You are here: Home / Business Vocabulary

Business Vocabulary

How Many Different Ways Can Your Organization Be ‘Silo-ed’? Why You Need to Address Every ‘Silo-ing’

by Ronald G. Ross on April 10, 2012

‘Silo’ is so common as an industry buzzword we mostly just take it for granted. The usual sense is ‘functional’ silo or ‘organizational silo’.
I recently heard ‘no man stands alone’ (‘alone’ = ‘silo-ed’) as a common-sense justification for Big-P process. (See http://goo.gl/Cuk3s) That logic is simply flawed. Here are other ways your business can be [...]

Read the full article →

Externalizing Semantics from Business Processes … Why the Procedural Approach is a Flawed Paradigm for the Knowledge Economy

by Ronald G. Ross on February 24, 2012

For IT professionals the state of processes has always reigned supreme. In procedural approaches the internal state of a process is represented by some token. Most computer languages use that approach (the token generally falls through lines of code sequentially). Many current approaches to business process modeling do as well, at least implicitly.
But why should [...]

Read the full article →

‘Concept Model’ vs. ‘Fact Model’ … Where in the World are the Instances?

by Ronald G. Ross on February 16, 2012

In a dramatic development, the new release of SBVR (1.1) has replaced the term “fact type” with “verb concept”, and the term “fact model” with “concept model”, for all business-facing use.[1] Why the problems with “fact type” and “fact model”? Let me see if I can explain.
First some background: Since its inception in the [...]

Read the full article →

How Important is Basic Business Vocabulary? … A Short (True!) Story

by Ronald G. Ross on February 14, 2012

Guest Post
I was teaching a BA class, trying to convey the value of having a prototype. The class was divided into ‘developers’, the BA, and the ‘executive’. The developers were given a bag of duplos, multiple shapes and colors. The executive was given a bag with a completed duplo creation. The instructions were for the [...]

Read the full article →

Data Modeling: Art or Science?

by Ronald G. Ross on January 11, 2012

A practitioner recently commented: “Everyone has their biased view of what a data model is. Data modeling is art – not science. Give 6 data modelers one set of requirements and you’ll get 7 solutions all distinctively different.”
My response: To me that’s a huge problem. No, ‘data’ modeling is not a science, but nor should [...]

Read the full article →

More on Concept Model vs. Conceptual Data Model

by Ronald G. Ross on January 10, 2012

As part of a continuing dialog, I recently asked these questions: What does the term “conceptual data model” really mean? Is it the best term for what is meant?
To me, it sounds like “conceptual data model” might be about “conceptual data”. Surely not(?). What exactly then? (Some of my thoughts on the matter: http://goo.gl/8GX5o.)
A practitioner [...]

Read the full article →

How Business Process Models and Business Rules Relate … What State Are You In?

by Ronald G. Ross on December 11, 2011

Business Process Models: A completed transform often achieves a business milestone and a new state for some operational business thing(s). Example: claimant notified.
Fact Models: In fact models (structured business vocabularies) such states are represented by fact types, for example, claimant is notified (or claimant has been notified if you prefer). A fact model literally represents [...]

Read the full article →

The ‘Process’ of Business Analysis is a Great Example of a Social Process

by Ronald G. Ross on November 29, 2011

In a recent post, Jonathan ‘Kupe’ Kupersmith said:
“In manufacturing following a process step by step is a good thing. In our world [business analysis] this is not the case.  Following an A to Z process for every project is a bad thing.  Every project is different.  Different people, different risks, different priorities, etc.  You need [...]

Read the full article →

My New Talk and New Take on Business Architecture at BBC2011: The Architecture of Enterprise Know-How

by Ronald G. Ross on October 27, 2011

Business Architecture Summit at BBC2011 – Thurs, Nov 3, 2011 – 10:10am
I am giving a talk next week called The Architecture of Enterprise Know-How at the Building Business Capability (BBC2011) event in Florida. If you’re there, I hope you’ll come listen. I’ll be plowing new ground. We’ve done some fascinating work the past several years [...]

Read the full article →

Typical Dialog When You Don’t Know the Concepts or Vocabulary … Can Anyone Explain This Soccer Rule to Me??

by Ronald G. Ross on October 25, 2011

I’m an avid fan of soccer … and, of course, business rules. I recently found the following business rule via a Twitter search and just had to ask what it meant.
FootballRascal – Can’t sign a player and then loan him out to another Premier League club in same window, business rule as fee charged
Ronald_G_Ross – [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries