Stephen R. Baker & Cedric G. Tyler 
Business Genetics 
Understanding 21st Century Corporations using xBML

A revolutionary way to describe business, x BML (extended Business
Modelling Language) is an intuitive graphical language that unlocks
the DNA of a corporation using a system of diagrams based on five
Ws (Who; What; Which; Where; When). x BML gives companies an
complete and accurate map of their enterprise, that can then be
re-used repeatedly to describe, plan and create improvement.

It’s time to throw out the flow charts. x BML breaks down
the silos of an enterprise and provides the means for clear,
concise communication between all members of the organization.
Tyler and Baker provide a complete guide to x BML, and to why
unlocking an organization’s Business Genetics will
lead to quantifiable business improvement.

Table of Content

Acknowledgements ix

Preface xi

1 What’s the issue and why should I care? 1

2 Why are tools to understand business so inadequate? 5

2.1 How did we get here? 8

2.2 Business definition à la 20th century 13

2.3 But we have had some (limited) success 21

3 OK (enough already), so What must be done? 25

3.1 Purpose-based thinking 33

3.2 How we answer the W5 questions 35

4 What do genetic business models (x BML) look like? 39

W1: the What dimension 49

W2: the Who dimension 54

W3: the Where dimension 57

W4: the Which dimension 61

W5: the When model 66

W5I (integrated): the How model 69

5 How do we (quickly) create x BML models (aka Business Co-Formulation) 81

6 The ‘So what’ (where’s my darn ROI?) 97

6.1 Some quantifiable types of business gain 102

6.2 Some more very real but less quantifiable types of business gain 116

7 How do I implement this? 131

7.1 Enterprise deployment? 131

7.2 But how do I implement or manage my x BML projects? 136

8 What about BPM (Business Process Management)? 141

9 What the heck is the difference between BPEL, BPMN, UML, IDEF and x BML? 149

9.1 BPEL 150

9.2 BPMN 154

9.3 UML 159

9.4 IDEF 166

9.5 x BML 167

10 Based on (anticipated) popular demand, more on auto-business requirements generation 173

11 COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) software selection 181

12 An added big, big takeaway 185

13 A quick last summary 191

Appendices 195

Appendix A: x BML example – Fill ‘a vacant job position’ 195

Appendix B: Potential knowledge sources 201

Appendix C: Some government laws governing commerce 202

Appendix D: Sample enterprise deployment what model 209

Appendix E: BRD 211

Appendix F: Can x BML be automated? 216

Glossary 221

Bibliography 235

Index 237

About the author

Cedric G. Tyler is President of Business Genetics¯®, principle inventor of the x BML¯(TM) methodology, and a leading expert in the fields of Business Modeling, Business Process and Information Technology. He began his career with IBM in the UK and subsequently cofounded INFOMET and Infolab, two international companies specializing in the business-to-information technology interface which were acquired by IBM in the 1990’s. He has advised many leading organizations in the private and public sectors and served as an adjunct professor at the Daniels College of Business at Denver University.

Steve Baker is CEO of Business Genetics¯® and has over twenty-five years of experience in the IT, Healthcare, and Real Estate industries. He has held management positions in Fortune organizations including Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). For the past decade he has focused on improving the communication within and among businesses as well as improving their operational efficiencies. He sits on the boards of several private and nonprofit corporations, and has been an Adjunct Professor at the Daniels School of Business.