Mark Norton

Mark Norton

Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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Broad based involvement in IT, focused on enterprise scale development with particular…

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  • The Case of the Missing Algorithm

    Modern Analyst

    The paper describes an approach that captures the essence of each unique enterprise by capturing its own particular ‘business algorithm’. Of great importance, the business logic, algebra, and rules in this algorithm must be normalized (similar to how we normalize data to get a sound data design). Managing and navigating this normalization process requires a topology that is derived from the enterprise’s fundamental structures, and is more fully described in the paper.

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  • Taming the IT Beast with Decision Centric Processes

    Modern Analyst

    The primary subject of this article is process, a word that is generally both indefinite and nuanced when applied to systems development. In this article we describe how process as a concept becomes both simpler and more definitive when it is described in terms of decisioning.The core of the decision centric approach is a tightly scoped process that we call a ‘business transaction’. The purpose of a business transaction is to manage the states that comprise the full life-cycle of the business…

    The primary subject of this article is process, a word that is generally both indefinite and nuanced when applied to systems development. In this article we describe how process as a concept becomes both simpler and more definitive when it is described in terms of decisioning.The core of the decision centric approach is a tightly scoped process that we call a ‘business transaction’. The purpose of a business transaction is to manage the states that comprise the full life-cycle of the business entities that represent the value proposition of any organisation. At the heart of each business transaction is a decision model, which is a codified and executable proxy for the business policies that govern the entity, and the value it represents.
    In so doing, the business transaction binds the business policies to the entities they govern, thereby becoming the definitive mechanism for creating value within the business.
    This combination of entity and business policy embodied in a business transaction strips complexity out of commercial transaction processing systems, simplifying both the implemented system image and its development.
    When the methodology is used to address complex commercial transaction processing, the demonstrated results include substantial improvements in the key development metrics of time, cost, and risk; and often, similarly substantial improvements in runtime performance. These encouraging results are accompanied by similar scale improvements in business agility, better alignment between business strategy and operational systems, and systems that are more transparent, more agile, and more durable.

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  • The Role of SQL in Decision-Centric Processes; Part 2: The Solution

    Business Rules Journal

    In this article we present a proven, practical, and robust methodology that applies decisioning techniques to fundamentally remake commercial software architecture and development. In the first part we discussed the underlying concepts of the problem at length, to provide an understandable rationale in the context of a practical methodology. In this concluding part we turn our attention to the solution. The demonstrated results include order-of-magnitude improvements in both development and…

    In this article we present a proven, practical, and robust methodology that applies decisioning techniques to fundamentally remake commercial software architecture and development. In the first part we discussed the underlying concepts of the problem at length, to provide an understandable rationale in the context of a practical methodology. In this concluding part we turn our attention to the solution. The demonstrated results include order-of-magnitude improvements in both development and runtime performance for complex commercial transaction processing, with examples that are relevant to investment and pension administration, payroll, utility and health billing, lending, and insurance products, amongst others. These results are accompanied by substantial improvements in business agility, and systems that are more transparent and more durable.

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  • The Role of SQL in Decision-Centric Processes; Part 1: The Problem

    Business Rules Journal

    In this article we present a proven, practical, and robust methodology that applies decisioning techniques to fundamentally remake commercial software architecture and development. The demonstrated results include order-of-magnitude improvements in both development and runtime performance for complex commercial transaction processing, with examples that are relevant to investment and pension administration, payroll, utility and health billing, lending, and insurance products, amongst others.…

    In this article we present a proven, practical, and robust methodology that applies decisioning techniques to fundamentally remake commercial software architecture and development. The demonstrated results include order-of-magnitude improvements in both development and runtime performance for complex commercial transaction processing, with examples that are relevant to investment and pension administration, payroll, utility and health billing, lending, and insurance products, amongst others. These results are accompanied by substantial improvements in business agility, and systems that are more transparent and more durable. We begin with an in-depth discussion of the underlying concepts of the problem, providing an understandable rationale delivered in the context of a practical methodology.

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  • The Role of SQL in Decision Centric Processes

    Modern Analyst

    This article is the third in a trilogy of articles that map the evolution of a proven, practical, and robust methodology that applies decisioning techniques to fundamentally remake commercial software architecture and development.
    The demonstrated results include order-of-magnitude improvements in both development and runtime performance for complex commercial transaction processing, with examples that are relevant to investment and pension administration, payroll, utility and health…

    This article is the third in a trilogy of articles that map the evolution of a proven, practical, and robust methodology that applies decisioning techniques to fundamentally remake commercial software architecture and development.
    The demonstrated results include order-of-magnitude improvements in both development and runtime performance for complex commercial transaction processing, with examples that are relevant to investment and pension administration, payroll, utility and health billing, lending, and insurance products, amongst others.
    These results are accompanied by substantial improvements in business agility, and systems that are more transparent and more durable.
    The article discusses the underlying concepts at length, providing an understandable rationale that is delivered in the context of a practical methodology.

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  • Decisioning: The Next Generation of Business Rules

    Business Rules Journal

    The constraints-oriented business rules concept has served its proponents well for the last 30 years. However, as hands-on business ownership of decision automation gains ground, it is becoming apparent that fully automating a decision-making process requires an expanded concept of business rules that includes the ability to transform and/or derive data in order to align it with the policy statements driving the decisions and to produce a wider range of outcomes (including continuous variables…

    The constraints-oriented business rules concept has served its proponents well for the last 30 years. However, as hands-on business ownership of decision automation gains ground, it is becoming apparent that fully automating a decision-making process requires an expanded concept of business rules that includes the ability to transform and/or derive data in order to align it with the policy statements driving the decisions and to produce a wider range of outcomes (including continuous variables and strings). Each decision-making process must include a complete, orchestrated set of decisions that operates as a single transaction to ensure that the business data and all surrounding systems retain their consistency and integrity.

    These requirements cannot be met using a constraints-oriented concept of business rules acting alone.

    Therefore, an expanded business rules concept should be adopted. We have described this as 'decisioning' — the discrete and systematic discovery, definition, assembly, and execution of decisions in their broadest sense. Decisioning as described herein is already proven on an industrial scale to improve business efficiency and agility, compliance, and alignment between systems and strategy while reducing cost, risk, and time to develop.

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  • Decisioning – the next generation of Business Rules

    Modern Analyst

    The current business rules concept has served its proponents well for the last 30 years. However, as hands-on business ownership of decision automation gains ground it is becoming apparent that fully automating a decision-making process requires an expanded concept of business rules that includes the ability to transform and/or derive data within the rules process itself, in order to align the input data with the policy statements that are driving the decisions; and to produce a wider range of…

    The current business rules concept has served its proponents well for the last 30 years. However, as hands-on business ownership of decision automation gains ground it is becoming apparent that fully automating a decision-making process requires an expanded concept of business rules that includes the ability to transform and/or derive data within the rules process itself, in order to align the input data with the policy statements that are driving the decisions; and to produce a wider range of outcomes. These requirements cannot be met using a constraints oriented concept of business rules acting alone. Therefore, an expanded business rules concept should be adopted. We have described this expanded concept as ‘decisioning’ – the discrete and systematic discovery, definition, assembly and execution of decisions in their broadest sense.

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  • Taming the Beast of Complexity

    Modern Analyst

    This article looks forward from the conclusion of our previous article, ‘Requirements and the Beast of Complexity’, also published on Modern Analyst. In that article we presented our case that the typical approach to business requirements management was fundamentally flawed, with key issues being development of business requirements within a project context, and capture of those requirements using unstructured artifacts, particularly narrative. In the solution presented in that article, tight…

    This article looks forward from the conclusion of our previous article, ‘Requirements and the Beast of Complexity’, also published on Modern Analyst. In that article we presented our case that the typical approach to business requirements management was fundamentally flawed, with key issues being development of business requirements within a project context, and capture of those requirements using unstructured artifacts, particularly narrative. In the solution presented in that article, tight structure and testability of requirements was achieved by using decision models and fact models. These models could then be transitioned into a project context when required simply by generating them as source code for use as content by the project. A year on, requirements management is still an untamed beast. The ‘Top 10 Business Analysis Trends for 2011’ recently published by ESI International alluded to the need for improved requirements management in no less than 3 of its 10 trend projections.

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  • Requirements and the Beast of Complexity

    Modern Analyst

    Roger Sessions, in his thought provoking paper “The IT Complexity Crisis: Danger and Opportunity”, describes an IT industry in deep distress. Roger lays the blame for poor, even catastrophic, IT productivity at the door of complexity. He also acknowledges that ‘some have suggested the culprit is poor communications between business and IT’. This article endorses both of these viewpoints and promotes a new approach to requirements management that reduces project complexity and improves…

    Roger Sessions, in his thought provoking paper “The IT Complexity Crisis: Danger and Opportunity”, describes an IT industry in deep distress. Roger lays the blame for poor, even catastrophic, IT productivity at the door of complexity. He also acknowledges that ‘some have suggested the culprit is poor communications between business and IT’. This article endorses both of these viewpoints and promotes a new approach to requirements management that reduces project complexity and improves communication between business and IT. This new approach can be used on its own, or as a supplement or precursor to existing approaches. Critical features of the approach are: detachment of business requirements from individual projects; and the production of testable requirements that can be shown to be complete, consistent, and correct prior to use within the SDLC.

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  • Link Corporate Policy and Data Design with Decisioning

    The Data Administration Newsletter

    This article discusses the methods which can be used to discover and model decisions in a structured manner, analogous to data normalization. Data and decisions both have important and complementary roles in this decision-centric approach. Data models show the valid states of the system at rest; decision models describe the valid transitions between the states. However, it is the state transitions described by the decision models that generates value for any business, giving the decision model…

    This article discusses the methods which can be used to discover and model decisions in a structured manner, analogous to data normalization. Data and decisions both have important and complementary roles in this decision-centric approach. Data models show the valid states of the system at rest; decision models describe the valid transitions between the states. However, it is the state transitions described by the decision models that generates value for any business, giving the decision model a primacy that is not shared by data.

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  • Decisioning: A New Approach to Systems Development

    Business Rules Journal

    The term 'decisioning' is in growing use in the business systems lexicon. The concept of 'decisioning' recognizes the fundamental importance of decision making to any business. Decision-making know-how is the critical knowledge that differentiates one business from another in the marketplace. This paper provides insight into decisioning as a new and critical driver of the Systems Development Life Cycle, as drawn from the author's many 'decision centric' development experiences. For context,…

    The term 'decisioning' is in growing use in the business systems lexicon. The concept of 'decisioning' recognizes the fundamental importance of decision making to any business. Decision-making know-how is the critical knowledge that differentiates one business from another in the marketplace. This paper provides insight into decisioning as a new and critical driver of the Systems Development Life Cycle, as drawn from the author's many 'decision centric' development experiences. For context, we first present background and definitions for decisioning and then outline practical approaches and techniques for decision-centric development.

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