Business architecture is about enhancing accountability. A business architect’s job can be compared to what an accountant does for an organization. A management accountant tracks an organization’s performance against a set budget and gleans insights in the process. The accountant shares these insights for management to take action. In the same way, a business architect highlights the traceability of business and IT initiatives against a set of performance targets. The organization’s strategic goals define these success metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs).
Modernizing Legacy Applications for SOA
In my last article titled “Strategies for developing a roadmap for your SOA initiative”1 I discussed laying out a roadmap that shows how to get from the current state to the envisioned future state. One method many companies use when planning their SOA journey is to create a new presentation layer while leaving the legacy backend systems in place. This practice can be called modernizing or rejuvenating legacy systems.
Before we get too far into the discussion, let me state that the end game for SOA should not be to modernize old systems.
BPM: Selecting the Right Tool
In my last article I talked about BPM and Software as a Service. As organizations look at SaaS capabilities of a BPM tool, there are many other features and capabilities that must also be taken into account and evaluated prior to making the final selection. Myriad of features available to be evaluated against current investments can make the BPM tool selection a bit challenging.
Business Architecture (BA) and IT Architecture Integration
The Business Architecture is an integrated component of any Enterprise Architecture (EA) framework. For example, The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) has defined a Business Architecture component1. As an architecture representing some key elements of the enterprise, it has to fit into the overall design of that enterprise. The Business Architecture is not a stand alone nor isolated component, but a fully integrated one in the context of EA.
Utilizing Metrics for Enhanced Execution
Execution, simply put, is the efficient and timely delivery of planned results. It is always vital in business but never more than in this current economic environment.
Many an organization will “talk” the execution game but they fall far short on the “walk” side of the equation. It’s almost as if it’s an alien concept. I believe the primary reason is that the execution is based upon pure energy – action that is deliberate, focused and consistent. And, unlike planning, execution does not occur in a controlled environment but instead in the real world where events are c
Formal Definition of the Process to be Automated (Second Pillar)
“If we want to enter into a scheme of automated process implementation, it is necessary to consider at least the formal definition of the activities, actors, the output and input documents for each activity, the integration levels, the routing rules, etc. of the process to be automated. Formal definition refers to the elaboration of basic documentation for the initial phase of process automation according to the chosen methodology.
The Process Professional: An Independent Review of Savvion’s Process Modeler
In the second of a series evaluating tools for business practioners, we look at the Process Modeler by Savvion. As with my previous evaluation, the point of view is from a business perspective rather than that of an IT professional. My criteria are ease of use, a short learning curve, and good collaboration features.
BDM, Governance, and a Center of Excellence
As we continue to find more powerful tools and approaches available to us in our efforts to employ Business Decision Management, one last roadblock remains on our quest for agility. Ourselves. We already know effective BDM will be facilitated by a new kind of resource – a hybrid business/technical person that knows the business well and is able to codify that knowledge in a structured fashion. But the organization itself must enable – not inhibit – the collaboration we seek.
Bringing BPM and SOA Together for Maximum Business Value
The combination of Business Process Management (BPM) and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been the subject of a great many magazine column inches and conversations in the past couple of years. Most commonly, the relationship is seen primarily as one of technical complements – where BPM is seen as a way to make it easier to create composite applications from services, and SOA is seen as a way to make it easier to integrate automated processes with existing applications, systems and data sources.
Process-oriented Systems Paradigm for the Process Age
In the previous article “Integrated Business Management in the Process Age”, I discussed the concepts that will shape businesses in the Process Age. In this article I will discuss how process-oriented concepts and systems engineering practices can be used in a process-oriented engineering methodology.
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In the previous article “Integrated Business Management in the Process Age”, I discussed the concepts that will shape businesses in the Process Age. In this article I will discuss how process-oriented concepts and systems engineering practices can be used in a process-oriented engineering methodology.
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