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ABOUT THE BOOK:-
In April 1999 I joined Sterling Software from Select Software Tools. I was very excited because Sterling Software was doing great work with component-based development. Shortly after joining, however, I noticed I had a health problem, but was told it was nothing to worry about. During this period I settled into my new job, learning from my colleagues and enjoying working on different assignments. A few months later, after several misdiagnoses, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Before the end of the year, I had undergone a punishing course of chemotherapy. Right now I`m well again, but taking nothing for granted!
While the chemotherapy was unpleasant, it gave me plenty of time to think - if only to take my mind of its effects! I thought about the work I had done at Select, about the discussions I`d had with my new colleagues at Sterling Software, and the work we were doing with clients in applying component technology to the problems and opportunities of e-business. IT departments coping with the shift to e-business seemed like an aircraft that had to be re-engineered in flight. This book is the result of my reflections.
What this book Is about
Unfortunately, there is a great deal of hype and over-expectation surrounding e-business. Many organizations are jumping on the e-business bandwagon without understanding what they are getting into. Lack of planning and analysis, resulting in inflexible solutions that are unable to integrate with existing systems, are all too common. At the same time, e-business calls for a closer relationship between those involved in business development and those required to support these initiatives within the company`s information technology infrastructure.
This book is designed to provide practical advice for planning, analysis and design of e-business systems using component-based development (CBD). Just as e-business is more than a series of web pages, so CBD is not just an approach to problem solving using software building blocks. It includes architectures, processes, modeling techniques, economic models and organizational guidelines, all of which are well placed to ease migration of large organizations to e-business.
The book is long on practice and short on theory. Theory is included where relevant to practical problems. The core of the book is an extensive example that tracks the experiences of a typical company, with a traditional set of business processes and supporting software systems, through various stages along the road to e-business.
Who should read this book
This book is primarily intended for IT planners, architects, analysts and designers responsible for e-business solutions in large organizations. Equally it is aimed at business strategists, business process engineers and business architects. More significantly, this book is aimed at the new breeds of individual that are emerging, as the dividing lines between business and software grow increasingly blurred.
More broadly the book is intended for anyone interested in modeling business components. In particular, it is hoped that the increasing number of business component and framework vendors will benefit from the increased understanding that clear and precise component models provide of their products to their customers.
How to read this book
Naturally I would prefer it if you read the book cover to cover. However, with the exception of Chapter 6, which should be read after reading Chapter 5, each chapter of this book can be read individually and readers with specific interests can go straight to the subject of their choice. For those who are not familiar with component-based modeling techniques, it is important to refer to Appendix 2 for guidance. There are four parts to the book as follows.
First we set the scene and explain underlying principles
Chapter 1 introduces the need for a component-based approach to e-business systems, explains the basic principles of the approach and sets the emphasis on planning, analysis and business integration.
Chapter 2 looks at how to align e-business software development within the context of the organization`s business goals and objectives.
Chapter 3 shows how to integrate business needs into a clearly defined component architecture.
Chapter 4 describes a truly component-based process framework and guidelines for dealing with these issues and to assist with planning and control of CBD for e-business.
Next we come to the core of the book: a continuous practical case study
Chapter 5 provides a practical case study of how to apply a component-based approach to e-business in an organization migrating to e-business, but wanting to protect and utilize its investments in existing systems.
Chapter 6 continues the case study and considers how to evolve the early solutions extending the scope to full business process integration and on to business transformation.
Third, we describe three key supporting strategies:
provisioning, funding and team organization
Chapter 7 looks at how components are provisioned and considers a range of different options including framework extension, wrapping, adapting, outsourcing, purchasing and bespoke design.
Chapter 8 describes tactical measures for funding component-based projects and provides metrics and costing criteria before considering how to identify benefits in the context of e-business.
Chapter 9 centers on team roles, providing guidance for projects at various stages along the road to e-business using components and considers how to use the roles to structure teams based on different organizational needs.
Finally, the appendices provide essential supporting information
Appendix 1 provides short descriptions of component and internet standards and typical accompanying physical architectures.
Appendix 2 provides a catalogue of component modeling techniques. The purpose is not to describe a complete definitive methodology, but to establish `just enough` semantics and notation with hints and tips to guide the reader.
Acknowledgements
I have been fortunate to be working with a superb group of people at Sterling Software UK. First and foremost, I must thank the management team at Sterling Software UK for their unwavering support during a most difficult time healthwise: Sue Dixon, an exceptional lady, for her great kindness and compassion, Lori Wormald for her patience and understanding, Dan French for providing executive support and an environment of wonderful team spirit and Steve Olding and Danny Glover for their encouragement and support.
The material in this book draws on previous work of others who have pioneered CBD in Sterling Software. Credit is due to Alan Brown, John Cheesman, John Daniels and John Dodd and for supplying much of the intellectual foundation.
Others in Sterling Software and deserve special mention are as follows: John Assheton, Liz Cooper, Danny Saro, and Sue Whitehead for providing comments on early draft material, Suzanne Martin and Steve Turner for helping out with the case study examples; and Desiree Brennan for her excellent marketing assistance.
Special credit is due to Alan Brown and Sebastian Nokes (NetB2B2), both of whom provided very significant feedback that caused some major revisions to earlier material.
I thank my team of reviewers, external to Sterling Software, for providing useful insights and help: Alistair Gill, Simon Johnson, Meilir Page-Jones, David Sprott and Paul Turner.
Thanks are also due to my editor Clemens Syperski for his insightful comments and to Alison Birtwell of Addison Wesley Longman for her editorial management.
Last but not least I thank my family for putting up with my distraction for the best part of six months!
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From the Back Cover
"This book is the most complete, technically sophisticated introduction to the problems of second generation e-business development that I have read. It provides the kind of overview that managers need and then proceeds to provide the kind of details that architects, designers and developers need, as well."
- Paul Harmon, Editor, Component Development Strategies, Senior Consultant, Cutter Consortium Faculty
"Not only does this book provide important insights into its two advertised topics, but it also provides a valuable how-to guide for modeling and developing applications in any business. The book is packed with examples showing that the author has been there, done it and knows exactly how to explain the sophisticated concepts and techniques at the confluence of modern business and modern software technology. Well done, Paul!"
- Meilir Page-Jones, Senior Methodologist, Wayland Systems Inc.
"This is the first book that clearly describes how to do component-based development driven by business models. It does this with practical real-world e-Business examples and describes not only the technology and the integration with the business requirements, but also a pragmatic process how to actually succeed. A book by one of the world`s leading experts on components."
- Magnus Penker, CEO, Open Training
This book provides practical advice for planning, analysis and design of e-business systems using component-based development (CBD). It includes
architectures, processes, modeling techniques, economic models and organizational guidelines, all of which are well placed to ease migration of large organizations to e-business.
The core of the book is an extensive example that tracks the experiences of a typical company, with a traditional set of business processes and supporting software systems, through various stages along the road to e-business.
Plus!
· how to grow your e-business capability at minimum risk.
· how to integrate e-business objectives plans with software solutions
· how to model e-business system requirements
· how to structure software projects to meet e-business needs.
· how to organize teams to provide e-business solutions
· how to provision and manage components
· how to architect and specify components and interfaces
· how to identify the business benefits of your component-based project.
· how to fund and measure the success of component projects
ISBN - 9780201675207
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