Application Requirements Document

Business Intelligence (BI) Service*

General Template for Informational Services

Definitions and Terms

0. Overview of Service Business Intelligence (BI) Service*

Overview

BI (business intelligence) is an umbrella term that means different things to different people. The main idea, despite the differences, is that BI enables business managers to make intelligent decisions -- it transform data to information (and knowledge) for improved decisions and actions. Quick examples of BI applications are: providing targeted information at the right place and time for competitive advantage, producing  information that is actionable (e.g., accurately predicting changes in weather conditions), improving processes for significant reduction of time and cost, and use of dashboards for graphical views of a wide range of opportunities in improving sales, customer satisfaction, and new business ventures. Government agencies are also using BI to offer better services in public health, public education, public safety and public welfare.   Key Characteristics  of a BI Service: Focus is on "Intelligence" and not on Data  Too much data confuses people and decision makers Example: Data = Most customers do not complain more than 3 times Intelligence = customers typical leave a business after three times  Action = Make sure that if a customer has complained twice, then her problem is solved.    BI helps transform business data  to intelligence to help make decisions/actions BI versus Decision Support Systems (DSS): BI is typical at executive level, DSS at middle level. They are similar but the audience/objective is different Major Components of a BI System: A BI service has four major components: a data warehouse, a collection of business analytics and mining tools, business performance management (BPM) for monitoring and analyzing performance, and a user interface (e.g. dashboard). Specifically, a BI service has the following major components as displayed in the following Figure: aData Warehouse(DW) that contains BIG DATA, i.e. a collection of subject-oriented databases, text files, emails, images, voice annotations, and other structured and unstructured information needed to support decisions. Tools for basic query and reporting purposes to understand the data Tools for Business Analytics (BA) to support descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics based on the data in the data warehouse (DW); Tools for Business Intelligence (BI) that support mining of data, clickstream, text and other artifacts in the DW Business Performance Management (BPM) capabilities for monitoring and analyzing performance of business processes   A User Interface (UI) that provides dashboards and other graphical tools for data visualization and integration of views

1. Overview and Business Drivers

Web Publishing

Business Needs (edit and modify to fit your needs)

• need to improve sales
• need to improve customer satisfaction
• need to provide new services
• need to re-engineer business processes for efficiency
• need to standardize operational processes.
• need to gain economy in services, support, and buying power.
• need for better reporting. And tracking
• need to enable integration / automation with internal systems .
• need to enable integration / automation with external providers (B2B) .
• need to improve workflow mechanism to capture and manage business processes.
• need to eliminate individually programmed software that provides little or no compatibility between markets, regions, and headquarters.
• need for a support system that provides auditing, tracking, interfacing, and automation of tasks and workflows.
• need to reduce duplicity in data, processes, and effort.
• need to improve forecasting and budget tracking in all facets of the business.
• need to quickly design and implement processes and technology changes across the organization.
• need to monitor depreciation of assets.

2. Background Information

Web Publishing
Additional Information

Although conceptually a Web site is a catalog of information for each content provider over the Web, in reality, a Web site consists of three types of components: :

• Content files such as the HTML documents
• A Web server (a program) that receives browser calls and accesses contents, and/or
• Gateways that can generate Web content (e.g., generate HTML pages) and provide access to non-Web content (e.g., relational databases).

Setting up a Web site involves a large number of issues such as the following:

• Deciding who will develop the Web site, i.e., your own organization or an outside service provider.
• Determining rent versus own issue, i.e., will the site be owned by your organization or will you rent/lease space on an existing Web site (this is called "virtual hosting").
• Choosing a Web site platform, i.e., will the Web server and contents reside on a UNIX or Windows NT platform.
• Choosing a sharing level, i.e., will a machine be dedicated as a Web site or the Web site software will coexist with other software (e.g., LAN software).
• Providing and controlling access to the site, i.e, determine the networking configurations and the security firewalls to be set up.
• Designing the site, i.e., designing home pages, assigning defaults, and server configurations.
• Management and support considerations such as backup/recovery, site security, site administration, hotline support, etc.

Many Web servers for different classes of Web users are state of the market. Apache, Sun Server, and Netscape servers are examples. The choice of a server depends on factors such as ease of installation, performance, security, manageability, and user friendliness.

Web publishing represents the C2B - information services business pattern.

Web Site Usability Characteristics

Business Pattern  

In this pattern, the enterprises are mainly information providers. No purchasing takes place (that is a different business pattern).

This is one of the oldest model of Web and is largely used for advertisements and information dissemination through Web sites. Users, who can be either internal or external to the enterprise, interact with enterprise transactions and data. In some cases, there may be a need to access back-end applications and data. This pattern is relevant to those enterprises dealing with goods and services not normally listed in and sold from a catalog. It encompasses all user-to-business interactions not covered by the User-to-Online Purchase pattern. Many (but not all) of the functions supported by the User to Business pattern relate to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.

Examples:

Government

• Submit tax returns
• Renew automobile licenses
• Download forms/applications
• Submit forms/applications

Manufacturing

• Review required parts/services
• Locate service centers
• Register for training classes
  Submit/track orders

Insurance Industry

• Locate a nearby office
• Locate brokers or agents
• Financial planner and insurance needs analysis tool
• Portfolio summary
• Policy summary and details
• Claims submission and tracking
• Online billing

Discount Brokerage

• Portfolio summary
• Detailed holdings
• Buy and sell stocks
• Transaction history
• Quotes and news

Convenience Banking

• View account balances
• View recent transactions
• Pay bills/transfer funds
• Stop payments
• Manage bank card

3. Application Functional Requirements

Additional Information

Functional Requirements

A Business Intelligence (BI) Service must be able to support at least the following operations:   Update data warehouse information. Retrieve data warehouse information for business intelligence. Support OLAP (online analytical analysis tools). Support data mining tools with proper statistical analysis and pattern recognition techniques to answer business questions. Support discovery of information that is hidden or not apparent through typical query and analysis tools. Support Web mining  to analyze the "clickstreams" (the log of users clicking for different Web pages). Provide management/operational staff needs in gaining business intelligence. Support Web browser based tools  to support widely distributed customers . Sample Outputs Generated: Enterprise reporting (using dashboards and scorecards) Visualizations, gamification and simulation of real time activities Cube analysis (also known as slice-and-dice analysis) Statistical analysis: descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analysis reports Data mining, web mining, and text mining analysis Routine report delivery and alerting Ad-hoc queries

Web publishing Main Functional Requirements

• Support static content in HTML and XML  documents
• Support dynamic content through gateways that can dynamically generate Web content from non-Web resources (e.g., relational databases).
• Intuitive and natural design.
• Support a Web standard Web server (MS IIS or Apache)
• Support Linux or Windows platform.
• Provide appropriate sharing level (dedicated versus shared machine)   
• Support backup/recovery, site security, site administration, hotline, etc.

4. Information Models (Use Cases, Class Diagrams, Sequence Diagrams)

== Insert information models here   

5. Logical Architecture (Application Pattern)

Business Intelligence (BI) Service*Logical Application Architecture

This logical architecture consists of the following (see the diagram)

• Business Layer that provides the business services such as the following:
• Backend resources
• External (Partner/Supplier) Resources
  • These may be government and/or regulatory agencies.
• The Front-end Integration Layer that allows different types of user devices (e.g., handhelds, voice over IP) to invoke the Business Layer. This layer:
  • Integrates the diverse user device technologies
  • Provides necessary security services    
• Back-end Integration Layer that interacts with different back-end and external applications. This layer:
  • Integrates the diverse back-end databases and applications
  • Provides necessary security services

6. Architecture and Integration Requirements (General)

Distributed Architecture Requirements   

== Modify the following as needed    

• The application must be decomposed into well defined business components that can be deployed, installed, and invoked independently over the Internet.
• The application must support an N tiered (N > 2) architecture with client, server, and databases.
• The architecture must support a front-end as well as back-end integration tiers.  
• The application must support a replication mechanism so that all data and processes do not reside on one location.  
• All levels of the architecture must be both forward and backward compatible.
• The application must be highly configurable within the server environment allowing for multiple workflow options concurrently.
• The application must allow for internal application customization in a GUI environment.

Interface/Integration Requirements

== Modify the following as needed    

• The application must support well defined interfaces for external integration.
• The application programming interface must be documented and supported.
• The application must provide loose coupling with external systems for flexibility
• The application must have a browser-based GUI for user interactions 
• The application must have conversion capabilities for different financial and regional data items (e.g., dollars to Euro).
• The application must be able to download external data files .
• The application must be able to process transactions with third party systems.
• The application must be able to interchange status information with third party systems for logistics functions.
• The application should be capable of supporting data mining applications.
• The application must provide an effective and efficient interface for highly mobile personnel.

7. Architecture and Integration Requirements

Front-end Considerations

• Simple Web browser interface over HTTP because of lightweight informational interaction

Back-end Considerations

• No interfaces with back-end systems
• No data translation needed for back-end applications

B2B Considerations

• No interfaces with external systems for B2B interactions
• No data translation needed for B2B applications

Special Considerations

• Scalability of this service should be a (major) concern due to the population of intended users.

8.  Operational Requirements (Generic)    

Security/Permission Requirements  

• The solution shall allow for the creation of privileges and permissions based on work groups composed of different users at different sites.
• The solution shall enforce privileges and permissions on data fields and user screens.
• The application will support privileges for read, delete, and edit.
• A local administrator will be able to assign all user privileges and permissions.  
• The application must conform to security standards, policies, and procedures established by the company

Performance Requirements

• The system must provide adequate turnaround for interactive work. 
• The system should be robust to handle user access needs without crashes and restarts
• The system must allow backup of needed data while being continually available to users for business as usual operations.
• The system should degrade performance gracefully if workload increases dramatically.

Hardware Requirements

• The application server must support the following platforms:  Windows/Linux/Others (specify)   
• The application server must support the following platforms:  Windows/Linux/Others (specify)   
• The application client must support the following platforms:  Windows/Linux/Others (specify)   
• The application must support a hardware High Availability environment through replicated servers.
• Add more  

Software Requirements

• The application server must utilize the most recent operating systems from the following list: Windows/Linux/Others (specify)  
• The application client must utilize the most recent browser version from the following list: Internet Explorer/Netscape/FireFox (specify)   
• The application must utilize relational databases.
• The application must utilize a commonly available and used  development environment such as Rational Rose.
• Add more

9. Vendor  Support Requirements

Application Service Provider (ASP) Support

• The ASP must guarantee, in writing, complete privacy and security of application and data.
• The ASP must support the application 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• Response of an application failure must be made according to the failure types by the ASP.  The application shall use 3 failure types: critical, important, and minor.
• Critical failure shall mean that the System is un-useable. The response to a critical shall be immediate to 3 minutes with 30 minutes to repair after vendor notification.
• An Important failure shall mean that some part of the system is un-useable. The response to an important failure shall be 1 hr with 4 hrs to repair after vendor notification.
• A Minor failure shall mean that impairment is affecting application performance. The response to a minor failure shall be within 24 hours with 7 days to repair after vendor notification.
• The ASP will support necessary upgrades of the software features.
• The ASP must provide all the necessary documentation needed for the customer to use the applications (e.g., a user guide, troubleshooting information, etc).  

Back Up and Maintenance Support

• The backup files shall be generated and stored according to the following IT standards
• backups will be taken once a day (recommended) or once a week (required)
• backup copies will be stored at an external site for safety    
• The application shall support an incremental online backup of the complete system, including database, as well as a full weekly online backup..
• The application vendor must provide maintenance and upgrades on a regular basis. 

Documentation Support

The application provider, in the following discussion, may be an outsourced development house or an internal software development group.

• The application vendor must provide a Users guide for all user categories interfaces.
• The application vendor must provide an Administrators guide for the application.
• The application vendor must provide online Help on all client interfaces.
• The application vendor must supply documentation on the applications maintenance.
• The application vendor must provide documentation on each database used in the proposed solution.
• The application vendor must supply upgrade instructions and release notes  30 days before a release.
• The application vendor must provide upgrade and rollback procedures for new releases.

Training Support

• The application vendor must provide on-site and/or application vendors site training. .
• The application vendor must provide interactive training on CD-ROM or through Web.   

10. SOA Considerations

Suggestion

For Interoperability: A common approach used in interoperability is an ontology mapping table (OMT). Simply stated, ontology represents a vocabulary. An OMT translates the terms in one system to the other and thus provides the bridge between disparate systems (see a simple example below).

Many organizations are pushing the use of the Semantic Web (with XML) for interoperability with focus on eGovernment, eHealth or eBusiness. Examples are:

• eGovernment-based interoperability initiative in UK, called e-GIF
• The European Commission provides a framework IDABC (Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens)
• Large EU projects related to cross-border systems are http://www.eu-spocs.eu/ and http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/apps/projects/factsheet/index.cfm?project_ref=224993There is a Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC.EU).
• A European Land Information Service (EULIS) is a consortium of European National Land Registers.
• In the United States, the government's www.CORE.gov service provides a collaboration environment for component development, sharing, registration, and reuse.
• In the US, eGovernment Enterprise Architecture Guidance  (www.cio.gov/documents/E-Gov_Guidance_July_25_Final_Draft_2_0a.pdf) and the E-Gov Enterprise Architecture Guidance (Common Reference Model  provide detailed interoperability specifications.