Describe Data Sources and Business Rules

Establish the top-level design and technologies used for the HS Agency-Wide data sources, messages, and business rule processing.

Introduction Activities Roles and Responsibilities Artifacts Additional Resources

A-TARS: - Technology Boundaries Descriptions - Agency-Wide System Properties - Integrated Technology Descriptions - TRM Descriptions - Data Sources and Business Rules Reference Set - AIS Design and Implementation Info. - Ancillary Design Info. - Technical Architecture Work Plans and Direction - Strategic Analysis and Data - Changes Develop Data Source and Technology Descriptions Develop Business Rule and Technology Descriptions Integrate, Review, and Publish Descriptions Update Data and Rule Descriptions - A-TARS: Data Sources and Business Rules Reference Set - Ancillary Design Info. - Changes - Status - Data or Business Rules Specialists - Other Technical Specialists

Introduction

These activities create and update the Data Sources and Business Rules Reference Set descriptions. This portion of the A-TARS specifies the characteristics of two highly dependent elements:

• The definition of the HS Agency-wide persistent data stores, storage formats, messages, and related access and storage technology
• The definition of the business rules and rule-processing technology needed to maintain the validity of this data

The goal of these activities is to help address the tower of Babel problem by providing normalization of data types and meanings, to enable HS Agency-wide data elements to be exchanged and used across applications. The specific HS Agency-wide data models, data formats, message formats, and rules are assumed to be either described in this portion of the A-TARS or referenced in external companion documentation (e.g., HS Agency or program-specific data models, message formats, and rule books). The technologies that will be used to store and process the data are also described, such as use of relational databases, logic encoding in programs, database triggers, rule engines, or other techniques. Depending on the application architecture selected, these activities may be coupled with the design and definition of data access services defined in the Describe Services

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Activities

Consolidated guidelines are available to perform the following key activities:

1. Develop Data Source and Technology Descriptions. Describe the data sources and the data storage and retrieval technology by performing the following:

   • Describe the data sources identified in the Integrated Technology Descriptions. The data sources characterized during the inventory built during the Analyze the Situation activities can provide initial detail. This may require building high-level data models to consolidate the data descriptions, as well as using XML Schemas, DTDs or custom electronic message formats. The data source description may assume relational or nonrelational data sources. This includes recommended data storage formats for any data store, such as video, sound/music, or compound documents, as necessary to enable sharing across the HS Agency.
   • Describe the message formats to be used to exchanged data within and external to the Agency systems, as identified in the System Architecture and the boundaries described by the Describe Technology Boundaries activities.
   • Describe data access technologies and how they will be used, such as relational, object-oriented, or multidimensional analysis support services (which may be described in the Services Reference Set).
   • Create reference implementations or perform studies to demonstrate or analyze critical aspects of the data storage or its access.
   • Produce guidelines to elaborate on the life-cycle management of the data, such as administrative processes, description (modeling notation), or records retention and destruction.
   
   

2. Develop Business Rule and Technology Descriptions. Describe the Agency-wide rule repositories and the associated rule processing technology by performing the following:

   • Establish a set of descriptions that identify and describe the assumptions and guidelines for applying common business policies, guidelines, and practices. This is the basis for consistently defining and applying the rules and conventions across the Agency. Provide specific rules or reference their location. The inventory compiled during the strategic planning Analyze the Situation activities can provide initial details.
   • Describe the rule processing technologies and how they will be used. This may address declaring and encoding rules for use in a business logic component using COBOL, within database triggers, or using rule engines. The approaches taken may have implications for the practices and tools used to define and generate and execute the rules.
   • Create reference implementations or perform studies to demonstrate or analyze critical aspects of the specification.
   • Produce guidelines to elaborate the life-cycle management of the rules, such as who maintains the rule repositories and notations to define them.
   
   

3. Compile, Review, and Publish Descriptions. Prepare the documentation for release by holding peer reviews ( CMU SEI 1995). Individuals that will use the descriptions, as well as those defining the data access services, should attend.

4. Update Data and Rule Descriptions. The descriptions of the data and rule processing technology are adjusted with dependent A-TARS elements accordingly. This requires an evaluation of the changes and their impact on other parts of the A-TARS, such as modification of data access services, developer tools, existing data store content, migration of data stores from one technology to another, and changes in the business processes that use or modify the data.

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Roles and Responsibilities

The key roles and their responsibilities are as follows:

• Data or Business Rules Specialists. These individuals are responsible for producing the data and business rules descriptions, either as authors or technical managers. They are members of the Core or Extended Team. They are generally familiar with the HS Agency programs and the information processed, working as business analysts and database administrators.
• Other Technical Specialists. These individuals support the definition of the data, rules, and associated technology, either as authors or Subject Matter Experts. Individuals from the Agency programs may participate, as well as experts in the various data or rule processing technologies.

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Artifacts

The following information is used or produced by these activities. Templates, examples, and checklists for identifying and documenting items are available through the Additional Resources section at the end of this page.

• A-TARS - The previous version of the A-TARS (if it exists) is used to determine the scope of the changes for an iteration of these activities. The following key parts are used:
  • Technology Boundaries Descriptions. The descriptions of the usage environment guide the identification and definition of the external business and design entities and the information exchanged with external systems.
  • Agency-Wide System Properties. These properties are used to guide the selection and design of the data and rule processing technologies, such as growth or transaction rates.
  • Integrated Technology Descriptions. These descriptions provide the context for the definitions, identifying the stores and access paths as well as external interfaces and message exchanges.
  • TRM Description. This description guides decisions on the application and system structure by indicating the types of technologies that need to be considered.
  • Data Sources and Business Rules Reference Set. These descriptions are the main product of these activities, updating the previous version, if it exists.
• Technical Architecture Work Plans and Direction. These work plans guide the execution of these activities, coordinating the teams with each other as well as with other individuals developing or maintaining other portions of the A-TARS.
• AIS Design and Implementation Info. An understanding of the existing databases and technology is used when defining the data store and rule processing technologies. Existing systems provide a source of detailed design information, such as data models, rules, data access and rule programming conventions, and message and interface definitions that will be the basis of these definitions.
• Ancillary Design Information. Information associated with the design is retained, as needed (e.g., results of architectural studies such as transaction rates or growth models). This information may be used to produce some guidelines that users of the integrated descriptions can reference for additional understanding.
• Strategic Analysis and Data. The strategic direction, specifically the decisions to keep, replace, renovate, or build on existing IT assets, guides the choice of technology and the integration of legacy systems technologies into the overall Technical Architecture.
• Changes. Changes provided to these activities represent those things in the current A-TARS descriptions that must change. Changes for other parts of the A-TARS also can be generated, such as updates to the TRM, boundary, integrated descriptions, services, equipment, or networking.
• Status. Progress and issues in developing the descriptions are forwarded to the management activities to ensure coordination between these activities and other Technical Architecture and IT project activities.

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Additional Resources

Items that can be used to perform these and other activities are consolidated in the Resources portion of the IT Planning and Management Guides. Resources specific to this activity are cataloged below.

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