Framework
Context
Do you have an understanding of where your component fits?
Who is it for?
If you are building something with the intention of it being used as a common component then you should outline for your product how to implement the pillars of success.
You may need to consider various delivery methods, both for your team to utilize the things you build, and for how you plan to allow others to use them.
Each reusable software building block will fit into a category related to where it sits in its proximity to a user. Make sure you have a good understanding of where your product sits and how it supports the broader ecosystem of common components.
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While it is good to work in the open and be transparent, all too often it is left up to the team that is looking at a open sourced product to sift through the code to find the pieces that they can reuse. The effort to find the reusable code and repurpose it to fit with your product offsets the value obtained for developers who typically prefer to make it from scratch themselves anyways. Even a small barrier in this space will be enough to prevent success towards the goal of avoiding duplication and achieving the ecosystem approach. |
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As you consider how users are wanting to consume your product to gain value from it, selecting the right delivery method will help you to maximize the value while limiting overhead. These delivery methods are built on the pillars of success for achieving reuse. |
| title | Capability level |
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Understanding the capability level will help guide your work to identify user groups and help you determine the scope and boundary of the product you are building.
Core
Core capabilities are the ones that users will ask for by name.
Supporting
Supporting capabilities are the ones that service providers need to implement for the core ones to work.
Service Management
Service management capabilities are the ones that help you operate the administrative work back stage.
Service Quality
Service quality capabilities are the ones that help you have a good reputation because your software is reliable, secure, privacy preserving and high performing.| Page Tree | ||||
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On this page:
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What makes a good common component?
Introduction
What general characteristics or ingredients does each component need to have for it to be considered “good”?
The big three are to
reduces costs
accelerates development
promotes consistency and supportability
If you think you have a "good" one and would like it added to the catalogue so that others can find it easier, you can request to add your common component on the common components page of digital.gov.bc.ca/common-components.
Reducing Costs
Cost Avoidance
The following are a few examples of how a components can create cost avoidance savings:
Built by one team, but used by more than one team
Deployed and hosted by one team
Enterprise licenses versus many individuals licences
A generic capability built that eliminates the need for reimplementing that function in all applications
Adding a self-self onboarding process to a Common Service that didn’t have one previously
Cost Savings
An innovation solution that allows for discontinuing an existing common business process or function entirely
Providing a free and open-source alternative to switch to from existing more expensive options
Accelerate Development
tbd
Promote Consistency and Supportability
tbd
Policy
Core Policy, Chapter [12.1.1] Lists the Digital Principles.
Principles 5 and 6 (Work in the open, Take and ecosystem approach) specifically relate to Common Components, but they are all useful for any software teams to be very familiar with.
Definition
In a software context, common components are building blocks that enable core capabilities within services. A single definition is not the goal because it can be many different things.
A core capability or service that can be utilized by public and private service delivery teams
A common component is platform agnostic for the user, well documented and regularly updated by a dedicated team that enables self-serve and quick onboarding
A common component is cataloged in a central repository with an interactive dashboard that provides information on active users and teams (maybe a GitHub repo link) and abides by well-defined standards of software maturity
The objective of a common component is to solve a frequently occurring problem faced by multiple teams for once and for all
Ecosystems and Value Streams
Identifying Commonality
What are the other products or services that may be doing what I’m doing? Who can I collaborate with?
Your product or service may operate within many categories of software capabilities. Start with looking at just one of those categories that you think might benefit most from using common components.
Capability Categorization Models
When thinking about what the list of all common components are, it might be helpful to consider that there are multiple ways to group things to create this list.
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This model looks at the journey of a user: A. discovering a service is available, Note that in the model one service may initiate the
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FOUNDATIONAL: Starting with Foundational capabilities ensures there is demand and that you are solving problems for users.
ENABLERS: Factor out the enabler capabilities as new common components.
ADDITIVE: Looking at the user journey where there are system handoffs work to add connections to solutions for the next chunk of work in the user journey.
MULTIPLICATIVE: As it will not be possible to scale with just additive approaches, we will need to implement event triggered messaging and subscription services that can enable many systems to connect with each other without those services being tightly coupled.
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| title | 3. Product Model |
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This model looks at the logical breakdown of the capabilities of a software product. Each of these capability areas may contain many functions:
Capabilities
Enablement Type(s)
Service Delivery Step(s)
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Form Builder Tool Form Versioning Form Publishing Form Submission Lists and Details Form Settings Management Form Permissions and Security Submission Status Data Export and API Access Event Triggered Service Extensions |
Foundational, Enabler
Submission
Payment and Reconciliation
Login, Identity and Digital Trust
Template and File Mgmt
Subscription/Notification
Additive
Discovery
Workflow and Event Streaming
Multiplicative
Processing
API Access Management
Visualization Dashboards
Password Management & Automation
Registry Aggregation (Backstage)
Prototyping Kits
DevOps and Hosting
Find out what ecosystems you may be contributing to or consuming from.
When you think about the service that your product delivers also consider what the larger value stream your service is a part of. Once you identify your value stream, take steps to connect with others who are there as well, and start examining the various points along the way where there are hand offs, and make plans to address them.
Agile Approaches
Where does the need for
