Enterprise Architecture

A Visionary Enterprise 2.0 Framework

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When visiting a local company last month, I was given a glimpse of their requirements for their new Knowledge Services Framework vision and requirements.  It was inspiring and incredible.  They had mapped all the functions that they perform, identified existing systems that matched, and then had measured each of them to the following vision.

Here is their requirements as presented.  The highlights are theirs.

leverage consumer applications proven to augment existing work processes (parity plus)

specifically targeted to business requirements and opportunities

access with only a browser and an internet connection

no reliance on proprietary systems or technology

development based on open industry standards

built upon a semantic web framework

embraces and enables BYOC model

no operating system dependency

provides web service capabilities

tuned options for mobile devices

no browser dependency

no net cost increase

no desktop footprint

100% cloud ready

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Traditional Enterprise Search Meets E2.0

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So I was reading at Bex‘s post last week on Why Google Will Never be Good at Enterprise Search, and its great comments. I ended-up reading several posts out there in the blog sphere on the topic.  Search has been creeping up more and more in my daily work and I figure it isn’t a coincidence as trying to grab stuff from legacy systems or from multiple silos is challenging.  Heck, just trying to find things that some colleague created last year can be tricky.

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Enterprise 2.0, What, Why, and Knowledge Management

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So Billy and I started to discuss his article published by AIIM last month. Before that got very far, it got sidetracked by a new blog launch. Luckily for me, Bex finally jumped in to fill the conversational void. He threw out a definition and then started talking about what Enterprise 2.0 isn’t. I don’t fault him for that as I doubt that I could do better on the topic. I do believe that I can contribute though, so here it goes…

Everyone get out your bingo cards, its going to be a wild ride.

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Transparent ECM and SOA

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Something happened recently that doesn’t happen too often. Two ECM vendors posted blog posts on similar topics. It definitely wasn’t intentional and they approached the topic from two different angles. However, it is worth noting and comment. The more interesting post, to me at least, was from EMC.

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Review: Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Compass

SOA_Compass Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Compass
Business Value, Planning, and Enterprise Roadmap

IBM Press (Various authors)2006

The time came for me to read-up on SOA in order to further develop my concepts of how Enterprise Content Management should fit within the Enterprise. So I starting looking for some books on the topic. A large majority of the recommended books were hundreds of pages long, not exactly easy reading for the Metro. I researched and picked SOA Compass from IBM Press.

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Why Trust is Important

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Recently, two events have made me reflect on why trust is important. These weren’t unique or exciting events, and they weren’t related. Their close proximity in time made me remember how important trust is and why I should not be carefree with it in my professional life.

And now, folks, it’s time for “Who do you trust!” Hubba, hubba, hubba! Money, money, money! Who do you trust? Me? I’m giving away free money.

– The Joker, Batman

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The ECM WSDL Discussion Leading to More

Tell everyone that you aren’t going to have time to write many entries and people start blogging about cool and interesting topics. Here is a quick rundown of the ECM WSDL analysis and my thoughts.

  • Our old buddy James McGovern started the whole thing off. He has apparently been sharing is frustration with his significant other and he wrote a post on the sad state of WSDLs in the ECM space. They are ugly and poorly written in his experience. Not having delved into any out of the box WSDLs in ECM, I can hardly argue. It wouldn’t shock me though. Hopefully the DFS ones will measure up better. James then starts to talk about the ECM systems having a standard Document Query Language and a common WSDL built upon that structure. Sounds good to me. In fact, it is a nice, positive contribution to the whole ECM standards issue.

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One Little, Two Little, Three Little Interfaces

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Several weeks ago, I promised a reader [EDIT: Read the comments here.] to discuss why I would think twice before adding a TaskSpace interface to a solution that already included an eRoom interface. Aside from the obvious that TaskSpace is a brand new interface and could most likely use service pack or two, I am always hesitant to provide too many interfaces into a solution. There are times for it, but it is important not to add them just because you can.

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ECM Standards Flurry

Hadn’t planned on this post today. Saw a post out there by Bex Huff that I wanted to comment upon. Bex basically rants in his post. I’m not being dismissive, he states that he is ranting. I like a good chunk of what he says, but I have two comments.

First, a Correction

In regards to universal connectors created by third parties, Bex states that they were bought up and shut down by Documentum. This is not accurate in the least. There were two major players at the time in the US market and another in the European market. Here is what really happened.

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My First Book Report in Decades

Normally, I don’t read too many work related books. I spend my time on public transportation reading either an entertaining Baseball Book or some good History. I normally expand my knowledgebase with experience, seminars/conferences, and research on the web. However, with the advent of D6 as an “SOA platform”, and the ever-enlarging reach of my projects, I decided I needed to accelerate the normal learning curve and do some extra outside reading. To help other Enterprise Content Management experts expand their knowledge, I decided to offer brief reviews of the books I read that apply to that world.

I am having to make Documentum part of the larger Enterprise more and more on each successive project (the challenges around that are best left for discussion another day). I have decided that I needed to at least become more familiar with the concepts around Enterprise Architecture. If my systems are going to be part of a properly architected Enterprise, I want to make sure I understand the high-level concepts and goals. I hadn’t run into any issues or misunderstandings yet, but I figure why wait?

Building Enterprise Information Architectures, Reengineering Information Systems After asking around, several people recommended the book, Building Enterprise Information Architectures, by Melissa A. Cook, to serve as an introduction into the concepts of Enterprise Architecture. So I borrowed it from a colleague and started reading. Only being 180 pages, it didn’t take long.

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