Enterprise Modeler

The Dynamic Enterprise Modeler contains the following building blocks:

  • Master data.
  • Repository.
  • Enterprise structure models.
  • Business models.
  • Data models.
  • Workflow Management System.

These building blocks must be used in a certain order to work according to the concept of the Dynamic Enterprise Modeler and to build an enterprise model. Before any Enterprise Structure Model or business model can be created, the necessary master and repository data must be defined. First, a version must be defined in the master data that will serve as the current modeling version in which the model items, enterprise structure model, and business model can be created. The model item that are used to create business models must be defined in the repository. This data includes among others business control diagrams, business functions, business process, and rules.

The next step is to create enterprise structure models and define one as the operational enterprise structure model This is the enterprise structure model from a specific version that reflects your current organization. An enterprise structure model is a geographical representation of the different sites in a multi-site environment, and is used to create the multi-site setup for the ERP applications. Every site is represented by an enterprise unit. This supports the concept of splitting up a logistical company over multiple countries. An enterprise unit is defined as an group of entities that are used in the ERP system. Entities can be departments, work centers, warehouses, and projects. Moreover, a business model can be linked to an enterprise unit. At runtime the operational enterprise-structure model is used by the applications to determine prices and currencies when goods are transferred from one enterprise unit to another.

The next step is to acquire one or more reference models that represent the best-practice situation of organizations with a certain organization typology. Each reference model consists of a business control model, business-function model, and a business process model. Respectively, these models describe the primary processes, business functions, and the working order of the activities needed to fulfill the business functions. The business function models and business process models of the reference models are built by copying functions and processes from the repository.

Next, the project models representing the situation of one specific organization can be created. Project models are similar to reference models, except for the fact that they are specific to one organization in particular. In project models you can also define business function variants representing different ways of accomplishing a business function. For these variants, optimization relationships can be defined, which represent the recommended paths that must be followed when switching from one way of working to a more optimized manner. The business function models and business process models of the project models can be built in the following two ways:

  • By copying business functions and business processes from the repository in which these model items were created.
  • By modifying business functions and business processes from one or more acquired reference models.

Finally, you can create a data model which gives information about the physical and/or logical data model of the ERP package combination to which the enterprise model applies that you have created. It describes the permanent storage components on multiple abstraction levels and aims at showing the meaning and relevance of data for a company.