Where are we at today?
Before implementing a new solution, it can be helpful to spend time documenting the current state. The current state represents the technologies, processes, and configuration of all of the production systems associated with the capabilities being implemented. All of these artifacts become reference documents for the team identifying business and technical requirements for the future state.
A tremendous amount of time CAN be spent on documenting the current state, especially if no such documentation exists today. Architectural and process artifacts can be documented down to a very granular level. However, you should only create current state documentation that is useful and actionable by the team defining and implementing the future state.
The current state architecture is documented through a series of UML artifacts including communication diagrams, sequence diagrams, and network diagrams. These artifacts describe the integration of systems and the flow of information between these systems. The UML standard contains a large number of artifacts that can be created. However, it is critical that this effort be 'right-sized' for the project, only creating enough artifacts to sufficiently describe the current solution. These artifacts feed the creation of future state requirements and architectural designs.
Before implementing a new solution, it is critical to understand how users of the current system execute business processes on the current technology. These documentation of business processes can be as simple as the creation of Visio flow charts. For larger, more complex processes, a formal notation such as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) may be required. As is the case for current state architecture, this effort should be 'right sized' for the project and the needs of the team in charge of the future state requirements and business processes.
To further understand the Current State, interviews with Subject Matter Experts (SME's) and Process Owners are interviewed to understand the pain associated with the processes previously identified. Pain can be categorized into one of 4 areas. They are: People, Process, Technology, and Data. Each of these pain points should then be analyzed to better understand their negative impact on the organization. Negative impact can include reduced productivity, reduction in revenue, or risks to the organization. All of this data is then summarized into a Current State Assessment Report.
Recommendations are generally included in the Current State Assessment report, and describe the mitigation of the pain points associated with the current state. Certain recommendations may involve minor changes to the current systems, and others will be a reflected of the future state requirements. Larger projects may be broken into phases based on the ROI of implementing specific capabilities before others.