From MIKE2 Methodology
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Introduction
The Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Strategy Solution Offering provides a method for an organization to define its strategic approach to ECM and how it will be implemented. The offering provides recommendations related to a contemporary set of ECM technologies, revisions to organisational structures, necessary staff skill sets and governance process improvements needed for Enterprise Content Management. This is done through a Blueprinting/Roadmap-based approach that starts with a current-state assessment, uses architecture best practices and offers recommendations on how to implement the solution through an overall programme. Although it also includes more tactical options for delivery within the strategic framework, it is a solution offering that is focused on large-scale change in the organisation.
Executive Summary
Enterprise Content Management has significantly grown in importance due to new regulations and enabling technologies. Technologies have evolved significantly in the last few years that:
- Integrate forms of content that were previously disconnected
- Allow customers to take on more of a self-service function
- Facilitate collaboratively developed content - leveraging the knowledge of a much broader community
- Provide users with a far richer and interactive experience
Despite these advances, there are still many challenges:
- Building an effective organisational culture around managing enterprise content
- Ensuring technology solutions align with business priorities - knowing when technology enablers should push new business capabilities and when it is "technology for technologies' sake"
- Bringing together content stored in many different forms
- Dealing with complex web security issues
- Dealing with problems associated with online/offline content management
- Incorporating rapid technology changes as products and standards evolve
Having a strategic framework to adaptively handle changes over time is a key to meeting these challenges. Taking a top-down, Blueprinting approach is an effective mechanism for looking at content management across the enterprise and delivering an effective programme of improvement.
Solution Offering Purpose
This is a Core Solution Offering. Core Solution Offerings bring together all assets in MIKE2.0 relevant to solving a specific business and technology problem. Many of these assets may already exist and as the solution suite is built out over time, assets can be progressively added to an Offering.
A Core Solution Offering contains all the elements required to define and deliver a go-to-market offering. It can use a combination of open, shared and private assets.
Solution Offering Relationship Overview
This Solution Offering is part of the Information Management Strategy, Architecture and Governance Offering Group
MIKE2.0 Solution Offerings provide a detailed and holistic way of addressing specific problems. MIKE2.0 Solution Offerings can be mapped directly to the Phases and Activities of the MIKE2.0 Overall Implementation Guide, providing additional content to help understand the overall approach. The MIKE2.0 Overall Implementation Guide explains the relationships between the Phases, Activities and Tasks of the overall methodology as well as how the Supporting Assets tie to the overall methodology and MIKE2.0 Solutions. Users of the MIKE2.0 Methodology should always start with the Overall Implementation Guide and the MIKE2.0 Usage Model as a starting point for projects.
Solution Offering Definition
The Enterprise Content Management Strategy Solution Offering provides a "top-down" approach to Enterprise Content Management. This includes:
- Definition of strategic information requirements related to Content Management
- The strategic architecture across the Enterprise for Content Management
- A selection process for ECM technologies
- Definition of standards, policies and processes for Enterprise Content Management
- A business case, programme plan and the initial preparation steps for software delivery
This strategic solution offering is developed at the enterprise level; individual delivery projects would use this project as part of an overall guiding framework.
Relationship to Solution Capabilities
The MIKE2.0 Solution Offering for defining an Enterprise Content Management Strategy is primarily focused on Information Development. It uses a number of activities from the Overall Implementation Guide to see a project through from strategy to implementation. It covers specific aspects of the SAFE architecture related to unstructured content.
Relationship to Enterprise Views
This solution is primarily about enabling Information Development of unstructured content such as documents, images and web-based content. It provides a top-down, strategic approach to this problem that goes across people, process, organisational structure and technology.
Mapping to the Information Governance Framework
The Information Governance Solution Offering is required across all Solution Offerings. For this offering it is particularly important that the governance models focus on process, standards, architecture and moving to an organisational structure that is most effective for managing content across the enterprise.
Mapping to the SAFE Architecture Framework
The Blueprinting approach to defining an Enterprise Content Management strategy will likely determine that a number of components from the SAFE Architecture will be required in the future-state. All components within Enterprise Content Management are particularly relevant to this offering. The SAFE Architecture is currently being extended to provide more detail in these areas. It is important that foundation capabilities be in place first, before more sophisticated capabilities such as Services Oriented Architectures. Enabling Technologies are used to smooth the transition to the most advanced techniques.
Mapping to the Overall Implementation Guide
In summary, all activities are required from the first phases of the Overall Implementation Guide as part of a top-down approach to Enterprise Content Management Strategy.
Phase 1 - Business Assessment and Strategy Definition Blueprint
For a comprehensive, top-down programme all activities are required from this phase to define the overall Business Strategy. A description of how some of the key activities are applied is described below.
Enterprise Information Management Awareness
The Enterprise Information Management Awareness activity is important to introduce concepts related to Enterprise Content Management This is an area that has undergone significant technology changes over the past few years and users typically benefit from education related to community-based content development, document management, security and web-based collaboration.
Organisational QuickScan for Information Development
The maturity assessments that are part of the Organisational QuickScan for Information Development activity
is an important activity for this offering as it helps to identify technology gaps and the scope of work at an Enterprise level. An ECM QuickScan should cover areas such as document management, collaboration and information sharing.
The existing Information Maturity QuickScan assessment should be extended to better cover the advanced architectural concepts related to Enterprise Content Management.
Future State Vision for Information Management
The Future State Vision for Information Management defines the strategic conceptual architecture for how Enterprise Content Management Solutions will be implemented. This is the first significant step in the architecture strategy work for this solution offering.
Information Governance Organisation
An Initial Information Governance Organisation should be defined as part of the Enterprise Content Management Strategy if one does not exist. In most cases organisations have some form of governance group, especially related to Data Governance. It should be ensured that this group's scope also includes unstructured content.
Return on Investment of Information Assets
Being able to measure the Return on Investment of Information Assets is an important part of a broad content management initiative. Through this approach, the value of content is assessed and the benefit of the corresponding investment is measured.
Phase 2 - Technology Assessment and Selection Blueprint
For a comprehensive, top-down programme all activities are required from this phase to define the overall Technology Strategy. A description of how some of the key activities are applied is described below.
Strategic Requirements for Technology Backplane Development
Enterprise Content Management technologies are thought to reside along the Technology Backplane of Information Development and Infrastructure Development. This activity is used to define the capabilities that are needed for the strategic implementation of the programme.
Strategic Non-Functional Requirements
Strategic Non-Functional Requirements for Enterprise Content Management is done at the strategic level. This activity defines requirements related to usability, performance and ability to scale to meet future business volume growth requirements.
Current-State Logical Architecture
The Current-State Logical Architecture assesses the current capabilities in the environment for Enterprise Content Management. It specifically looks to what technologies can be re-used and the scope of any content that should be migrated.
Future-State Logical Architecture and Gap Analysis
The Future-State Logical Architecture and Gap Analysis builds on the conceptual architecture that is already defined and takes it to the level of detail required to make strategic technology decisions. Within this activity a gap analysis is also conducted between the current-state and future-state to determine which technologies can be re-used and the content to be migrated.
Future-State Physical Architecture and Vendor Selection
Through defining the Future-State Physical Architecture and Vendor Selection, logical capabilities are mapped to specific product options. This mapping is then used to make technology decisions, often through an RFP-based selection process.
Information Governance Policies
Information Governance Policies should be defined as part of a comprehensive approach to an ECM Strategy.
Information Standards
Standards Policies should be defined as part of a comprehensive approach to an ECM Strategy. In particular, standards should be defined for content modelling and taxonomy development, security and search.
Metadata Driven Architecture
The strategy, design and implementation of a Metadata Driven Architecture is a key part of the approach to improving software development efficiency and information quality. The metadata management architecture and supporting development practices are a critical aspect of MIKE2.0, evidenced by the metadata architecture overlay of the SAFE Architecture that goes across all components in the architecture. The manner if which this architectural approach will be applied for managing enterprise content is defined within this activity.
Technology Blueprint Completion
In the Technology Blueprint Completion activity, the final steps are added to the Technology Blueprint and the overall set of deliverables are brought together. This deliverable then describes the steps necessary to upgrade the current ECM infrastructure and how the future environment will be implemented. It also defines the business for implementing the new ECM environment.
Mapping to Supporting Assets
Logical Architecture, Design and Development Best Practices
Product-Specific Implementation Techniques
Product Selection Criteria
Relationships to other Solution Offerings
This activity is used by organisations looking to define a content management strategy at an Enterprise level. Therefore, many solution offerings may be dependent on the strategy defined by this offering.
As an example, this project may be conducted at the group level of a large organisation to define the overall content management approach. The organisation may then break work into multiple workstreams to do the implementation. In some cases these specific workstreams may re-initiate strategy activities in a more focused area (e.g. specific strategy activities for Document Management but it is this overall strategy that brings the workstreams together.
Extending the Open Methodology through Solution Offerings
Listed below are proposed extensions to the Overall Implementation Guide to meet the requirements for Enterprise Content Management:
Potential Activity Changes
Organisational QuickScan for Information Development
The existing QuickScan assessments should be extended to better cover the advanced architectural concepts related to Enterprise Content Management.
Information Governance Organisation
The Initial Data Governance Organisation activity will be being expanded to also give representation to unstructured content for complete coverage for the Information Governance offering.
Information Governance Policies
This activity should be expanded beyond its current focus on structured data and to also cover unstructured content
Information Standards
This activity should be expanded beyond its current focus on structured data and to also cover unstructured content
Metadata Driven Architecture
This activity needs to be improved and a reference model provided that integrated structured data to unstructured content
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