The previous article gave the separation principle model based on enterprise operation management. "Splitting" as the analyst’s first ability, its significance lies in how to split and collect similar elements when encountering complex problems, and to understand the characteristics of each type of element and the relationship between elements from top to bottom. Find the analysis and design methods of different elements. The correct splitting method can not only shorten the understanding and analysis time, improve the design and development efficiency, but also the completed system can obtain high reusability and strong adaptability. On the contrary, if the splitting method is not appropriate, it may cause a misunderstanding of the research object, complicate analysis and design, and the completed system lacks reusability and adaptability.
The following takes the separation of "business" and "management" as an example to illustrate the role and value of the separation in the software analysis and design process.
1. What is business and management
1. The concept of
business ■Business: refers to a series of activities carried out by an enterprise to achieve a certain goal (business refers to "doing things").
The term "business" originally referred to "sales" work, but later generally referred to "non-management" jobs. The term business refers to different "things" in different industries, different companies, different departments, and even different positions. Here are a few examples to help understand.
1) Non-software industry
In general production companies, the "business" of the sales department is to sell products, and the "business" of the production department is to manufacture products. In a hospital, the "business" of the outpatient department is to diagnose patients, and the "business" of the pharmacy department is to take medicine from the warehouse and deliver it to the patient. In schools, the "business" of teachers is to impart knowledge to students, and the "business" of students is to learn knowledge from teachers.
2) Software industry
In the software industry, the concept of "business" is different from that of ordinary enterprises. It has two meanings: one is for the internal software enterprise, and the other is for the software customer.
□For software companies: Except for jobs related to coding (including: technical design, programming, testing), other jobs (including: demand research/analysis, business architecture/design) are all "business "category.
□For software customers: the work that customers need to carry out informatization is called "business".
2. The concept of
management ■Management: is the process of decision-making, planning, organization, guidance, implementation, and control to achieve business goals.
(Management is "management" and "thing" refers to business.)
In professional books on management, there are many definitions of management, such as: management is the effective planning of the resources owned by the organization in a specific environment , Organization, leadership and control in order to achieve the established organizational goals.
Compared with business, management is a series of safeguard measures to ensure that the business achieves its goals in accordance with the original plan.
2. The difference between business and management
"Business" refers to "doing things" and "management" refers to "managing things". In order to better understand the definitions and differences between the two, here are a few examples in a broad sense for reference.
[Case 1] Road planning A
new area needs to be planned for roads. According to the planning ideas, there are two design methods:
1) Planning method 1: Plan the road first, and then plan the signal lights.
First, according to the possible future population, living habits, service forms, travel modes and other data in the area, design the parameters of the road, such as direction, number of lanes , Lane width, etc., and then according to the surrounding environment of the road intersection, predict where congestion and accidents may occur, and determine the type, number and location of the required signals;
2) Planning method 2: Plan the signal lights first, then plan the road.
First determine the type, number and location of the signal lights, and then plan the direction, width, number of lanes and other parameters of the road according to the conditions of these signal lights;
Is the planning method reasonable? There is no doubt that the first method is conventional and reasonable. The reason is: it will not decide how to build roads because of the need for signal lights, and will only set up corresponding signal lights at the location where the new road needs to be controlled.
The relationship between business and management is the same as the relationship between roads (=business) and traffic lights (management). Business will not be set up for management, but corresponding management will only be set up to ensure the smooth progress of the business. Therefore, before research, first separate business and management, and then consider what kind of management method is needed on the basis of understanding the business. This is the best way of analysis and design.
Figure 1 Business & Management = Road & Signal Light
Similarly, construction projects for building houses, assembly lines for cars, and organization of large-scale performances are all business activities. In order to ensure the quality, speed, quantity, time, and safety of these business tasks, a set of procedures, rules, and organization are required. , Monitors, alarm devices, and corresponding punishment systems are used as guarantee measures, and these guarantee measures constitute management.
[Case 2] Installation of the assembly line
Observing a beer bottling assembly line, it can be found that there are similarities with the construction of roads.
□Business: The automatic bottling production line carries out "business (doing)" activities, and the production line itself is used to generate value;
□Management: It is the monitoring equipment installed on the bottling production line, which does not directly participate in the production , Do not change the product form, nor directly generate value, they are only used to ensure production quality and safety, and are "management (management)", as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Business & Management = Production Line & Monitoring Equipment
It can be clearly seen from this example that the roles and purposes of "business elements" and "management elements" are indeed different. "Beer packaging" and "quality inspection" each have their own work content and corresponding technologies and standards, so The two should be studied separately, and then combined together in some form to complete the work of loading beer.
The behavior of management will not change the form, attribute, function and value of the business itself. “Inspection” can only find problematic beer bottles. The value loss of defective products detected is not caused by inspection management. Therefore, the role of management is only to ensure that the business can achieve the expected goals (quality, safety, cost, etc.).
3. Reasons for the separation of business and management
Why separate "business" and "management"?
1. Easy to analyze and design.
From the above description, we already know that the purpose of "business" and "management" are different, and the knowledge, technology, and implementation methods required by each are also different, so the research and analysis to be adopted The methods of design and implementation are different.
The relationship between the business flow chart shown in Figure 3 and the management control acting on it, each node (work) in the business process is subject to the corresponding management inspection while complying with the business standard (production process method) ( Under the constraints of corporate management rules, if you master these relationships, it is easier to perform analysis and design work.
Figure 3 The relationship between business and management in software design
For example, demand changes often occur after the system is completed, and the system has to be maintained frequently. Through analysis, it can be found that the main reason for the frequent changes in system requirements is caused by frequent changes in "management" requirements, while "business" rarely causes them. Changes in system requirements, therefore, split the business and management, and then combine them to work together. When the management changes, only the management part can be changed without affecting the business part, which improves the system architecture Stability (the business part of the system accounts for more than 90%!). If there is no split and the business and management are coupled together, then the business will often change with management changes, and the system will become unstable.
2.
Sorting out the original requirements. In addition, in the actual requirements research process, the customer will not explain the requirements to the research engineer according to the classification of business and management. The first-hand information obtained is the elements of "business" and "management" They are usually mixed together, as shown in Figure 4(a), so you need to separate them and identify those that belong to business and those that belong to management. After the split business and management are analyzed and designed , And then integrate them according to the method of system architecture, as shown in Figure 4(c).
Figure 4 Business and management
Summary: The purpose of splitting the research object is to make it clear:
□Those elements are "doing things", the elements of doing things constitute the business structure, and the purpose of doing things is to "produce" value;
□Those elements are " doing things ", The elements of stewardship constitute the management structure, and the purpose of stewardship is to "ensure" that the business can produce the expected value;
■Expanded explanation
Although everyone is engaged in different business fields and faces different businesses and needs, the concept of separation (the principle of separation) is applicable to any research object that needs informationization, and it also exists when building non-enterprise management systems. For a pair of content such as "doing & managing" such as business and management, it is necessary to use the idea and method of splitting to find and establish a separation model suitable for the business field.
Can you understand why the business and management have to be split through the above explanation? After splitting the business and management, figure out which needs are for "doing things" and which needs are for "managing things". Do things in accordance with business requirements and management in accordance with management requirements. This is because of coupling. The requirements that feel very complex will become easy to understand, analyze and design.
■ The next article in this series: The foundation of analysis methods — 3. The characteristics of business and management, the grasp of analysis and design
For a detailed description of business and management split, please refer to the book "Dahua Software Engineering—Requirements Analysis and Software Design".
