There are several difficulties involved with building the next generation of systems that integrate the functions in current Web applications (traditional front office, order entry) with the back office (order fulfillment). The first difficulty is unambiguously defining the user requirements; the second is managing the organizational changes necessary to deploy the technical solution.

BEA held its annual Users Conference this past month. Everyone was in a good mood. BEA's stock has gone from $65 to over $130 in the past two months and it's still listed as a "strong buy" by most analysts. The underlying reason, as I've mentioned on several occasions in the past, is that BEA has made all the right moves.

All software development projects require two complementary methodologies. A systems development methodology is required to specify the tasks, techniques, and deliverables of each phase of the project. A project management methodology is required to estimate, schedule, and monitor the project. Currently, object-oriented systems development methodologies are focused on the development of "green field" systems.

The Internet changes everything. Okay, now that we're through the obligatory opening for every article these days, let's focus on the key issue for business-IT alignment -- change is changing. We can no longer think of change in the traditional vein of stuff-happens- and-today-it-happens-faster.

I've often recommended that companies outsource software development and maintenance tasks that are non-strategic. Companies are under terrific pressure to convert themselves to take advantage of the Internet and to respond to the e-commerce challenges they all face. Developing Internet-based enterprise e-commerce applications is very different than developing conventional applications.

As we cast a glance at the hoards of Internet start-ups filled with 26-year-olds queuing at the doors of venture capital firms, we might wonder if past experience has any value in these crazy times, especially if gained in the prehistoric days of computing (pre-Web). Perhaps, as in Logan's Run, we should all face the fact that at 30 we're past it, and enter "carousel" (the strange floating phenomena where all the "old" people get zapped).

In the first five articles in this series, I identified a maturity model for Internet technology adoption (below). This final article focuses on how companies can move from Level 4 to Level 5. This model parallels the SEI-CMM in that Level-5 organizations continue to develop, continue to measure where they are against industry leaders, and are ever vigilant in their search for new technologies, new methods, and new business models that offer competitive advantage.

In the 13 January Sourcing E-Mail Advisor, we made the point that companies need to plan for relationship management early in the transaction process, in order to facilitate a successful transition and set the tone for the first year. Once the transaction is concluded, it is essential to have the right relationship management leadership in place. What skills do such managers need to be successful?

Perhaps the most important thing we have learned from Y2000 is that we can successfully pull off a major project with a defined deadline and potentially catastrophic results for failure. However, in many cases, we did so by carefully defining a strategy that would provide success, and not biting off more than we could realistically chew.

On 14 February, it was announced that Computer Associates (CA) had agreed to acquire Sterling Software in a stock deal valued at $4 billion.

When your CEO calls for a 15% increase in revenues next year, does your senior vice president of sales call the IT organization to request help? What about the head of marketing if told to expand market share, or the head of operations if told to increase production? In far too many companies, probably not.

The Object Management Group (OMG) held its first Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) workshop in Orlando, Florida, last week. The emphasis was on discussing EAI issues, and the workshop was heavily attended by CTOs and senior technical people from Fortune 1000 companies.

We recently faced some challenges with a roofing project on our home, and these challenges provided me with some lessons I think can be applied to the multi-project world of IT.