This is the sixth and final post in this series about how to identify entities in data sources that can readily be classified as belonging to each of the 6BI Business Object Categories (BOCs): Parties, Things, Activities, Locations, Events and Motivators. The fifth post in the series (about Events, the “When” aspect) can be found at https://birkdalecomputing.com/2018/01/30/identifying-events-when/ .
The Motivators BOC is probably the most nuanced and least understood BOC. I have earlier devoted an entire article about the meta-data structure of motivators entitled “The Data Architecture of Business Plans”[i] which can be found at https://birkdalecomputing.com/6bi-home/the-data-architecture-of-business-plans/ .
The Motivators BOC identifies Why things get produced and consumed by parties. Concepts and objects in this BOC capture data about the ends, means, influencers and assessments that provide the reasons why parties exchanged things (products and money) at a particular time and place. Ends and means are in general too abstract to be found in object names, but you will find names such as Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat, and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) all of which are assessment elements.
Data element and data element collection names you may encounter that belong to the Motivators BOC include, but are not limited to, names in the following table[ii]. The list gives you a hint of what kind of names to look for in putting together a 6BI Analytic Schema for enabling your data to answer business questions.
In terms of identifying motivator data elements (i.e. attributes and columns) and motivator data element collections (i.e. entity types and tables) the most likely candidates are documents, or at least those objects that have the word Document in their name. You need to consider documents, because it is quite often that you will find the means (missions and courses of action) of an enterprise described in document form, especially if the document name contains words such as Strategy/Strategic, Tactic, Enablement/Enabled, Directive, Policy or Rule. The ends of an enterprise (visions and desired results) can also be described in a document, quite often having a name like Goal or Objective.
As mentioned in the post about the Things BOC[iii], a document can also be considered a type of thing, such as a definition. As in “the definition” is being assessed for accuracy, for example. However, if its purpose is to contain text that describes means or ends it also belongs to the Motivators BOC. An event can also be a motivator such as Appeal and Campaign. But as was mentioned in the Events BOC, events are primarily differentiated from other concepts and objects by their inclusion of a time data element, either a point in time or a duration.
Another source of motivators is reference data. Reference data can describe business functions (see the post on the Activities BOC) and often determines choices that users make on user interfaces which then determine logic paths that an application will take when processing data and thus explain why certain results are derived. Example data element and data element collection names that often become the basis of reference data management (RDM) include: Code, Type, Tag, Status and Class/Classification. Often you may find these name in plural form as well.
So, if you are analyzing a legacy database and you come across a table with any of these words in its name you need to study the content of the table and understand how the rows and columns of the table effect, or are designed to effect, the motivation for actions taken by the parties in the organization.
The Motivators BOC is especially relevant to the type of NOSQL database known as a document database, Mongo DB being a prime example. It is one thing to structure and access the data in a document store in an effective and efficient manner but, in terms of answering business questions, it is even more important to know what role the content of the document plays in the operation of the enterprise. In other words, how does or how should the document provide the answer to “why” a business transaction took place between parties.
Another category of motivators deals with security and privacy, and sometimes is included in policies and procedures. Names here include Authorization, Enforcement and Permission, among others. The intersection between business motivation and security is ripe for further exploration.
This is the last post in this series. I hope you will find them worthwhile and useful. To find each one just click the link in the first paragraph of each to take you to the previous one. The first in the series about the Parties BOC can be found at https://birkdalecomputing.com/2017/04/26/identifying-parties/ .
Thanks for reading them and best of luck in developing your 6BI Analytic Schemas.
[i] The title “The Data Architecture of Business Plans” is derived from the fact that Business Plans are the deliverable of the Motivation aspect (the “Why” interrogative) at the Business Management, or Conceptual perspective of the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture.
[ii] As previously, I would like to thank Barry Williams and his excellent Database Answers website http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/ for providing many of the table name examples.
[iii] https://birkdalecomputing.com/2017/05/04/identifying-things/
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