Chapter 10
Analyzing and Defining Business Processes
The Professional Cloud Architect Certification Exam objectives covered in this chapter include the following: Architects are valued both for their breadth and depth of knowledge. That knowledge base should include an understanding of how managers and business executives function and how to work with them. A stakeholder is someone or some group with an interest in a business initiative. There are many kinds of stakeholders involved with IT projects, including employees, contractors, consultants, project managers, program managers, business process owners, compliance officers, external partners, and vendors. Stakeholder management begins with understanding the relationship between interest and influence, the scope of stakeholder interests, and processes for managing stakeholders. A stakeholder has an interest when the outcome of an initiative, like a software development project, may affect the stakeholder. When a stakeholder has influence, that stakeholder can help direct the outcomes of an initiative. Stakeholders have varying degrees of interest. For example, a business process owner who is funding a project has financial interests around costs as well as technical interests around functionality and reliability. A compliance officer, however, has more narrow interests around ensuring that the project meets regulation requirements around privacy and security. Interests come in several forms, such as the following: Interests describe what a stakeholder wants. Influence describes the stakeholder’s ability to get it. Stakeholders also have varying degrees of influence. The people responsible for funding a project and the managers of the software developers on the team can exercise significant influence throughout the course of a project over a broad range of topics. Others have significant influence over a narrow range. An information security engineer, for example, may have the authority to block the release of code if it contains security vulnerabilities, but not if the release breaks a non-security-related feature. In other cases, stakeholders have marginal interests and marginal influence. A team of developers for a related product that will use a new service under development but who do not pay for that service may be of limited influence. They may, for example, have an opportunity to offer suggestions about the design of the new services API but cannot dictate final design decisions. Interest and influence should be understood relative to a particular initiative, which can range from project to portfolio levels of an organization. Businesses and organizations have strategies that define their purpose or goals. Those strategies are implemented by executing a variety of initiatives. There is no fixed hierarchy of initiatives, but a common organizational structure uses three levels: A project is an initiative focused on completing some organizational task. Projects have budgets specifying the funding available for the project. They also have schedules that describe the expected timeframe for completing the project. Projects also have resources, which include employees, contractors, and consultants assigned to the project. Resources may also include infrastructure, such as access to computing and storage services that are paid for by another entity in the organization. Projects can be part of programs. Programs are initiatives designed to achieve some business goal. For example, a financial institution may have a program to increase the number of home equity loans held by the company. To achieve this goal, the business owners will need to work across a variety of departments, including marketing, compliance, and software development. There may be multiple projects required to meet the goal. In the home equity loan example, there may be a project within the marketing department to determine an advertising plan, while software developers will be charged with updating existing loan origination software to improve ease of use. Portfolios are groups of projects and programs that collectively implement a business or organization’s strategy. Stakeholders can have interest and influence at any level. A project manager has significant influence over a project and moderate influence over a program, but little or no influence over a portfolio. A senior vice president responsible for a portfolio is responsible for all projects and programs in that portfolio. That person has both interests and influence over the entire portfolio, but much of the influence that person can exercise is often delegated to program and project managers. Architects often have influence over projects and portfolios because of their knowledge. Their interests should be centered around achieving the business goal while building quality, reliable, functional software systems. As a stakeholder, architects often work with and influence other stakeholders. When starting a new project or program, you should consider how you will manage stakeholders with respect to your role on the projects. The four basic stages of stakeholder management are as follows: Some stakeholders are obvious, such as the business owner of a project or the information security team that reviews all project plans from a compliance perspective. Others may be less obvious, such as other engineering teams with an interest in the functionality that new software may deliver. Architects can learn about roles and scope of interests from formal project documentation, but that is usually limited to obvious stakeholders. You should work with program and project managers to understand who else may have an interest in an initiative and determine their scope of interests. If someone has an interest in your project, they will likely make their interests known at some point, so it is best to identify them as early as possible so that you can maintain communications with them. A communication plan is an important element of stakeholder management. The plan may include publishing updates to a project site or holding regular status update meetings. The way that information is communicated will vary across projects, but it is important to have a communication mechanism in place so that stakeholders can stay informed. The communication mechanisms are also a means of influencing stakeholders. For example, as an architect you may post a whitepaper advocating for a particular architectural approach. The purpose is to make business owners aware of a key technical decision that needs to be made while demonstrating to engineers that the proposed approach is the best option for the project. Organizations, teams, and individuals frequently experience change. Businesses change strategies in response to new opportunities. Teams respond to changes in project plans. Individuals change teams and departments. Change is so common and has such a pervasive effect on organizations that people have developed methods for managing change. As an architect, you will likely be exposed to various levels of change, from those changes that affect individuals all the way up to enterprise-scale changes. There are many reasons for change, and those reasons differ for individuals, teams and groups, and enterprises. Individuals can experience change for reasons that they bring upon themselves or because of external changes. Choosing to switch teams, take a new job, or change career paths are examples of self-directed changes. If a company reorganizes, a colleague leaves a team, or collaborators are moved to a new office, then those are examples of externally motivated changes. Similarly, teams or departments can change. Team members leave, and others join. Management reassigns responsibilities based on changing business needs. Competition can prompt changes in organizational strategy that in turn leads to changes in programs and projects. Enterprises can experience change, too. Automakers are dealing with the advent of autonomous vehicles. Traditional media companies are facing new forms of competition from social media. Manufacturers are adapting new kinds of technologies that require new sets of skills from workers. These are examples of technology-driven changes. Change may be prompted by new regulatory conditions, such as the introduction of HIPAA to the United States healthcare market or the GDPR to the European Union. Economic factors, such as the Great Recession from December 2007 to June 2009, can disrupt a wide range of businesses. For architects, understanding the reason for changes can help you understand stakeholders’ interests and inform a longer-term view than you might have had if you considered only project implementation details. Digital transformation is a term used to describe the widespread adoption of digital technology to transform the way that companies create products and deliver value to customers. Digital transformation initiatives often adopt the use of web technologies, cloud computing, mobile devices, big data technologies, IoT, and artificial intelligence (AI). According to a survey by the McKinsey & Company consulting firm, 80 percent of respondents say their organizations have engaged in digital transformation efforts between 2013 and 2018. That same study found that digital transformations are more difficult to manage and less likely to succeed than other kinds of changes. McKinsey & Company also found that common traits of successful digital transformation efforts included knowledgeable leaders, ability to build workforce capabilities, enabling new ways of working, and good communications. Business consultants and academic researchers have developed a number of change management methodologies, but for the purposes of the Google Cloud Professional Architect Exam, we will discuss just one. The goal here is to understand what change management is and how an architect might go about managing change. The Plan-Do-Study-Act methodology of change management was developed by Walter Shewhart, an engineer and statistician, and later popularized by W. Edwards Deming, engineer and management consultant. This methodology is a reframed version of the scientific method for organizational management. It includes four stages. This approach leaves much for the practitioner to decide. What should be measured when conducting an experiment? If this is an experiment that affects individuals, how will the impact on them be measured? What are the criteria for determining when to act and implement changes based on the experiment results? Since the reasons for change are so varied, methodologies can only outline high-level steps. As an architect, you will likely participate in organizational changes. Even if a formal methodology is not used, it may help to understand that there are ways to manage change. Architects are leaders and have a role in developing the skills of engineers, system administrators, engineering managers, and others involved in software development and operations. Organizations often have formal management structures that include project managers, engineering managers, and product managers. They are responsible for ensuring that work is organized and executed. They also typically have some responsibility to help individuals and teams develop their skills. Architects typically have a wide range of experience and are knowledgeable about a broad range of technical topics. They can contribute to team skill development by doing the following: In addition to helping develop internal skill sets, architects may be called on to help engage with customers. Customer success management is another set of soft skills that helps architects succeed. The goal of customer success management is to advance the goals of the business by helping customers derive value from the products and services their company provides. There are four basic stages of customer success management. Customer acquisition is the practice of engaging new customers. This starts with identifying potential customers. This can be done using broad sweep tactics, such as mining social networks for individuals with certain roles in companies. It may be more targeted, for example, by collecting contact information from people who download a white paper from your company website. The fact that a person was interested enough in the topic is an indicator that the person may be interested in related products. Businesses dedicate significant resources to marketing and sales. These are efforts to communicate with customers and convince them to engage with the business. Architects are not likely to have too much direct involvement with customer acquisition or marketing and sales unless they are in a small organization where they take on multiple roles. Architects, however, may be called on to support other types of customer success management. Professional services are basically consulting services. Customers may buy or license a software and service and want to integrate it with the existing set of applications. For example, a retail company may buy a business intelligence suite of tools specifically designed for their industry. The company that sold that service may have a team of consultants who are experienced with integrating the set of tools with commonly used retail systems. These consultants may want to consult with architects on the best ways to integrate services, especially when the integration will involve multiple systems and a complicated infrastructure. Enterprise customers will expect training and support from their service vendors. Architects may assist with establishing training programs for customers and help set up support teams, including tools to manage support calls and track customer questions and issues. Cost management is another business domain with which architects should be familiar. This domain is more than accounting, and it begins with planning that is guided by business strategies and established programs that implement those strategies. The main areas of cost management are as follows: Resource planning is the first step of cost control. It involves identifying projects and programs that require funding and prioritizing their needs. You may also consider the time required to complete projects and the relative benefit of the project when planning for resources. Once programs and projects have been prioritized, you can start to estimate the costs of the top priority initiatives. Cost estimating should take into account several types of costs, including the following: Cost budgeting is the stage of cost management where decisions are made about how to allocate funds. Stakeholders may exercise their influence during budget discussions to promote their projects and programs. Ideally, the budgeting process results in a spending plan that maximizes the overall benefits to the organization. The final stage of cost management is cost control, that is, when funds are expended. Enterprises often have approval processes in place for projects to follow. When starting a new project, project managers or other project leaders may need to work with accounting and procurement teams to set up project budgets and get approval for purchases. Finance departments will often provide managers with reports detailing budget allocations and expenditures. Architects are expected to work with colleagues across an organization, including technology professionals as well as professionals from other areas of the business. Architects should have knowledge of business processes that affect their work. This includes stakeholder management, change management, team skill development, customer success management, and cost management. These are examples of “soft skills,” which complement the technical skills that architects are expected to have. Successful organizations often operate within a rational strategy. The business strategy maps to a portfolio of programs and projects that enable the business to execute that strategy. Architects can help their business-oriented colleagues by understanding stakeholders and their interests when working on a project. Architects also use their own influence to shape architecture and other technical decisions. They can also help organizations, teams, and individuals manage change, especially complicated changes like digital transformations. Architects should also understand other common management processes such as team skill management, customer success management, and cost management. Know that stakeholder management involves the interests and influence of individuals and groups who are affected by a project or program. There are different kinds of stakeholders with varying levels of influence. Know how to identify stakeholders, discover their interests, and understand how to communicate with them. Understand that change management is particularly challenging. Change can occur at the individual, team, department, and enterprise levels. Change may be initiated internally or prompted by external factors. One way to manage change is to treat it like a scientific experiment and follow a methodology such as Plan-Do-Study-Act. Know that team skills are a resource that can be managed. As an architect, you are in a position to understand the skills needed to execute the projects in the corporate portfolio. You are also able to identify gaps between needed skills and the skills of employees. Use this knowledge to develop training and to recruit additional team members. Understand that customer success management is a key business process that may require some architecture consultations. Early stages of customer success management, such as customer acquisition, marketing, and sales, are not likely to need architecture skills, but later stages, such as professional services engagements and technical support, may benefit from the advice of an architect. Know the various aspects of cost management. The main steps in cost management are resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting, and cost control. Architects may be especially helpful with resource planning and cost estimating, since these require knowledge of how projects serve business strategy and an understanding of the cost of developing services. Architects can use their influence to shape cost budgeting decisions. Architects are not often involved in cost controls, but they may be able to use their technical knowledge to help managers who are involved. You have been asked to help with a new project kickoff. The project manager has invited engineers and managers from teams directly working on the project. They have also invited members of teams that might use the service to be built by the project. What is the motivation of the project manager for inviting these various participants? A junior engineer asks you to explain some terms often used in meetings. In particular, the engineer wants to know the difference between a project and a program. How would you explain the difference? An architect writes a post for an internal blog describing the pros and cons of two approaches to improving the reliability of a widely used service. This is an example of what stage of stakeholder management? Your company provides a SaaS product used by mobile app developers to capture and analyze log messages from mobile devices in real time. Another company begins to offer a similar service but includes alerting based on metrics as well as log messages. This prompts the executives to change strategy from developing additional log analysis features to developing alerting features. This is an example of a change prompted by which one of the following? In May 2018, the EU began enforcement of a new privacy regulation known as the GDPR. This required many companies to change how they manage personal information about citizens of the EU. This is an example of what kind of change? A program manager asks for your advice on managing change in projects. The program manager is concerned that there are multiple changes underway simultaneously, and it is difficult to understand the impact of these changes. What would you suggest as an approach to managing this change? A company for whom you consult is concerned about the potential for startups to disrupt its industry. The company has asked for your help implementing new services using IoT, cloud computing, and AI. There is a high risk that this initiative will fail. This is an example of which one of the following? You and another architect in your company are evaluating the skills possessed by members of several software development teams. This exercise was prompted by a new program to expand the ways that customers can interact with the company. This will require a significant amount of mobile development. This kind of evaluation is an example of which part of team skill management? You and an engineering manager in your company are creating a schedule of training courses for engineers to learn mobile development skills. This kind of planning is an example of which part of team skill management? After training engineers on the latest mobile development tools and techniques, managers determine that the teams do not have a sufficient number of engineers to complete software development projects in the time planned. The managers ask for your assistance in writing job advertisements reaching out to your social network. These activities are an example of which part of team skill management? A team of consultants from your company is working with a customer to deploy a new offering that uses several services that your company provides. They are making design decisions about how to implement authentication and authorization and want to discuss options with an architect. This is an example of which aspect of customer success management? Customers are noticing delays in receiving messages from an alerting service that your company provides. They call your company and provide details that are logged into a central database and reviewed by engineers who are troubleshooting the problem. This is an example of which aspect of customer success management? As an architect, you have been invited to attend a trade conference in your field of expertise. In addition to presenting at the conference, you will spend time at your company’s booth in the exhibit hall, where you will discuss your company’s products with conference attendees. This is an example of what aspect of customer success management? A group of executives has invited you to a meeting to represent architects in a discussion about identifying projects and programs that require funding and prioritizing those efforts based on the company’s strategy and needs. This is an example of what aspect of cost management? An engineer has been tasked with creating reports to help managers track spending. This is an example of what aspect of cost management?
Architects perform a variety of roles, many of which tap into their technical skills and experience. Others require an understanding of business processes, especially with regard to working with and influencing business decision-makers. The Google Cloud Professional Architect Exam may include questions that require you to apply reason about business aspects, like stakeholder influence and portfolio management. This chapter outlines several key business processes, including the following:
Stakeholder Management
Interests and Influence
Projects, Programs, and Portfolios
Stages of Stakeholder Management
Change Management
Reasons for Change
Digital Transformation
Change Management Methodologies
For more on change management, see The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog, especially the article “Change Management—Post Change Evaluation and Action,” here:Team Skill Management
Customer Success Management
For more on customer success management, see the recommended readings and other resources at the Customer Success Association website here:Cost Management
For more on project management and cost controls, see the Project Management Institute web page at https://www.pmi.org/.Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions