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Business objects are the data that is exchanged between applications and their technical components by means of information flows. A business object is the concrete instantiation of a business object category, which represents the abstract entity that is relevant to the company's business.

Alfabet provides two different scenarios to capture data flows in the information architecture . With the Basic Data Management use case, data usage is captured and managed via business objects. The Advanced Data Management use case adds another layer of detail by adding business data to the information hierarchy as instantiations of business objects. Review the navigation panel to understand whether your enterprise models data flows and data usage via the hierarchy Business Object Categories > Business Objects ( Basic Data Management ) or Business Object Categories > Business Objects > Business Data ( Advanced Data Management).

Add business objects to the repository

Users with the user profiles Portfolio Manager and Portfolio Admin can add and edit business objects in Alfabet . Click for an overview of permission concepts.

Go to Information Architecture > Business Objects data workbench and click New > Business Object.

Click the Navigate  Navigate button next to a business object to open its content area. Specify the business object_apos;s attributes as well as the relationships that the business object has to other assets in the repository.

Try to capture as much information as possible about the business object because complete data considerably improves the results of business questions and other analytics.

Specify the information flows that transfer the business object

Ideally your company has documented its information flows . Information flows should already be in the Alfabet repository in order to define the transfer of business objects.

  1. In the navigation panel, click Information Architecture > Information Flows to open the data workbench for information flows.​ The syntax of the information flow name is: <Source Application> > <Target Application>.
  2. In the data table, click the navigate Navigate button of the information flow you want to define. Go to the Overview tab and open and scroll to the Business Object page and open it.
  3. Click New > Create Business Object and define the business object or click Add Existing Business Data to select a business object that is in the repository. Click OK or Next to save the data.

Specify the business object's basic data

Once a business object is in the repository, you can define more details about it in the Business Objects data workbench . Or specify and analyze the business object in detail in its content area . In the data workbench, click the Navigate button for a business object to open its content area > Overview page. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the business object and save it.

Per default, the data workbench displays a limited set of basic attributes. You can add more columns via the Structure column to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench.

  • Name: (Mandatory) Enter a unique name for the business object. The use of a comma (,) in the name business object is not recommended. To assure correct handling, the comma (,) will be replaced by a period (.) in conjunction with the display of business object in the CRUD matrices.
  • Short Name: An abbreviation of 3-4 letters to use in diagrams and other visualizations.
  • Description: A meaningful description that will clarify the purpose of the business object.
  • Data Classification: Classify the business data based on data protection requirements. Possible options are: Confidential - Non-Personal Data, Confidential - Personal Data, Restricted, Unrestricted, and Unknown.
  • DPIA Rating: Evaluate the level of risk to personal data based on the data protection impact assessment (DPIA) required to comply with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Select a value between very high and very low or choose Not Required if a data protection impact assessment is not relevant.
  • Architect: The person who is responsible for the governance of the business object.

Define the stakeholders and business owners for a business object

A role represents a functional responsibility that a user or organization has for the business object. Assigning roles to users and organizations is critical to understanding responsibility for assets in the IT and is required to answer the business question Who is responsible for our assets?.

Responsibilities are based on preconfigured role types. Your company may also configure custom role types via the Portfolio Admin user profile. Depending on the role type, a specified user and/or a specified organization may fulfill the responsibility for the business object. A user assigned responsibility via a role has read-only permissions to the business object. To change data about the business object, they must also be specified as an authorized user or member of an authorized user group.

Roles can be assigned to a business object in the Business Objects data workbench or the business object content area via Overview > Responsibilities. A person or organization can have one of the following roles or a custom role added by your company:

  • Architect: The person who is responsible for the governance of the business object.
  • Business Owner: A person or organization that owns the business object and understands its purpose for the business.
  • Stakeholder: A person or organization that has an interest in the business object and therefore requires read-only access permissions.

To specify responsibilities for the business object:

  1. Click in the relevant role field to open the selector.
  2. Expand the ORGANIZATION or USER sections in the selector and select the person or organization fulfilling the role.
  3. Click OK to save the role definition and close the selector.

Specify the data attributes of the business object

Capture the data attributes like type (VAR, VARCHAR, NUMERIC, BLOB, and REFERENCE) for the business object.

Go to the business object's content area > Overview > Data Attributes Overview > Create Data Attribute. In the editor, specify the Name as well as the following fields.

  • Column Number: Enter the position of the attribute within the business object structure. The column number determines the order in which attributes are displayed and stored.
  • Type: Select the data type of the attribute, such as text, number, date, or Boolean value. The selected type determines the format and permitted values of the attribute.
  • Size: Specify the maximum number of characters or digits that can be stored in the attribute. This value defines the attribute's allowable length.
  • Referenced Business Object: Specify the business object referenced by this attribute. Use this property to create a relationship between the current business object and another business object in the repository.
  • Is Index: Select this option to create an index for the attribute. Indexes can improve the performance of searches, filtering, and data retrieval operations involving this attribute. Use indexing for attributes that are frequently queried or used in lookup operations.
  • Cardinality: Specify the relationship cardinality between this attribute and the referenced business object. Cardinality determines how many instances of the current business object can be linked to instances of the referenced business object. For example, the relationship can be one-to-one, many-to-one, or many-to-many.

Evaluate the business object's indicators

An evaluation is a measurement of the performance of a business object. The evaluation of components is relevant for many business questions in Alfabet and is critical to have meaningful results in these analyses.

Evaluation types bundle a set of indicator types that can be evaluated per asset. Evaluation types are preconfigured and your company may also configure custom evaluation types via the Portfolio Admin user profile.

You can define a business object's indicators directly in the Business Objects data workbench or in the business object's content area via Overview > Evaluation. The view shows evaluation types in the Evaluation column with their associated indicator types in the Indicator column.

Understand the purpose of the indicator. Click the tooltip button for an explanation about the indicator. Any indicators that are colored orange are calculated by the system and cannot be manually edited.

Specify the value of an indicator. Select a value for each indicator in the Value column. Specify relevant information about the indicator in the Comments column.

Alternatively, click the Edit button to open an editor where you can enter verbose comments, or click the  ThreeDots_Black 3-dots button > Group Edit to edit multiple indicator types at once in an editor format.

Update default values for empty indicators. Click Action > Set Undefined Values to Default. All empty indicators for which a default value has been configured will be updated. Please note that the updated values will not be reflected in the Last Update field.

Manage computed indicators. Any indicators that are colored orange are calculated by the system and cannot be manually edited. To trigger the update of computed indicators, click the  ThreeDots_Black 3-dots button > Compute Indicators. To hide the computed indicators from view, click the  ThreeDots_Black 3-dots button > Hide Computed Indicators.

Understand which business processes process the business object

Go to the business object's content area > Overview > Processing Business Processes. The view shows all business processes that operate on the business object including the applications that the business processes support.

Per default, the data workbench displays a limited set of basic attributes. You can add more columns via the Structure column to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench.

Specify the business capabilities relevant for the business object

Go to the business object's content area > Overview > Associated Business Capabilities. Click New > Associate Business Capability and select the business capability that the business object contributes to.

Per default, the data workbench displays a limited set of basic attributes. You can add more columns via the Structure column to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench.

Specify the business data instantiating the business object

The Advanced Data Management use case must be enabled for your company to capture data usage on business data. Learn more about the data management use cases available to capture your information architecture.

Go to the business object's content area > Information Context > Business Data. Click New > Business Data. Navigate to the business data's content area and specify the business data_apos;s basic data as well as the relationships that the business data has to other assets in the repository.

Try to capture as much information as possible about the business data because complete data considerably improves the results of business questions and other analytics.

Check the data attributes for compliance

The Advanced Data Management use case must be enabled for your company to capture data usage on business data. Learn more about the data management use cases available to capture your information architecture.

Go to the business object's content area > Information Context > Business Data Governance. Click New > Business Data.

Understand data compliance. The report displays all business data assigned to a business object and the level of alignment between their data attributes. The alignment percentage indicates the extent to which the business data overlaps with the business object. Higher percentages represent stronger alignment and greater consistency between the data and its intended business context. This information is important for data compliance because it helps identify gaps, inconsistencies, or incorrectly classified data, enabling organizations to improve data quality, ensure adherence to governance policies, and reduce compliance risks. The report shows the following:

  • Business Data: Shows all business data assigned to this business object).
  • Business Object Alignment %: Shows percentage of data attributes the business data includes compared to the data attributes parent business object contains.
  • Aligned Data Attributes: Shows the business object's data attributes that the business data also contains.
  • Missing Data Attributes: Shows the business object's data attributes that the business data does not contain.
  • Business Data-Specific Attributes: Shows the data attributes that only the business data contains and not the business object.

Correct the gaps to improve data compliance. Navigate to the business data's content area > Overview > Data Attributes. Add relevant data attributes to the business data. When you navigate back to the Business Data Governance view, the attributes will be removed from the Missing Data Attributes column, added to the Aligned Data Attributes column, and the percentage in the Business Object Alignment % will be updated.

Check the data quality of the business object

At any point in time, you can check the data quality of the business object you are defining to see where gaps exist.

In the data table, click the Navigate button of the business object you want to define. Go to the business object's content area > Data Quality > Data Quality Details. Expand the table in order to review the data quality issues. Click the link in the Resolution column to navigate to the location where you can correct the data quality issue.

Which business questions focus on business objects?