A recent article in CIO Magazine, raises a valid point about the communicated purpose of Enterprise Architecture. Enterprise Architecture can be an overwhelmingly complex undertaking if approached comprehensively from the top down. In order to avoid getting lost in the matrix of the Zachman Framework, EA should be attached to solving business problems, and according to GM CTO Tony Scott, business peers shouldn't even know its called "enterprise architecture".

The goal of EA is to Reduce Complexity, not increase it. EA is described simply as the mapping of business requirements and processes to IT systems which support them. But its not a technology platform, or a one time mapping. It is a discipline. We don't sell disciplines, we practice them.

The EA discipline is practiced when key problem areas, inefficient processes, legacy systems, those things which can no longer be directly connected with the business need are re-evaluated. The goal is to provide agility, reduce complexity, so that the organization can "change the business rules" when need dictates without reinventing the IT systems that support them.

Often IT is viewed as slowing down the advancement of the organization, rather than enabling it. Strategic alignment has been thwarted by the increasing complexity of ad hoc computing solutions. IT is too busy just keeping the plethora of individual PC's, components, and nich products running. It seems like products are always being added, never removed. Clearly re-alignment is necessary, discipline is the key.

It appears as though more of the industry is waking up to Presence Being the Killer App. With Jabber Inc. being a leader in this space. Jabber, Inc., which develops real-time communication server platforms for developing IM and presence-enabled applications, is fashioning its XCP platform into an application server of sorts not only for presence, but also for messaging, routing and XML-application development. In September, it will release a publish-and-subscribe technology called Information Broker for pushing content out to users.

Interesting too, is the increase in adoption of Enterprise IM (EIM) and consequent integration of presence in business applications. A recent Osterman Research study shows 44% of companies use IM with business applications, up from 21% just three years ago. Furthermore, 34% of users have standardized on an internally run IM platform, up from 24% just two years ago.

Jabber Inc. is has announced new versions of its commercial Jabber server and client.

I have updated the Enterprise Technical Architecture Model.

Most of the changes were related to clearing up the confusion as to what this model is not.

This model is not a complete list of vendor branded components that we will use to build every solution IMT delivers. It is a high level model that abstracts a desired agility in our systems and covers the delivery infrastructure for our applications. It emphasizes principles, open protocols, and web based delivery to enable transformational self-service. Each of these areas will eventually need detailed sub-architectures to better define solution patterns, combinations of components used in various scenarios. Different requirements need different solution patterns, and no single list of building blocks can ever be pre-established for every potential problem domain.

This site has been upgraded to [Drupal] 4.4.1, which included a new xtemplate based theme called pushbutton. I have modified the theme adding a new AWG logo that I created in inkscape, my new favorite vector-based drawing program.

New features of the site include:

• File Upload - There should be a new node type listed in your "create content" menu, which allows you to upload a file. You can then reference this node in a blog post or collaborative book by linking to that node title. While not preferable to creating content in a book page directly, it will allow us to publish documents in word processor or pdf formats. The image node is still the best way to upload a picture or diagram however. (Note: there is a UI flaw, in my opinion, that if you preview a file upload you need to re-browse to add the file again before posting)
• Smileys - A postgres related bug prevented us from using any emoticons besides the smile previously. You'll now notice that many more are available to spice up your posts.
• Navigation for Collaborative Books - One of the best features of drupal besides blogging, is the ability to arrange any node published anywhere on the site into a heirarchical collaborative book. These are the primary means that we Publish Work. Now a table of contents opens up in a block on the left hand side, assisting the navigation within a book.
• Syndication - There is now a syndication page, that provides more assistance in determining the many syndication capabilities of the site. Not only can you be notified of new posts to the front page of the site, or read posts from your favorite [RSS] reader, but you can do so for any individual blog, or any custom combination of topics. The syndication site shows some examples of how to generate these custom feeds. Also a opml export file of all the feeds that are aggregated on this site (linked as "IT News") can be used to import those RSS channels into your feed reader.
• Browse Archives - Made famous by other blogging sites, there is now a way to browse posts to this site by clicking on calendar dates. You'll find this block on the right side of the page. This may prove more effective than the tracker, "what's new", which for some reason still displays improper dates.
• Topic Search - Keeping the Unix tradition of offering a thousand ways to do any one task, there is now a query based topic search. Linked on the top of the page, this allows you to display all nodes related to a topic. A little different than the topic browser, which allows you to dynamically click through topics and node titles. There is of course, also a menu of topics in the main navigation block as well. Use whichever tool makes sense to you.

If you find anything broken, or have any suggestions to make the site more useful, please let me know.

CIO John Reynolds has put forth the following strategic priorities for IMT. They are in no particular order, but everything IMT does in the forseeable future should be aligned with these priorities. This includes efforts around [Initiatives], projects, and architecture.

1. Organizational Efficiency
2. Graduate and Adult Learner Support System
3. Virtual Accessibility
4. Knowledge Management
5. Transformational Self-Service

From a broad architectural perspective a theme arises, Agility. Organizational efficiency can only be achieved with an Agile Enterprise Architecture, where work seamlessly flows between organizational units; modular design masking complexity and enabling change. Whether a grad student, or a university partner, virtual accessibility and self-service are critical to enabling distributed access to a living organization that works as one. The self-service enterprise is one which is able to provide personalized service to the individual, hiding the complexities of organizational process to present a single friendly face to the customer. And yet with knowledge management, not loosing the value that each constituent: student, faculty, staff, alumni and parents personally bring to APU as transformational scholarship through Christ leaves its legacy.

According to InformationWeek, and any IT person with their eyes open... Companies are choking on information employees create

How are companies to bring the plethora of unstructured information under control?