> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/building-block/the-blank-instruments/the-entity-model-with-its-glossary-and-its-business-rules.md). # The entity model, with its glossary and its business rules The records the service keeps, what each one means, and whose each fact is. The model is read back to the people of the business in sentences they can answer. | | | | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | | **Document of the twelve** | 3 | | **Who writes it** | The analyst | | **What goes in** | Document 1, and the shared groundwork | | **Who accepts it** | The business side, at the read-back | | **Taught in** | 2.3 | ## How to use this blank instrument Copy this page into your own document. Fill in the answer to every line. Do not leave a line empty: write "none" where nothing applies, and where the answer is not yet known write an open question with the name of its owner and a date. Do not guess an answer to close a question. When the document is finished, give it to the person who accepts it, together with the questions at the end of this page. ## One record Write one block for each record the service keeps. | Line | What to write | Your answer | | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------- | | **Name** | A singular noun phrase in the words the business uses, used once in the whole model | | | **What it means** | One sentence: one row of this record is one ... | | | **Why it is a record** | More than one row; more than one fact; a meaning of its own; can be told apart from every other record | | | **How a row is identified** | On its own; or only through another record, named | | | **Facts it holds** | For every fact: the fewest that may be there and the most | | | **Coded facts** | For each: the list it takes its values from, and who issues the list | | | **History kept** | None; or when the fact was true; or when the system was told; or both | | | **Whose each fact is** | We keep it; or we take it from another body, named; or we must not hold it | | | **Facts recorded twice on purpose** | None; or each, with the reason and how the copies are kept in step | | | **Related to** | The other records it is related to; or why it stands alone | | ## One relationship Write one block for each relationship between two records. | Line | What to write | Your answer | | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | | **Read from one end** | A complete sentence | | | **Read from the other end** | A complete sentence | | | **Read back to the business** | The two sentences as they were put to the business, and the answer each got | | | **How many at each end** | How many rows at one end go with how many at the other | | | **May an end be absent** | Yes or no, for each end | | | **When a row is removed or replaced** | The far row goes too; or is left pointing at nothing; or the removal is refused | | ## One glossary entry Write one entry for each term the business uses that is not a record. | Line | What to write | Your answer | | ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | | **Term** | The one name the model uses | | | **What it means** | One sentence that stands on its own | | | **Other names** | Every other name a reader may arrive with | | | **Where the term comes from** | A law, a published vocabulary, or this organisation | | | **Status** | Proposed, in use or withdrawn | | | **Where it is used** | The records, goals or rules that rely on it | | ## One business rule Write one entry for each rule of the business that is not part of a flow. | Line | What to write | Your answer | | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------- | | **Reference** | A number given once and never reused | | | **The rule** | One short statement that stands on its own | | | **Settings it reads** | None; or each, by name. Never the value | | | **What it constrains** | The records or facts it binds | | | **Where its authority comes from** | A law with its section; a published policy; or this organisation's own decision, with the ruling | | | **From when it takes effect** | A date; and the date it stopped applying, if it has | | | **Status** | Proposed, in force or withdrawn | | ## Before you accept it 1. Does every record have a meaning in one sentence that the business recognises? 2. Was every relationship read back to the business in both directions, and is the answer written down? 3. Does every fact say whose it is: kept here, taken from another body, or not to be held? 4. Is every term the business uses either a record or a glossary entry? 5. Does every rule name where its authority comes from? --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. 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