EPaRM – Ecosystem Process & Relationship Model

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An ecosystem process and relationship model (EPaRM) artefact allows stakeholders, project teams and Problem Solvers to understand the organisations purpose, systems, data, locations, security, work flows and how they all work together to provide functioning products/services/business.
Though we start with the organisation’s systems reference architecture, the EPaRM is a functional, non technical, version of it and includes multiple layers (technology, SMEs, users, communications, data, security, locations etc), that show these elements clearly in the execution of the tasks that a business must carry out to deliver its products/service and to function as a business.

“The single most useful document in the whole project” – Senior PM, DHSC.gov

Purpose of the EPaRM

The purpose of the Ecosystem Process and Relationship Model is to gain an understanding of the people, processes, technology, comms, data etc that are in play across the scope of the requirement and the ecosystem of the business. To establish all the elements that are effected by or affect the target requirement/challenge/value proposition. It allows us to see the state, cost and often the origin of existing process complexity, and model its disentanglement and optimisation.

Value of the EPaRM 

1. Show systems (purpose/function, location, SME, comms, data, etc)
2. Show function (what does each system do, what is data stored for?)
3. Show data sources and journeys (duplication, locations, security, access (APIs etc) and inefficiencies)
4. Show functional dependencies (specific to systems, data, time delays, comms or security access)
5. Owner(s) – SMEs (who owns the system/data, what are their contact details? Where are they located?)
6. Map functional data and communication journeys (existing and required. Efficiency and limitations)
7. Map process flows and initial use cases
8. Work with Systems Engineers to map technical limitations against functional user needs – avoiding over reach and wasted cost/time. This allows review of time/cost estimates early on.

An organisation’s hardware, systems and software are the slowest and most expensive things to change, so understanding how optimally they currently work and communicating what user needs and functionality they need to deliver going forward, enables us and the engineers to plan the optimal outcomes collaboratively.

Examples

NB. For security clearance and NDA reasons, some elements of the example files may be redacted, changed or removed.