If you are planning to use the trial version of Assertionizer (AZNR) you are in the right place to find out what to expect. This will give you an overall perspective or where AZNR came from, its intent and functionality(use cases), its conceptual layout and navigation, its underlying technology, and how it supports AM concepts and method, and who might use it.
Assertionizer is beta level SaaS software at the minimum viable product level. It was written from May 2023 to April 2024. AZNR helps you build a rich business model and deliver perspectives as deliverable artifacts.
Provenance Of Assertum
Data design began about 2013 with research into defining business as transactions.
A preliminary Windows application was started using a SQL server back end about 2016. A compete rewrite with a much stronger object oriented approach was started in 2017. It matured in the data design and functionality in 3 major versions to 2023. The mature windows application, Firmstate3 was used to build a range of mature assertion models including generating change management and implementation requirements for a consulting project . In 2023 the need for access to modeling capabilities outside the Windows environment was recognized. A first MVP was completed at the end of 2023 but was too minimum, and additional functionality was added.
Assertum is not immature software, it is an immature implementation in SaaS.
Application Principles
AZNR has been developed with a number of design and operation principles.
Keep it Simple is an overarching theme. so opportunistic features only find their way into the SW when they have a logical home and deliver within a coherent application structure.
To reach the MVP some work-arounds have crept in.
The structure of the app and its navigation fit within a hierarchical framework. You move ‘down’ to more detail. Links between parts of the hierarchy support quicker navigation.
Currently your model information is updated explicitly: you have to push a button to save.
An AZNR API is used but is far from being available to more sophisticated users.
Consistent naming is maintained throughout. occasionally Perspectives are termed Views, Groups, or Diagrams as leftover naming. Assertions are sometimes referred to as Specs.
Primary Use Case
Assertionizer supports editing an assertion model including adding and removing parts.
It also supports editing perspectives.
It also supports producing reports based on the perspectives.
It will support the assignation of assertions to implementations(current or future) where the needed functionality of the assertion is supplied, either by automation or manual procedures.
Most use will be by a modeler a person who is responsible for the business description represented by the model. In some cases Individual assertions might be edited by individual participants. AZNR does not support this use case.
Typical use will to refine an assertion based on information from those who represent Authorities.
This includes changing the categorization of the assertion ( you may recognize there is personal information created, or that it is a different or new Authority who performs the determination).
Adding and removing connections are done for the receiving assertion. If a new source of information is identified for an assertion its source must be recognized as an assertion if it does not exist. Only then can it be chosen as an input.
As Authorities are identified they are added in the Authorities page and can be subsequently used.
The Assertions and Authorities pages support editing.
Changing the data created and its meaning is done from the Assertion itself.
The Perspectives page allows a selection of a perspective ( as well as adding and deleting)
Add a new perspective if you want to show the interactions from external stakeholders. Assertions are identified as internal or external and the Authority for that Assertion is thus external or internal.
The Frames page supports the specification of the information produced by the assertion. Specifying the information is a significate help in understanding the assertion and its role. It is with frames that data design begins, well before its implementation design starts. The organization must be clear first before the coding starts.
Other pages are a login page and an Explain page. Explain capability provides valuable information on the parts of the application, how they relate to the methods and concepts, and suggestions for how to capture the information.
Import and Export
AZNR does not currently support modelers importing and exporting information to the model. The AZNR Administrator may be able to assist with import and export. There is an unsupported xml structure for storing a complete model in a file format.
Modeling Scenario
It may be possible to do live modeling with AZNR, particularly if those who are supplying business acumen are comfortable. The advantage of this is that contributors see their input immediately recognized. At the end of the session a full hyperlinked model is available to represent the current state of the model. AZNR does not currently support concurrent collaboration or tracking comments.
The Assertion Model will never be complete. assertions and connections are included to support a current focus, usually represented by one or more perspectives.
It may be an initial use would be to establish some scoping of an initiative.
To perform this a set of management/governance assertions should be identified as statements made by senior authorities. Unlike operational assertions these may be only determined occasionally.
Understanding Authorities
This is a section that should go into modeling practices.
Assertion Modeling puts a major focus on identifying Authorities. Weaknesses in governance of transformations can be traced to vague responsibilities. Additionally contributors to the model of the business are much more engaged when they their personal involvement. While this may cause sensitive issues in the organization it is a critical success factor. Skin in the game makes for an outstanding game.
Responsibilities are difficult to capture accurately for committees. most committees report to a sponsor who holds accountability. While identifying what individual has been charged with an Authority is not yet in scope of current AM theory, it has been considered, and is on the ‘research backlog’.
Currently a committee is identified as such as an Authority and notes will address their charge. But a complete assertion model would contain all the assertions that are determined by the committee and so would establish its charge. Each assertion includes a Specification field that holds the instructions on how the assertion is to be determined. All the Specifications for one Authority go a long way in describing their duties.
Job descriptions can be an important contributor to a complete assertion model. This may deal with sensitive issues, but misalignment between named duties and actual assertions will point to business issues that have nothing to do with automation. Assertion Modeling is not an automation tool.
Understanding Assertionizer Technology
While you should not experience technological problems with AZNR it is valuable to understand how it is implemented.
It is a full stack web application. That means it is built and implemented in 3 parts. A database that lives in a server supplied by a hosting service , A Back End, software running on a separate server that interacts with the database(and exposes an API), Finally the Front End runs in the browser on your personal machine. The code tell your browser how to present the pages you use is passed to your browser from another server on a hosting service. As you use Assertionizer you navigate using the browser code but occasionally it will communicate with the back end using the API which controls the view you have and the model in the database. Like any SaaS, response depends on the servers and on the efficiency of the code. Errors are trapped at all levels and are intended to make it clear where issues may occur.
As beta level software AZNR will have errors that are to be expected, and resolved by Richard Lay.