We will be taking some much needed time off for the holidays. We'd like to thank you for your readership and we encourage you to check back with us next year for more innovative thought, perspective and news surrounding the world of enterprise architecture.
We wish you a joyous holiday season!
James McGovern highlights in his latest post in Enterprise Architecture how he has recently switched IDEs away from Eclipse and towards Netbeans. James believes that Sun Microsystems does not do a good job of selling their value proposition. Do you agree?
MEGA has released a System Blueprint, as reported today on ITWeb. According to the article:
MEGA has introduced System Blueprint, the first software tool on the market that links application design directly with business requirements for the development of IT systems, large IT projects, and service-oriented architecture (SOA) solutions, reports Marketwatch.
System Blueprint is designed for companies that develop and integrate software applications. It assists organizations with the aligning of strategic and operational requirements.
Interestingly…
MEGA System Blueprint provides a model-driven approach for the analysis and design of applications, and focuses on the logical specification of an IT architecture supporting a business activity.
Do you see MEGA’s announcement as big news or is this just typical of EA infrastructure?
David Dichmann, Sybase's product manager for design tools said the changes had been made to improve agility within an enterprise. He said that there was an analogy with business intelligence. "If you look at the way that we build business intelligence systems, we enter the customer information and how to manage that, but we forget the architecture," he said.
Also…
the product uses what Sybase calls Link and Synch technology which works by capturing the intersections between all architectural layers and perspectives of the enterprise. This allows users from all groups to clearly visualise and effectively implement fast, reliable and predictable change.
For more information on Sybase, please visit their website: www.sybase.com
Some industry colleagues are skeptical about this new endeavor; what do you think?
According to MarketWatch,
“Burton Group IT1 offers a complete spectrum of research and advisory tools via a simplified licensing model which includes company-wide access to all of the firm's research coverage areas and unlimited analyst dialogues. This approach is unique compared to traditional analyst firm pricing models that limit access by selling individual seat licenses.”
And interestingly…
“Burton Group's client base is comprised of 85% percent enterprise IT end-user organizations in aerospace, automotive, financial services, education, energy, government, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and retail. Burton Group projects more than half of its current clients will adopt its new IT1 research license model in 2009.”
What do you think are the keys to their success?
VNU Net believes there are changes ahead for enterprise architects. This includes an adoption of a new skill set and new approach to their jobs. According to this article, they’ll need to conform to this new skill set to become a bigger value to the company while driving the real business value, as they are currently lacking business drivers. This is causing 50% of architects to fail. Other trends changing within enterprise architecture is the consumerization of IT and the complexity of business processes.
MapReduce is a Google-inspired program looking to help enterprises clean up their databases and put them into the clouds. SearchSOA.com recently took a look at it here. This was a program originated by Google programmers who wrote programs for parallel situations, so data use was properly transferred from program to program. It also analyzes both structured and unstructured data.
Rich Seeley of SOA Situations can be useful in three situations:
- Text tokenization, indexing, and search
- Creation of other kinds of data structures (e.g., graphs)
- Data mining and machine learning.
As this article reports, MEGA Systems is entering into a new market space: Eastern Europe and
"With economic development running at a fast pace in Eastern Europe in recent years, enterprises here have been seeking proven solutions and expert advice to help them quickly improve performance and optimize resources. MEGA offers unique and significant high-value process and risk management solutions that help companies take full advantage of business growth"
It has been interesting to note the worldwide expansion of Enterprise Architecture solutions and how quickly it has gone from being simply a buzzword. to commonplace and very necessary.
For those of you who missed the chance to view the EAdirections webinar “Putting the "E" in TOGAF: An EAdirections Webinar” last Thursday here’s your chance to view it at your own leisure. Some of the ideas discussed during this one hour session were enterprise-wide requirements that users of TOGAF struggle with and adjustments in Enterprise Architecture to changing markets and opportunities. Also, don’t miss your chance to meet the presenters Larry DeBoever, George Paras, and Tim Westbrock at the Enterprise Architectures Conference in
View the archived webinar by clicking on the following link:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/924415223
I came across this great case study on CIOIndex.com that discusses the selection of enterprise architecture framework and how to implement processes. You have to be a member on CIOIndex in order to view the case study, so make sure to take the time and register for the site if you haven’t already. I’m sure you’ll find the insights discussed in the case study valuable.
This article from cnetnews.com states: Web-oriented architecture (WOA), a descriptive term for a subset of service- oriented architecture (SOA), has recently arisen as the next buzz-phrase to help further confuse the IT architect. So what is it? The article explains that WOA is an implementation of SOA that utilizes representational state transfer resources that permit data and services to be utilized through a uniform resource identifier. Another explanation comes from Nick Gall from Gartner:
WOA is an architectural style that is a substyle of SOA based on the architecture of the www with the following additional constraints: globally linked, decentralized, and uniform intermediary processing of application state via self-describing messages.
eBizQ reports today that Appian, a provider of BPM techonology, and Mega, a provider of EA technology, have entered in agreement to join the BPA and EA capabilities of the MEGA Modeling Suite with the Appian Enterprise BPM Suite and the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-delivered Appian Anywhere platforms.
This new partnership is aimed to improving enterprise success in process innovation and building on existing deployments of software with joint customers such as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, AXA Investment Managers, General Dynamics, and the Department of Homeland Security. Users will be able to perform archectiture and process design on the Mega Suite and then export processes directly to the Appian BPM platform to map out direct management of operations.
Lucio de Risi, president and CEO of MEGA mentions:
"The combination of MEGA's powerful BPA, simulation, and optimization functionality with Appian's robust and scalable BPM platform will unite business users and analysts with enterprise, technical, and information architects in the common goal of creating adaptive, process-driven organizations."
Browsing the blogosphere I came across this post from Anton Ventor in IT Knowledge Exchange. Anton displays a diagram of how Gartner views Information Architecture within the context of Enterprise Architecture. The shaded region in the 2nd column represents Information Architecture. He notes that the term ‘business’ is featured in the diagram, especially under the context of application architecture. Do you agree with the diagram?
James McGovern’s latest post on Enterprise Architecture discusses how many enterprise architects are favoring contract/consultant work over permanent work because of the better paying opportunities and offers.
In a recent research study done by Forrester, discussed here at InfoWorld, they released what their analysts believe are the hottest jobs in IT. The hottest of all jobs available were information/data architects and information security experts. Making the extremely hot list was data/content oriented business analyst, business architect, enterprise architect, and vendor management experts.
Of all the jobs on the list, Forrester found that these attributes were most important characteristics in all the jobs listed:
* Local knowledge of the business industry or region.
* Cross-discipline knowledge; understanding both management practices and customer groups.
* Those willing to take on high-risk roles that, if successful, will have a major impact on the business.
* Limited external supply; that is, while an outsourcer may be willing to supply 500 coders, the benefits of finding you a half-dozen enterprise architects is not worth their while.
* Consistency with technology, vendor, or industry direction, meaning rapid changes in technology; an example is how mobile put a higher demand on real experts who have domain-specific knowledge.
Business Standard mentioned today, in this article, that
“As organisations become more global, SOA will become an integral part of their strategy. It is aimed at lowering the total cost of ownership, simplifying integration and customisation. Organisations are increasingly embracing SOA as a means to access and distribute information in real time”
It is cautioned, however, that organizations need to be aware of disappointment that some companies may announce. As Chandika Mendi, director and head of Virtusa Corporation, explained
“The reason for the disappointment will be due to taking a much narrowed approach while defining SOA, which could lead to failure of implementations. Also, the initial investment in SOA is high and will reap benefits slowly as the entire enterprise moves to it, which is a fairly long journey,”
Anton Venter’s latest post on the IT Knowledge Exchange argues that the real ROI of EA comes from information and its use. Anton makes another great point that documentation of architecture makes finding information easier and readily available. It also becomes easier to provide outsourcers info on the architecture should they need it to support an organization’s applications. What do you think is the real ROI of enterprise architecture?
In our attempt to deliver the latest updates and insights within the EA space, we’ve scheduled a series of free webinars that will happen over the next couple of months. The first webinar in the series “Putting the "E" in TOGAF: An EAdirections Webinar,” will be presented by three managing directors of EAdirections: Larry R. DeBoever, George S. Paras, and Tim Westbrock. Register now for the webinar on Thursday, Sep 4, 2008 from 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT to save your webinar seat. Here’s a brief description of the webinar and what you can expect to take out of it by attending:
A number of EA practitioners have concluded that TOGAF is not an effective framework (and ADM is not an effective methodology) for
If you are a Chief Architect or IT manager evaluating EA frameworks, or if you are struggling to apply TOGAF (or another framework), on an enterprise-wide basis, then this webinar is for you. Topics will include:
What you will learn:
This webinar is being brought to you by the Enterprise Architectures Conference, don’t forget to take a look at the lineup of speakers we have this year. Click on the link below to register for the free webinar.
Alan Inglis, in this blog post, discusses the above chart. He comments that he would add a business entry point, and would also like to see an entry point from an “information or data perspective”.
What are your thoughts? Is there anything else you would add to build on these two authors viewpoints?
What matters most in enterprise architecture? Is it the business model, or the people who lead the organization? Chris Potts reviews this question in his latest post on CIO. One of the points Chris brings up relates to the Economist’s article "No Size Fits All", which explores whether the business model or the people managing it were responsible for the credit crunch.
According to Chris, replicating a business model within organizations does not guarantee success or failure. Only people, ex: customers, suppliers, partners, and employees are able to make a model work. Chris states that business instead, should start on the right hand side like the Zachman Framework for EA (Who, When, Why), not the left (What, How, Where).
Is your organization more concerned with its structure than management?
In a recent article at CIO, Ty Anderson discuses how adopting SOA into the business is like buying a total home gym. Buying it doesn’t get the job done, it’s important to use the purchase continually in order to get the benefits the software can offer.
-- It’s important to audit existing applications. See what the processes are for your current business processes. Know what you’ve got so you can start in the right place.
-- Make the services as simple as possible
-- Work with your SOA tools every day. You’ve got to continually work towards the adoption, day in and day out to find out how the software truly works.
-- Keep working – Now that you’ve got SOA, it’s important to keep it current. Learn what’s new in the software and implement additional tools that are beneficial to your company.
And throughout the whole process, have someone there to keep you going in the right direction. A mentor can help you achieve your goals and keep you working towards the benefits of SOA.
In this article the pIT stop panel was interviewed about the possibility of enterprise architecture in bridging a gap between the IT and business divide. Their answer was
“If I had a polo mint for every time I heard that a technology or approach would provide “alignment” between IT and the business I would walk around with permanently fresh breath.”
While they say there is no easy fix in bridging the divide, they did say that this did not negate the importance of “establishing formal ‘enterprise architecture’” They said that they have seen improvements in IT and business alignment especially in terms of SOA. One piece of advice they gave was to start small. In addition, they mentioned that instead of simply relying on technology or an approach, it is important for organizations to understand the importance of “human factors”.
In a recent article at Inside Architecture, Nick Malik took time to detail the different enterprise architecture frameworks. He then goes on to pose the question, what would the ideal framework be? What would you take from each of the individual methods below to make your enterprise architecture fit your needs?
- TOGAF - Basic strength: solution architecture. Various models and how to create them. Basic weaknesses: Planning methods and governance framework. Weak on Information Architecture
- FEAF - Basic strength: complete implementation tied to measurement framework. Basic weaknesses: very specific to government, lack of independent process taxonomy keeps processes "in the silo."
- eTOM - Basic strength: excellent process taxonomy with rich details. Strong information architecture. Great for governing external vendors. Basic weaknesses: fairly specific to telecom industry, gaps in governance and enterprise architecture models.
- ITIL - Basic strength: excellent process framework for operations and (now) governance. Basic weaknesses: no architectural methodology to speak of. Sizeable gaps in information or application architecture.
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- Zachman - Basic strength: comprehensive taxonomy of architectural artifacts (to let you know when you are done). Basic weaknesses: Lack of published and vetted methods to avoid "boil-the-ocean" exercises and focus on one particular benefit. Very shallow: No detailed process, capability, or solution frameworks for "level 2" detail. Highly proprietary.
This article brings up an interesting point that it may be best to start small when it comes to introducing SOA to an enterprise. While the initial reaction maybe to begin with projects that are high profile, oftentimes without the cooperation from the IT and business departments such projects have the potential to lead to frustration, and ultimately may make individuals feel that SOA failed. To prevent this feeling, it could be beneficial to start on smaller projects where there is plenty of cooperation in order to build “momentum”. With one successful project, it becomes easier to show the benefits in order to gain cooperation on the second, and thereby gaining trust in the usefulness of SOA for organizations.
Every organization defines the goals of Enterprise Architecture in their own distinct way. Anton Venter lists six goals of practicing enterprise architecture in his latest post on the IT Knowledge Exchange. Here they are:
What are your company’s goals of practicing EA? Do they differ from Anton’s?
In a recent blog post by Nick Malik at Inside Architecture, he ponders a very common question: Will information in the enterprise ever be able to be coordinated? Many of his readers think it is a nearly impossible task, but Nick believes with a little bit of software and coordination, it can happen. While all information is department specific, there is some overlap that can be coordinated. The value of coordinated communication is not something businesses should look over.
Nick believes that the information can be a powerful asset if shared throughout the company. So the easiest way to do this is to come up with a submission model. This model would be assembled by enterprise architects, then put together in a common repository. They can then assemble the information together in a way that information could run parallel in departments. Nick points out that in the end, we may be closer to having enterprise-wide architecture. There will be criticisms throughout the process, but the productivity in the end will shine brightly for enterprise architecture efforts.
In a recent post at User Centric Enterprise Architecture, Andy Blumenthal explores the craze that has come with having access to the internet and being connected 24/7. Blumenthal spoke an official at Northwest University Hospital, and found out that he’d treated patients who’d suffered from injuries while texting at least once a day. Now that we have access to all business information at any second, people can be more productive but only when the tools are used properly. It’s important for the enterprise architects of the organizations to teach the users of their technology appropriately. It’s important to focus on the human aspects of the tools of enterprise architecture and pass them along to those using the tools.
Excellent, to me, means that the effort is tailored to the needs of the business. That includes business strategy, business structure, and corporate culture.
His opinion is that this definition of excellence is different for everyone. Do you think there is a common way to define it? And what would you define as attaining excellence for an enterprise architecture program?
As reported by this article at CIO, Carphone Warehouse, a mobile phone retailer in the
As a result, they adopted HP Systinet. This SOA governance tool helped 95% of new service designs pass the governance test. It has also estimated that this new software will save them £526,000 over the next three years, due to the avoidance of duplicating processes. It also will allow the IT department to deliver new services to the business in the shortest amount of time possible.
Do you think that corporations selling SOA governance tools are starting to respond more to customers needs?
A recent study by Gartner has revealed that 90% of Ecommerce sites will utilize SaaS by 2013 as reported in this article from ebizQ. The results of the study indicate that Ecommerce sites will use at least one of the following services: product reviews, product recommendations, or social sales capabilities. A statement from Gartner to ebizQ announced that:
“The trend toward SaaS applications has affected customer relationship management (CRM) and other applications, and e-commerce isn’t exempt from this trend. E-commerce SaaS solutions enable companies that couldn’t afford e-commerce to have these capabilities and compete online. It provides organizations with live Web sites, and enables e-commerce SaaS service providers to provide individual services, such as product reviews or click to call, that can be incorporated into e-commerce SaaS platforms, as well as on sites that are using licensed software.”
Gene Alvarez, research VP for Garnter, cautions Ecommerce companies to investigate before jumping to use SaaS tools. According to him it is very important for organizations to
“develop a SaaS strategy that accounts for the scoping, evaluation, selection, operation and different architectures or SaaS solutions, as well as determines the organizations comfort level in leveraging externally provided IT applications.”
Chris Potts reminds us in his latest post on CIO where the balance lies between the
He begins his explanation with a definition of
The real benefit comes when the enterprise drives the architecture and not vice versa.
An article at CIO recently defined service oriented architecture as:
a broad, standards-based framework in which services are built, deployed, managed, and orchestrated in pursuit of new and much more agile IT infrastructures that respond swiftly to shifting business demands.
Also according to the article, SOA also has the potential to reduce your IT costs and improve your business agility, all while taking many of the tools already at use in the organization and conforming them to a new structure that will help align the business.
Do you agree with this definition, if not, what would you change?
