The SOA design time guys have a lot of work to do. READ MORE
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
SOA Governance Monday: Design Time, and the missing pieces
Sunday, October 12, 2008
There's no need to panic - just simplify your to-do list
The last quarter of the year needn't be a hectic rush to accomplish everything that you left to do for later. By applying some project management techniques, says Natalie Rabson of Boston City Campus and Business College, you can achieve your goals, deliver on your promises and reach targets without losing your mind in the process. "We tend to panic when we see that the end of the year is nearing," she says.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Where to place your bets on SOA governance
SOA governance is going through a bit of a, let's say, normalization. READ MORE
Leadership + Talent = Working SOA
As I've been saying, this is a people not a technology issue READ MORE
SOA Governance Monday: It's not about technology
The fact of the matter is that SOA governance is really a people-and-process thing. READ MORE
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
How You Can Put Other Companies' Assets to Work for You
How You Can Put Other Companies' Assets to Work for You
Traditional growth strategies require up-front investment in new assets in the hope of future profits. Result? Narrow margins-for a time, or forever. Here's a better way to spur growth: Leverage assets that other companies own. For example, aggregate related firms' resources to create value-added service portfolios. Investment giant Charles Schwab does this by putting together specialized third-party resources (for example, Dow Jones news stories, Standard & Poor's company reports, and First Call earnings forecasts) to help customers make investment decisions. Through Schwab, customers can also access other companies' investment products or participating independent investment counselors. Schwab attracts more customers-at lower costs than if it owned the underlying assets
Traditional growth strategies require up-front investment in new assets in the hope of future profits. Result? Narrow margins-for a time, or forever. Here's a better way to spur growth: Leverage assets that other companies own. For example, aggregate related firms' resources to create value-added service portfolios. Investment giant Charles Schwab does this by putting together specialized third-party resources (for example, Dow Jones news stories, Standard & Poor's company reports, and First Call earnings forecasts) to help customers make investment decisions. Through Schwab, customers can also access other companies' investment products or participating independent investment counselors. Schwab attracts more customers-at lower costs than if it owned the underlying assets
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Are ESBs hurting SOA? Or is it just bad architecture?
I came across this article on TechTarget.com by Rich Seeley, outlining issues around ESB integration. "Enterprise service bus (ESB) intermediation remains an issue despite the adoption of WS-* standards, argues John Michelsen, chief architect at iTKO Inc., the testing vendor specializing in service-oriented architecture (SOA)." "They're finding that two or three different divisions of their company are using different ESBs from different vendors." Okay, there are so many things wrong with this I don't know where to start. First, if there is indeed "enterprise architecture" and an "enterprise architect" then the different divisions should not be using different ESBs, or... READ MORE
Should you Fire your CIO?
One of the things covered in the recent Burton report was an instance where a new CIO was needed to get SOA going. Loraine Lawson does a good job covering the report, and the CIO angle in her recent post. "A new CIO coming on board during a business and IT reorganization often made the difference between SOA failure and SOA success, according to Anne Thomas Manes, an analyst with the Burton Group who recently studied real-world SOA implementations." I covered this report last week, as you may remember, as well as my podcast. The reality is that CIOs are... READ MORE
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Are You Looking for a Horizontal ERP Software Package or an Industry Specific Solution?
I hear prospects say they are “only looking for an industry specific solutionâ€, which is code for I only want to consider packages that sell specifically to my vertical market. If I am leading a software selection project and I limit my options to such a small segment of an otherwise large product mix, how do I really know if I am finding the right solution?
Monday, July 7, 2008
Are you seeing SOA rage?
I'm getting some reports from a few of those charged with making SOA work within some of the larger enterprises. They are experiencing what I call SOA rage. SOA rage is the negative reaction some of the architects are getting from those charged with changing existing systems. I expected some of this. We're doing a few things that could indeed get on the last nerve of existing IT, such as looking at existing inefficiencies, including static and hard-to-change architectures that allow you to determine the ROI of SOA. Many preserve these attacks on systems and processes that they have cared... READ MORE
SOA governance Dos and Don'ts
SOA Governance is one of those things in the world of SOA that's largely misunderstood. I can understand why, as the vendors are defining it differently. However, as SOA problem domains become more complex, typically more than 50 services, the need for SOA governance becomes even more apparent. So, how does one select a SOA Governance solution? It's really a matter of a few dos and don'ts. Dos Do select a vendor that provides SOA governance features that are more runtime in nature. Many SOA governance tools focus on design-time features, which are fine, but the runtime features provide the... READ MORE
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Book Review: Making Things Happen
Jun. 7, 2008 (Blogcritics.org delivered by Newstex) -- In Making Things Happen we have an "in-your-face" text from Scott Berkun. While case studies are an integral part of any (project) management handbook, the author had used anecdotes and virtualized examples from his extensive experience in the IT giant Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to good effect as a continuous logic and before you know it you have finished reading the book.The idea that project management is an art is a powerful one and in spite of the availability of many tools and techniques like XP (Extreme Programming) and Agile project management, hard-pressed Project Managers would definitely like the sage advice of people in as much or more difficult situations they face on a daily basis as part of the job responsibilities.One of the impressive treatments is in the way that the author has brought focus to the various technical terms used in project management on a regular basis.
Friday, June 13, 2008
How to sell SOA (Part II)
In my previous post, I introduced a few key concepts to sell SOA, including: Shining a light on existing limitations Creating the business case Creating the execution plan Delivering the goods Let's add to that list. Creating the business case refers to the process of actually putting some numbers down as to the value of the SOA to the enterprise or business. This means looking at the existing issues (from the previous step), and putting dollar figures next to them. For instance, how much are these limitations costing the business, and how does that affect the bottom line? Then, how... READ MORE
2008-6-13 Friday
CalTrans ERP software selecton
CGI Group Inc. has won two contracts totaling $29.6 million to provide enterprise resource planning software systems to state and local government customers in California.
Under one contract, CGI will deliver its Web-based AMS Advantage 3 ERP and business intelligence solution to the California Transportation Department to address its financial management needs.
The technology solution includes business intelligence tools and a data warehouse to provide reporting and data analysis, the company said. It is designed to link to the department’s existing and future systems.
Under the other contract, CGI will furnish its AMS Advantage ERP software suite for Monterey County, Calif. The ERP package will address the county’s financial, budgeting, human resource and payroll systems.
The ERP system is designed to integrate financial planning, budget development, financial statements, procurement, payroll processing and personnel record administration, the company said. The county will use the system to establish a foundation for e-government initiatives, streamline strategic planning and improve daily operations.
Both contracts have four-year terms.
CGI Group Inc. is based in Montreal with U.S. headquarters located in Fairfax, Va. It ranks No. 73 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.
CGI Group Inc. has won two contracts totaling $29.6 million to provide enterprise resource planning software systems to state and local government customers in California.
Under one contract, CGI will deliver its Web-based AMS Advantage 3 ERP and business intelligence solution to the California Transportation Department to address its financial management needs.
The technology solution includes business intelligence tools and a data warehouse to provide reporting and data analysis, the company said. It is designed to link to the department’s existing and future systems.
Under the other contract, CGI will furnish its AMS Advantage ERP software suite for Monterey County, Calif. The ERP package will address the county’s financial, budgeting, human resource and payroll systems.
The ERP system is designed to integrate financial planning, budget development, financial statements, procurement, payroll processing and personnel record administration, the company said. The county will use the system to establish a foundation for e-government initiatives, streamline strategic planning and improve daily operations.
Both contracts have four-year terms.
CGI Group Inc. is based in Montreal with U.S. headquarters located in Fairfax, Va. It ranks No. 73 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
How to win with SOA ... fourth, remember the people
SOAs are not built by computers; they are built and managed by people. As such, you have to consider the impact to the humans as well as the impact to the enterprise architecture. There are two places to focus here. First, focus on the SOA-ability of the people building the SOA. Second, focus on those who will be using the services and interfaces of the SOA. Those tasked with building a SOA need to have a firm grasp of traditional enterprise architecture, and the notion, approaches, and technology of SOA. For most organizations that's a tall order, and outside consultants... READ MORE
Part II: SOA vendors focus too much on integration and not enough on architecture
I seem to have hit a nerve with my last post "SOA vendors focus too much on integration and not enough on architecture." You can read the comments, but the reaction was: Vendors…no like (based on IP addresses). End users…confused (based on IP addresses). Let me be clearer. A few core reactions and my guidance. SOA vendors don't need to understand architecture. They do indeed, this includes architecture in general, and "an architecture" specifically…yours for instance. The fact of the matter is that when you're selling technology, it's a tad helpful if you understand its logical fit within the SOA.... READ MORE
Monday, June 9, 2008
How to win with SOA ... third, focus on understanding
\While many may understand the notion of SOA by now, very few have any idea how to get there. Truth-be-told, there is no hard and fast rule as to how one builds an SOA in their organization. Clearly, SOA is a situational thing and your mileage may vary. However, some common patterns are emerging which may assist you in understanding how to implement SOA. Here are a few things to think about when building your SOA, and really where the rubber meets the road in terms of insuring your success…understanding your own issues and requirements. Understand your business objectives, and... READ MORE
How to win with SOA ... second, define the value
We implement SOA for two major reasons. First is the ability to save development dollars through reuse of services. These services may have been built inside or outside of the company, and the more services that are reusable from system to system, the more ROI from our SOA. Second is the ability to change the IT infrastructure faster to adapt to changing needs of the business. This, of course, provides a huge strategic advantage and thus allows for the business to have better chances of survival long-term. While determining the ROI on agility is difficult to figure out in hard... READ MORE
How to sell SOA (Part I)
Many organizations out there don't really have to sell SOA. They instead understand that the hype is the driver, and in essence leverage the thousands of articles and books on the topic to sell this architectural pattern. However, in most cases SOA has to be sold within the enterprise. Indeed, if you're doing SOA right you'll find that the cost quickly goes well into the millions, thus you'll need executive approval for that kind of acceleration in spending. However, the benefits are there as well, including the core benefit of agility that could save the company many times the cost... READ MORE
Sunday, June 8, 2008
SOA: Focus on the fundamentals
I've noticed that those charged with building enterprise SOAs are working on establishing approaches to the implementation of their SOA instance -- they are not yet looking for "key enabling SOA technology," at least not yet. This means that they are setting up methodologies, defining deliverables, and determining how all of these artifacts are related. What's more, they are focusing on education, and understanding just what they are doing before they do it. We have learned from the past that quick movements towards a technology trend without the proper amount of upfront thinking typically results in failure. So, what are... READ MORE
Friday, June 6, 2008
ERP Diagnostic: 3 Steps to Successful ERP
In this blog, we've written about a number of reasons for ERP challenges and failures. In fact, the most recent high-profile blunder is related to Waste Management's attempted implementation of SAP (click here to read the related article). We all know that it's usually the business, process, or people issues that contribute to ERP challenges,
Monday, June 2, 2008
Is BPEL irrelevant?
Some time ago I wrote about the issues with the new 2.0 version of BPEL, namely backward capability. Many of those issues, according to people using the technology, came true. The movement to 2.0 was somewhat of a challenge. However, the challenges around BPEL may not be around backward compatibility these days; it may be more around not being made irrelevant in the context of SOA. OK, perhaps it's just me but I don't see BPEL that much these days, either around its use within SOA problem domains I'm tracking, or a part of larger SOA strategies within enterprises. Understand,... READ MORE
Friday, May 30, 2008
SOA Gets SaaSy?
Joe McKendrick does a great job in following up on my post on "Pay-as-you-go SOA." "There are some examples of the on-demand model for SOA-enabling tools and platforms emerging. In a podcast last year, Dana Gardner, along with Anrai O'Toole, explored the possibilities of what is often referred to as "Integration as a Service." A few months after his podcast with Dana, Anrai practiced what he preached — his company, ESB provider Cape Clear, offered up its ESB into the cloud. The company was absorbed into Workday, an online ERP provider, earlier this year." "SOA tools and platforms from the... READ MORE
Mashups exploding: SOA is along for the ride
It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that the mashups are moving from something that's conceptual and fun, to something that's productive and businesslike. The fact is developers are leveraging mashups to solve all sorts of business problems these days, and the speed to production and value of these little applications is compelling. However, when one looks at mashups, you're not only looking at the mixing and matching of resources found on the Web and/or within the enterprise, but at a true composite application as we've been defining for years in the world of SOA. Thus, mashups are... READ MORE
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE; PMI Scheduling Professional PMI-SPSM Credential Introduced
To meet the growing demand for project managers and to offer a credential for those who specialize in scheduling, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has developed a credential for scheduling professionals who work on project teams. The new credential is the PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)(SM) credential (see also Project Management Institute).
The Pay-as-you-Go SOA Challenge
One of the things I've been thinking about this holiday weekend is the way that people are paying for SOA technology. I mean, if you've selected a vendor, you're paying for the technology before you know it's both the right fit and works as advertised. There is no shared risk. The "pay before play" model is the domain of the on-premise enterprise software vendors, including most SOA vendors. However, there has been a movement in the last few years to software-as-a-service (SaaS), open source, and now platform-as-a-service (PaaS). What's nice about these emerging models is that typically you pay for... READ MORE
ERP Implementation: Do It Right or Pay Later
When dealing with clients who want to short-cut their ERP implementation process, one of the Project Managers at our company likes to state that "you can pay now, or you can pay later." This may seem self-promoting since we are consultants earning a living on helping clients with their ERP implementations, but the reality is that it's a true statement. We see many companies that spend hundreds of
Friday, May 23, 2008
SAP Licenses Due to Expire
As many of you may be of aware of, many companies have already implemented SAP and are only looking at upgrades, rolling out global templates, consolidations, and extending their existing SAP suites to modules that have not been implemented before (such as HR, PS, BI, etc.). When the SAP certificates expire, companies have to renew them or make a decision in a different direction. Therefore, it
7 Key ERP Success Factors
We recently conducted an ERP poll to identify the factors that ERP experts find to be the most important to successful ERP projects. Based on the findings of the study, here's what percentage of participants find each of the following the most important success factor: Strong Program Management - 6% Executive Support and Buy-in - 19% Organizational change management and training - 13% Realistic
Project manager a critical role
The success of any business project, whether big or small, generally depends on one important person -- the project manager. Since companies can spend millions of dollars on such projects, it is not surprising that more and more of them are looking for qualified project managers.
Inside IT Project Failure Deadly Project Lust
When an organization falls in love at all costs with a technology project, things have the potential to get pretty messy--and very expensive. It happens often enough. For whatever reason, an IT honcho or a line-of-business manager continues a dud of a project with the persistence of a bulldog holding onto a piece of meat. They just won't unclamp their jaws, even when all signs point to symptoms of potential disaster--whether the technology isn't going to work as designed, it won't fit with the business after all, or it can't be completed on time or on budget. "It's very common to see both IT and the line-of-business folks become enamored with a project and continue, blinded by the risks, when a third-party objective participant would say that there is failure coming down the line out there," says Michael Krigsman, CEO of Asuret, a project-management consultancy in Brookline, Mass.
The realities of SOA (podcast)
This got me thinking or actually remembering that we need to not forget that we need to solve the customer/client problems while focusing on the integration
Download file... READ MORE
Mashups/SOA Pushback
Wow, you never know until you post. I had a couple of e-mails…okay…let's call them nasty grams around my last post, people who did not want the term "mashups" sullied with the term "SOA." Nobody would go on the record, but the core message is that they view SOA as something that's "enterprisy," and mashups as much more innovative and not really enterprise related. Not sure I agree with that. While indeed mashups are an innovative way of building very cool applications from many available resources, visual and non-visual, they are still composite applications. While I'm seeing mashups that are... READ MORE
2008-5-23 Friday
http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid26_gci1307332,00.html
"...we spent 55 percent of our time defining the processes. Fifty-five percent, I found that pretty amazing. Twenty percent of our time was in coding. The remaining 25 percent was in testing and implementation
"...we spent 55 percent of our time defining the processes. Fifty-five percent, I found that pretty amazing. Twenty percent of our time was in coding. The remaining 25 percent was in testing and implementation
Friday, May 16, 2008
5 Ways to Speed Through Bureaucracy at Work - US News
Sometimes if you can't get through - dont go there.
5 Project Points of Failure to Avoid
Sure, falling in love with technology can cause big project headaches, but rarely does technology alone cause an IT project to fail. "Yes, IT sometimes falls in love with its technology, but most failures come about, not as a result of the technology, but as a result of the management of technology," says Michael Krigsman of Asuret, a project management consultancy based in Brookline, Mass. "The consequences of failure can be dramatic, from a technical standpoint and especially from a business standpoint. And the sad part is that most of these failures could be avoided."
2008-5-16 Friday
BearingPoint Finalizes HR & Payroll Modernization Project for North Carolina
BearingPoint, a management and technology consulting firm, announced the successful implementation of a new human resources and payroll computer system for the State of North Carolina. The new integrated system, named BEACON (Building Enterprise Access for North Carolina s Core Operation Needs), replaced North Carolina s antiquated 30-year-old human resource and payroll computer systems with advanced technology that eliminates most paper forms and gives state employees the ability to view and change personal information online. Nearly 86,000 state employees can now perform a variety of typical functions with just a few clicks of a mouse.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
It's who you know
In business, who you know can be just as important as what you know. For project managers, one of the best ways to network is to join the leading organization in the industry -- the Project Management Institute (PMI). "PMI is set up for people looking at their career development and membership automatically gives you access to a number of peers," says Sean Whitaker, who chairs the South Island branch of the Project Management Institute of New Zealand (PMINZ).
Friday, May 9, 2008
How to win with SOA ... finally, focus longer term
Finally, SOA is a long term solution. No ROI will come soon for the majority of enterprises that leverage SOA approaches and technology, thus the value will be understood in years, not months. This is an especially difficult concept when you consider that most American businesses operate quarter to quarter, and budgets and objects change monthly. Thus, longer term projects such as SOA, which are both complex and systemic, are difficult if not impossible to maintain over time in some organizations. What's needed is a much longer term outlook. The best advice is to get investment and commitment from the... READ MORE
2008-5-9 Friday
Web Oriented Architecture Webinar Series
I've had a number of you who have asked me to bring back the Webinar series I was doing a year or so ago. So, I'm going to start on 5/13, next week, delivering the first of many Webinars around the notion of Web Oriented Architecture, or WOA. The description is below, and you can register here. It's free, with very little commercial interruption. Come learn about WOA and SOA in the real world. David Linthicum: Delivering Enterprise Data to the Emerging Web Data is the driving force behind the emerging Internet. While the Web used to be a collection... READ MORE
Thursday, May 8, 2008
2008-5-8 Thursday
SAP
Implementing an enterprise application like an enterprise resources planning (ERP), contact relationship management (CRM), or enterprise asset management (EAM) is almost as complex as undertaking a civil engineering or major construction project. Here are six simple steps to take in order to manage that complexity and achieve your corporate goals.
http://research.ittoolbox.com/white-papers/pdfViewer.asp?r=http://hosteddocs.ittoolbox.com/WP-2007-08%20-%206%20Steps%20to%20ERP%20Implementation%20Success.pdf
6 Steps to ERP Implementation Success.pdf
http://research.ittoolbox.com/white-papers/pdfViewer.asp?r=http://hosteddocs.ittoolbox.com/bcs_ab_SAP.pdf
Implementing an enterprise application like an enterprise resources planning (ERP), contact relationship management (CRM), or enterprise asset management (EAM) is almost as complex as undertaking a civil engineering or major construction project. Here are six simple steps to take in order to manage that complexity and achieve your corporate goals.
http://research.ittoolbox.com/white-papers/pdfViewer.asp?r=http://hosteddocs.ittoolbox.com/WP-2007-08%20-%206%20Steps%20to%20ERP%20Implementation%20Success.pdf
6 Steps to ERP Implementation Success.pdf
http://research.ittoolbox.com/white-papers/pdfViewer.asp?r=http://hosteddocs.ittoolbox.com/bcs_ab_SAP.pdf
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
2008-5-6 Tuesday
Project Manager what have you done with you time today?
http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/ocm/archives/dear-mr-project-manager-what-have-you-done-with-your-time-today-24275
http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/ocm/archives/dear-mr-project-manager-what-have-you-done-with-your-time-today-24275
http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/eai/madgreek/archives/ea-and-ivory-towers-24272
http://www.exubero.com/blog/20070522_The_Business_Case_for_a_Blog.html
Monday, May 5, 2008
2008-5-5 Monday
Those seeking general advice around SOA, and how to win. Here are 5 surefire ways that, if followed, will make your SOA a success. They are: 1. Understand the pain. 2. Define the value. 3. Focus on understanding. 4. Remember the people. 5. Focus longer term. Understand the pain. In many modern global 2000 companies, the enterprise architectures are badly broken and hinder the businesses ability to change. For instance, a recent survey by the Business Performance Management Institute found that only 11 percent of executives... READ MORE
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Saturday, May 3, 2008
2008-5-3 Saturday
New Born Blog
SOA
This artical really hits the mark. My EA team mates and I are experiencing this now. Stay tuned for the outcome. http://weblog.infoworld.com/realworldsoa/archives/2008/05/soa_issues_are.html?source=rss Anything new here- sure, like the artical reads,WOA is a new term offering a new way to think about new things, in the context of old things.http://weblog.infoworld.com/realworldsoa/archives/2008/04/why_woasoa_is_m.html?source=rss Web 2.0 Here I Comehttp://weblog.infoworld.com/realworldsoa/archives/2008/04/web_20_here_i_c.html?source=rss
The No. 1 Business Issue: Customer Relationships
http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/d/4/8d41b006-45e6-46e8-9bcd-a82aa9857e10/Commissioned%20Study%20Conducted%20by%20Forrester%20Consulting%20on%20Behalf%20of%20Microsoft_Revised.pdf
SOA
This artical really hits the mark. My EA team mates and I are experiencing this now. Stay tuned for the outcome. http://weblog.infoworld.com/realworldsoa/archives/2008/05/soa_issues_are.html?source=rss Anything new here- sure, like the artical reads,WOA is a new term offering a new way to think about new things, in the context of old things.http://weblog.infoworld.com/realworldsoa/archives/2008/04/why_woasoa_is_m.html?source=rss Web 2.0 Here I Comehttp://weblog.infoworld.com/realworldsoa/archives/2008/04/web_20_here_i_c.html?source=rss
The No. 1 Business Issue: Customer Relationships
http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/d/4/8d41b006-45e6-46e8-9bcd-a82aa9857e10/Commissioned%20Study%20Conducted%20by%20Forrester%20Consulting%20on%20Behalf%20of%20Microsoft_Revised.pdf
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