Hi,
I'm working as a BA on a project to re-design a custoemr-facing corporate website that is very large (100's of pages). Just wondering if anyone has some thoughts on the best way to document the As-Is state of the current website at a mid-to-high level. The intent is to capture all the functionality in the current website so that a decision can be made as to whether to include that functionality in the new site or not.
We already have UX people doing a site map but that information is too detailed to be of much use to the business.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Craig
Craig:
Functions is functions, irregardless of their method of implementation. For example: I need to implement a function to add together two single-digit numbers. Now their are various ways I can implement this function. I can:
* Create a computer program to add the numbers
* Create an electrical circuit to add the numbers
* Hire a person whose sole purpose is to add the nunmbers
* Train a dog to add the numbers (yes this can be done, I saw it on TV)
Irregardless of the method of implementation chosen - whether Fido or a web service - , the function is essentially defined by the inputs to it and the outputs from it (typically data inputs and outputs). And my goal in as-is modeling is to identify what these inputs and outputs are, what is done with them by the function, and the source and sink of the inputs and outputs.
Tony
It strikes me that you would want to create a list of user interactions with the website (use cases or user stories?) showing why someone comes to a website and what their goals are.
You could then take a look at thos hundreds of pages and start to think abut how you could better store and present the info based on user needs rather than a webmaster/librarian's taxonomy of informaton.
(...Webmaster he he)
Craig,
As part of the as-is, you need to find out what the department(s) currently do (define the processes). Let say this is a large government social services endeavour, then there would be “single-mum” payments, “child support” payments, “pension” payments, “refugee” assistance payment processes, etc.
Analyze each of these processes and define “generic” mid-to-high-level steps/activities! For example, 1) identitfy user; 2) assess entitlement; 3) make payment etc. The steps “identify users” would have different web-pages for “single-mums” and I assume very different pages for “refugees”.
Once you’ve identified the steps/activities map each of the web-pages to an activity (or more than one activity). SPARX’s Enterprise Architect does this with ease. It allows you to create a matrix of web pages (objects) that are used in activities and processes. Make sure that you do not have un-assigned web pages. Once you’ve completed the relationships between web-pages and process steps, its then easy to do “where is” enquiries where you find out which web page is used where!
When you do your “to-be” you can map your new processes to the old “as-is” processes, and again you’d have a transitive relationship where you’d know what ‘old’ web-pages are relevant to the new processes. SPARX again provides some great assistance here.
See http://www.sparxsystems.com/images/ea_screenshots/screenshot_relationship_matrix.jpg
Hope this helps!
Warm regards,
K
Ps. I’m not associated with SPARX in any way.
As part of the as-is, you need to find out what the department(s) currently do (define the processes).
If you decide to invstigate this path take a look at this thread.
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