Reference Model (PRM)
Business Reference Model (BRM)
Service Component Reference Model (SRM)
Technical Reference Model (TRM)
Data Reference Model (DRM)

The Federal Governement Business Reference Model (FA BRM) provides an organized, hierarchical construct for describing the day-to-day business operations of the Federal government. While many models exist for describing organizations - org charts, location maps, etc. - this model presents the business using a functionally driven approach. The Lines of Business and Sub-functions that comprise the BRM represent a departure from previous models of the Federal government that use antiquated, stovepiped, agency-oriented frameworks. The BRM is the first layer of the Federal Enterprise Architecture and it is the main viewpoint for the analysis of data, service components and technology^[2].

References

^ FEA (2005) FEA Records Management Profile, Version 1.0. December 15, 2005.
^ ^a ^b ^c FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document. May 2005.
^ Wim F. Gielingh, Alexander K. Suhm, Michael Böhms (1993). IMPPACT Reference Model. Springer ISBN 3540561501 p.30.
^ Gerard H. Gaynor (1991). Achieving the Competitive Edge Through Integrated Technology Management. p. 259.
^ Rüdiger Buck-Emden, Jurgen Galimow, SAP AG. (1996). SAP R/3 System: A Client/server Technology Addison-Wesley.
^ Joan Serrat, Alex Galis (2003). Deploying and Managing IP Over WDM Networks. pp. 89-121.
^ ^a ^b ^c Daniel A. Menascé, Virgilio A. F. Almeida (2000). Scaling for E-business: Technologies, Models, Performance, and Capacity Planning. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0130863289
^ Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office (2002). The Business Reference Model, Version 1.0.
^ US DOI (2007) Analyze the Business and Define the Target Business Environment. Sept 2007.