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The Control and Information Architecture is one of three basic components of any enterprise (the other 2 are the Production Facilites, and the People/Organization). In the PERA Model, it is usually depicted on the right, although it has an interface with the "Facilities".of the enterprise, so the diagram might actually be better represented if it were "wrapped around" into a sphere. |
The Control and Information Architecture may be represented by a series of "Architecture" diagrams, beginning with the Control and Information Philosophy Diagram, and progressing through increasing levels of detail, to Network Diagrams (primarily representing physical network structures), Entitiy Relationship Diagrams (primarily representing logical structures), and ultimately to wiring diagrams, program dataflows, etc.
The evolution of Control and Information Architectures, and the ways of representing them, is an important aspect of the Computer and Communication Revolution that has occurred in the latter half of the the 20th century.
With dawn of the computer and communications revolution, it has become possible to automate the movement and processing of information, This is potentially even more important than automation of material flow, and based on the last couple of decades, is likely to evolve much more quickly than either of the previous examples.
It is amusing to note that some of the earliest large scale architectures were pyramids (in prehistoric Egypt and Central America). Interestingly, as the information economy is evolving, enterprise architectures are often represented as a pyramid with information flowing upwards to senior management and instructions flowing down. Unfortunately, such simple structures do not well adress the needs of a sophisticated enterprise (unless perhaps the objective is to bury the guy at the top ?).
As the information economy evolves, design of enterprise architectures will become as important as the design of physical architectures. It may even be that in the future, an elegantly designed information architecture of today will be as admired as a cathedral might be appreciated by a modern architect. There is little question however, that the functional design of information architectures will be increasingly crucial to the competitive ability of world scale enterprises.
The purpose of the Information Architecture is to graphically represent the communication, processing and storage of information as it moves through the enterprise. Like the structural analysis of buildings, or the modelling of chemical process plants, the Information Architecture can then serve as the basis of mathematical models of information flows.
The Control and Information Architecture Diagram (CIAD) is a schematic representation of the information processing nodes (computer systems) and communications (networks) which comprise the Control and Information Systems of the Enterprise. CIADs are high level drawings similar to the "Process Flow Diagrams" (PFDs) used in process industries, or Mechanical Flow Diagrams (MFDs) used in descrete manufacturing. In much the same way that the PFD or MFD shows major material flows and major processing equipment and storage facilities, the CIAD shows major information flows, information processing, and storage systems
Like the PFD, the CIAD should be developed during the Conceptual Engineering Phase at roughly the same time as the PFD or MFD. Depeding on the complexity and the state of definition of the enterprise, the CIAD may be presented at various levels of detail ranging from very "high level" (e.g. a half page representation of a whole enterprise) to a much more detailed version showing each server farm and block of users. Click here for a more detailed description of CIADs and the rules for drawing them.
Control and Information Network Diagram (CIND) is a schematic representation of the information processing nodes (computer systems) and communications (networks) which comprise the Control and Information Systems of the Enterprise. CINDs are more detailed drawings. In much the same way that the "Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams" (P & IDs) used in process industries, or manufacturing industries show major material flows and major processing equipment and storage facilities, the CIND shows major information flows, information processing, and storage systems. Click here for a more detailed description of CINDs and the rules for drawing them. The CIND is developed during the Preliminary Engineering Phase in parallel with the P&IDs.