Universal Containers (UC) currently has Sales Cloud for its direct Sales team and is about...

According to SOGAF Operating Models1, an operating model has two dimensions: business process standardization and business process integration. Business process standardization refers to how similar or different are the processes across different units of an organization, such as direct and indirect sales teams. Business process integration refers to how much data is shared across different units of an organization, such as direct and indirect sales teams.

By asking these two questions, a Solution Architect can determine which of the four types of operating models (coordination, diversification, replication, or unification) best suits Universal Containers’ needs for cross-departmental process and data utilization1.

To select the right operating model, the Solution Architect should ask:

C. Are the processes the same for the direct Sales team and indirect Sales team? Understanding if the sales processes differ significantly between teams will influence the design of the operating model.

D. Is the data shared between the direct Sales team and indirect Sales team? Knowing how data is shared helps to determine the extent to which systems need to be integrated and whether data duplication can be avoided.