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Arctec
Views February 24, 2004 In
this issue: * Enterprise Data
Architecture, Part III * Enterprise
Architecture News * Reader Views * Arctec Group News: Arctec Group
CTO Gunnar Peterson is featured speaker at
BlackHat Windows Security Conference ************************************* Arctec Group is an architectural
services company focused on Enterprise Architecture issues. With this
newsletter, we aim to serve our clients, partners, and colleagues by providing
our view on current issues and best practices in Enterprise Architecture as
well as aggregating interesting news from around the globe. We hope you find
the newsletter useful and enlightening. We would like to hear your thoughts on
current affairs and ideas to improve this offering. Subscribe and unsubscribe
information is at the bottom of this email. Previous issues are available at www.arctecgroup.net/views.htm ************************************* Enterprise
Data Architecture: The afterthought, Part III Welcome back for the third installment
on Enterprise Data Architecture: The afterthought. The third installment of
this series will look at the Information Management and Delivery aspects of
Enterprise Data Architecture. -
Information Management Techniques o Match Data Quality with Decision Need
– Data quality is an important consideration when capturing information
for information analysis. In general you should always strive to have the
highest data quality possible. Sounds like common sense to me. However, if the
costs to improve specific data quality do not materially, as defined by the
business, impact the ability to make decisions off of the information, then it
may not warrant the investment in improved quality. o Common Platforms for Widely Used Data
– An operational data store is a term that has been used for many
purposes. In general it is a place to capture data of operational importance in
a single place for operational analysis or further distribution of data. It is
important when architecting a solution where a common platform captures
information that has many consumers that a common platform be used to assist in
the movement and management of this data. One thing to be careful of is to
ensure that consumers receive the information in a state of common value,
meaning in a standard conformed semantic state, so that data can continue to be
used as a uniting mechanism and not a dividing mechanism. o Separate Operational vs Analytical
Concerns –Always ensure that the management of data takes into account
different consumer concerns as it relates to timeliness, accuracy, and value of
information. Operational reporting has specific detailed requirements that are
different than time variant analysis. Make sure you know your consumers and
their needs before classifying the data and architecting a solution. o Access Control – Security is
obviously a large concern in dealing with an organizations data. There is a
natural conflict between information privacy and the desire to provide all
data, anytime, anywhere, given he significant material risk with exposing
information to the wrong people. In general, from a data management and
movement standpoint, you should be overly cautious and lean towards over-
securing data. This needs to be considered in conjunction with some of the
other techniques mentioned in this article. o Internationalization –
Don’t do it unless you know you need it. A federated approach to
internationalization can be much more efficient and less costly, as well as
centralize decision making around data integration points as needed. I have
seen a number of organizations attempt to internationalize solutions without an
immediate need. System implementation can be exponentially impacted by
including this potential requirement, significantly increasing cost and/or
timeline required to deliver base requirements.. In addition, be wary of any
vendor that attempts to sell you the silver bullet solution for
internationalization. I have seen a number of vendor promises disappear in the
implementation minutia around projects with these requirements. It is worth
spending some extra analysis, design, and architecture time to validate the
need and approach. Tread lightly! -
Information Delivery Techniques o
Decision Driven and Actionable Information Delivery – Information
delivery should be decision driven, meaning it should support business
decisions that can be made to improve performance and meet strategic
objectives. This obviously includes information that is actionable, that can
allow a business resource to positively correct the course by using this
information. Data that does not provide decision driven actionable information
(but may look nice) should be highly scrutinized for value. o Conformed Data and Centralized Fact
Definitions – Another one of the major stumbling blocks is the
integration of information across divisions, business units, etc. It is
important from a data delivery standpoint that all business resources see the
same logical representation of data. When organizations allow the dilution of a
conformed logical representation of data, specifically context, it can cost the
organization in terms of dollars/resource hours to settle these differences. In
addition, it is important that fact definitions are centrally managed and
widely communicated to make sure there is no confusion when reporting on
measures for organizational performance. Decisions from information are
dependent on the quality, accuracy, and understanding of the data you are
examining. When measures are derived from multiple raw facts or combinations of
facts, it is particularly important that the value of the measure be understood
and not misinterpreted. o
Any Data, Anytime, Anywhere, Self Serve Strategy – Finally, the utopia is
to have any resource look at any piece of data (that they are authorized to
see) anytime they want and anywhere they are, in an intuitive self-serve model.
Similar to matching product supply to product demand, providing a platform that
allows resources to match up decision demand with information supply will
increase revenue/profitability while at the same time reducing operational
costs. When it comes to information delivery, this indeed is the place you want
to be. I hope these techniques help you and
your organization better manage, understand, and deliver decision support
information to improve performance. - Charles Belisle Enterprise Architect Arctec Group ************************************* Enterprise
Architecture News Microsoft Windows Sourced Code Leaked An overlooked part of the open versus
closed source debate is that when closed source code is leaked, the closed
source community has the worst of both worlds: available code without a managed
feedback loop. http://nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Microsoft-Source-Code.html Grady Booch: Dealing with Complexity in
Software The viewpoints of IBM's designated
"free radical" http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/02/02/HNboochint_1.html The
Emperor has too much UML? Dave Thomas on the confusing
conflagration of the UML space http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue_2003_01/column1 Edward
Tufte Speaking Tour Seminal author/researcher Edward Tufte
goes on a speaking tour including Raleigh and Minneapolis. These sessions are
not to be missed. http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/courses From the Not a Moment Too Soon Dept. "Nigerian" Email Scammers
Caught http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,62124,00.html ************************************* Have
your say Agree? Disagree? Insufficient data to
judge? Email us atviews@arctecgroup.net, we
want to hear from you. We will publish your name or anonymize your response as
requested. ************************************* Arctec
Group News Arctec Group CTO Gunnar Peterson was a
featured speaker at the Blackhat Windows enterprise security conference on
January 30th. The presentation covered "Security in the Software
Development Lifecycle".The session drilled down on specific design,
process, and organizational elements and activities to understand and improve
security within the enterprise. Slides are available for download at: http://www.arctecgroup.net/articles.htm Dan Geer and Richard Thieme gave
inspiring keynotes. Former @Stake CTO Dan Geer gave an illuminating talk on
predictive analysis of security issues. Richard Thieme (www.thiemeworks.com)
discussed the social and industry contexts of Windows security. ************************************* Arctec Group: Strategic Technology
Blueprints www.arctecgroup.net Arctec
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