Now this caught your eye, didn’t it? It’s the title of a book actually I came across when I was browsing for some new reading material. I bought it instantly. And like you, I had high expectations. The cover promises answers to the 100 most asked questions on Enterprise Architecture Definition, Design, Frameworks, Governance and Integration – what professional could resist buying this! The saying was proven again though: judging a book by its cover is not a great idea. The author and I appear to be on a different wavelength in many cases – and I guess many peers with me. Are there any real EA success secrets to be found in the book?
IT Architects and SAP - making this a perfect match (5)
11/28/2010 10:23:42 PM
After the initial two waves of SAP functionality at a Public body, hectic times followed. And even that is an understatement. Many projects were launched simultaneously. They all started very enthousiastically. Some of them used the latest in SAP technologies; others adopted recently established national standards or crossed the boundaries of the Department. A bulk of new technology was brought in: mobile infrastructures, internet portals with online service counters, digital Record Management, management dashboards, interactive electronic forms, you name it. Magnificent applications of Information Technology, some of these straight from the SAP lab. The third lesson learned is about how this brought along new security challenges...
"Business Model Architecture": will Enterprise Architects be running for CEO now...??
11/17/2010 3:22:05 PM
During the next Enterprise Architecture Practitioner’s Conference in Stockholm dr. Alexander Osterwalder will present a keynote session. He is an internationally recognised writer and expert on Business Model Innovation and his session is entitled “Align Strategy, Process and IT Through Business Model Architecture”. Reading that raised my eyebrows sky-high – are Enterprise Architects now aiming for the CEO position? Isn’t the Business Model of any enterprise a contextual given for Enterprise Architects?
IT Architects and SAP - 6 lessons for making this a happy match (4)
11/16/2010 11:26:12 PM
After the first initial two waves of SAP R/3 functionality at the Dutch Department of Traffic and Water Management, hectic times followed. And even that is an understatement. Many projects were launched simultaneously. They all started very enthousiastically. Some of them used the latest in SAP technologies; others adopted recently established national standards or crossed the boundaries of the Department. A bulk of new technology was brought in: mobile infrastructures, internet portals with online service counters, digital Record Management, management dashboards, interactive electronic forms, you name it. Magnificent applications of Information Technology, some of these straight from the SAP lab. The average SAP consultant however sometimes appears to live on Cloud Nine and assumes technical infrastructure can be put into place overnight. Lesson number two is about leaving infrastructural interdependencies unexplored.
IT Architects and SAP - 6 lessons for making this a happy match (3)
10/26/2010 11:07:13 PM
To learn how to make IT Architects and SAP a happy match, we’ll peek into the kitchen of the Department of Transport and Water Management. I have already outlined the lay of the land in earlier blogs: two large SAP implementations had been carefully prepared and successfully executed by the end of 2004, under the supervision of Enterprise Architects. Because much more SAP projects were not anticipated, the (SAP) Enterprise Architecture capability had been trimmed down after the second go-live. The absence of Architecture Governance had however given headway for unbridled growth of the number of SAP technologies in the year after. Here's the first lesson around neglecting Information and Data Architecture.
Funny how SAP promotes their SOA Kit as a "one-stop shop" of integrated accelerators. This was exactly the idea behind ArchitectedERP, which Lucas Osse and myself developed during 2007/8. The SOA Kit is complementing the new ASAP 7 methodology framework. The SOA KIT, AN ADD-ON TO ASAP, offers a wide range of accelerators complementing ASAP 7, which are aligned along the phases of strategy, plan, build and run of your SOA journey. Which is another key feature of ArchitectedERP, which encompasses 27 template workpackages spanning across those phases.
The Services Thinking concept however we introduced in the e-book as a successor to Process Thinking goes beyond SAP's more IT-ish view to SOA and is intertwined with BPM - wonder by when we'll see more adoption of that thinking, since that really is about converging business and IT!
For now, here's some more info from SAP on the SOA Kit.
Open Group Conference Amsterdam 2010 – Day TWO Highlights
10/21/2010 8:43:20 PM
The theme for Day Two was transforming Enterprise Architecture into a business discipline. The day was marked by interesting and engaging talks from a range of industry experts including Dave van Gelder, Global Architect at Capgemini, and Harry Hendrickx, CTO at HP. Key themes emerging from Day Two included the need for enterprise architects to solve problems from a business perspective, the importance of the language used by enterprise architects to achieve organizational buy-in for initiatives, and the huge opportunity thinking about these issues presents the profession.
Open Group Conference Amsterdam 2010 - Day ONE Highlights
10/21/2010 8:32:23 PM
The Open Group Conference Amsterdam 2010 began Monday, October 18. The conference gathered to discuss themes along three primary tracks:
· Cybersecurity - Architectures for managing uncertainty
· Transforming EA into a business discipline – aligning the practice of EA with the requirements of business decision making
· Cloud computing – The business impact of cloud computing
The theme for Day One was cybersecurity – a theme that created a huge amount of debate and discussion. Plenary session presentations in the morning tended to fall around three central topics: trust, collaboration and the relationship between government and enterprise. Here’s a summary of the day.
How IT savvy do business-executives need to be, Forrester asks? Not that much...
10/1/2010 11:56:05 AM
Forrester VP Alexander Peters posted a blog outlining how big bills started arriving after 'external technical architects had driven many of the “innovative concepts” from inside projects while learning the company’s core processes and experimenting with new development procedures. While senior executives supervised investments in projects, no one was responsible for understanding the impact of individual project decisions on operating costs.' How IT savvy do business exec's need to be, he is wondering? Not that much, I believe...
Where does IS/IT Remediation sit in a Solution Architecture?
9/28/2010 11:57:28 PM
Huh, now what the heck is IS/IT Remediation, I hear you think? That at least was the reaction I got a few times over the past weeks. Well, simply put: if you develop a new IS/IT solution, you need to ensure it seamlessly fits into the existing IS/IT environment; the retained environment in other words, or that part of the existing systems that is not being replaced by anything new. And there is more to it than applications! When I explained my ideas to the Europe CIO, he said ‘that would be the first time I see it done right’. So, what does it cover?
IT Architects and SAP - 6 lessons for making this a happy match (2)
9/27/2010 1:01:03 AM
As stated in a previous post, IT Architects are no longer a unique phenomenon in the SAP world or rather, SAP can no longer be the odd one out in the world of IT Architects. To learn how to match IT Architects and SAP, we’ll peek into the kitchen of the Department of Transport and Water Management. I have already outlined the lay of the land: two big SAP implementations had been carefully prepared and successfully executed by the end of 2004, under the supervision of Enterprise Architects. Because much more SAP projects were not anticipated, the (SAP) Enterprise Architecture capability had been trimmed down. A decision that was undone only a year later. Why?
How Talking Dutch can help improve your IT Architecture
9/21/2010 9:01:41 AM
Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying everyone should learn to speak Dutch! I rather am alluding to culture’s consequences. It was an interview with management guru Manfred Kets de Vries about Leadership that made me realize again how Leadership style has a significant impact on the quality of IT Architectures. How?
IT Architects and SAP - 6 lessons for making this a happy match (1)
9/20/2010 11:29:57 PM
IT Architects are no longer a unique phenomenon in the SAP world. Or should I rather reverse that: SAP is no longer the odd one out in the world of IT Architects. To learn how to best match IT Architects and SAP, we’ll peek into the kitchen of the Department of Transport and Water Management. This case study will teach us 6 lessons around what works and what doesn’t in an SAP ecosystem which is ruled by the principle of re-use-over-buy-over-make and where Services Thinking is gaining its place. This is the first of a series of posts, setting the scene.
'If I can't picture it,I can't understand it' - this is a quote from Albert Einstein. He would have made a great IT Architect! One of the first things I do when I arrive at a new engagement is ask for overview pictures. Pictures that lead me from the high-level concept to more detailed views on the various architectural aspect area's. Tragically I found that often, this is the first thing I need to add to the artefact list. What views should be in an Solution Architecture Overview?
Business Architecture? Part of Enterprise Architecture you say?
9/14/2010 11:41:13 PM
When I read the blog of Philip Allega about how Gartner sees Business Architecture as an integral part of any Enterprise Architecture, I instantly had to think back of the days when Lucas and I were developing ArchitectedERP (2008). We had a darn hard time explaining our SAP-expert colleagues the exact same thing. So where did Business Architecture sit again in ArchitectedERP?
'The cloud is in your future. Anyone who doesn’t realize this fact will miss out on the biggest IT revolution in decades.' So says SAP in an SAPInsider article. And in fact that is also what Nicholas Carr is argueing in his book The Big Switch. Carr outlines how long long time ago, all big companies had to have their own electrical power generation facilities until electricity became generally available, distributed via a network. He draws a parallel with the current situation where most companies today have their own data centers. I'll share some more thoughts on this later, for now I've added the reproduced SAPInsider article to the down load area.
SAP recently announced the general availability of the feature pack 2.5 for the SAP® Business ByDesign solution . This comprehensive, fully integrated on-demand business management suite is now available in China, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. SAP also announced the introduction of three new predefined starter packages that provide customers a compelling starting point for their adoption of the complete SAP Business ByDesign solution.
The page on the Services Era has been updated. The outlined concept can act as a placeholder for clear and present hypes and trends as well as for those yet to come. Furthermore, the down load section now contains an concise ArchitectedERP overview presentation and an ArchitectedERP Quick Reference Card.
