WHITE PAPER

Brownfield to Future:
Four Steps to Make Your
Digital Production Platform
a Success
How heterogeneous brownfields jeopardize competitiveness — and why
Digital Production Platforms are often not helping.
WHITE PAPER

Brownfield to Future:
Four Steps to Make Your Digital
Production Platform a Success

CONTENT

P3 Introduction

P5 Designing a Living Digital Production Platform:

The Collaboration Approach

P6 Four Practices to Ensure Technology and

People Operate in Unison

P12 Summary

Deloitte | LeanIX
 White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

Imagine a company that’s been manufacturing Brownfield challenges:

engineering marvels for the better part of a century.
Each new product rolled out of its plants is sleeker, • Merger and acquisition drivers and trends
faster, and more efficient than the one before. Their
• Maintenance becoming increasingly difficult
shop floor IT landscape, however, continues moving at
and expensive over time
a glacial pace.
• Legacy database structure allowing only
To understand why, consider that this same company limited reporting
has several dozen plants located worldwide: some
focusing on complex final car assembly, others producing • Legacy database technologies making
simple sideboards. These differences have led the plant’s integration difficult (e.g., silos)
processes and IT requirements to diverge greatly. As a
• Lack of support for modern capabilities leading
result, each plant has developed its own IT system to
to limited interoperability
match their specific requirements.
• Planning and implementing with monolithic
Driven by a strong need for stability and reliability to keep systems lasting several years
production running, and constrained by the longer cycles
• Sparse documentation of legacy systems
of their operational technology, many of the IT systems in
leading to high risk/effort during change
use by these individual plants have been operational for
20 years or longer. • Outdated technologies requiring rare and
expensive expertise to sustain
This multitude of systems has become harder and
harder to maintain: Key developers have gone into
retirement, and the required technical skill is rare to
find in the market. The systems are difficult to improve abilities to manage the rising complexity of today’s
on: incompatible technologies, data siloes, and sparse challenges in production. Figure 1 gives an example of
documentation have led to constant friction points in how technological solutions in use by two factories for
company-spanning projects, slowing down companies’ identical capabilities can vary.

Figure 1
How Technological Solutions Between Factory Plants Can Vary

ERP ERP

MES MES

SCADA IPC / HMI SCADA IPC / HMI

Machine / Component Level Machine / Component Level

PLANT X PLANT Y

Quality Logistics Maintenance Planning ... Quality Logistics Maintenance Planning ...
Capabilities*

Solutions: *(e.g., functionalities used across functions)

Source: Deloitte
Deloitte | LeanIX 3
White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

Figure 2
Connecting Multiple Industrial Enterprises with One Digital Platform

Plants can contribute digital assets

Plants can efficiently implement
and solutions to the Digital Platform
required or desired solutions
and distribute good practices
provided by the Digital Platform
across the entire networks

Source: Deloitte

Under pressure to improve efficiency and development

speed to keep up with their competition, this company
Digital platform advantages:
decides to build a digital production platform. By uniting
all plants under the umbrella of a singular, best-of-breed • Responsive to changing mandates and
platform, they hope to achieve scalability, agility, and customer expectations
the reduction of siloes in the organization. To aid this
process, they even establish a new organizational unit • Enablement for agile and effective
called “Digital Production” and hire 20 specialists in data workforces
analytics and software engineering. Equipped with a
• Recoverable and re-usable assets
generous budget and high aspirations, the team sets
about establishing the new digital production platform. • Easier rollouts and quicker digital
Figure 2 presents a model of how digital platforms can illustrations of business processes
connect industrial enterprises.
• Higher impact plus faster scaling of
applications and solutions for network
Two years later, however, the Digital Production Platform
effects
fails to meet the company’s expectations. Singular use
cases have been developed and are in pilot use but • Global transparency and availability of
widespread adoption is still out of reach. All the while, process and performance data
frustration has grown in the legacy departments where
employees feel unheard and underappreciated for • Interconnected systems conducive for
their efforts in maintaining the production backbone. simpler automation processes
Grumbles about what could have been achieved with
the budget reserved for Digital Production are growing
and slowly spreading throughout the organization.

Deloitte | LeanIX 4
White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

Designing a Living Digital Production Platform projects, IT and business users

must adopt new communication pathways to sustain
Production Platform: The connected digital ecosystems. However, in the view
Collaboration Approach of Deloitte and LeanIX, conversations on new and
existing synergies will only be fruitful if backed by
Companies in every industry have experienced similar data-based insights from all corners of an organization
disappointment when launching Digital Production — a catalyst for business leaders, CIOs, engineering
Platforms. In most cases, Deloitte and LeanIX see the managers, developers, and others to work together
problems arising from conflicts between a company’s more seamlessly.
digital and core business. Instead of piecing together
solutions to fit a global strategy, digital services are To facilitate such collaboration, Deloitte regularly uses
introduced to accomplish individual use cases with little products from LeanIX’s continuous transformation
synergistic value. As well, the benefits of existing assets platform — the Enterprise Architecture Suite (EAS),
and solutions are often ignored in favor of new assets. Cloud Intelligence (CI), and Microservice Intelligence
New technologies are regularly implemented before staff (MI) — to retrieve, store, and analyze details on its
are properly trained and given the necessary information clients’ IT landscapes. These products are integrated
repositories to perform troubleshooting efforts. to ensure users across product and corporate IT teams
share one single source of truth to contextualize how
Building a Digital Production Platform for the wrong business is being shaped by decentralized services,
reasons (e.g., to satisfy management, to follow trends, transformation initiatives, and daily architectural tasks.
to circumvent IT processes/restrictions) and with the
wrong approach will almost certainly lead to failure. So, In addition to out-of-the-box integrations to software
how can companies ensure their brownfield-to-future products (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow, Apptio), LeanIX’s
strategy is a success? collaboration-based approach to managing IT
architecture is aided by the tool’s user-oriented data
Digital Production Platforms can only thrive by fostering model and configurable "Fact Sheets": scorecards
collaboration with those building or using the system. for documenting IT assets which form the basis of the
Indeed, given the size and scope of most global Digital platform’s intelligent reporting network.

Figure 3
Bad Practices for a Digital Platform and their Consequences

BAD PRACTICES... ...AND HOW THEY WILL INEVITABLY MAKE YOU FAIL

Ignore the existence of the Ensure lasting conflict between

brownfield on the shop floor people and digital business

Focus on technology instead Lack of knowledge & difficult

of on people and services mindsets within people

Focus on new assets instead Value created over many years

of existing assets & solutions is not integrated on the shop floor

Start without global strategy Isolated use cases without

and arrangement synergistic value

Cloud strategy does not exist Implementation and integration

or does not extend to OT phases become very painful

ANTI-REASONS FOR A DIGITAL PLATFORM

I want to launch a digital platform because…

...everyone has one these days
...my management likes the concept a lot
...I want to circumvent processes / restrictions of my IT

LEAD TO FAILURE AND DOUBLE-SPENDING

Source: Deloitte

Deloitte | LeanIX 5
 White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

Four Practices to Ensure

STEP 1 Create a joint language: CIOs, business
Technology and People leaders, enterprise architects, software
Operate in Unison engineers

STEP 2 Enable democratic innovation with

top-down basic services
STEP 1
Create a joint language: CIOs, business leaders, STEP 3 Kick-start the transformation cycle
enterprise architects, software engineers STEP 4 Connect teams with microservices,
drive reuse, iterate
Just as a common data model enables interoperability
between solutions, a common taxonomy is key for
facilitating communication between people in different The better CIOs can distill their business’s strategic
areas of a business. For CIOs and business leaders, vision, the more successful software engineers will be in
this means co-authoring a sound rationale for why generating ideas that will pay towards those business
brownfield plants are to be future-proofed — and with needs and in creating services implementing them. Just
which resources and at what level of urgency. Together, as important, a common taxonomy will also make it
technological gaps are to be assessed in the context of vastly easier for software engineers to find other related
how they will enhance competitive offerings or support services implemented elsewhere that can be re-used.
day-to-day operations.
If not already obvious, the problems of these various
But while splitting applications into microservices personas — each an integral part in the success of
can accelerate the time-to-market of products and any digital production platform — revolve around
streamline maintenance efforts, what are the customer- one common theme: collaboration. To accelerate
driven reasons behind iterating products more quickly? information exchanges between these cross-functional
What business value can be articulated by CIOs to teams, LeanIX workspaces allow an unlimited number
those forced to change their status quo, cooperate with of users per company to share and update information
unfamiliar stakeholders, share data, and help decouple in real time. This is a particular advantage of the tool for
monolithic services? And, most importantly, can this value Deloitte when navigating client stakeholder networks
be measured to execute adjustments where needed? and connecting diverse architectural viewpoints.

Figure 4
Examples of Data on Virtual Machines, Microservices, and Applications Stored in LeanIX Fact Sheets

Source: LeanIX GmbH

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White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

STEP 2 services can be dissected via pre-configured or ad hoc

Enable democratic innovation with data flow reports.
top-down basic services
Centers of Excellence, the likes of which can be buoyed
New or locally implemented solutions need to be adapted by LeanIX’s enterprise-wide IT repository, should be
and benchmarked to become available globally. It is introduced to manage day-to-day issues and promote
necessary to find the right approach for each functional knowledge sharing. These groups can closely measure
area depending on the specific requirements of that the rollout of digital services, and based on the success
area and adapt the approach as the organization of any particular plant area, best practice deployment
grows and matures. Platforms like LeanIX thereby offer models can be set to standardize implementation speeds
on-demand, configurable reports for stakeholders and predict the risks of new solutions. Above all else,
across the IT-business network to model capabilities, Centers of Excellence are intended to aggregate data
systematize improvements, and assign responsibilities for engineering teams and help them connect with the
where needed. resources they need to become self-organized.

For example, when planning Digital Production Platforms, To help developers sustain continuous value delivery
CIOs and business leaders can use LeanIX to chart yet allow leadership to maintain control, LeanIX can
high-level targets for plants across functions and ensure be positioned at the heart of a company’s cross-
that visions cascade. The rollouts of digital assets organizational innovation network to illustrate the
can be managed centrally via matrix and landscape outcomes a Digital Production Platform’s projects in a
reports, and roadblocks to the implementation of new business-oriented context.

Figure 5
Approaches to Planning Digital Production Platforms

APPROACH 1 ‘Top-Down’ APPROACH 2 ‘Engaging’ APPROACH 3 ‘Independant’

High-level targets cascade across One plant used as incubator in a specific Technology leads the way with digital
functions and plants with central support area to lead broader deployment assets progressively being deployed

• Definition and roll-out of digital assets • Centers of Excellence for defined • Headquarter provides overall
managed centrally across each plant digital priorities managing execution guardrails & functionality addressing
archetype overall vision
• Non-key priorities to be individually
• Plant vision & targets as well as change managed at plant-archetype level • Adoption of individual journeys on plant
is provided and managed centrally ensuring knowledge transfer level and their respective digital skills
collaborating with the business

+ Centralized, globally integrated, and + Facilitated resources and knowledge + Primarily self-organized digital
scalable approach distribution transformation

− Limited self-initiative functions + Increased global leverage though low − Lacking control, integration, and risk
and organization through limited risk of isolated solutions for inefficient resource allocation
enablement

Engage and involve others Share responsibilities & enable self-orginization

EVOLUTION

EXAMPLES:

One Digital Factory in an industrial A Blockchain Institute led by a plant An Open App Store where employees
enterprise specifically dedicated to the that makes DLT services and solutions can share and upload content that
creation and scaling of digital assets. available within the organization. can be co-edited and peer-reviewed.

Source: Deloitte

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White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

Figure 6
Reports and Views From the LeanIX Enterprise Architecture Suite
(Interface Circle Map, Application Landscape, Relations Explorer)

Source: LeanIX GmbH

STEP 3 To begin, Deloitte recommends introducing new solutions

Kick-start the transformation cycle in plants based on factors such as regulatory requirements,
levels of technical debt, and business criticality. Ideas
Digital Platforms make use of the network effect — are to be assessed based on industry design principles,
meaning the more content there is available, the more as should the necessary approaches to actually build or
useful it is for new users to join. This also holds true for migrate applications (e.g., reprogramming, lift and shift,
Digital Production Platforms. In order to provide an initial commercial off-the-shelf replacements). Finally, in addition
value for new joiners, an initial set of services should be to ensuring solutions are fit for use in plants around the
developed centrally and made available to everyone. The globe, deployments must occur on a global platform
more value these services provide to their users, the more (e.g., a cloud hyperscaler) so distributed users can
incentive people have to join. integrate to their shop floor.

Figure 7
The Digital Production Platform Transformation Cycle

3. Global solution availability 1. Select the field of action

Within an alignment between the Define which areas are prioritized.
plants around the globe, the newly Possible factors are:
transformed solutions are deployed • Lowest risk of default
on a globally available platform • Highest business case
(hosted by e.g., a hyperscaler). From • Regulatory requirements
there on every plant is able to access • Best-in-class solution
and integrate the solution on their • Business strategy
shop floor. • Sites with largest technical debt
• Urgency

2. Make solution platform-ready

Each solution needs further analysis
… and based on this assessment, the and design deep dive to define the
chosen solutions require a holistic necessary tasks and efforts to bring
preparation to be ready for the it to the platform:
digital platform and other plants.1 • Lift and shift
• Reprogramming
1 Deloitte’s Method used: EVD for Systems • COTS
Integration • Enhancements
• …

Source: Deloitte

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White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

The process above is contingent on holistic overviews Impact modeling can be performed with BTM to
of IT landscapes, and LeanIX’s Business Transformation analyze how legacy systems can be optimized for new
Management (BTM) module can be used to deconstruct environments and whether other IT entities will be
IT roadmaps and visualize how architectural changes negatively affected as a result. Future outcomes can
directly affect a business. With features to visualize fast- be previewed throughout a project's duration at user-
changing IT landscapes, the module is used to develop defined points in time, and alternate transformation
short- and long-term IT goals with stakeholders and scenarios can be compared to validate roadmaps. In the
secure their buy-in during implementation efforts. Of case of cloud migrations, applications can be prioritized
note, BTM enables users to break down IT projects on based on business objectives and thereafter tracked and
a granular level and finely-structure all processes and monitored at an architectural level.
technologies related to a business goal.

Figure 8
Reports and Heat Maps from the LeanIX Business Transformation Management Module
(Transformation Portfolio, Transformation Landscape, Transformation Roadmap)

Source: LeanIX GmbH

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White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

STEP 4 information, dependencies, violations) and monitor

Connect teams with microservices, deployment KPIs. Information is synced from out-of-the-
drive reuse, iterate box connectors to CI/CD pipelines and orchestration
platforms to ensure proper resource allocation, and end-
As mentioned earlier, a common pitfall in Digital of-life microservices can be tracked within obsolescence
Production Platforms is failing to leverage pre-existing reports.
solutions. It’s an issue that often stems from fragmented
technical documentation and poor visibility into The transparency generated by such a microservices
decentralized applications — a problem that compounds catalog can shorten the ramp up time of new developers
when building microservices at scale to replace monolithic by weeks. Available via one URL and as a self-service, all
applications. Engineers build these microservices using microservices are added to this catalog upon creation.
whatever knowledge is available about interdependencies Further, when used in conjunction with LeanIX EAS,
between technical stacks, user groups, and autonomous synchronous links between microservices and business
teams. The pace at which services can be created or capabilities can help EAs gain a complete view of their IT
optimized depends on how easily this data can be infrastructure, business, and software architecture.
accessed and analyzed.
A Digital Production Platform will fail unless stakeholders
The LeanIX Microservices Intelligence (MI) product consistently share data and actively drive iterative
automates the discovery and cataloging of microservices. improvements. Though budgetary rewards are an obvious
The platform can be used by engineering leaders and incentive to facilitate cross-functional collaboration, it is
their teams as a central repository to retrieve not the only method of motivating teams of users to help
microservices documentation (e.g., owner/description chart improvements.
metadata, deployments, library usage, runtime

Figure 9
The LeanIX Microservice Catalog

Source: LeanIX GmbH

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White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

In Deloitte’s and LeanIX’s experience, buy-in can similarly To quantify improvements like the above, LeanIX MI
be achieved by presenting tangible gains of efficiency to comes built-in with dashboards to track over time
users via the following categories of advantages: and contextualize the build and usage pattern of
microservices. Metrics like mean time to resolution
Improvements (MTTR), deployment frequency, and overall number
of errors are aggregated based on data pulled directly
• Predictive maintenance across production lines
from the Kubernetes CI/CD pipeline and can thereafter
improves early detection of malfunctions.
be used to measure development efficiency.
• CAx connected with welding robots detects wrong
setups at an early stage. Information from microservices can be coupled with
Cost reductions reports in the LeanIX Cloud Intelligence (CI) product
to monitor the progress of cloud migrations and help
• Relative downtime reduction and cost savings per
EAs and CIOs govern cloud infrastructures. No matter
plant provide baseline for bonus calculation.
how broad a cloud landscape, CI is purpose-built to
• Example: Reduced rejects related to provided solution. store dynamic volumes of data on every type of cloud
native asset. This information can be filtered according
New processes to common architectural attributes (i.e., data quality,
ownership, hierarchy), and alerts on common cloud
• Better understanding supports process alignment
violations (e.g., availability, best practices, security,
across plants.
performance, billing) are imported directly from
• Supply Chain is made transparent (logistic providers vendor-specific monitoring tools.
can access data and optimize routing and utilization)

Figure 10
KPI dashboards in LeanIX Microservice Intelligence

Source: LeanIX GmbH

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White Paper Brownfield to Future: Four Steps to Make Your Digital Production Platform a Success

Summary
In order to build a thriving Digital Production Platform, With a focus on enabling people to build and utilize high-
value must be provided from all those who take part: This value content, the Digital Production Platform can reduce
is what Deloitte and LeanIX call democratic innovation. siloes, enable efficiency, and foster innovation – coming
to its full potential.
The following four practices can help with that:

1. Create a joint language through a common taxonomy

and data model
2. Enable democratic innovation with top-down basic
services
3. Kick-start the cycle by providing initial, high-quality
solutions for business
4. Connect teams with microservices, drive reuse, iterate

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited The LeanIX platform promotes continuous transformation and enables
(“DTTL”), its global network of member firms, and their related entities Corporate IT and Product IT teams to establish superior governance
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legally separate and independent entities, which cannot obligate or bind to the organisation of multicloud environments and the cataloging of
each other in respect of third parties. DTTL and each DTTL member firm microservices for DevOps teams: LeanIX follows a collaborative and data-
and related entity is liable only for its own acts and omissions, and not driven approach, focusing on speed and control in cloud environments
those of each other. DTTL does not provide services to clients. Please see and enabling companies to make sound and fast decisions based on
www.deloitte.com/de/UeberUns to learn more. comprehensive data.

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