Design Thinking Business Analysis: Business Concept Mapping Applied

134 Pages·2012·4.76 MB·English

by  Thomas Frisendal (auth.)

Management for Professionals
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/10101
.
Thomas Frisendal
Design Thinking
Business Analysis
Business Concept Mapping Applied
ThomasFrisendal
CopenhagenS
Denmark
ISSN2192-8096 ISSN2192-810X(electronic)
ISBN978-3-642-32843-5 ISBN978-3-642-32844-2(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-32844-2
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
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Preface
Themotivationforthisbookhasbeenbuiltupovertime.Experiencesfrommany
differentclientsinavarietyofindustries,includingthepublicsector,havemademe
curious about one simple fact: Business management lost sight of one of its most
importantassets,theBusinessInformationAsset.Thishappenedduringtheprocess
of“ManagementInformationSystems(MIS)”changingitsnamefirstto“Informa-
tionSystems(IS)”andthento“InformationTechnology(IT).”Analysisanddesign
of business information became an engineering style discipline instead of being a
businessmanagementactivity.
Workingwithbusinessinformationanalysisandmodeling(whichiswhatIdo)
isaveryenviablepositionindeed.Whenyouhavetheopportunity–asIhave–to
analyze and design business information in direct dialogue with business people,
yougetveryclosetothecoreofthebusiness;issueswhichleaddirectlybacktothe
businessmodelandthebusinessplans.
Forseveralyears,thefocusformanyITdevelopmentprojectshasbeenbusiness
process“renovation.”Quiteoftendrivenbytechnologysuchasobjecttechnology
leading to service-oriented architectures and the like. However, processes may
changequitefrequently(andtheydo),whichgivethemlimitedlong-termbusiness
value.Notsoforbusinessinformation,whichpersistforaverylongtimeandhavea
highbusinessvalue.
Withthisbook,Iwanttohelpgettingfocusonbusinessinformationanalysisand
design (again).The new approach, Iwrite about, enables business people towork
directly and creatively with one of their most important assets – the information
abouttheirownbusiness.
Whatworksisacombinationofdesignthinkingandconceptmapping.Together
theyenablenew,creativeconceptualdesignsandrealbusinessinnovation.Itstarted
around2004–2005andhasbeenrefinedsincethen.Ihavehadtheopportunitytouse
theconceptmappingapproachinitiallyonprojectstogetherwithinformationman-
agementconsultantsfromDevoteamConsultinginDenmark.Since2007,aDanish
businessintelligenceconsultancywith40+consultantsthatIworkwithonanumber
ofprojects,Inspari,hasusedtheapproachonassignmentsfordifferentclients.All
together, many business people in both private companies and government have
v
vi Preface
analyzedanddesignedtheirbusinessconceptsusingthemethod.Theresultshave
beenexcellent,certainlymuchbetterthananythingelseIhaveseen.
I hope the experiences presented in the book will inspire you and help you to
innovatethebusinessofyourorganization.
Therehavebeenanumberofpeoplehelpingme.Iamgreatlythankfultoallthe
business people, who over the years opened their doors for me and shared their
concepts and concerns, and to many consultants at Devoteam and Inspari for
excellentteamwork. Iamgrateful toProf. Roger Martinofthe Rotman School of
Management in Toronto for invaluable advice in the early stages of the design of
the book. Also, thanks to Mads Carsten Brink Hansen, External Lecturer at The
Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, and Business
Consultant at Inspari A/S in Denmark for an excellent review. Last, but not least,
Iammostthankfultomyprivateproofreader,Ellen-MargretheSoelberg,whoalso
ismypatient,loving,andunderstandingwife.
Copenhagen,2012 ThomasFrisendal
Acknowledgements
TheEU-RentcasestudywasdevelopedbyModelSystems,Ltd.,alongwithseveral
other organizations of the Business Rules Group (www.businessrulesgroup.com),
andhasbeenusedbymanyorganizations.Thebodyofdescriptionsandexamples
maybefreelyused,providingitssourceisclearlyacknowledged.
CmapToolsisatrademarkoftheInstituteforHumanandMachineCognitionon
behalfoftheUniversityofWestFloridaBoardofPensacola,FL32501,USA.
vii
.
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PartI DesignThinkingBusinessAnalysis
2 UnderstandingtheBusiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 UnderstandingtheBusinessUsingConceptMaps . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Information,DataandBusinessRules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 GoingintoDetails:BusinessRules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 GoodDefinitionsareImportant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 WhatDoConceptsActuallyLookLike? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 DesignThinkingforBusinessAnalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.1 BusinessAnalysis:UnderstandingBusinessInformation . . . . . . . 15
3.2 DesignThinking:WhereDoesItComefrom? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.3 DesigningOtherThingsthanProducts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4 DealingwithWickedProblems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5 DesignThinkingforBusinessDevelopment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.6 BusinessSynthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.7 WhereDoesConceptMappingComefrom? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.8 WhenDoWeNeedToolsLikeConceptMapping? . . . . . . . . . . 22
4 BusinessAnalysisRedefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.1 OverviewoftheMethod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.2 PreparingfortheAnalysistoSynthesistoDesignFlow
ofEvents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.3 TopDown:TheFirstWorkshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.4 ExplorativeWorkshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.5 IdeationWorkshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.6 GeneralizationandSpecialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.7 LevelsofAbstraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.8 ImplementationWorkshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.9 AgileApproach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
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x Contents
PartII BusinessConceptMapping
5 WheretoFindMeaningfulBusinessInformation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.1 StartwithYourBusinessModel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2 HowtoIdentifyBusinessConcepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.3 ConceptMappingBrainstormingWorkshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.4 Excel:WhereMeaningLives! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.5 TheChartofAccountsisfullofMeaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.6 ApplicationsandDatabasesMightBeMeaningful,Too... . . . . 55
5.7 Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.8 DocumentsandtheInternetAreFullofMeaning . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.9 TakeControlofWhatYourBusinessMeans! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.10 BusinessDialects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6 HowtoDoConceptMapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6.1 ConceptMappingExplained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
6.2 WhatAreBusinessObjects? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.3 PropertiesofBusinessObjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.4 DefinitionsandOtherSpecifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.5 StructuredConcepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.6 LayoutofConceptMaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.7 DealingwithLogic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.8 WhentoStop? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.9 TheConceptMappingToolParExcellence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.10 RealLifeExamplesofConceptMaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.11 GeneralCompanyStructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.12 Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.13 PropertyManagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.14 CarDealership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.15 PublicSectorExample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.16 ConceptHarvesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.17 StandardBusinessConceptDefinitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
PartIII BusinessInnovationUsingMappedBusinessConcepts
7 ConceptMappingandtheNextGenerationITParadigms . . . . . . . 83
8 Opportunity:ReliableBusinessInformationandMDM . . . . . . . . . 87
8.1 DataProfiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
8.2 MasterDataManagement(MDM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
9 Opportunity:InformationValuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
10 Opportunity:MeaningfulBusinessIntelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93