A process for supporting computing infrastructure, said process comprising providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable code in a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a method of developing an information technology solution via development of a conceptual model, said method comprising:
- defining, by one or more business stakeholders associated with a business, a plurality of requirements of an information technology (IT) solution owned by said business, wherein said requirements indicate a plurality of functions of said business to be supported by said IT solution;
- said one or more business stakeholders and one or more IT stakeholders associated with said business developing a conceptual model by developing a conceptual structure and subsequently developing a plurality of operational concepts, said conceptual model including said conceptual structure and said plurality of operational concepts and providing a representation of said IT solution, said conceptual structure including a plurality of conceptual components, said plurality of conceptual components being icons, forms, shapes and/or figures determined by outlines that modularly represent one or more IT systems, one or more hardware components of said one or more IT systems and one or more software components of said one or more IT systems, said one or more IT systems, said one or more hardware components and said one or more IT systems being manifestations (manifested conceptual components) of said plurality of conceptual components in an implementation of said IT solution, and said plurality of operational concepts indicating interactions among said manifested conceptual components to perform said plurality of functions of said business,
- wherein said developing said conceptual structure includes:
- defining said conceptual structure based on a functional analysis of said plurality of functions of said business by said one or more business stakeholders and said one or more IT stakeholders;
- and
- subsequent to said defining said conceptual structure, refining said conceptual structure by:
- refining said conceptual structure based on a first analysis of interactions of one or more users with said IT solution;
- refining said conceptual structure based on a second analysis of a business model of said business;
- refining said conceptual structure based on a third analysis of how said manifested conceptual components interact with each other to support a business operational model of said business, said business operational model being a description by said one or more business stakeholders of how said business operates to attain one or more operational goals of said business;
- refining said conceptual structure based on a fourth analysis of one or more internal processes and one or more algorithms, said one or more internal processes associated with an operation of a set of manifested conceptual components included in said manifested conceptual components and with interactions therebetween, and said one or more algorithms associated with said operation of said set of manifested conceptual components and with said interactions therebetween;
- refining said conceptual structure based on a fifth analysis of one or more requirements for communication among said manifested conceptual components, between said IT solution and one or more systems of said IT solution, and between said IT solution and one or more systems external to said IT solution;
- refining said conceptual structure based on a sixth analysis of one or more requirements for capturing, storing, retrieving and managing information internal to said one or more systems of said IT solution;
- and
- refining said conceptual structure based on a seventh analysis of non-functional requirements of said IT solution,
- wherein a result of said refining said conceptual structure is a refinement of said conceptual structure, wherein said refinement includes a new conceptual component added to said plurality of conceptual components, wherein said refinement further includes a partition of a conceptual component of said plurality of conceptual components into two or more conceptual components that are added to said plurality of conceptual components and/or an aggregation of at least two conceptual components of said plurality of conceptual components into a new composite conceptual component added to said plurality of conceptual components,
- wherein said subsequently developing said plurality of operational concepts includes:
- prior to developing an architecture and a design of said IT solution, generating a description of said plurality of operational concepts based on said refinement of said conceptual structure, said description including:
- a first description of said plurality of conceptual components included in said refinement of said conceptual structure,
- a second description of said plurality of functions, said one or more internal processes, and said one or more algorithms supported by said manifested conceptual components represented by said plurality of conceptual components included in said refinement of said conceptual structure,
- a third description of information management needs of said manifested conceptual components represented by said plurality of conceptual components included in said refinement of said conceptual structure,
- a fourth description of how said manifested conceptual components represented by said plurality of conceptual components included in said refinement of said conceptual structure interact among themselves to perform said plurality of functions of said business,
- a fifth description of how said business model relates to an organization of said plurality of conceptual components included in said refinement of said conceptual structure, and
- a sixth description of how said non-functional requirements are addressed by said IT solution and by said manifested conceptual components represented by said plurality of components included in said refinement of said conceptual structure;
- and
- generating a diagram representing an overview of said IT solution and including said refinement of said conceptual structure;
- a computing system retrieving said diagram representing said overview of said IT solution and including said refinement of said conceptual structure and generating a documentation that includes said diagram and said description of said plurality of operational concepts;
- developing said architecture and said design of said IT solution by said one or more IT stakeholders based on said developed conceptual model and said documentation that includes said diagram representing said overview of said IT solution and said description of said plurality of operational concepts, wherein said description of said plurality of operational concepts included in said documentation that is a basis for said architecture and said design of said IT solution indicates said interactions among said manifested conceptual components to perform said plurality of functions of said business;
- and
- generating, by said one or more IT stakeholders, a second documentation of said architecture and said design of said IT solution.