3 MATCHING GRANULARITY LEVELS
BUSINESS TIER INTEGRATION STRUCTURE. A group of related business domains that represent
one or more business organizations, lines of business, business occupations, or business products
is regarded as a business tier. To a certain extent a tier is an independent zone within an enterprise.
This is akin to an isolated island with no close ties to its surroundings. Therefore, such a compound
structure is regarded as an organizational autonomous business entity that is not tightly bound
to any other business formation. Furthermore, a tier is not necessarily composed of a single
and self-sufficient business domain. A business tier can encompass a number of related domains
that collaboratively provide a vital business function. Thus, conceive of a tier as a collection of
affiliated domains or layered domain structures that are grouped to jointly provide business value.
Conversely, as previously discussed in the Business Domain Integration Layered Structure
section, a layered structure is a more confined business composition made up of two or more
stacked domains, each of which is presented by a single domain layer.
Exhibit 10.4 depicts a business tiered environment of an investment banking organization.
This illustration represents two business tiers. Tier 1 is comprised of three distinct domain structures:
money transfer domain, individual accounts domain (layered domain structure), and the
investment portfolio domain.
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