In the late 1990s, Congress passed a law that required that US government agencies adopt enterprise architectures and subsequently use those architectures when they propose new programs. In essence, Congress wanted to see what IT resources government agencies were using, with an eye to identifying duplication and eliminating inefficiencies.

One reader wrote me that his company is in the process of selecting a packaged data warehouse and accompanying analytic applications. The company has developed an initial list of products that meet its requirements. Now it wants to narrow the list, and the reader asked me if I had any recommendations. Consequently, I've decided to make it the subject of this week's Advisor.

I've been talking with a couple of clients about outsourcing and what should remain when other elements are outsourced. I've also been reading about the same topics.

At its simplest level, every project can be broken down into three components: schedule, scope, and resources. In other words, who's doing what and when. Resources map into who, scope maps into what, and schedule maps into when.

Although commonly accepted by many organizations as just an additional route to market, e-business builds heavily on an enterprise's technical infrastructure, directly affects PR and marketing strategies, and is subject to a number of cultural, legislative, and environmental constraints.

The past few years have been slow for most of us. Companies have been focusing on saving money rather than on expanding or looking for new opportunities for growth. Most hardware and software vendors have been sitting and waiting for the economy to shift gears and start to grow again.

The survey depicts a range of responses from 121 organizations of varying sizes and locations around the world. The respondents represent every geographical region in the world, with the majority from North America (37%), Europe (32%), and Australia and the Pacific (16%).