Business Architecture, Inc.

Body of Knowledge - Business Architecture

Business Architecture supports the growth and development of the body of knowledge related to business models and their application in the strategic management of businesses. Some thought provoking and helpful sites relating to the knowledge, tools, and techniques related to business architecture, process architecture, strategic planning, and so forth are cited here. They are frequently revised as new sites come to our attention. If you have some suggested sites, please let us know.

Strategic Planning /Strategic Mangement Information

Strategy Creation / Definition

  • These are the services that aid in the creation/definition of the strategy -- the unique winning value propostion based on distinctive competency, market opportunity, and the mission of the business. This is the primary focus of Business Architecture, Inc., complimented with placing strategy creation/definition in the overall strategic management process.
  • Strategic Horizons, LLP www.strategichorizons.com
  • Providing Customer Value: Moving from Goods and Services to Experiences and Transformations. Experienced in providing guidance and leadership in mass customization. Strategic Horizons is "a thinking studio dedicated to helping companies conceive and design new ways of adding value to their economic offerings." A strong focus on the exploration of experiences and transformations being more and more demanded by customers seeking authenticity in their lives.

Strategy Development and Deployment Services

  • These are services and sites that deal with the refinement, testing, and validation of the strategy. The methods and tools for doing this are often coupled with the strategy deployment methods and tools.
  • Balanced Scorecard Collaborative www.bscol.com
  • Robert Kaplan and David Norton's organization to provide education and promote the use of the balanced scorecard, accompanied with strategy maps, to rationalize strategic objectives and provide a method to deploy strategy effectively thoughout an organization.
  • Balanced Scorecard Institute www.balancedscorecard.org
  • The Institute is focused on the needs of managers involved in deploying strategic plans and improving their organization's strategic performance. This site serves as a means for sharing the ideas and experiences of managers and consultants working with balanced scorecard methods in all types of organizations.
  • Insightformation www.insightformation.com
  • Insightformation provides the software tool, InsightVision, needed to automate the balanced scorecard. The software includes the development of the strategy maps with the linkage of overall corporate objectives from which the balanced scorecards are derived and cascaded throughout the organization.
  • Hoshin Planning
  • Hoshin Planning is an effective strategic objective alignment and deployment management technique derived from the Japanese management practices. Hoshin, short for "hoshin kanri", means management and control of the company's direction needle or focus. Hoshin is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. The PDCA cycle has its roots in Walter Shewhart's work and but is more commonly known by its most prominent early advocate, W. Edwards Deming, thus the Deming cycle.
    • Total Quality Engineering, Inc. www.tqe.com
    • This company offers a Hoshin Handbook that describes the Hoshin Planning process. The Balanced Scorecard and Hoshin are conceptually very similar, much like Peter Drucker's Management by Objectives from the 1950s. Both techniques use a balanced set of objectives based on the multiple aspects of an organization.
    • Beyond Strategic Vision
    • The book Beyond Strategic Vision by Michel Cowley and Ellen Domb describes the Hoshin Planning process in depth. Hoshin Planning includes both "doing" and "review", the same as the PDCA cycle it is based upon. This close loop approach, where deployement and learning is essential to the process, is essential to an effective management process. The same principles are embedded in the Business Architecture, Inc. Strategic Management Process.

Business Model Resources

  • Business Architecture, Inc.(BAi) provides a robust generic business model tightly integrating it into the strategic mananagement process. With this integrated approach, BAi is seeking to take the business model to higher level of definition, understanding, and usefulness. With the BAi strategic management process, the business model serves as a critical tool used in strategy creation, strategy refinement, strategic planning, and strategy deployment. Following are some links to other useful business model information.
  • ManyWorlds www.manyworlds.com
  • Great source of information: "Our scope of topical management areas includes business strategy, innovation, leadership, organizational culture, advanced decision making and strategic marketing. This site is sponsored by our parent company, ManyWorlds, Inc., an advisory, research & media firm that helps leading companies grow."
  • Howard Dowding's Universal Business Model www.howarddowding.com/home.htm
  • Another universal (generic) business model! "Our generic model provides a single method of analysis, which is straightforward but comprehensive and at the same time applies to virtually every form of organization and their internal units or departments. In fact, the model holds true for organizations of all types, all sizes and all points in their development cycle."
  • Supply-Chain Council www.supply-chain.org
  • Of special interest is the Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model. This is a process model for all types of fulfillment processes. This process model is a key subset of an overall business model.

Qualty, TQM, Process Reengineering, Process Improvement, and Lean

  • Baldrige National Quality Program www.baldrige.org
  • Great site and organization for developing an understanding of what is necessary for an organization to be a superior performer. The criteria framework is essentially a business model. The crieria are organized by category: visionary leadership, customer-driven excellence, learning, valuing employees and partners, agility, focusing on the future, innovation, management by fact, social responsibility, focus on results, creating value, and systems perspective are criteria covered here. A Baldrige assessment, besides being a thorough assessment of the overall organizations process capability and performance, can serve as a foundation for a strategic assessment.
    • Criteria for Performance Excellence Download www.baldrige.org/Criteria.htm
    • Baldrige is a public private partnership with the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, NIST and the American Society for Quality under contract to the NIST.
  • American Society for Quality www.asq.org
  • Contains much useful information and educational opportunities from "the world's leading authority on quality since 1946."
  • Business Process Management Initiative www.bpmi.org
  • Core mission is to effect a shift in business process development and adaptability for business systems much like CAD/CAM did for product design and manufacturing.
  • Hammer and Co. www.hammerandco.com
  • Excellent process and process reengineering education.
  • Lean Enterprise Institute www.lean.org
  • Great source of information on how to see waste and value in your processes through value stream mapping. Furthers lean thinking. Books, workbooks, and training are provided.

Services in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area of Minnesota, USA:

  • Minnesota Strategic Leadership Forum www.slf-minnesota.org
  • "The Minnesota Strategic Leadership Forum (MSLF) is dedicated to advancing the understanding and practice of strategic planning and management."
  • Minnesota Council for Quality www.councilforquality.org
  • "The Council is a non-profit that helps organizations improve their performance. We offer an organization assessment that serves as the foundation of the Minnesota Quality Award. We also broker information, resources, knowledge, and best practices to help organizations deploy improvement actions"
  • Performance Improvement Network (PIN) www.improvementnetwork.org
  • "is a non-profit professional association that provides a forum for participants to share information on principles, processes, and practices that improve organizational performance and/or competitiveness."
  • Manufacturers Alliance www.mfrall.com
  • "A Minnesota association that provides peer-to-peer education and resources for manufacturers."

Other Sites of Potential Interest:

  • UNIVentures www.univenturesinc.com
  • Great source of educators and presenters selected to meet your particular needs.
  • APICS www.apics.org/default.htm
  • An national educational organization serving manufacturers. There are local chapters located throughout the country.