IoT SOLUTIONS MATURITY MODEL

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the interconnection of uniquely identifiable objects and ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. IoT is expected to offer advanced connectivity to various kind of devices, systems, and services and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications. E.g. we can connect different things to monitor multiple parameters. For e.g. Blood glucose meter to monitor sugar level, temperature sensor inside a refrigerator to monitor the temperature, automobiles with built-in sensors to monitor location and driving behavior, etc.

The entire ecosystem of an IoT solution includes various elements such as:

• Devices, sensors - to monitor a thing - equipment or person• Network - to transmit data• Cloud hosting - to save data generated by the sensors• M2M Platform - such as Thingworx, Bosch SI, Aeris to receive data from the sensors• Analytics - to make meaningful information from the sensor data and generate reports and dashboards• UI Front End - Traditional technologies like HTML, Liferay etc. or M2M platform like Thingworx• Third party integration - to allow seamless integration with existing systems used by an enterprise

The number of devices which connect to the Internet is exponentially increasing. These billions of components produce consume and process information in different environments such as logistic applications, factories and airports as well as in the work and everyday lives of people. The society needs new, scalable, compatible and secure solutions for both the management of the ever broader, complex-networked Internet of Things, and also for the support of various business models. Hence there is a need for a model to assess the maturity of an IoT solution.

Objective of the IoT Maturity Model

To assess the maturity of an IoT solution, a number of parameters have been defined. To evaluate the maturity level of the IoT solution, it will be assessed on all the parameters. Each parameter will have a minimum threshold value which needs to be achieved by a solution in order to be qualified compliant for the parameter.

Maturity Level Parameters

S.No.Maturity Index

ParameterParameter Details Maturity Index Values

Maturity Index Score

Min DesiredScore

User Interface / User Interactions Parameters

1. Mobile Device Support

Platforms supports user interactions thru mobile devices like tablets / smartphones

User Interface renders correctly on mobile device screens

Supports Responsive Web design

Supports integration with native device capabilities such as notifications, calendar etc.

1 3 5 1

2. Data Visualization

Ability of the solution to present the data using visual interfaces

Basic data displays Widget library ( charts, graphs, … )

Complex dashboards with dynamic context aware widgets

1 3 5 1

Device Integration Parameters

3. Device Agnostic Ability of the platform / solution to work with multiple device options

Requires specific make model for functioning correctly

Presents more than one option for devices

N/A 1 5 0 5

4. Device Management

Ability of the platform to manage the devices used in data collection

Does not manage device

Provides basic configuration for data integration

Provides diagnostics & advanced config capabilities

1 3 5 3

Data Analysis & Interpretation Parameters

5. Data Analysis & Interpretation

Ability of the solution to analyze the data and interpret it in terms of business outcomes, KPIs etc.

Basic analysis of individual data parameters (Control Limits, On/Off etc.)

Analysis based on calculations and co-relations

Long term trending and patterns

1 3 5 3

6. Data Analytics Ability of the solution to perform analytics on the data

Ability to use data to measure business KPIs

Identify and highlight patterns based on rules

Ability to integrate with BI tools

1 3 5 1

Deployment Architecture Support Parameters

7. Ability to integrate with Connectivity Services Management Platforms

Support in Multiple countries with different Network providers

Single Multiple Rules based intelligent transport awareness

1 3 5 3

8. Federated Deployment Architecture Supported

Federated Deployment Architecture Supported

No Yes N/A 1 5 0 5

9. Partner Ecosystem

Solution enables 3rd party partners to consume the data and/or analytics to build apps

No Yes, shares data for 3rd party apps

Yes, support advanced features for modular functionality to be plugged in and managed

0 3 5 3

Data Management Parameters

10. Data Modeling The Platform provides tools to create and manage a logical model for describing the machine and its data elements

Basic Data model that describes the specific data parameters that the machine exposes in terms of type, length etc. and correlates the logically described parameters with specific values in the data stream received from the machine etc.

Data Model management allows creation and correlation of additional parameters (external, calculated, virtual/simulated etc.)

Visual Data Modeling tool available

1 3 5 3

11. Data Storage The Platform provides flexible and efficient methods of storing the data received from machines

Basic time series data storage capability

Ability to configure and optimize storage methods (e.g. data compression, DeDup, InMemory Caching etc.)

Ability to configure and plug-in specialized data storage engines/plug-ins e.g. DataWarehousing or ETL integration

1 3 5 3

12. Data Translation Platform capabilities related to translation/conversion of machine data

Provides tools to select and export data in as is format

Provides tools to convert to Relational, or Object formats or XML etc.

Provides tools to automate data conversion

1 3 5 3

13. Data Integration/Export

Platform capabilities to enable integration of internal and external data sources

API based access to raw data

Ability to query and select data and formats

Ability to invoke external systems interfaces to share data

1 3 5 3

14. Data Integration/Import

Platform capabilities to enable integration of internal and external data sources

Provides ability to import data from external sources

Ability to query, filter, convert etc. while importing

Ability to invoke external systems interfaces to import data

1 3 5 3

S.No.Maturity Index

ParameterParameter Details Maturity Index Values

Maturity Index Score

Min DesiredScore

Technical Parameters

15. Scalability-Horizontal

Support for a large number of devices or large number of parameters etc.

Difficult to support beyond a limit

Can be optimized to certain extent

Fully scalable 1 3 5 3

16. Scalability-Vertical

Ability to scale individual system components (storage, rules engine, notification capacity etc.)

Difficult to support beyond a limit

Can be optimized to certain extent

Fully scalable 1 3 5 3

17. Security Secured solution conforming to the security guidelines and security testing

High – Security guidelines and security testing passed. Implemented Web portal and backend security, data encryption/Decryption during transmission of data and storage (atleast 128 bit encryption), SSL certificate (https), User access based security

Medium - User access based security, SSL Certificate (https)

Low - No https and no encryption and probably only User access based security

5 3 1 3

18. Hosted on cloud Solution is hosted on cloud

Yes No N/A 5 3 0 5

19. Performance Benchmarking

Performance Benchmarking done and results are available

Yes and performance is as per expectations

Yes and performance is below expectations

No 5 3 1 5

20. Highly Available High Availability supported and certified

Yes – High availability testing done and no single point of failure

Not highly available and no redundancy is in place

N/A 5 3 0 5

S.No.Maturity Index

ParameterParameter Details Maturity Index Values

Maturity Index Score

Min DesiredScore

Stability Parameters

21. Already in production

Is Solution already deployed in production

Currently In Production

Being implemented for a client

Not yet in production

5 3 1 1

22. Stability -Outstanding production defects

Solution stability -Number of outstanding defects post production go live

Very Stable Sev1: 0*Sev2: Upto 2Sev3: Upto 5Sev4: Upto 10

Stable Sev1: 0Sev2: Upto 5Sev3: Upto 10Sev4: Upto 20

Not Stable Sev1: > 0Sev2: More than 5Sev3: More than 10Sev4: More than 20

5 3 1 3

23. Production Ready

Production Ready version available

Yes – All kinds of functional and non-functional testing passed

Beta version is available – testing for production version is in progress

No – Beta version is also not available and significant changes are required to be done to make it production ready

5 3 1 3

24. Time to Market Time to Market (Months)

1 Month 3 Months 6 Months 5 3 1 3

25. Skilled Resource Availability

Skilled Resources Available in domain / technology to support in Managed services Mode

Available Not available, but can be trained

Not available 5 3 1 3

26. Customer feedback

Solution showcased to customers and key stakeholders and their feedback is available

Very Satisfied, meeting all requirements of the potential customers

Satisfied, meeting most requirements of the potential customers

Not Satisfied, meeting few requirements of the potential customers

5 3 1 5

27. Implementation Status

Solution Fully Developed or is Under Development

Fully Developed and passed all quality checks

Under Development

Not yet developed

5 3 1 5

28. Change Frequency

Changes to the functionality in a given timeframe (Add/Update/Delete)M = number of modules in current version A = number of added modules in current version C = number of changed modules in current version D = number of deleted modules in current version compared to the previous version

Changes = (M - (A + C + D)) / M Ideally its value should be close to 1

Minimal changes Limited changes Frequent changes

5 3 1 3

S.No.Maturity Index

ParameterParameter Details Maturity Index Values

Maturity Index Score

Min DesiredScore

Customization and Enhancement Parameters

29. Multi Lingual Support

Multiple Language Support in the solution

Yes – Multiple languages supported

No – Only English language supported

N/A 5 3 0 3

30. Ease of customization & White labelling

Ease of customization for different sectors and White labelling

Simple – easy to customize the solution as per customer’s need

Medium –Requires some efforts to customize the solution

Complex –Difficult to customize the solution

5 3 1 3

31. Ease of Integration

Ease of Integration with external systems

Simple, requires configuration and minimal changes

Medium, requires changes for integration

Complex, requires major rework for integration

5 3 1 3

32. Ease of Enhancements

Ease of Enhancements

Simple, maintainable solution with minimum interdependency between various modules

Medium, maintainable solution having some interdependency between various modules

Complex, tightly coupled and interdependent modules, requires major rework to enhance functionalities

5 3 1 3

Commercials and ROI Parameters

33. Business Case & Market Analysis

Market Analysis conducted and Business Case created

Yes, Approved business case is available with clearly documented ROI

No, Business case and ROI are not defined

N/A 5 3 0 5

34. Cost Model Cost Model available Various cost models available

One cost model No cost model available

5 3 1 5

S.No.Maturity Index

ParameterParameter Details Maturity Index Values

Maturity Index Score

Min DesiredScore

Defect Severity Definition

Sev1

Critical Service Impact

Issue critically affects the primary business service and major functionality. No

acceptable workaround is available. Characteristics of a Severity 1 issue include:

Business service is not operational

Production system crashes

Data integrity at risk

Production backup and recovery operations fail.

Sev2

Significant Service or Implementation ImpactThe business service, major application, or system is seriously affected or implementation stopped. The workaround may be available.

Sev3

Moderate Service ImpactThe business service, major application, or system is moderately impacted, no data has been lost, and the business service, application, or system is still functioning. The issue may be temporarily circumvented using an available workaround.

Sev4No or minimum Service ImpactNon-critical issues, UI related cosmetic issues, documentation issues etc.

Defect Severity Definition

IoT Solution Maturity comparison

Each solution will be rated on the above parameters to assess the overall maturity of the solution and deviation from the minimum prescribed maturity level will be highlighted.

The overall maturity index can be calculated by averaging the value of each parameter to compare overall maturity of various solutions.

Deepak Rawal comes with more than 15 years of professional experience in project management, project execution, consultancy, design and development in various enterprise applications in various technologies and domains like IoT, Healthcare, Public Sector, Energy trading, HR domain etc. He is a ITIL SO, ST and Price 2 Practitioner certified

Deepak RawalSr. Project Manager, Tech Mahindra

www.techmahindra.com

www.youtube.com/user/techmahindra09

www.facebook.com/techmahindra

www.twitter.com/tech_mahindra

www.linkedin.com/company/tech-mahindra

connect@techmahindra.com