Best Practices for Designing Enterprise Information Systems

Over many years of enterprise application development, we have developed a comprehensive methodology for designing enterprise information systems. It covers requirements ranging from business model design to user interface interaction design, and provides a clear, systematic path intended to make enterprise application development successful and efficient.

Most of the design points below have corresponding functional modules in the Muyan Low-Code Platform; the parts the platform does not provide out of the box (for example approval workflows, or synchronizing the organizational structure with third-party systems) can be implemented with object hooks, object actions, dynamic logic and similar mechanisms.

Our system embodies best practices in enterprise informatization and digital transformation, and through careful system design these practices are built into our low-code platform. For steps where things tend to go wrong, we use the system's core architecture to guard against and handle them effectively.

Following our system's design paradigm helps you avoid mistakes as far as possible. By developing enterprise information systems on the Muyan Low-Code Platform, whether for customers or for internal business units, you can deliver projects quickly and successfully.

We provide system design document templates to go with the Muyan Low-Code Platform, in both Markdown and Docx formats: click here to download the system design templates. Note: the template files in this download are in Chinese.

If you have any suggestions or feedback on our templates, please share them in our community (opens new window). Thank you very much.

Requirements Overview

Before diving into the design, first give a comprehensive overview of the project's requirements. This includes understanding the project's background, goals, expected outcomes and the expectations of key stakeholders. The requirements overview is the foundation of a successful project and helps the team focus on core goals and priorities.

Business Model Design

Business model design is the foundation of information system design. It covers defining database tables, setting up fields, and the relationships between tables. In short, this step determines the system's data structure and how data is stored.

Form Design

Form design focuses on how to collect and manage data effectively, including the design of forms for create, read, update and delete (CRUD) operations. This part needs to consider field default values, special validation, linkage, dynamic showing and hiding, field grouping, and user permission settings of forms.

Dashboard Design

Based on business requirements, design the necessary dashboards and large-screen displays; the widgets in each dashboard should meet specific monitoring and analysis needs.

Object Lifecycle Design

Plan in detail the logic of each object during create, read, update and delete (CRUD), including the necessary validation, integration and additional business logic.

Core Process Design

Design the approval processes and business processes needed in the object lifecycle, and make sure they are smooth and reasonable. The platform has no built-in workflow engine; approvals and similar processes are usually implemented with a status field together with object actions and object hooks.

Dynamic Operation Design

For each type of object, design the corresponding business operations, including the operation logic, the user groups they target, and the conditions under which they are enabled.

Inter-System Integration Design

Plan the integration with third-party systems, especially single sign-on (SSO) and user data synchronization, which is usually a key part of project implementation.

Scheduled Task Design

Based on business requirements, design the necessary scheduled tasks, including one-time tasks and periodic (Cron) tasks.

User Interface Interaction Design

Based on the specific needs of the requesting party, use a prototyping tool to draw the complete interaction flow, making sure the user experience is smooth and intuitive.

Summary of Design Points

Once the backend logic above has been worked out, roughly 80% to 90% of the backend logic of an enterprise application's requirements is clear. Several points in this process are especially important:

1. Overall business model design: by building clear, precise data and object models, this step lays a solid foundation for the whole information system.
2. Object lifecycle management and design: ensures that every object in the system is properly managed throughout its lifecycle, from creation to end, with clear logic at each stage, improving the system's stability and reliability.
3. Dynamic operation design: defines flexible operations for all kinds of objects in the system, adjusted to business needs, which greatly improves the system's flexibility and user interaction experience.

Requirements Traceability

To make sure the design stays true to the project's original intent, we will:

1. Review requirements: regularly compare against the project goals and requirements in the requirements overview.
2. Check coverage: confirm whether the design meets or exceeds these requirements.
3. Identify and adjust: adjust for unmet requirements and update the design document to reflect these changes.

This process keeps the project on the right track and prevents it from drifting away from its goals.

Open Issues

During design and development, you may run into issues to be resolved or points that need further discussion. Recording these issues and scheduling time to discuss and resolve them at different stages of the project is key to keeping the project running smoothly.

References

During design, we referred to a variety of resources, including:

1. Articles and web pages: provide design inspiration or technical solutions.
2. Books: provide theoretical support and in-depth analysis.
3. Other documents: industry reports, standards and specifications, technical documentation, etc.

We hope this guide helps you better understand and carry out the design of enterprise information systems, and keeps your project running smoothly.