How to uncover the "hidden" Architecture of an IoT Project for Smart Parks?

Overview

Recently, I came across an article titled “Wyndham City debuts first Smart Parks and Precincts”. This is the initiative of the City Council of Wyndham City that is situated South of Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. It talks about leveraging IoT technologies for a major Digital Transformation Program.

How do we understand the underlying Architecture here so that we get a handle on the complexity. I am sure there will be changes after implementation and Architecture will help manage those changes effectively.

Architecture understanding is complete when we apply the Zachman Framework and understand the Anatomy of Enterprise Strategies, the Business Process Anatomy that enable them, Anatomy of the Systems that support the processes, Anatomy of the Technical component specifications, Anatomy of the Implementation and the Operational Instance.

Anatomy of the Enterprise Strategy

What are the IoT Strategies for the Enterprise here? Elements of the IoT Strategy will consist of Goals, Business Services, Data, Location, Timing and Role.

Let us understand the Organisational Goals:

• Goals For serving the Public: Improved Management and Use of facilities,Improved overall, experience at each site,Increase Safety , More environmentally-friendly amenities

• Goals For Internal Operations: improved services,Meet dynamic Demands of the Community

• External Drivers: Region undergoes a significant population increase.

The above Goals are set to be realised by the following Business Functions:

Parks Facilities – Barbecues ,Benches, Exercise Equipment,Temperature Gauges ,Public Wi FI, ,Phone Charging, Bins

The above Business Services involve collection of information on: BBQs Usage ,Benches and Exercise, equipment Usage ,Access and Movement data on Parks and Facilities ,Outdoor temperatures and humidity, Space usage by Public,Resources Consumed

At the various Location of: Wyndham Parks

The Goals are set and managed as per the Business Cycles of: Smart City Strategy Cycle

The Goals are Owned / benefit the Roles: Smart City Portfolio Holder, ,Residents and developers

Business Process Anatomy

How are the Business Management and Departmental Functions structured to realise the above Strategies here? Elements of the Business Management will consist of Departmental Goals, Business / Departmental Functions, Business Data, Business Locations, Business event triggers, cycles, and Departmental / External Roles.

Let us first understand the Business Management Goals:

• Improved and more efficient operation and maintenance of Council facilities

• State of the Art future design of parks, community centres and other facilities

• Improved Visualisation of information

The above Goals are set to be realised by the Business Processes/Dept. Functions:

• Facilities Operations & Maintenance

• Facilities Design – Parks, Community Centres, Other Facilities

• Citizen Services Delivery

• Display how the public use spaces and how resources are consumed

These Business Processes are carried out at the Locations:

• City Office

• Parks

The Business Processes are performed as per the Business Times:

• Park Usage Hours,

Anatomy of the IoT Systems

How are the Systems structured to support the above Business Processes / Departments? Elements of the Systems are System Goals, System Functions, Logical System Data, System Locations, System Times and System Use cases / Roles.

The above Business Processes are enabled by the Systems Functions:

• Lawn Maintenance System

• Control Centre System

Anatomy of the IoT Technology Components and what are their Specifications?

How are the Technical Components specified to support the above Systems? Elements of the Technology Specifications are Technology Rules, Technology component Functions, Physical System Data, Network Component Processing Cycles and User Interfaces.

The above Systems are enabled by the IoT Technology Component Specifications:

• Grass Height Monitoring

• Display visual impact of planned buildings – even down to where their shadows will fall

• Display live or projected information from IoT sensors

Anatomy of the IoT Implementation

How are the Technical Components configured to implement the above Technical Specifications? Elements of the Implementation are Configuration Rules, Tool / Software Functions, Database Tool configurations, Network Software / Hardware Configurations, Event Processing Tool Configuraions and User Interface Tool Set ups.

The above Technical Components are configured using the IoT Component Funcions:

• Sensors,

• Robotics,

• CityLens’ Augmented Reality solution

These IoT Technology Components are located at: 3 Parks

Anatomy of the Operational Instance

What does the instance of the Implementation that has become Operational? Elements of the Operational Model are Operational Performance Measures, Operational Function Instances, Actual value of the Information items, Actual Locations, Actual Operational Cycles, and Operational Roles

These IoT Operational Locations are :

• SW Melbourne, Werribee,

• Greening the Pipeline Pilot Park in Williams Landing,

• Central Park Community Centre in Hoppers Crossing

The IoT Operational Roles:

• Councillor

IoT Operational Cycles:

• Timing: 2019-2024 Strategy Cycle

We can now look for completeness of the Transformation at each stage. Efforts should also be made to Link, Map and establish connectivity between like elements across the Transformation stages i.e Dependency between Business Services, Business Processes, System Functions, Technical Component Specs, Software / Hardware/Network Configurations. This will bring out all inconsistencies and ensure success of the Initiative.

You can read the original Article at the following site: https://www.itnews.com.au/news/wyndham-city-debuts-first-smart-parks-and-precincts-549458

Disclaimer: The Aim of this Blog is to highlight the use of Architecture Deconstruction techniques. It is not the intention of the Blogger to rate or otherwise evaluate the Architecture of the System presented herein. The ideas and views presented in this Blog Post are the result of Architecture Deconstruction by the Blogger and as such may not be found directly or indirectly in the original Article. Architecture Deconstruction lets us understand and highlight architecture elements and architecture perspectives that may be available in various formats like model, text, image etc., The companies involved in the article are neither a customer nor have they engaged ICMG.