Artifact: Business System

	A Business System encapsulates a set of roles and resources that together fulfill a specific purpose and defines a set of responsibilities with which that purpose can be achieved.
Other Relationships:	Part Of Business Analysis Model
Role:	Business-Process Analyst
Optionality/Occurrence:	Can be excluded. Business systems are usually used only in large, complex business models.
Templates and Reports:
Examples:
UML Representation:	Package in the business analysis model, either its top-level package, or stereotyped as <<business system>>.
More Information:	Guideline: Business System Checklist: Business System

Purpose
Properties
Timing
Responsibility
Tailoring

Input to Activities:

Output from Activities:

Define the Business Architecture

Purpose

The purpose of a Business System is to reduce and manage the complex web of interdependencies and interactions within a business. This is done by defining a set of capabilities so that those dependent on these capabilities need have no knowledge of how those capabilities are performed. In this way, Business Systems are used in much the same manner that hardware and software components are used. They define a unit of structure that encapsulates the structural elements that they contain and are characterized by their externally visible properties.

Business Systems are used by business-process analysts to determine whether the capabilities required within the organization are present and to ensure that the business model is anticipating change or is at least resilient to change. Business designers use Business Systems to form collections of related business workers and business entities and explicitly define and manage dependencies within the organization. Project managers also use Business Systems for scheduling work in parallel.

Properties

Property Name	Brief Description	UML Representation
Name	The name of the package.	The attribute "Name" on model element.
Brief Description	A brief description of the role and purpose of the package.	Tagged value, of type "short text".
Interfaces	The specified capabilities or responsibilities of the Business System.	Realization relationship.
Business Workers	The Business Workers directly contained in the package.	Owned via the aggregation "owns".
Business Entities	The Business Entities directly contained in the package.	Owned via the aggregation "owns".
Business Events	The Business Events directly contained in the package.	Owned via the aggregation "owns".
Business Rules	The Business Rules directly contained in the package.	Owned via the aggregation "owns".
Relationships	The relationships directly contained in the package.	Owned via the aggregation "owns".
Business Use Case Realizations	The Business Use-Case Realizations directly contained in the package.	Owned via the aggregation "owns".
Diagrams	The diagrams directly contained in the package.	Owned via the aggregation "owns".
Business Systems	The packages directly contained in the package.	Owned via the aggregation "owns".

Timing

Responsibility

A business-process analyst is responsible for identifying candidate Business Systems, but is not responsible for a Business System in itself. A business designer is responsible for the integrity of a specific Business System, ensuring that its intent purpose is clear and that contained elements contribute toward achieving that purpose.

Tailoring

Business Systems should be used to manage dependencies within the organization by explicitly defining the capabilities (or services) that each Business System provides. This implies that the Business System encapsulates its contained elements so that users of its services do not depend on how it provides its services but rather on what services it provides.

This rule can be relaxed when encapsulation is not important. In this case, Business Systems may directly interact with or be dependent on elements contained within other Business Systems. Explicitly defining the responsibilities that must be provided by each Business System will serve no purpose in this case. This variation regards the Business System simply as a packaging (structuring) mechanism, rather than as a concept in itself.