Background to Information Modeling followed by a step-by-step guide

1. Information Modeling
Workshop
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2. Modeling Steps
• Introduction to Information Modeling
• Delimitations
• AS-IS or TO-BE
• Object Modeling
• Table Modeling
• Documentation
• Next step
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3. Introduction to Information Modeling (1)
• Different modeling perspectives
– Organization Model
– Process Model
– Information Model
• One distinguishing factor separates them – the stability of the model:
–
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4. Introduction to Information Modeling (2)
• Objects
– The building blocks of a business
• Something concrete or abstract that is essential for the business
• Identified by a unique and stable key
• Have one or more properties
– There are 2 types of Objects
• Resource objects, e.g. CUSTOMER
– Exists on its own and is not dependent of any other information
• Event objects, e.g. ORDER
– Normally dependent on one or more resource objects and don’t exist on its own
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CUSTOMER
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ORDER
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5. Introduction to Information Modeling (3)
• Relations
– Displays connection and illustrates a possible state
• Connects Object  Object or Object  Relation
• Can not exist by them self, but is dependent on Objects/Relations to link together
• Borrow keys from the Objects
– There are 3 types of relations
• 1:1 - 1 to 1 relation, e.g. CUSTOMER and CUSTOMER INFO
– The Object can only be connected to one instance of another Object (or it self)
• 1:M - 1 to Many relation, e.g. CUSTOMER and ORDER
– The Object on the 1-side can be connected to one ore more instances of the Object on the M-side
• M:M - Many to Many relation, e.g. ORDER and PRODUCT
– A relation which is connected to instances in both the related Objects
– Could often be replaced by an Object
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CUSTOMER
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ORDER
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placed by

6. Introduction to Information Modeling (4)
• Example
– The objects CUSTOMER, ORDER, PRODUCT, CUSTOMER INFO
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CUSTOMER
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ORDER
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placed by PRODUCT
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CONTAINS
CUSTOMER
INFO 14
describes

7. Introduction to Information Modeling (5)
• Example
– The CUSTOMER table
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CustomerId Name Address … …
10001 SEB AB … … …
10002 Swedbank AB … … …
10003 Handelsbanken AB … … …
…
…

8. Delimitations
• Important to define what should be modeled and what should not be modeled
• Delimitations could e.g. be made based on:
– Process
– Geography
– Functionality
– Products
– Topics
• When a first Information Model exists, it can be extended to include previous
delimited parts step by step
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9. AS-IS or TO-BE
• Should the Information Model be for the current business (AS-IS) or the future business
(TO-BE)
– The Information Model should be neutral against the corresponding Process Model and
System Model
– In a later step the Information Model should be aligned with the corresponding Process
Model and System Model
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10. Object Modeling (1)
• Individual brainstorming about concepts/terms in the business
• Categorize the concepts/terms:
– Object (O) - Customer
– Relation (R) - Customer Info describes Customer
– Property (PY) - Customer Name
– Example (EX) - Ericsson
– Process (PS) - Monthly Closing
• In order not to get to many Objects, normally Object Groups are modelled which in turn
can contain more fine grained Objects
– Object Group - Customer
• Object - Private Customer
• Object - Corporate Customer
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11. Object Modeling (2)
• The Object Groups are categorized in 5 groups
– Stakeholder (Intressent)
– Event (Händelse)
– Offering (Erbjudande)
– Context (Omgivning)
– Infrastructure (Infrastruktur)
• The Information Model is then populated according to the following outline:
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Context Offering
Stakeholder
Infrastructure
Event

12. Table Modeling
• For each Object Group / Object in the Object Modeling
– Describe the Object Group / Object
– Identify keys
• Primary keys
• Foreign keys
• Fictitious keys (e.g. order number)
– Identify properties
– Exemplify in a table with realistic data
• Normalize the tables => Separate out information in their own tables
– Investigate if there is repeated information in any column
– When more than one key, investigate if any of the properties don’t depend on all of the keys
– Investigate if there are properties that depends on another property
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13. Documentation
• List of concepts/terms
• List of Object Groups / Objects
• Information Model
• Table Model
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14. Next step
• Where is the information used?
– Alignment with Process Model
– Mapping of Process  Object Group
• Where do the information reside / is the information stored?
– Alignment with System Model
– Mapping of System  Object Group
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