Transforming business models

At a computer system, a method of transforming a business model representing one layer of a business architecture into a business model representing another different layer of the business architecture, the method comprising:

• an act of accessing a first structured business model representing a first business layer of a business architecture, the first structured business model modeling one or more first business layer components of the first business layer in accordance with a structured data model;
• an act of receiving an indication that the first structured business model is to be transformed into a second business model representing a second business layer of the business architecture;
• an act of accessing transform relationships that designate how components of the first business layer are to be transformed into corresponding second business layer components of the second business layer;
• an act of transforming the one or more first business layer components into corresponding second business layer components in accordance with the transform relationships;
• and
• an act of modeling the transformed second business layer components into the second business model.

A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer program product for implementing a method transforming the level of detail in a portion of a business model, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media have stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the comptuer system to perform the following:

• access a business model representing a business layer of a business architecture, the business model modeling a plurality of business components of the business layer in accordance with a structured data model, the plurality of business components modeled with an initial level of detail;
• receive an indication that one or more of the plurality of business components are to be modeled with an updated level of detail;
• access transform relationships that designate how business components are to be transformed from the initial level of detail to the updated level of detail;
• transform the one or more business components from the initial level of detail to the updated level of detail in accordance with the transform relationships;
• and
• model the one or more business components with the updated level of detail such that one portion of the accessed business model retains the initial level of detail and another portion of the accessed business model is updated to the updated level of detail.

At a computer system, a method transforming the level of detail in a portion of an arbitrary network model, the method comprising:

• an act of accessing an arbitrary model of a network, the arbitrary model modeling a plurality of components included in the network with an initial level of detail;
• an act of receiving an indication that one or more of the modeled components are to be modeled with an updated level of detail;
• an act of accessing transform relationships that designate how one or more modeled components are to be transformed from the initial level of detail to the updated level of detail;
• act of transforming the one or more modeled components from the initial level of detail to the updated level of detail in accordance with the transform relationships;
• and
• an act of modeling the one or more modeled components with the updated level of detail such that one portion of the accessed model of a network retains the initial level of detail and another portion of the accessed model of a network is updated to the updated level of detail