Providing structure through model-driven development

When you think of end-user development, you might think of IT taking a back seat as the business defines the type of applications it uses. That approach is all well and good in theory, but what about practice?

While employees might have loads of great ideas about the type of tools that could help the business work more efficiently, they are unlikely to have the requisite knowledge of programming and standards.

And unless you have the right background in place, users will not be able to create the applications that can make a real difference to day-to-day operations.

At that point, you should consider a turn towards model-driven development (MDD) – a design approach that allows your technology team to assert their presence, while providing a structured guideline to help end-users gain the software they really need.

The key to MDD is ensuring the building blocks of a business problem are understood before users take action. While MDD should aim to allow the business to create applications, the approach should rely on IT specialists using programming techniques to create the underlying components.

Open and vendor-neutral, MDD – also known as model-driven architecture – is based on the Object Management Group’s (OMG’s) established standards, including unified modelling language (UML) and the meta-object facility (MOF). OMG’s model-driven approach separates business logic from the underlying technology and allows the business to create platform-independent applications.

Rather than being created in general-purpose programming languages such as COBRA, XML, Java or .Net, MDD is created in a domain-specific language that is dedicated to a particular business problem. The break from a reliance on a particular technical flavour means users can specify the applications they require and then work with the IT team to create tools.

Such independence means underlying technology can be updated without affecting the business aspects of an application. Likewise, such platform independence means the business can generate the applications it needs without fear of a potential impact on underlying code.

So, what does the emergence of MDD – with big companies, such as Microsoft, backing its development – mean for the future of development? If the IT organisation creates applications in-line with the business specific-demands of MDD, the answer is simple: software that can make a real difference to business operations.

 

Now is the time to find a competitive advantage

“The choice is no longer whether to do SOA or not do SOA. It’s how to do it,” said Gartner research vice president Paolo Malinverno at the analyst’s recent Application Development and Integration Summit.

With Gartner estimating as much as 80% of large enterprises already use SOA to become more efficient (see further reading, below), how can you use service orientation to create a competitive advantage?

The short answer is presentation, the oft-too forgotten area of SOA. Many businesses working on service orientation still forget to place enough emphasis on the presentation layer, which is your front-end interaction with the client. It is a surprising – and frankly baffling – oversight.

In a tough economic climate, it will be tough enough to keep hold of cash-poor customers – and when it comes to grabbing new clients, your IT budget might not stretch to heavy spending on technology. The answer to such problems is simpler than you might expect.

Too many firms still struggle with complexity. When times are tough and the business needs more information quickly, many IT leaders turn to technology, adding additional layers of systems and processes.

The approach is nothing short of madness. Cash is already tight – and if you are struggling to find something, why add more and more layers that will only further obfuscate the issue at hand?

Aim for clarity, not complexity. SOA can help you make best use of your existing resources, avoiding the necessity to splash out on new IT kit. More specifically, now is the perfect time to look to at the SOA presentation layer.

Such a focus will allow you to focus on your interaction with your clients and improve business services, without upsetting existing back end systems. An open presentation platform – like our edgeConnect technology – will allow you to manage a complex array of channels, providing continuous improvements in customer service.

Finding an SOA presentation layer model that works means you will be able to quickly roll out an approach for each local market that integrates existing components, from back-end systems to front-end interfaces.

Get your service-oriented strategy right and you will also be able to create an easily repeatable configuration for new business practices. Rather than developing new systems for new initiatives, your winning configuration should be applicable for a range of business processes.

Fast, agile and easily repeatable, successful companies are concentrating on the SOA presentation layer because it gives them an inherent competitive advantage in the fast-changing information age.

Further reading

http://www.itpro.co.uk/612049/enterprises-ignore-soa-at-their-peril

 

WYSIWYG is dead go with the flow

Since the birth of window based user interface (MAC, Microsoft Windows) application designers have adopted the What You See Is What You Get approach to creating User Interfaces. Visual Basic was one of the early tools to provide a canvas onto which a screen can be drawn by simple drag and drop of screen elements on top of the canvas. “Property” sheets allowed these controls to be specialised/designed further for example change font, size, captions etc. This paradigm of development has since stuck with us, and this post questions whether this is right and whether this is the future?

Most corporates have started to standardise front end screens to be developed in browser technology for the right reasons such as; cross platform, ease of distribution, zero install. As expected tools vendors have provided good support for browser application development. However does the WYSIWYG paradigm apply? Should you still create browser screens in the same way as desktop applications?

Browser applications typically use a “flow layout” whereby the screen layout changes according to the size of the browser window. This is very useful because users could have different screen sizes, or browser settings (e.g. lots of toolbars) or even be viewing the application on a mobile device. Using a flow layout means that screen layout will change according to the users browser window size, thereby automatically handling each of the differences above.

Using this approach however means that creating a screen using a drag and drop approach onto a canvas does not necessarily give you a view of the final screen layout, hence you have to question whether now WYSIWYG is the right development paradigm for browser applications.

Another issue is that different browsers sometimes interpret the browser differently, causing screens to appear in differently across different browsers.

There is also the issue that “look and feel” is actually separated from the screen code into a style sheet, and a screen may be presented using different syle sheets, Hence displaying a form could be drastically different depending on the stylesheet used ( some great examples of this can be seen at http://www.csszengarden.com/ ).

With the above in mind is it time for a new approach? Perhaps using a more “real time design” approach. With such a tool, users would create screens and then run them to see how they would be rendered in different browsers, devices and screen sizes. With the proliferation of devices a multi-channel approach is becoming core to many organisations, and in such a world screen sizes will vary greatly, a new approach is required for creating screens because now the paradigm has changed to What You See Is What You Might And Most Probably Wont Get.

Arise, Sir Presentation Architect!

Someone, somewhere is always willing to step into the limelight. In an age of celebrity culture, where self-promotion almost seems like the key to success, the real stars can sometimes get hidden beneath the hype.

The same is true in the world of IT. The input of real experts is sometimes drowned by the deafening noise emanating from a combination of technologists pushing their latest concepts and executives that are concerned about business alignment.

Now is the time for the real experts to stick their heads above the parapet. In an age of on-demand computing and web-based interaction, the architects that develop your interfaces have never been more crucial.

For a start, our interface for interacting with computers is changing. Where once applications sat on our desktop, more and more users are interacting with applications through the browser. The broad range of next generation browsers – such as Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox – show how the web can be a platform for business computing, not just searching and browsing.

Ajax and Flash have given developers the opportunity to develop cool web-based applications, many of which work more smoothly than their desktop-based cousins. Those developments are only likely to get more impressive, with platforms like Adobe AIR and Mozilla Prism allowing users to connect to their web applications through the desktop.

Underlying such developments is the progression of broadband and wireless networking. Long gone is the time when domestic internet users had to rely on dial-up access and painfully slow web browsing. The average UK broadband download speed is now above 4.3Mbps (see further reading) and the government continues to work on its plan for a highspeed broadband network, with a universal 2Mbps broadband link “virtually everywhere” by 2012.

Such developments mean more and more of your customers will be online. And in an age of constrained financial returns, your customer has just become even more important. Clients will quickly change supplier if they believe they can get a better deal or a better experience somewhere else. Strong customer advocates are likely to be your quickest way to retained clients.

So, ensure your front-end – your window on your business and its services – is usable and reliable. This means presentation architects must be close to the business. The user interface – or presentation layer – is the face of the business and the significance of individuals in such architecture positions is unlikely to diminish.

In fact, the importance of presentation architects is only likely to increase as more internal and external users rely on usable web-based interfaces to communicate with the business.

Want to get ahead? Then look after your presentation architect

Further reading

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2009/07/06/top-10-uk-broadband-isps-by-speed-june-2009-league-table.html

http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2245052/brown-lays-plan-digital-britain

Business requirements driven SOA

Too many SOA projects focus on assumed – or worse, fictional – business requirements. Such requirementss are often not the real organisational, technological or availability concerns of the business.

 Let me explain; SOA usually comes with pre-determined baggage. IT leaders know the principles and they have a list of expected benefits, such as interoperability and resource re-use.

 But be careful not to weigh down your SOA project with your expectations, rather than your users’ requirements. After all, your initiative must map exactly to the goals of the business.

 And for that reason, you should forget creating an over-arching aim of developing a system-oriented approach that works to a specific technical flavour.

 SOA is much more than standards-based integration and much more than web services, which is in effect another protocol. If you look beyond standards and take an inherently flexible approach, SOA can allow the business to make timely and cost effective changes to business processes.

 Rather than working to a pre-determined set of rules, you should have an open approach that relies on your IT people documenting the real requirements of users.

 Start small, establish an effective way of working alongside the business and then identify the real requirements for SOA. Not all users will be able to modify processes; not all services will be generic across the business and worthy of a service-oriented approach.

 The business will have a series of wider strategic goals that are likely to relate to customer service, efficiency and innovation. SOA can help meet targets in such areas, but only if the flexible processes of service-orientation are tightly co-ordinated with the requirements of the business.

 As an IT leader, you must work with the business to identify processes that can be decoupled and easily modified. Think of how SOA’s specific technical approach – such as re-use and integration – can be used to create specific solutions for business problems.

 When the business says it wants to innovate quickly, think of how SOA can be used to re-use resources and reduce time delays. When the business says it wants to cut costs and improve operational efficiency, think of how SOA can be used to build a single, integrated platform.

 Rather than technical standards, business requirements should be king. Decouple data from underlying applications – and when workflow demands change, users will be able to make simple modifications.

 And then your open ear to business requirements will mean SOA can help drive growth.

Small is most definitely beautiful

Compliance remains a crucial technology issue. IT leaders have been smothered by a raft of regulatory requirements in the last few years, and the combined hit of environmental concerns and the economic downturn is only likely to make matters worse.

Take the finance sector, where a recent survey by the International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication noted that 25% of firms have already been affected by increased compliance requirements due to the economic crisis.

Understanding and dealing with compliance is, therefore, crucial. But be warned, big vendors and system integrators are likely to push issues like governance, quality assurance and lifecycle management.

While important in the right business context, such issues are also likely to provide an opportunity to become tied to processes and standards. And an obsession with standards creates the need for big models and increased complexity.

Such an obsession is likely to be a hindrance to what is actually useful for the business. And at a time of increased regulatory compliance, further processes and standards are just what your business does not need.

The chief executive will need you to cut through the waffle and provide a simple means for staying up-to-date and compliant. Thankfully, the composite nature of service-oriented architecture (SOA) provides a way round complex compliance and allows you to create small, successful systems.

Rather than creating vast and unconnected applications, SOA allows the IT leader to re-use resources and create applications on-demand. Such agility will allow you to promote a flexible architecture that is ready for fast-changing compliance requirements.

Forget the fear that you will have to fit systems to laws retrospectively. SOA will allow the IT department to integrate with the business and create compliant systems as new regulations emerge.

And the front-tier of SOA will be particularly crucial, allowing you to create a useful presentation layer that allows line-of-business executives to monitor information and ensure new targets are being met.

Take note, then, of agility, integration, presentation – the three watchwords that will help you use SOA to ensure your business responds flexibly to changing compliance demands.

Wake up to the power of the web browser

Are you still using the desktop; still choosing to access enterprise applications through Windows?

It can be difficult to break away from accepted ways of working. Managing such a break is even more complicated when the business is bamboozled by a series of marketing buzzwords.

The big hype of the moment is cloud computing, a generic term used to describe the provision of scalable enterprise services over the web. Rather than having to access applications through a traditional desktop interface, businesses can use the cloud to host applications and store data.

As many as nine out of ten C-level executives know what cloud computing is and what it can do, according to a recent survey by consultancy Avanade and Kelton Research (see further reading, below).

But at the same time, 61% of senior managers are not currently using cloud technologies. For the majority, it is probably time you woke up to the power of the web browser.

Working through a web browser is no longer a niche activity. Salesfore.com and Google Apps are high profile and popular examples of how users can access applications through a web browser.

Such cloud-based software suites mean users can enter the browser and work collaboratively on essential documents. The high quality of services also means users can also benefit from the functionality of traditional desktop software, such as drag and drop, and multiple interfaces.

There are still issues to overcome, of course. Some businesses remained concerned about hosting information outside the corporate firewall. And recent problems with Google Mail show how failure of the cloud could derail essential business processes.

Such issues mean providers will have to develop secure methods for accessing browser-based applications offline, as well as online. However, such problems are minimal given the quick development of cloud computing.

Businesses often need a high profile sponsor to help push new technologies. When it comes to browser-based apps, there can be no more prestigious supporter than Vivek Kundra, the new CIO of the United States and a confirmed fan of Google Apps (see further reading).

What’s more, the recession is likely to push interest in cost effective and hosted applications. The Avanade and Kelton research also found that 54% of executives use technology to cut costs.

In these economically sensitive times and with an increasing high level of functionality, the web browser can help your IT department provide a great customer experience.

Further reading

Cloud computing is a two-edged sword
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gardner/?p=2841

The new US CIO is a fan of Google Apps
http://blogs.computerworld.com/obama_cio_vivek_kundra_white_house_cio

Does SOA mean software-oriented agility?

What was previously very bad just got a whole lot worse. Last year, everyone was talking about a downturn. Now the word is recession.

It’s an important difference: the downturn might have been a temporary blip, but the recession is likely to be prolonged and deep.

With financial budgets likely to be constrained, your options are likely to be limited and meeting business needs is likely to be tougher than ever. So do you want to engineer a way out of the recession?

Your first port of call should be software-oriented architecture, a system for linking resources on-demand that allows you to re-use existing components in new and exciting combinations.

Sounds good – but IT captains steering the choppy waves of the recession should avoid simply dropping anchor at SOA.

The word ‘architecture’ in SOA suggests a once-and-for model; an all-encompassing method for matching user needs with computing resources. If only it was that it easy.

The fast pace of economic and business change means your model for technology use will have to be adapted. It means service-orientation should be seen as no more than a initial destination that helps you work your IT resources smarter and more effectively.

Instead, successful IT departments and successful SOA strategies will be agile, able to respond to changing business demands as quickly and easily as possible.

SOA should be more usefully viewed as software-oriented agility, a flexible way to meet business needs in a time of increasing financial prudence.

Agile software development methodologies promote reflection, inspection and adaptation. Its inherent practices encourage business and IT alignment, providing a snug fit with the re-use principles of software-oriented architecture.

Which means you can start to breath easily again. The recession will provide constraints but IT leaders that adopt software-oriented agility are likely to be best prepared.

Don’t forget to secure your web applications

The gold rush pushed by Web 2.0 and service-oriented architecture means things sometimes get left behind.

Take security, which is often seen as an afterthought when companies produce web-enabled applications.

While it can be great to push a new collaborative platform to market, lack of proper IT developer training leads IBM security expert Michael Weider to estimate that 80 to 90% of web sites have fairly serious vulnerabilities.

Shoddy IT fencing could leave your business prey to malicious attacks from predators and the result could be a potential loss of customer data, with a devastating effect on your company’s reputation and balance sheet.

It is not a risk worth taking. So, how can companies ensure that security is central to their new collaborative strategies?

Safety first should be the key phrase – for while it’s good to allow new forms of communication through social software, too much communication can encourage loose practices.

When it comes to panning for gold, crackers have quickly realised that users regularly post their crown jewels – personal information – on various social networking platforms.

Many Web 2.0 applications are not browser-based and the client-side nature of social software means traditional attempts to block URL addresses are often circumnavigated.

And the challenge, given the work practices of many employees, is likely to be significant. About a third of users download the applications they want regardless of company policy, according to FaceTime Communications.

Your IT staff must be schooled in building safe collaborative platforms, where security is integral to the development and testing of web applications.

Smart companies will allow employees to use collaborative systems without draconian rules, but users should be given guidelines on acceptable behaviour.

Back up your access control policies with attention to the audit trail, using specialist profiling tools to analyse changes and potential malicious activity.

Leading providers are now creating web application security suites that test for vulnerabilities and then suggest possible fixes.

Taking such steps now will mean your web security is not compromised in the impending collaborative gold rush.

Good business technology is basically like good pasta

 

Stringy, fatty and bland: not three words you want to associate with a good meal. They’re not three words you want to associate to your business IT, either.

 

Take spaghetti architecture, the curse of poor IT development and the most unsavoury of technology flavours

 

Such spaghetti relies on complex and tightly coupled interactions between enterprise applications. The result is a highly unsatisfactory main course that leaves users feeling empty.

 

So, what pasta should you be serving to the business? Good technology is connected, lean and tasty – it works well together and responds to user needs.

 

The chances are that you’ve created a lot of separate side dishes – off-the-shelf and bespoke systems that are used and consumed in different ways across the company.

 

These individual systems are more helpfully viewed as the fusilli; freewheeling components that serve a purpose – but could provide a tastier experience if they were more effectively integrated.

 

IT managers searching for the perfect sauce should turn to service-oriented architecture (SOA).

 

Like a good lasagne, layers of technology work seamlessly together to create a stunning feast – and SOA will provide the integration between layers, allowing the business to re-use components in new and appetising combinations.

 

But don’t just think of your SOA as a one-size-fits all strategy; different business requirements require specific modifications to the menu.

 

Layers should be added carefully and each SOA implementation should address a core business problem within a particular area.

 

And the result will be a perfect lasagne, ready for your users to devour and enjoy.