As companies begin creating and implementing enterprise application integration (EAI) solutions, they are finally realizing the true importance of sound architecture practices. There is no magic recipe for implementing EAI solutions. Rather, EAI requires a successful combination of multiple concurrent technology initiatives, and, like the proverbial chain, it is only as strong as its weakest link.

As companies get swept up in the rush to become an e-business, it's important to remember that distributed computing has been around for a long time. In some cases, a slight change in a technology results in a new name. For example, before 1990, companies selling tools that generated software applications from structured diagrams referred to their products as CASE tools.

ITMS subscriber surveys tell us what you're looking for to help you with your job. Requests for case studies top the list, so I've included two in this issue.

Both of my guest authors this month, Jim Mayes and Jim Heires, provide real-world situations that discuss how to create support from top to bottom for software processes and metrics, as well as how to read metrics data to get an "x-ray view" of what's really going on within an organization.

The pervasiveness of the Internet in today's society means that the first interaction most companies have with a potential customer is via the company Web site.

In the May 2000 BIA, I covered the market for business intelligence (BI) and data warehouse products, including packaged data warehouse applications. In this issue, I will discuss a recent addition to the packaged data warehouse space.

In the July issue of BIA, I presented my views on the implications of data privacy. I also described the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) technology currently under development.

Over the past 12 months, the online industry has taken some pretty heavy flak and negative coverage from the press.

SageTree, Inc. (a subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation) has entered the business intelligence (BI) market with a new packaged application targeted at supply chain intelligence (a supply chain discipline that analyzes products and components at every stage of the product lifecycle).

The ability to match and modify Web site content to individual customer preferences has become a necessity as all companies -- whether operating on a business-to-consumer or business-to-business model -- strive to make their online operations more profitable.

Since much of this issue was spent discussing the products and vision of a single vendor, Epiphany, it seems an appropriate time to reiterate my editorial approach to writing about vendor products.

Accrue Software, Inc. announced its intention to acquire online analytical processing (OLAP) pioneer Pilot Software. This acquisition will result in Accrue adding Pilot's OLAP server and balanced scorecard applications to Accrue's already impressive line of analytical products targeted at business intelligence for e-business and online personalization applications. The terms of the proposed stock-for-stock transaction were not disclosed.

"Why bother writing patterns that just boil down to advice my grandmother would give me?"

"Because some patterns are so good and useful that even your grandmother knows them. Writing them down makes the context, value, and implications of the advice clearer than your grandmother probably did."

"Why bother writing patterns that just boil down to advice my grandmother would give me?"

"Because some patterns are so good and useful that even your grandmother knows them. Writing them down makes the context, value, and implications of the advice clearer than your grandmother probably did."

Destiny is an e-business consulting firm to large financial institutions. Founded in 1994 amidst the early online banking wave and rise of the Internet, Destiny has grown 50% (to 100 people) in the past year. This article is based on Destiny's foray into the world of architect Christopher Alexander's pattern language concepts, applied to our consulting business.

Destiny is an e-business consulting firm to large financial institutions. Founded in 1994 amidst the early online banking wave and rise of the Internet, Destiny has grown 50% (to 100 people) in the past year. This article is based on Destiny's foray into the world of architect Christopher Alexander's pattern language concepts, applied to our consulting business.

The Unified Process [11] is the latest endeavor of Rational Corporation, the same people who introduced what has become the industry-standard object modeling notation, the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

A couple of years ago, I went on a few job interviews. Though I was experienced and confident that I could answer the possible queries, waiting at the company before being called for the interview was always difficult for me.

In the era of "Internet speed," one can feel deep disregard for formal frameworks in software development. This disregard stems from a lack of evidence that complicated mental models such as defined software processes, formal project management methodologies, and so on actually add value to our practice.

In the era of "Internet speed," one can feel deep disregard for formal frameworks in software development. This disregard stems from a lack of evidence that complicated mental models such as defined software processes, formal project management methodologies, and so on actually add value to our practice.