Architecture

January 2012 Chicago Information Technology Architects Group Presentation

Tim Murphy — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:09:00 GMT

This post is really late considering that there is less than a week before the event. Fortunately this is because 2012 is starting out with tons of work to be done. Not a bad problem to have. This month we will have Ruben Rotteveel discussing Advancements in Messaging Technologies. Be sure to register to joins us.

http://citag.eventbrite.com

del.icio.us Tags: Chicago Information Technology Architects Group,CITAG,Ruben Rotteveel,Messaging

Discovering Your Project

Tim Murphy — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:55:52 GMT

The discovery phase of any project is both exciting and critical to the project’s success. There are several key points that you need to keep in mind as you navigate this process.

The first thing you need to understand is who the players in the project are and what their motivations are for the project. Leaving out a key stakeholder in the resulting product is one of the easiest ways to doom your project to fail. The better the quality of the input you have at this early phase the better chance you will have of creating a well accepted deliverable.

The next task you should tackle is to gather the goals for the project. Specifically, what does the company expect to get for the money they are about to layout. This seems like a common sense task, but you would be surprised how many teams to straight to building the system. Even if you are following an agile methodology I believe that this is critical.

Inventorying the resources that already exists gives you an idea what you are going to have to build and what you can leverage at lower risk. This list should include documentation, servers, code repositories, databases, languages, security systems and supporting teams. All of these are “resources” that can effect the cost and delivery schedule of your project.

Finally, you need to verify what you have found and documented with the stakeholders and subject matter experts. Documentation that has not been reviewed is actually a list of assumptions and we all know that assumptions are the mother of all screw ups.

If you give the discovery phase of your project the attention that it deserves your project has a much better chance of success.

I would love to hear what other people find important for this phase. Please leave comments on this post so we can share the knowledge.

del.icio.us Tags: Project discovery,documentation,business analysis,architecture

Leveraging Microsoft Patterns and Practices

Tim Murphy — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:35:16 GMT

I want to bring the Patterns and Practices group to the attention of those who have not already been exposed. I have been a fan of the P&P team since they came out with the original Application Blocks which eventually turned into the Enterprise Library. Their main purpose is to assemble guidance and tools that make it easier for all of us to build amazing solutions.

I would simply suggest you spend some time exploring the information and code libraries that they have produced. Free resources are always a great find and I have used a number of the P&P solutions over the years with success. If nothing else you may find some new ideas. Enjoy.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/practices/

del.icio.us Tags: Patterns and Practices,Microsoft,Architecture,software development

Change Control Processes

Tim Murphy — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:16:32 GMT

The evolution of an IT department is always something interesting to observe. The is especially the case when they move from small departmental IT groups to corporate level oversight. It is usually painful for the people involved to give-up their ability to modify servers on the fly and conform to rigorous testing and documentation. Having the keys to your environments taken away can really feel like getting stabbed in the back especially when the new deployment team is still working out there processes. Unfortunately these are the evils of ensuring a stable system.

So what is really needed for a change control process? This is meant to be an overview rather than a deep dive, but here we go.

A change control process needs to ensure the security and stability of your environments and data as well as compliance with regulations. The main keys are limiting access, an approval process, separation of duties and keeping a history of changes.

Limiting access and the separation of duties go hand-in-hand. Limiting access to your QA and production environments ensures that only approved individuals update software that could cause outage or effect data that may be sensitive or cause losses.

Approval and documentation are related to each other as well. You approval process will vary depending on the size of your company and the number of regulatory bodies that have oversight. At the very least these process all affected system owners and stakeholders need to be aware that changes are going in to production.

Exception processes also have to be put into place for emergencies. These maintain the oversight, but allow changes to happen more quickly and off the normal schedules. The last thing you want to have is a system down scenario and trying to figure out how to stay in compliance at the same time.

In the end the pain usually only lasts while the teams get accustomed to the processes. Make sure that you document the process well and educate every new team member so that there are no misunderstandings and it will eventually become part of your culture.

del.icio.us Tags: Change Management,Change Control Processes,Project management

October 2011 Chicago Information Technology Architecture Meeting

Tim Murphy — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:42:55 GMT

It is the last quarter of the year. So we are trying to get as much content to you as possible. This month Joe Hummel will be presenting on functional programming. While this is not a new concept I believe it is one that most people have not been exposed to. I am really excited about having Joe bring us this topic. Please come out and join us.

del.icio.us Tags: CITAG,Chicago Information Technology Architects Group,Functional Programming,Joe Hummel

September 2011 Chicago IT Arch Group Wrap-up

Tim Murphy — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:57:25 GMT

Matt Hidinger gave a high energy presentation around Onion Architecture for this month’s meeting. It was great seeing the history of this architectural approach including its connection to Jeffrey Palermo. Of course drinking from a fire hose takes a while to digest.

Get the code and slides here.

Please join us for our next meeting and get involved in the Chicago Information Architecture community.

del.icio.us Tags: CITAG,Chicago Information Technology Architects Group,Jeffrey Palermo,Matt Hidinger,Onion Architecture

September 2011 Chicago Information Technology Architects Group Meeting

Tim Murphy — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:37:27 GMT

We are getting rolling for the fall at the Chicago IT Architects Group. This month we will have Matt Hidinger presenting on the topic of Onion Architecture. Please join us as we discuss the decomposition of architectures by registering below.

del.icio.us Tags: Chicago Information Technology Architects Group,CITAG,Matt Hidinger

Chicago IT Architect Group August 2011 Recap

Tim Murphy — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:35:33 GMT

We had a full house this month with a lot of interest in the SOLID principle. SOLID is one of those topics that should be basic study in all of our schools. Of course along with a large crowd comes a lot of discussion. There were debates as to how much each individual principle has merit and how to properly apply it. This is the lively discussion that really makes me enjoy organizing these presentations.

Visit Michael Kappel’s web site here.

del.icio.us Tags: Chicago Information Technology Architects Group,CITAG,SOLID,Software Development

Integrating Cloud Application In Your Enterprise

Tim Murphy — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:33:47 GMT

More and more companies are turning to companies who host cloud applications such as SalesForce. I may be mistaken, but I thought we used to call these ASPs (Application Service Providers). Whatever we call them they are the latest trend in IT services especially in larger corporations.

So what does this trend mean for those of us who design, build and integrate systems? It means a new set of challenges, considerations and opportunities. The more you know about these areas going into a project the more likely it will be that you succeed.

The first thing that you will need to understand is that you are adding an extra team to your project. Along with this goes the need for better communication skills, both written and verbal. This starts with a number of assumptions that should be added to your project plan as to what is expected from the application provider and continues with the need for regular status meetings to ensure that they are making progress on your requests.

If you work for a consulting firm like I do conversations now have to include all three parties and everyone needs to be on the same page. Handling expectations on all sides becomes a critical task. On the other hand these situations can create an opportunity for you to gain a new partner by helping each other to gain more business.

Once you get past the relationships the biggest challenges you will run up against is that your data no longer resides exclusively in your enterprise. This means if you need to share that data with the provider you are in for a ride.

There are a number of considerations that need to be made in relation to data. How does data need to be shared? Will it be bi-directional? How fast does it need to be refreshed? Real time data becomes costly to transport over the network and generate security concerns especially if the data includes personal information. And the list goes on.

In the end this is not a condemnation of or an endorsement of cloud applications. It is a wake up call that you should not make decisions to use them lightly. Don’t just weigh the cost of the services, but all the costs associated with the new relationship and make an educated decision.

del.icio.us Tags: Cloud,Integration,Enterpirse Architecture,Cloud Application Services

August 2011 Chicago Information Technology Architects Group Meeting

Tim Murphy — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:27:59 GMT

Our summer break is over and with the dog days of August we are getting back to setting up presentations of interest to Chicago area IT Architects. This month we will have Michael Kappel presenting on a topic we have been trying to get organized for a while. SOLID is an acronym for five object oriented design and development principles that everyone should know. Michael is going to give a platform agnostic discussion of these five key principles. Please join us by registering below.

del.icio.us Tags: CITAG,Chicago Information Technology Architects Group,SOLID,Michael Kappel