Enterprise System Integration.com

Eliminate Unnecessary Paperwork by automating information flow. EVERY PIECE OF NEW OR MODIFIED INFORMATION IS ENTERED ONLY ONCE, and then it is automatically propagated to every authorized person and system that needs it, without manual human intervention.

Phase out application-specific hard-coded special-purpose inflexible, difficult-to-maintain, legacy-system databases and intercommunication protocols. Incrementally replace them (as time and resources permit) at minimal cost (when system enhancements are made) with general-purpose, agile, adaptable, standardized, reusable, Publish-and-Subscribe, Message-Oriented Middleware, Object Request Brokers, Zero-Latency Enterprise Application Integration, Service-Oriented Architecture, Enterprise Service Bus, and other ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE Infrastructure innovations, as they become available in the future.

Start Simple To Demonstrate Benefits and Build Consensus Let’s assume that we can find a CEO (or senior operations executive) who wants to aggressively slash unproductive, unnecessary costs, accelerate the enterprise, and rapidly grow profitable business operations. (There don’t seem to be enough of them in America these days.) What can we do quickly and inexpensively to demonstrate some of the above potential benefits, WITHOUT the kind of capital and time investment that was required by the very-successful Sabre and FedEx GOCC systems.

In essence, we want to rapidly find some low-hanging tasty fruit, and offer it to the CEO. We’ve discovered a cute name for this effort – We call it the ESI Watermelon Project. It can work like this:

We ask the CEO for one young aggressive self-starter. The person does not need a lot of business-as-usual experience (in fact it would get in the way). The personal needs to be friendly, outgoing, observant, communicate well (especially interview LISTENING skills), and prepared to learn how to Overcome Strong Resistance To Change,
and“That is the way we’ve always done it” stinkin’ thinking.’

The CEO must have a meeting with this young innovator, plus all of the CEO’s direct reports. The mandate to Eliminate Paper is explained, and the CEO appoints the young innovator to gather information about all current paperwork, monitor, and report to the CEO about each department’s progress in making the mandate happen. Each piece of paper is a measure of avoidable COST, NOT departmental productivity. Eliminating paper properly should equate to lowered costs and improved operations. Executives should be measured and paper-savers rewarded for eliminating paper in a way that improves their departments’ productivity.

The innovator must meet with each direct report and their subordinate senior staff.

They begin by identifying the name (or form number) of all pieces of paper in each organization, and capturing a brief description. This list is kept in an online database that is accessible on the network. Security access protocols may be needed for some types of information.

Over time, more information is gathered about each piece of paper, such as the contents of each data field, who supplies and who needs the information (human or computer system). Cross reference links are created for data fields that appear on multiple pieces of paper.

Metadata (the attributes of the data fields) is gathered and made available so it can be accessed in a uniform way across the entire enterprise (regardless of how it is physically implemented or distributed).

As the volume of information about information increases, so must the resources available to the appointed paperwork eliminator. Early on in the paperwork elimination process, a lot of interdepartmental redundant information will be discovered. Where it is easy, it should be consolidated, simplified and shared, as necessary.

One of the first computing communication infrastructure components (after Internet or Intranet access is in place) is an Event-Oriented Publish-and-Subscribe System. For each piece of information that has multiple uses throughout an enterprise, one-or-more sources is identified (publishers), and multiple types of information consumers are documented (subscribers). When a business event takes place that supplies an element of this commonly-required information, an electronic MESSAGE (not paper) is sent to the Publish / Subscribe system, which then sends it to all authorized subscribers). This decade-old technology is often called Message Oriented Middleware (MOM). Many vendors are available with many competitive features.

The Object Management Group (world’s largest software consortium) has standards for MOM and the very-important related Metadata. Simple mapping software may be used when different subscribers want the data in different message types, communication protocols, formats and collection groupings (sometimes called “views”). Event-related messages may produce partial subset views, or consolidate information from multiple event types to produce a complex composite message view.

In many organizations, it is surprising how fast you can document distributed redundant information Metadata, and implement high-speed Publish / Subscribe. In today’s world, when an information input event takes place, you should be able to nearly-instantaneously synchronize all operational subscriber servers in only a few (two) elapsed seconds. Techniques are available for real time information synchronization (like worldwide airline seat assignments).

Larry Hartweg Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Distributed-Object E-Commerce Architecture and Methodology Consultant.

Hartweg was the Chief Object-Oriented Architect of the paperless FedEx Global Operations Command and Control - super worldwide enterprise integration system in 1993. It is still the heartbeat of FedEx today. If GOCC was buggy, airplanes would crash, and your packages would not arrive. The fabulous GOCC integrated logistical excellence meant that FedEx airplanes and computer systems were used by our government and the FIRST ones allowed to land in NYC after the 9/11 attacks. FedEX GOCC goes far beyond many of the things that Sabre can do. GOCC was the state-of-the-art of enterprise integration in 1993, which few other companies have achieved a decade later.

EXPERIENCE: Object-Oriented Methodology and E-Commerce Architect / Mentor / Project Manager
Primary activity: large-scale, enterprise-wide, object-oriented information network consolidation: vision, strategy, architecture, analysis, modeling, design, software development management and system deployment. Consulting services include on-the-job training / mentor programs in the architectural issues, methodology, paradigm shift, tool selection / integration, organization, and management decisions required to cost-effectively optimize rapidly-evolving, state-of-the-art, information network technology.

Enterprise Object Modeling facilitates direct user / developer communication throughout the Software Life Cycle: from user-centered analysis through object / event modeling, enterprise architecture, design, development, quality assurance, end user training, and continual system enhancement. Enterprise-wide business object (data + process) modeling leads to Software and Business Simplification integrated with Business Process Reengineering. This yields improved quality, productivity, flexibility, application suitability, and end user satisfaction. A combination of high-performance event-driven, client-server, and peer-to-peer telecommunications networks (based on industry standards plus “submillisecond response time servers”) accelerate real-time access to critical operational data, and communication between geographically-distributed, dissimilar, evolving enterprise-wide computing systems and scaleable distributed object computing servers.

Larry Hartweg's valuable services range from introductory classes and technical vitality programs through turn-key, hands-on management of mission-critical development contracts with budgets up to $500 million. Hartweg's custom-tailored, advanced-technology presentations include: "Management Issues in Information Technology," "Object-Oriented Internet / Intranet Analysis and Design," "Object-Oriented Database Architecture," "Message Oriented Middleware / Message Brokers," "Object-Oriented / UML CASE Tools," "User-Centered Analysis: Use Cases, Objects, Interfaces and Business Events," "Enterprise Object Modeling," “Enterprise Application Integration,” “Zero Latency Enterprise,” "Usability and Reusability," “Enterprise Component Architecture,” "ENCORe: (Intranet-Based) Enterprise Network Common Object Repository", “Near-Real-Time Zero-Latency Enterprise Information System Integration”, "Information Strategy and Migration Planning," "Business Process Reengineering + Total Quality Management," "Enabling Innovation: Imagination Creativity and Judgment" "Interpersonal Managing Skills," etc. Planning, architecture, large-scale integration, self-determining team building, training for designers and developers, and competitive-advantage development services have been provided, with successful high-performance systems deployed on tens of thousands of advanced workstations and mainframes.

Larry is nearing completion of a 1,000 page technical book: Enterprise Object Modeling. Hartweg was a paid reviewer / editor of Grady Booch's book: Object Solutions.