Here's an interesting finding: approximately 18% of end-user organizations indicate that they are using or developing embedded or "process-aware" BI analytics.

To give you a clear understanding of the journey through the contemporary world of project management and of becoming an exemplary project manager, we can make a strong parallel with the idea of being a cook or a chef. There is a difference. You can learn to be a cook and be able to routinely follow the recipes of others, or you can learn to be a chef and be able to create recipes for cooks to follow.

Strategic orientation toward customers and innovation needs to be grounded, understood, and directed in response to the business strategic plan. Businesses that develop a comprehensive strategic plan will have the insight to know which strategic-orientation mode will best help them reach their goals.

I read with interest recent Advisors by Cutter Senior Consultants Jens Coldewey and Bartek Kiepuszewski (see "An Agile View of Software Engineering," 16 October 2008, and "Put Agile Projects on Firm Foundation -- System Analysts' Responsibility," 2 October 2008).

Virtual worlds are brave new worlds on the Web. These three-dimensional, interactive Web environments can deliver an immersive experience that is much richer than what we currently experience with the traditional Web.

Now that the economy is apparently in shambles, it may sound strange to assert that every business now needs to rethink its IT vision. Yet now's the time, for in chaos there often is opportunity.

Over the past few months, I've discussed in several of my EA Advisors cloud computing as well as the various issues that go with it. Basically, I've said that security is the chief concern typically cited by end-user organizations when it comes to cloud-based applications and services.

In the current economic climate, IT organizations will have to cut costs just as other lines of business will. One potential alternative that IT organizations may consider are open source tools and applications. The open source alternative is especially valid when an organization is beginning a new project, but it is also a valid option when the IT organization wants to cut costs in an existing project or activity.

Last week, former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan addressed the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in an attempt to explain what he believes led to the biggest meltdown of the financial industry since the Great Depression.

Getting noticed by search engines is a problem common to all rich Internet applications (RIAs).

Search engines were not built with RIAs in mind, and they are not able to index RIA content. This is not a big problem for internal applications, but if you want Web-surfing prospects to find your RIA-based Web site, you have to make it visible to searches.

I read with interest Jens Coldewey's recent Advisor (see "An Agile View of Software Engineering," 16 October 2008), as well as some others like it that come from the agile community these days. I agree with the principles of agile, that it can be considered an alternative draft of software engineering.

Everyone, eventually, gets somewhat comfortable. Be it with a car, a chair, a project, a job, or a business strategy, human nature drives us to strive for a comfort zone. Unfortunately, that's not a healthy place to be. We all remember 9/11, but it is with a memory that has been softened for many by the passage of time.

Often, I get into discussions with clients and students about IT planning and portfolio management. Recently, I had a discussion that touched one of my most serious concerns: an extremely short turnaround on strategic projects. Here's how the conversation goes:

Systems manager: "If we can't get an ROI of 18 months or less, we just don't do it!"

Collective Intelligence (CI) is an emergent, pervasive, and very complex phenomenon resulting from the interaction of all the other existing social and technological advances currently taking place.

I remember the phone call well. My boss asked for a 13% reduction in budget quickly. A bit numb, my first reaction was to object, but the tone in his voice suggested that I shouldn't. I had to let a day pass to get over the emotional reaction and then I got to work. How can I cut costs without making my future a living hell?

It's often said that a picture is worth a thousand words -- especially in the context of modeling, whether it be software modules or business processes that are depicted.

When Adam Smith wrote about the "invisible hand" of the market in The Wealth of Nations, he was referring to strictly legal actions by individuals, which in their aggregate contributed to market efficiency. What he didn't talk about was illegal tendencies that the invisible hand might bring about.

A reader asked recently why I thought that data mining techniques are not in use at more organizations. This question is interesting in that the typical organization today tends to have huge amounts of data at its disposal. In addition, there have been significant advances in data collection, integration, and storage, with the data warehousing concept now quite widely accepted.

While conducting the IT due diligence to support one company acquisition, it became obvious that the company we were trying to purchase reduced expenses considerably by pirating software. In other words, the company purchased one set of software and simply copied it illegally to other employees as needed.

A funny thing is happening along the path of innovation for some companies. They are discovering their product development strategy is seriously endangered by a shortage of qualified technical staff. So they have responded with an obvious solution: offshoring it.

Last week, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of software engineering. Between 7 and 11 October 1968, the NATO Science Committee hosted 62 leading academics and professionals of the young computer industry in Garmisch, a beautiful place in Bavaria, Germany, at the foot of the north face of the highest German mountain.

Researchers in academia have, for several years now, been conducting all sorts of interesting research in advanced human-computer interface topics. Collectively, this research falls under the banner of augmented cognition (AugCog).

We have covered a lot of material since we published the first Advisor in this series on the principles of planning. Now it's time for a review.

I've been engaged with several clients recently to help them formulate a service-oriented architecture (SOA) strategy for their respective enterprises. In my conversations with them, I've had two essential points to offer.

Web 2.0 technologies -- such as wikis, blogs, RSS filters, mashups, podcasts, folksonomies, crowdsourcing, social networks, and virtual worlds -- are very hot. Everyone is excited about deploying them, especially because they're fast and cheap. But what do they really deliver?

I have previously suggested six dimensions of impact:

Knowledge management (KM)