Digital Engineering & the OBASHI Principles

Every year we rely more and more on the flow of data, whether that's for running businesses or governments which deliver huge projects, or for catching up on the latest episode of Reacher. We're kidding ourselves on if we think we can continue to add layer upon layer of digital technology without some kind of engineering principles that define the digital environments and spaces that we all work and enjoy in.

25 years ago, Paul Wallis and I developed the OBASHI Principles and Laws. Our view then, which stands true today, was that some guiding rules would be required to define how and where data flows on its journey, and what relationships the flow would have with people, business processes and technology assets.

It was logical for us to look at other established engineering principles and laws and how they had evolved as they were fundamental to our day to day process activities in the Oil & Gas industry.

For instance, the Laws of Thermodynamics cover the relationships between energy and heat. Transferring heat from one location to another, how heat is converted into work, and the relationships between different aspects required to power machines.

We consciously made the decision to understand and define the fundamental aspects that create and support the flow of data, and how these aspects could relate and connect to each other. We were also conscious of the behaviours that these aspects, their relationships, or a combination of both working either together or working apart could have on outcomes.

Being able to describe the relationships between the aspects and how they interact is fundamental to the application of Digital and Data flow engineering and its guiding principles.

The OBASHI Core Principles

OBASHI's Core Principles outline the principles on which the OBASHI Methodology is based.

The Principles were developed based on the practical engineering experience of developing, managing and analysing the interdependencies between people, process, operating equipment and control technology, and the critical dependency they have on their relationship with IT.

The UK oil and gas industry recognized very quickly the benefits computing power could bring to optimize financial returns for business. But with this increase in productivity came an increase in risk. Subsequently, the integrity of high consequence systems, such as ‘Safety’, became mandatory and had to be approved by the Health and Safety Executive before a license to operate was granted.

Critical to the operation of any high-consequence system is the flow of data.

Although the rigorous engineering approach to safety, security and financial optimization within the oil and gas industry provided the template for the formation of these OBASHI Core Principles, they are universally applicable across all industries.

1. The Understanding of the flow of data is fundamental to an organisation's financial well-being.
2. Business resources (which includes human resources) and IT assets are either providers of data, consumers of data, or they provide the conduit through which data can flow.
3. IT exists for one reason, namely, to enable to flow of data between business assets.
4. Business risk cannot be fully assessed qualitatively or quantitatively unless the cause and effects of interruptions to a flow of data, or changes to any data contained in that flow of data, have been evaluated in the context of the flow of data in question.
5. A data security model cannot be fully assessed unless the cause and effects of interruptions to a flow of data, or changes to any data contained in that flow of data, have been evaluated in the context of the flow of data in question.

We created the OBASHI Methodology with its rules and laws in accordance with these core principles. They form the foundation of how organisations can mature their understanding of their digital environments. I'll get into them in another article.

You can pick up the first section of the OBASHI Methodology via the International Data Flows website: https://internationaldataflows.com/