Valuing IT - Measuring the Value of Information
10:15am

John Ladley
Director
Navigant Consulting

If information is an asset, is there any relevance in extending that metaphor to an actual valuation of the asset? What if business cases could actually show the real value of IT to an enterprise, directly enhance balance sheets and income statements and mitigate risk.

This session will examine the various aspects of determining the risk and value of information assets, and provides some guiding principles to help you develop a better case for proactive information management. Specifically, this talk will examine:

• The components of information value
• Specific techniques for valuation and risk assessment
• Defining proactive business cases

John Ladley

John Ladley is an internationally known information management practitioner and a popular speaker on information and knowledge management. John is widely published and has several regular columns. John is a Director with Navigant Consulting. Prior to Navigant's acquisition, John founded KI Solutions, an information and knowledge management strategy company. John was Senior Program Director of Data Warehouse strategies and a Research Fellow at Meta Group. Mr. Ladley is an authority on information architectures, business performance measurement architectures, knowledge management, collaborative applications, and information resource management.

How to Build and Communicate an EA Taxonomy
10:15am

Jeff Tash
CEO
Flashmap Systems, Inc.

This workshop will challenge participants to look at what kinds of information Enterprise Architects ought to capture and communicate using a taxonomy. The best way of communicating EA taxonomy information is to think in terms of a 3-dimensional cube:

1. Along one dimension you have models. EA models describe Business Architecture (i.e., processes), Data Architecture, Application Architecture, and Technology Architecture. When describing the last component, you'll want 4 models that can visually depict a technology portfolio as 3 layers:

   • The bottom layer (Layer 1) specifies Infrastructure (Model 1)

   • The middle layer (Layer 2), on top of Infrastructure, corresponds to Applications which can either be built (Model 2) or bought (Model 3)

   • The top layer (Layer 3), above Applications, refers to the application-generated data that yearns to be mined for its Business Intelligence (Model 4)The second dimension for communicating taxonomy information refers to views. Different views target different audiences. Some views can be targeted to architects, others to developers, and still others aimed at business-oriented end users.

2. The second dimension for communicating taxonomy information refers to views. Different views target different audiences. Some views can be targeted to architects, others to developers, and still others aimed at business-oriented end users.

3. The third dimension involves time. Think of it in terms of current state and future state(s).

Attendees will receive complimentary Roadmap wall posters that describe ITscout's 3 layer/4 model graphical taxonomy which visually depicts the typical universe of IT products that comprise an enterprise's technology portfolio.

Jeff Tash

Jeff Tash is CEO of Flashmap Systems, Inc. (www.FlashmapSystems.com). He also maintains two free web sites: ITscout (www.ITscout.org) which organizes information about IT products and vendors, plus the "Architecture Resources' Repository" (www.ITscout.org/Architecture). Previously, for over twelve years, he was President of Hewitt Technologies, a Division of Hewitt Associates. Prior to that, he was employed by Digital Equipment Corp., IBM Corp., Control Data Corp., and Arthur Young & Company. Mr. Tash has lectured internationally to tens of thousands of IT professionals. More than a million copies of his ITscout Roadmap wall posters have been distributed worldwide. He is currently a Microsoft MVP Architect and an IASA Fellow.

Integrating EA into the Organization - Roles,
Processes, and Policies
1:00pm

Jane Carbone
President
infomajic, llc

Daping Tan
Head of Architecture
Canada Institute for Scientific 
and Technical Information (CISTI)

This interactive workshop explores the role of EA in the organization and the integration of that role into the business processes, policies and structures of the organization. The workshop centers on organizational issues that, if not addressed, may pose the greatest threats to architecture realization. Even the best architecture requires the development of a concrete and feasible action plan for addressing implementation issues. We include discussion of the care and feeding of architects and provides examples of implementation plan components - role definitions, organization structures, key processes and sustaining policies. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a group planning exercise and receive feedback on the output.

EA Implementation Issues:

• Role of the enterprise architect - definition and structure
• EA and Project Management
• Integrating EA into business processes - operational and strategic planning, project funding
• Integrating EA into IT processes - governance, SDM
• Human Resource policies

Jane Carbone

Jane Carbone has 30+ years of experience in Information Technology, including Integration Architect at AT&T Consumer Services. Jane developed and uses the infomajic enterprise architecture methodology to deliver architecture workshops, conduct assessments, develop enterprise and data architectures, organization designs and implementation plans including data stewardship programs with clients in banking, financial services, telecomm, insurance, IT HR, retail firms, and government agencies. She has delivered on-line training and architecture seminars, and has spoken on architecture at industry conferences. Her articles have been published in DMDirect, the TDAN newsletter, EA Network, the Enterprise Computing Institute (ECI), and informIT. Her book "The IT Architecture Toolkit" is available through Prentice-Hall PTR (2004).

Daping Tan

Daping Tan is the Head of Architecture at Technology and Research of Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI), an institute of National Research Council Canada. He has more than 20 years of experience in Information Technology, including real-time control systems, system and network infrastructure, application development, IT operations, system integration, and enterprise architecture. In 2003, he built CISTI's architecture team and selected an enterprise architecture methodology for CISTI's EA initiative. Since then he has led the team to take an incremental and iteractive approach in applying EA not only to architecture modeling but also to business and process integration.

The Enterprise Ontology: Firm Foundation for EA
1:00pm

Dave McComb
President
Semantic Arts

An ontology is a formal description of the meaning of information. An enterprise ontology (EO) is the next generation of enterprise data model. By employing semantic technology the enterprise ontology forces a level of rigor and completeness not found in other informal approaches. It also forms the basis for advanced capabilities such as: smart (conceptual) queries, design assistance, semantic brokers and Web service discovery.

In this workshop we will describe how the unique capabilities of description logics (DL) contribute to a model that would not be otherwise achievable. We will discuss the concepts of same, different and similar, which are easy for humans to understand but difficult to implement in our systems. We will briefly describe how a DL based model uncovers undiagnosed similarity and how the use of a shared upper ontology helps designers find and resolve hidden ambiguity. We will cover:

• Semantic technology including the semantic web and description logics

• A high level methodology for conducting an enterprise ontology project

• Information on software products that can with the design of the EO

• Pragmatic advice from the use of this approach in the field

• Description of how an EO helps with the implementation of SOA or EII

• An upper ontology designed specifically as the basis for EOs

Various studies have suggested that semantic misunderstanding contributes to anywhere from 30%-80% of the cost of system integration. To the best of our knowledge, the DL based EO is the only existing approach that directly addresses this concern.

Dave McComb

Dave McComb is the President of Semantic Arts, a Fort Collins based company specializing in enterprise architecture, service oriented architecture and the application of semantic technology to information systems. He has 30 years of experience with a wide range of large scale enterprises, and is the author of "Semantics in Business Systems."

Politics and Human Dynamics For Successful Enterprise
Architecture
3:15pm

Len Silverston
President
Universal Data Models

How can we effectively address politics in enterprise architecture efforts and employ principles that really work? Enterprises often deal with turf issues that result in silos of systems, processes, information and/or applications. At the core, these issues are a manifestation of people silos. When people and organizations operate separately, such as when a project is focused only on their needs and without regard needs of the whole enterprise, disintegration occurs. A key to any integration effort, such as enterprise architecture is understanding the personal, cultural and political environment and consciously employing proven principles to move towards integration. The most successful integration information efforts share one thing in common: they have developed an effective culture and environment that enables integration.

This seminar will share principles and techniques that foster integration. It will provide examples of successful and unsuccessful efforts, illustrating why some enterprise architecture programs succeed and others fail as well as how to avoid pitfalls and apply techniques that have worked for other organizations. There will be interactive exercises where participants can practice applying these principles towards common, challenging issues. Participants of this session will gain:
An understanding of political and cultural factors that are key to integration efforts
Tools and principles to enable enterprise architecture and integration such as keys in facilitating a common vision, creating power behind a vision, developing trust, and managing conflict.
Real life stories of how culture and politics either blocked or fostered effective enterprise architecture and integration programs.

Exercises allowing participants to practice overcoming common challenges that enterprise architecture and integration professionals often face.

Len Silverston

Len Silverston is an author, consultant, and speaker with over 25 years of experience helping organizations integrate their information and systems. He is the best-selling author of "The Data Model Resource Book” series, which describe over 230 reusable, holistic data models and which was rated #12 on the Computer Literacy Best Seller List. Mr. Silverston has published numerous articles sharing his insights about re-usable models and how to integrate information, systems and people. He has been a columnist for Data Management Review and has been a frequently invited speaker at many international conferences. His most recent book, which provides universal data models for various industries has been translated into Chinese. He is the winner of the DAMA International Professional Achievement Award for 2004. Mr. Silverston's company, Universal Data Models, provides consulting, training and software to jump-start data modeling and data warehouse design efforts while increasing design quality.

SOA Critical Success Factors
3:15pm

Evan Terry
Data Architect
The Clegg Company, Inc.

Ken Karscony
Data Architect
Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.

Implementing SOA is more than merely adopting the latest technology. A successful SOA initiative requires senior management support, enterprise collaboration, standards and governance, education, communication, and planning. These factors are often over-looked, which leads to significant problems for a company hoping to capitalize on the benefits of SOA. In this presentation, the lecturers will discuss a smooth transition to SOA, how an effective enterprise architecture program is helpful, and why the above listed factors are critical to an SOA initiative’s success. The workshop presentation will cover the following topics as they relate to SOA:

• Disciplines of enterprise architecture
• Enterprise architecture organizational structure and governance
• Building management support
• Implementation considerations and challenges
• Education and training

Ken Karacsony & Evan Terry

The speakers have more than 30 years of consulting and professional experience in IT. Evan has published articles and co-authored a book and Ken is an author and lecturer who has presented at the international Data Management Association conference and has written featured articles including a full-length March 2006 cover feature on SOA in ComputerWorld magazine. The speakers have a published white paper series on SOA that has been distributed to hundreds of companies, organizations, and government agencies world wide, which is available at http://qualitydm.com.