Enterprise Architecture

List of Return Codes I wrote earlier about the idea of using consistent error codes for reusable assets. As a follow up, here is a document with a list of reusable return codes that can be used when building service capabilities as part of SOA initiatives. They are categorized into: request processing data processing dependency access transactions This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means but can get you started in terms of achieving consistency across services and projects.The service consumer can use the return code to understand the service provider’s response. This consistent, uniform categorization of return codes can help you reuse error ... Read Full Story

In the recent Worldwide Business Process Management (BPM) Market Opportunities Strategies, and Forecasts, 2009 to 2015 , WinterGreen predict that: Business process management (BPM) and services oriented architecture engine markets at $1.8 billion for licenses, maintenance, and services in 2008 are expected to reach $6.2 billion by 2015. Products have a dashboard that supports ease of use for business analysts. The automation of process is what drives profitability for the enterprise. The authors state that BPM is going to be at the heart of most organisational transformation initiatives and that: Business process management promises to drive enterprise markets going forward by implementing automated process ... Read Full Story

Download Checklist Here is a checklist for performing design reviews when building service capabilities that are part of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) initiatives. I have found this checklist to be very useful and can serve as a key document as part of the service development lifecyle. This checklist contains close to 50 questions and covers the following areas: Functionality Design decomposition Documentation Coupling Reuse Consistency Integration Performance Reliability Deployment Feel free to customize this checklist based on your needs. Like this post? Subscribe to RSS feed or get blog updates via email . Tagged: checklist, coupling, defect prevention, Design, design review, document, service capabilities, ... Read Full Story

Download Checklist Here is a checklist for performing design reviews when building service capabilities that are part of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) initiatives. I have found this checklist to be very useful and can serve as a key document as part of the service development lifecyle. This checklist contains close to 50 questions and covers the following areas: Functionality Design decomposition Documentation Coupling Reuse Consistency Integration Performance Reliability Deployment Feel free to customize this checklist based on your needs. Like this post? Subscribe to RSS feed or get blog updates via email . Tagged: checklist, coupling, defect prevention, Design, design review, document, service capabilities, ... Read Full Story

While researching BPM Process Modeling tools recently ( see post here ), I also came across a few Enterprise Architecture tools that I thought I would share with readers. interaplan, the Essentials Project and the Togaf Customiser are all Open Source initiatives and are briefly summarised below: interaplan Claimed to be the first open source tool for enterprise architecture management (EAM), iteraplan is based on the IT landscape modelling method developed by the consulting company iteratec. It is available in two editions: Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE). A feature comparison table can be found here . The Essential Project The Essential Project ... Read Full Story

This coming Tuesday evening I'm going to be delivering my "Case Studies of Enterprise Architecture" presentation in Manchester, at a meeting hosted by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Manchester Network and jointly with the BCS Manchester branch . For more information the event is advertised both with the IET and BCS . The core details are: Date: 17 March 2009 (iCalendar Entry) Time: 18:00 Refreshments / 18:30 Start Location: Conference Room 6, The Manchester Conference Centre, Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3BB. Cost: Free, open to all (including non-members of the IET or BCS), no registration required. The case studies presented explore my ... Read Full Story

Towards the end of 2008, Dave Linthicum issued his predictions for the year ahead in service oriented architecture. They are summarised below: The interest in cloud computing (or WOA, Web 2.0, or insert current Webby buzzword here) will drive many enterprises toward SOA The explosion in PaaS (platform as a service) will leave many enterprise architects and CIOs scratching their heads The economy will recover, but most enterprises out there will focus on cost reduction There will be a larger focus on inter-domain SOA technology Jig will be up for poor SOA governance solutions out there Most failed SOA projects will be traced to ... Read Full Story

What happens when you combine the thinking of enterprise architecture with partial adoption of SCRUM, you get something along the lines of making chocolate chip cookies but without the chocolate chips... I was talking to an architect down the road and realized that the buzzword of SCRUM is the latest word to be abused in large enterprises. When folks are talking about SCRUM, they are talking about socialization constructs and not necessarily management practices. All of the agile methods advocate the principle that everything is important but something is more important yet most enterprise architects have no framework that guides them in this regard. ... Read Full Story

In a recent article from CBR it states that research shows evidence that many organisations are focussing their modernisation initiatives around BPM and SOA technologies and approaches. CIOs are abandoning the rip-and-replace culture in favour of modernising existing systems, research from Software AG has revealed. The research, which quizzed over 150 IT directors, revealed an appetite for implementation of BPM and SOA initiatives as organisations try to cut costs and improve service delivery in the tough economic climate. “Strategic investment in modernisation will deliver cost cuts and free-up talented IT staff to concentrate on business critical projects and fight the downturn,” Jim Close of ... Read Full Story

I am continually faced with Organistaional and IT related complexity of customers I work with on a daily basis. As most readers would know, the fundamental purpose of an EA Framework (and associated method(s)) is to manage complexity through visibility, abstraction and governanace and therefore it is important that the framework and method are not overly complex. Following up on from a previous post about the new Pragmatic Enterprise Aritecture Framework (PeaF), I thought that interested readers would find the survey results comparing Togaf v9, Zachman and PeaF enlightening. The founders of PeaF have published the results of how TOGAF v9, Zachman and PeaF ... Read Full Story