1. <Client Name> <Project Name> IM/IT ARB Presentation Template
Pierre Nantel, Office of the CIO
Information Technology Services Branch (ITSB)
February 2010
EDRM # xxxxxx 1

2. Table of Contents Introduction Background/Summary
Business Requirements and Benefits Summary
Business and Solution Options Summary
Solutions Map
System Data Flow (Diagram)
Application Map
RICEF Factors (Reports, Interfaces, Conversion, Extensions, Forms) or Use Case Diagram
Gaps
Assumptions/Dependencies
Conversion/Cutover Considerations
System Landscape
Deployment Considerations
Support Considerations
Open Issues
Estimating Summary
Examples/Back up

3. Introduction
The Conceptual Solution outlines the future solution, specifically the application, the technology, the process, and effort/training required for support.
The Conceptual Solution contains the design decisions for application, process, technology, as well as training and performance support.
Create this deliverable in the Plan stage to:
Identify the applications in the solution and the relationships between them.
Depict the future business processes at a high level.
Describes a vision of the technical working environment that will support the defined applications.

4. Background/Summary
Describe the project history as it supports the discussion within this document.
Summarize the business problem faced by the client.
Include relevant discussion points on the advantages, regulations, resource availability, and the driving force and rationale for the project.
If the initiative is part of a multi- phase release plan, indicate how the release for this project may be related to other releases within the overall solution strategy.

5. Business Requirements
Req. ID
Title
Requirement
Priority
HLR1
HLR2
HLR3
HLR4
HLR5
HLR6
HLR7
HLR8
HLR9
HLR10
<<Enter High-Level Business Requirements to be fulfilled by this conceptual solution.>>

6. Benefits Summary
Provide a summary of the expected benefits (when available)

7. Business and Solution Options Summary
Business Option
Solution Option(s)
Comments / Recommendation
<business option 1>
<solution option 1>
<solution option n>

8. Solution Map
Identify the solution's applications, for each solution option as appropriate, and the relationships between them.
Take into account any planned and/or existing applications to support the solution. The extent of integration with other applications will need to be considered, as this will have implications for the definition of the application architecture and potential impacts on the Disaster Recovery solution.
Create this deliverable during the plan stage to:
Map of the applications required to support the solution, showing the various functional and technical layers of the application.
Provide a basis for the detailed design of the technology build
Illustrate dependencies among the applications
Increase the predictability of application performance because the run-time behaviour of common components is familiar and consistent
Serve as a construction blueprint and ensure consistency across systems
Map the functional requirements

9. System Data Flow Diagram
Document:
The information sources/database used
The interface between the systems and end users
Information requirements and flow
Integration with other applications
Disaster Recovery Integration/Requirements

10. Application Map Technology Services
<<List the different applications involved in the solution and how they interface with one another>>
Business Systems consists of all existing and new Back-Office Applications and Databases that the targeted business applications will leverage for functionality and data. This includes packaged and custom applications as well as databases, data warehouses and data marts.
Applications
Business
The targeted business applications are those suites of solution that the architecture is designed to support.
Leveraging information about user working styles, geography and interface requirements, we can identify the required access channels for the targeted applications.
Systems
Integration
Services
Integration Services are the enabling technology for providing integration capability for the disparate application systems. The Integration services layer consists of Business objects, Collaborators and Adapters. Business Objects provide a wrapper to logically grouped transactions. This provides the business applications with a generic interface that hides the complexity of interaction with back-end systems. Collaborators assemble data from multiple back-end systems by leveraging Adapters, which provide simplified access to a each of the back-end systems. Some Adapters may be custom developed while others can be reasonably provided by a third party.
Users
Technology Services
The technology services are a comprehensive set of run-time services required to support the targeted applications and processing styles.

11. RICEF Factors
RICEF Factors is a list of objects that are required for the solution.
RICEF stands for Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Extensions and Forms.
RICEF objects should be presented in a table format. The table needs to identify
Source system
Complexity (Simple, Medium or Complex)
If object is new or a modification to an existing object
Name of the object
A description of object to be modified or added.

12. Gaps
Identify and described any Business requirement(s) that cannot be incorporated into the solution. Provide a rational as to why?
The definition of a GAP is:
For packaged software, gaps are areas of functionality that are not supported by the standard packaged software configuration.
A business requirement that cannot be meet through a system / application solution.

13. Assumptions/Dependencies
List all of the assumptions that you have made in reference to the Solution. The intention is not to repeat the project Assumptions, but those that are more focused on what must be in place for the Solution to be implemented in the described manner
Examples of assumptions to consider are:
Changes to existing Applications that are required.
Infrastructure that is required.
Skills from the client that are expected I.e. UAT at a specific time.
Existing Disaster Recovery Solution will be leveraged.

14. Conversion/Cutover Considerations
Describe Conversion and cutover processes that are required for this solution.
Are they manual conversions vs. automated conversions?
What will be the process to convert the data and what are the timing considerations?
Definition
The conversion of data from the current format to the structure required by the new application. A conversion can be performed via an automated program or can be completed manually.

15. System Landscape
The Technical Architect defines the landscape for Development ,Execution and Operations environments
At a macro level, Technical Architecture defines the infrastructure components in the enterprise.
At an implementation level, Technical Architecture is the physical infrastructure (co-hosted or dedicated) and application components that describe to designers and developers the environments that need to be built and maintained during the Development Lifecycle.

16. Deployment Considerations
List any major deployment activities requirement for this solution.
Are there new processes and technology getting deployed regionally.
Described how many users / sites may be impacted?
Is a new solution recommended to be included in the Disaster Recovery annual test?
Definition
A stage that introduces the new business capability into the Operating environment. The tasks within this stage transition the workforce, deploy new processes and technology, and stabilize the operations. These tasks are repeated for each deployment unit.

17. Support Considerations
Are there any impacts to the current SLAs?
Are there any impacts to the Disaster Recovery solution?
Need Application Management to be involved in this assessment.
New applications?
New Disaster Recovery components?
1 PY  skilled programmer to support on-going application fixes
½ PY  Linux expert to support OS.
24/7 on-call support.

18. Open Issues
List all of the Issues that are required to bring to conclusion regarding the Conceptual Solution.
It can be listed in table format – sample below ID
Issue
Severity
Action
Status 1 2 3

19. Estimating Summary
Insert a summary of the estimating model that has been approved as Client Facing.
One-time costs:
Custom development
Configuration
Training
Packaged Software
Hardware and System software
On-Going costs:
Application and service support
Data services
License maintenance
Hardware support