© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved For Internal MITRE Use Information Architecture as a Decision-Support Tool Dr. M. A. Malloy 17 November 2009

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Disclaimers  All information presented here is UNCLASSIFIED, technically accurate, contains no critical military technology and is not subject to export controls.  The views, opinions, and conclusions expressed here are those of the presenter and should not be construed as an official position of MITRE or the United States Department of Defense (DoD). 2

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Overview  What’s a decision-support tool?  What’s an information architecture framework (IAF)?  How can information architectures support the decision-maker? –Examples  Take-aways 3

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Decision-Support Tool purposes **  To check that “everything is OK”  To confirm the “obvious”  To compare “actual performance” against formal or informal goals or constraints  To identify what is “out-of-the-ordinary”  To find a small, significant piece of information  To figure out how something “works”  To “work around” normal channels  To do side-by-side comparisons of like items, quantities, etc.  To compare the same type of information for discovering trends and relationships [e.g., in different time periods]  To convey information in a more digestible manner  To support “what-if” analysis or forecasting  To create a “report of record”  To help advocate a position 4 ** INTUIT ANALYZE / REPORT EXPLORE / VISUALIZE

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved We manage information because…  We can  Someone tells us we have to  It’s a valuable corporate asset  It supports decision-making  All of the above 5 CLAIM: Information architecture enables decision-makers to answer the question: Are we managing the right, high-quality, actionable, timely information we need to make our key decisions?

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved What is enterprise architecture (EA)? 6 ** DoD Architecture Framework Version 1.5, Volume I: Definitions and Guidelines, 23 April 2007 “enterprise” any organization or group of organizations that has a common set of goals or principles or a single bottom line “architecture” the structure of components, their relationships to each other and to the environment, and the principles guiding the design and evolution of the entity they describe,** whether that entity is an organization, a system, or a functional or mission area

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Relevance of “information” in EA  Derived from various business needs  Influenced by / influences governance, activities, technology, services  Must be managed throughout its lifecycle Business Needs Business Activities Technology Services Information Governance Organizational Directives Technology View Service View Information View Business View

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved 8 What should the information view include?  Activities/processes that produce and consume information  Structure of and relationships among the information –Conceptual & logical data models of the enterprise (i.e., information requirements) –Ontologies, taxonomies, vocabularies; metadata, schemas –Authoritative data sources; access control rules  Information infrastructure (IT) –Data storage; data transport; data services –Information assurance –Standards and standard products  Implementation strategy and guidance –Information management policy & Guidance –Ways and means for creating the above descriptions  Governance, roles & responsibilities, data engineering, configuration management, verification & validation (V&V), authoritative data sources

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved “Framework” helps organize & relate information architecture products 9 architecture product Info Architecture Framework The Enterprise Stakeholders

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved 10 High-level view of the Information Architecture Framework (IAF) Information Asset Description Information Asset Context Information Asset Sharing Information Architecture Components Information Asset Principles Information Asset Policy Information Asset Governance Drivers and Input Drivers and Input Establish Uses and Impacts Uses and Impacts Technology Business Services Information Asset Relationships Information asset a resource having value that is both owned and managed

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Inter-view relationships  Information – Business –How do information assets relate to business activities? e.g,  Asset to process cross reference  Information – Service –How do information assets relate to service offerings? e.g.,  Asset to service cross reference.  Service-level Agreement (SLA) Template  Information – Technology –How do information asset considerations impact technical realization? e.g.,  Definition of a mediation view between physical store and services  Security characteristics selection criteria 11

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Example: Are we managing the right assets? 12 Information Asset Description Information Asset Context Information Asset Sharing Information Architecture Components Information Asset Principles Information Asset Policy Information Asset Governance Drivers and Input Drivers and Input Establish Uses and Impacts Uses and Impacts Technology Business Services Information Asset Relationships Business Rules MIL-STDs Vocabulary Toolset iSMART JMSWG MTFWG COI NCDS JALN, Platforms ICD JCIDS GAPs, CBA GCIC/RI NCES Caps & Lims Toolset

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Example: Can we answer our key questions? 13

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Triple Stores Browser Gruff RDF/ XML Top Braid Composer TM Ontology Query SPARQL AllegroGraph Database & Application Framework Lisp JAVA Answering other questions 14  (Semi-) automate population of triple store from existing metadata sources –Use IAF as the basis for defining mappings  Use built-in visualization, query, analytical tools to realize added value  Earmark categories of architecture products needed to answer specific types of questions Triple Stores Browser Gruff RDF/ XML Top Braid Composer TM Ontology Query SPARQL AllegroGraph Database & Application Framework Lisp JAVA This approach is currently being explored via use cases.

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved Summary  An architecture framework approach supports –Distributed, incremental development by multiple stakeholders –Recognizing “patterns” across similar organizations  A database application framework approach –Supports discovery of unanticipated answers and value  IAF supports managing information assets from an enterprise perspective –Are we managing the right information to answer key questions? 15

© 2006 The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved 16 Questions