One of the interesting dilemmas facing current IT development managers is what to do with the applications that were written in what used to be referred to as 4GLs (fourth-generation languages). In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of such languages were developed that were designed first to handle management reporting tasks and then to develop basic PC and client-server applications.

One of the interesting dilemmas facing current IT development managers is what to do with the applications that were written in what used to be referred to as 4GLs (fourth-generation languages). In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of such languages were developed that were designed first to handle management reporting tasks and then to develop basic PC and client-server applications.

One of the interesting dilemmas facing current IT development managers is what to do with the applications that were written in what used to be referred to as 4GLs (fourth-generation languages). In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of such languages were developed that were designed first to handle management reporting tasks and then to develop basic PC and client-server applications.

An old boyfriend of mine, while a young adult, once spent a Saturday with his best friend taking apart and reassembling his car's engine. The intent wasn't to make improvements. They were simply curious about the engine's assembly and about their own ability to do something that was more ambitious than other such experiments they had tried.

An old boyfriend of mine, while a young adult, once spent a Saturday with his best friend taking apart and reassembling his car's engine. The intent wasn't to make improvements. They were simply curious about the engine's assembly and about their own ability to do something that was more ambitious than other such experiments they had tried.

While it is quite obvious that firms exist to serve customers, it is not as obvious why the business and IT strategy often does not start or end with the customer.

During the past decade, I have had the chance to work with technologists, brand strategists, business strategists, marketers, salespeople, and creative types on various projects designed to directly or indirectly affect how the firm wins and keeps customers.

It's time to reorganize -- again.

Enterprise architecture is a broad, complex, and confusing field. It covers many aspects from frameworks to programs but almost always encompasses the concept of architectural domains, including business, information, application, and technology.

It seems that almost no one really knows what enterprise architecture (EA) is. Like many things, ask a dozen architects, and you'll get 20 different answers. This is for various reasons. For one, the field of EA as a mainstream activity is relatively new. Therefore, the industry as a whole has not had the chance to coalesce around a common definition. Another contributing factor is the breadth of EA.

This Executive Update, Part II in a three-part series, discusses approaches to implementing service-oriented architecture (SOA) standards and specifications used for enforcing WS-Security.

The purpose of this Update is to provide guidance and recommendations for securing the SOA infrastructure and further elaborates on the security concepts and standards discussed in Part I (Vol. 11, No. 4).

This issue of Cutter Benchmark Review focuses on green IT and green IS. This installment will hopefully convince you that using IS to become more efficient and to reduce your organization's environmental footprint is not only the right thing to do, but plain-old good business and bottom-line management.

Humankind's current consumption and production activities follow an unsustainable path, which has numerous negative impacts, including climate change, resource depletion, erosion of biodiversity, and air pollution. These and other factors are pressuring governments, corporations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and citizens around the world to find ways to minimize the damage that will be done to our environment in the coming decades.

The sustainable IT movement is increasingly recognized in today's businesses, from manufacturing to finance, and companies are developing ways to reduce their ecological footprint in many areas. While the need for green IT is acknowledged throughout industry, the implementation of green initiatives and the development of supporting management structures still require increased focus. The combination of environmental stewardship, technical knowledge, and change management skills are vital for any organization during this cultural and operational transformation.

This installment of Cutter Benchmark Review without a doubt focuses on one of the most important and complex issues we have addressed during my three-year tenure as editor of CBR. I am hopeful that having read our contributors' analysis of the current benchmark data, you have been convinced to develop and implement a green IT and green IS strategy for your organization.

This survey examined the extent to which organizations' IT and IS contribute to reducing waste and emissions, supporting product stewardship, and fostering the use of cleaner technology; the survey also looked at green strategies and the forces that trigger the adoption of sustainable business IS practices. Thirty-seven percent of the 75 respondents come from organizations headquartered or based in North America, 28% from organizations in Europe, 24% from organizations in Asia/Australia/Pacific, and the remainder from organizations in other regions.

What's all

Is there a more structured way of introducing or managing a BI initiative, which cannot only meet the current enterprise needs at various levels but can also sustain the future BI initiatives, in a scalable, standardized, and integrated manner? The answer to this lies in a simple pre-BI initiative: a BI consulting exercise. This exercise is the best opportunity for an organization to assess its BI readiness and also to take itself to the higher levels of the BI maturity model. This Executive Update examines such an exercise.

Across the gamut of business activities and outputs, innovation is deemed a critical element in business today. Innovation can occur in processes, products/services, and strategy, and it may have varying degrees of novelty and impact, ranging from a completely new product or service to a small change resulting in minor efficiency gains in a business process.

Across the gamut of business activities and outputs, innovation is deemed a critical element in business today. Innovation can occur in processes, products/services, and strategy, and it may have varying degrees of novelty and impact, ranging from a completely new product or service to a small change resulting in minor efficiency gains in a business process.

"The prevailing traditional project management paradigm is, at best, struggling to deliver to the increasing expectations of business and government clients. At worst, it has become increasingly focused inward on certification, bureaucracy, and formal complexity."

-- Rob Thomsett, Guest Editor

Two years ago, my ophthalmologist sent me spiraling into an early midlife crisis. He casually mentioned that my eyeglass prescription would now be altered to correct my inability to read text at close range, a common experience for folks my age. The thing is, I didn't know until that very moment that I had a problem reading text close up. Just 20 minutes before this pronouncement, I had been blissfully reading magazines in the waiting room without issue, then suddenly the print didn't look so crisp.

"Many project managers [PMs] still find the complexity of planning and delivering projects in a constantly changing environment often requires competencies that their formal training has not equipped them with," notes Guest Editor Rob Thomsett, in this issue's call for papers. "Organizations struggle to deliver projects within agreed expectations."

Why is this?

The growing call for a new and better way of managing projects is very much rooted in dissatisfaction with current environments. The desire for greater responsiveness and flexibility on the part of project teams, the frustration with failures and project overruns, and the chronic difficulty in ensuring that project results deliver real business value all exemplify this dissatisfaction.