Wardley Maps offer a powerful way to analyse a business's competitive landscape, value chain, and the evolution of its components — but most Enterprise Architecture frameworks have not formally incorporated them. This paper examines how Wardley Mapping complements EA methods, proposes a meta model integration using the Inspired Holistic Architecture Language (HAL), and demonstrates practical benefits including reduced effort, improved model fidelity, and richer strategic insight. A useful read for enterprise architects and business architects looking to bring greater contextual awareness into their architecture practice.
Managing Information Technology Projects
Most project management texts focus on either general methodology or system development — very few address the full range of IT project types a practising manager actually faces. Co-authored with Derek Smith and drawing on 45 years of combined industry experience, this book equips IT and information systems project managers with the knowledge to handle everything from systems development and package implementation to hardware installation and business process reengineering. It covers planning, scope and change control, risk management, quality, and the people skills that determine whether projects succeed or fail.
Beyond UML: A Practical Method for Delivering Commercial Software Systems
UML brought valuable standardisation to object-oriented analysis and design, but leaves critical gaps: no standard process, weak dynamic modelling, and little architectural guidance for building flexible, maintainable systems. This book presents the Inspired Method — developed and refined over decades of commercial practice — as a comprehensive alternative covering the full lifecycle from business analysis through design, architecture, and delivery. It is aimed at developers and analysts building multi-user, database-backed commercial applications who need a rigorous yet accessible approach that actually works in practice.
Beyond Use Cases: A Better Approach to Business Process Modelling
UML's Use Cases are widely used for requirements capture, but they encourage a system-centric view too early and lack the semantics to properly model complete business processes — including flow, costs, timing, organisational responsibility, and manual activities. This paper proposes a richer process modelling notation that forms a superset of Use Cases and Activity Diagrams, and transitions seamlessly from high-level stakeholder models all the way to rigorous design specifications. The approach, developed and refined through teaching and consulting, addresses a persistent gap in object-oriented analysis and enterprise engineering.
Managing Large-Scale Collaborative Modelling: Meta Model Extensions for Enterprise Architecture Tools
As enterprise architecture initiatives grow to span multiple teams, geographies, and time zones, the repositories and tools supporting them face real challenges: information overload, ownership conflicts, version management, and the need to present different views to different user communities. This paper formalises a set of meta model and meta-meta model extensions — including context, domains, filters, versioning, and scenarios — developed through real-world deployment of a collaborative EA modelling platform. The result is a more manageable, flexible, and scalable foundation for large-scale collaborative architecture work.
The Difference Between Process Architecture and Process Modeling (and why you should care)
Process modelling initiatives frequently consume months of effort without producing meaningful results — often because teams dive into detailed models before anyone understands the big picture. This paper argues for a clear separation between process architecture (a rapid, high-level view of what processes exist, who they serve, and how they connect) and detailed process modelling and design, while keeping both perspectives fully integrated. Drawing on case studies from financial services organisations, it shows how this approach can cut project time dramatically and produce models that business stakeholders actually engage with.
Cooking up a MEAL: Creating a Meta Enterprise Architecture Language
Enterprise architecture tools struggle to interoperate, and existing exchange standards like XMI are notoriously unreliable in practice. This paper proposes MEAL — a Meta Enterprise Architecture Language — a human-readable, domain-specific language designed to define, populate, query, and analyse EA models and repositories, and to serve as a high-level API between tools. It presents the requirements, a prototype implementation in Smalltalk, and example syntax demonstrating the concept's practical promise.
?An Inspired Approach to Business Architecture
This paper discusses the definition and the scope of business architecture, its position and role in a business, and Inspired’s perspective on these, as well as capabilities for delivering comprehensive and competent business architecture. Differences from conventional practice include high awareness of the context in which the organisation operates, inclusion of many drivers and motivations, design of future business operating models and the use of an underlying and integrative meta model which allows distributed, collaborative, rapid architecture work to be carried out in an holistic and effective way. Overlap and integration with adjacent disciplines of strategy and programme management receive attention. Method tailoring is covered and supporting tools and training are also addressed.
?What year, 2012 or 2021?
?Keywords?
Published?
GLOSS - A Graphical Language Server on the Smalltalk Platform
Abstract
The Graphical Language Server Protocol/Platform (GLSP) has recently emerged as a potential standard for communication between web based graphical modelling clients and model servers. It extends the Language Server Protocol (LSP) developed to support web-based Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) communication with language processing tools (parsers, compilers, linters etc. ). Implementations of GLSP have been shown in Java/Javascript and TypeScript/Node. The authors previously developed a graphical modelling client working with a flexible server capable of handling many model types and realised in Smalltalk (Pharo client, VA Smalltalk server). This utilised a proprietary protocol based upon XML messaging. No GLSP server was available in Smalltalk. The paper describes the design and development of a GLSP server in Smalltalk and the insights gained. GLSP is contrasted with the earlier experience. Advantages of the Smalltalk environment are discussed, as well as suggested enhancements to the GLSP protocol. Future work is suggested.
Published in
IWST 24 - International Workshop on Smalltalk Technologies Lille, France
Integrated Meta Model for Enterprise Modelling including Strategy, Business Architecture, Risk and Change
Abstract
The paper describes the development of an integrated meta model capable of supporting a variety of approaches in strategy and business architecture, including TOGAF®, ArchiMate®, Zachman, MEMO, Inspired and others. It describes the sources of concepts, relationships and properties; the modelling approach and rationale and the resultant model, which has proven effective in support of multiple business transformation projects. The model integrates strategy, contextual factors and business architecture elements as well as interfacing to implementation architectures, enterprise risk and programme management. It leverages a multi-level meta modelling approach to overcome challenges of prior meta models. Advantages and challenges related to a large integrated model are discussed and suggestions made for dealing with these challenges.
Published in
Enterprise Design and Engineering / Practice of Enterprise Modeling Forum, Vienna, Austria
An Advanced Meta-Meta Model for Visual Language Design and Tooling
Abstract
Visual Languages are widely employed in Enterprise Modelling. Our broader research aims to improve visual language design and facilitate rapid adaptation for specific purposes and audiences with a view to improving Return on Modelling Effort (ROME). Most current repositories and tools have hard coded support for notations and meta model concepts of target languages. A small number of tools have facilities to adapt meta models and notations, but these generally require high technical skills. The model described allows definition of arbitrary meta models and supporting notations in a relatively small meta meta model that can be practically implemented economically using property graph concepts. The model supports advanced concepts, including multi-level modelling. These capabilities facilitate tooling which supports rapid visual language definition, iterative improvement and run-time adaptation for purpose or audience.
Published in
Models at Work @ Practice of Enterprise Modelling (PoEM), London, UK
Extending and Automating Maturity Models for More Value
Abstract
Maturity Models are widely used to quickly assess the status of a capability within organisations and to allow comparison across organisations and over time. The use of maturity models may be discouraged by friction of collecting the information, calculating ratings and managing the information over time. Value delivered is limited if only a rating results. Much higher value can be achieved if the models are extended to provide recommended actions and further still if such actions can be filtered by relative effort and sequenced to respect dependencies or resource constraints. Automation can remove friction and encourage use. This paper documents the creation of a generic meta model (domain model) for maturity models extended to support recommendations and their filtering and prioritisation. The meta model use is validated in a case showing rapid automation in a SaaS Enterprise Modeling platform. The paper concludes with considering the Return on Modelling Effort of this approach.
Published in
Models at Work @ Practice of Enterprise Modelling (PoEM), London, UK
?Brief Introduction to Abstraction and Decomposition as applied to Function Modelling, Process, Goal Modelling, Services and Capabilities
Description
(Needs interesting description: what question does this answer, what problem does it solve, etc)
Published in
?
Need keywords
?A Method Engineering Workbench on the EVA Platform
Methods should assist organisations to produce desirable results more effectively, efficiently and reliably. Since method effectiveness is contingent on goals, setting, skills and other factors, method engineering is a critical activity: yet it is not well supported by tools in industry. This paper discusses an approach to and experience in creating a method engineering and deployment environment using a commercial enterprise modelling and knowledge management platform, viz.. Enterprise Value Architect (EVA).
The approach involves a competent meta model to describe methods in a generic way. Uniquely, it incorporates goals to shape method development and facilitate method tailoring for purpose, project and practitioner. The platform incorporates a unique “one page portal” for method exploration and tailoring. Quality assurance is emphasised to ensure (i) practitioners appreciate the risks of omitting method elements (ii) project designers, practitioners and reviewers share a common understanding of what is expected and how it will be validated. Challenges in organisational implementation are discussed.
Published in
?Working Paper
?Facilitating Design and Use of Effective Visual Languages in Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems
Enterprise modelling and information systems work often relies heavily on graphical models expressed in visual languages to concisely capture, rigorously model and effectively convey meaning between stakeholders. Recent research has highlighted problems with the effectiveness of popular modelling notations. A physics of notations (PoN) was proposed to address these issues. Application of the PoN has not proven routinely successful. Models are often constructed by experts, but must be well received by non-experts to achieve their goals. This research contends that recent information from the fields of cognition, visualisation and graphic design can be exploited to enhance the return on modelling effort (ROME) and the value of models. Improved meta models, methods for visual language design and enhanced tools can support the definition and use of effective visual languages and the application of the PoN and derivatives.
Published in
?Practice of Enterprise Modelling (PoEM), Doctoral Consortium Papers
?Confirm date
?Agility is a Stable Requirement
Change in technology, business and society is ever present and accelerating. It is very unlikely to slow down, thus it is a stable requirement. Our methods of doing strategy, devising future architectures and delivering systems capabilities in support of business processes, capabilities and delivery of services and products therefor need to address this.
A great deal of effort has been applied in Agile Methods over the past two decades to accelerate the system development process, i.e. doing things faster. No matter how quickly they deliver, however, these methods often produce something inflexible. This paper argues for a broader approach, which looks at: the context (much of the change required is outside the system delivery space; the focus (what should we be changing and why?); and three approaches to achieving the change with respect to system deliver: doing less things (de-scope, use packages, libraries, components, frameworks); do things faster (agile methods, automation, generation) and make more flexible things (runtime adaptable or domain model driven systems). The last of these is an unconventional approach that holds promise, even if you currently don’t practice, or succeed with, agile methods.
Finally, we also address the dilemma of accelerated delivery while dealing with large legacy application landscapes.
Published?
Keywords?
?Brief Introduction to Function Modelling
Description?
Published?
Keywords?
A Business and Solution Building Block Approach to EA Project Planning
Many EA groups battle to establish an overall programme plan in a way that is integrated, achievable and understandable to the stakeholder and sponsor community as well as the downstream implementation groups, including: IT, Process Management, Human Resources and Product Management. This paper presents an approach that achieves these objectives in a simple way. The approach is currently being implemented in a fairly new enterprise architecture function within an aggressively expanding Telco with promising results. The problem is introduced and a solution including meta model and visual representations is discussed. Early findings are made to the effect that the technique is simple to apply as well as being effective in establishing shared understanding between the EA function, project sponsors, project stakeholders and IT personnel. The technique is explicated with an example that should make it easy for others to replicate in their own setting.
Published in
Proceedings of Practice of Enterprise Modeling (PoEM), Riga, Latvia
?Value Chain/Network Improvement
?Need better name
?Need decription
?Keywords
Published?
?Domain Modeling
Need more descriptive name
Why does the link go to slideshare, it’s not even a presentation?
I can’t download it without logging into Scribd, does Graham have a copy we can link to directly?
?Keywords?
Published?