SixBlocks solution is the smart platform for durable and extreme simplification of business processes. We make this happen by modelling all the detailed business rules of the entire service delivery in six blocks. Hence the name SixBlocks solution. These include the details of the customer model, the product model and the process model of the entire service. The meaning per block and the consistency between the six blocks determine how they actually work in practice. How exactly does it work?
The philosophy
The SixBlocks solution logo contains the six blocks, each with its own colour. Purple for tables, orange for algorithms, green for validations, red for interfaces, pink for mutations and blue for processes. Each colour, and thus each block, has its own meaning in the whole. The coherence of the six blocks determines the quality of the solution. All blocks always play a specific role in every solution.
For every requirement of the user organisation and of the customer, a solution can always be found in the cohesion of the six blocks. By “shifting the blocks in the puzzle”, any solution can be realised. To symbolise this principle, the moving trademark is showning our brand in various visualisations. The puzzle used to solve the requirements fits in many different ways. But not all ways are possible. In that case, simply shift one of the blocks and then you do find a suitable solution.
The six blocks
Each colour, and thus each block, has its own significance in the whole.
Central to the cohesion of all blocks are the Algorithms and Tables. Data are entered into the Tables and formulas and calculations are performed with them in the Algorithms. The result of the Algorithms is recorded again in the Tables. This principle is driven by the Processes and Mutations. Via the Mutations, it is deduced which data from the Tables can be entered and which Algorithms are executed. In the Processes, the process steps deduce which Mutations are to be carried out.
The Interfaces and the Validations complete the picture. The Validations check whether the process step may be executed, whether the input data is correct and whether the results of the Algorithms are within the acceptance limits. The Interfaces automatically read the input data and/or export the input and result data. Again, Validations for correctness take place. This outline is how the six-block principle works.
In practice
In practice, we apply this for, say, an insurance organisation with private customers for which changes are recorded regarding the customer’s personal situation after which the premium for insurance is derived.
The Tables then contain the relevant person and insurance product data. The Algorithms contain the formulae for the premium,. The Mutations contain the possible changes to the personal data that can be made with the relevant input data from the Tables and the calculations from the Algorithms linked to them. The Processes contain the steps of the various procedures with the Mutations linked to them.
The Validations contains all the checks with a link to the Processes and Mutations. The Interfaces contains the links to the automatically readable personal data, the mapping to the mutation associated with it and contains the links to the data to be exported in the form of an e-mail, correspondence letter and/or a connected system, e.g. to accounting and debtor monitoring.
The bigger picture
The example outlined above is the basics. However, the possibilities go much further. Because there is an integral floor plan with clusters and cells, the six blocks affect the whole. This means that the driving Processes and Mutations also drive other Processes and Mutations in linked cells.
In the picture below, Mutations in the cell law are automatically made in the cells group, agreement, contract and service. In all those cells, details of the data and calculations are recorded and correspondence takes place based on the completed six blocks. The same principle applies to the horizontal links, e.g. from the cell company to the cell agreement.
The technology behind the smart platform
The correct functioning of the six blocks is enforced by the underlying technology of our smart platform. Actually it is very simple, in “Jip and Janneke” language you can say that the source code of our platform walks past the six blocks in a very smart way. Based on the content of those six blocks, the actions therein are executed. For example:
- executing a transaction
- checking for a specific error and/or probability
- calculating and recording results based on formulas
- exporting data to, for example, a correspondence e-mail plus letter
So when a user clicks on a workflow, the corresponding business rules from the Processes block are retrieved behind the scenes. Based on the process steps therein, the error and probability checks from the Validations block are retrieved and executed. The same happens with the Mutations linked to the process step; based on these, a transaction is executed.
The input fields linked to the Mutation from the Tables block are used to enter the data, and the linked formulas from the Algorithms block are used to derive and record the results. In a subsequent process step, for example, an incoming or an outgoing data flow is linked from the Interfaces block. The smart platform executes these based on the details registered in the business rules of that particular Interface.
If we knock it completely flat, then business rules are stored in data.
The source code of the software walks past this in a smart way.
The actions listed in the data are executed.
That’s it!
Finally
Of course, there is much more to tell about how the six blocks work. It is even more interesting to see the whole thing working concretely in practice. Indeed, by being involved in it yourself, experiencing it and living it. If you want to know more about that, feel free to contact me. In that case, mail your question to joost.de.wit@sixblockssolution.com.
