IT architecture for IT managers

Danish version >>>

Tuesday September 23 at JAOO 2003 Conference,
Scandinavian Congress Center, Aarhus, Denmark

During the last 20 years, IT has been transformed. From having a supporting role in isolated parts of the business or adminstration processes, it has become a vital part of every process in companies and institutions. So it is natural that a need arises for IT systems that are able to interconnect the organizational and functional areas they were designed for. An IT architecture specifies the right match between work processes and technology and is the management's instrument for steering the realisation of coherent and integrated IT systems.

This is why IT architecture is a subject that is increasingly on the agenda of IT managers and leaders both in the private and public sectors. Recently, the Danish National IT and Telecom Agency has started work towards a unified IT architecture for the public sector with the publication of their "White Paper on IT Architecture". As a leader, this is your chance to familiarize yourself with concrete experiences in how to apply IT architecture and achieve results.

EOS and PLS RAMBØLL Management are, in cooperation with the National IT and Telecon Agency, arranging a seminar for managers and leaders. The seminar will take place as part of the JAOO 2003 conference, an international software conference. Experienced international and national experts will be telling attendees what makes an IT architecture and how it can be realised. You will be able to discuss your questions and unique challenges with them.

When you lay down a modern business or administrative strategy, it includes IT as an important element that helps you realise your aims and expectations. IT applications are built up as a series of independent projects that each have their own set of requirements and targets. How do you ensure good coordination between the many projects so that they all contribute to the construction of IT systems that work well together? An IT architecture is a set of guidelines and procedures that lays down pointers, check points and standards and becomes a foundation for the development of a coherent IT system.

We develop our companies or institutions on the foundations of existing results and experience. We rarely start from a green field, able to build without regard to existing preconditions. Therefore it is important to use an IT architect's pointers, check points and standards to evaluate and assess existing IT systems. Which IT architecture can best utilize the investments we already made? How can the IT architecture help us determine what is worthy of preservation and what needs rebuilding?

Price for seminar all inclusive: EUR 540.-
For registration go here: Registration

For contact and further information:

Aino Corry, EOS
Tel.: +45 87 32 87 87
aino@eos.dk

Nils Bundgaard, PLS RAMBØLL
Tel.: +45 24 69 79 80
nbu@pls.dk

09:00 - 09:40
Niels Pagh Rasmussen opens the seminar. The Danish Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation has written "White Paper on IT Architecture" to get a unified IT architecture for the public sector. This paper is now a part of the official state policy on IT. Niels Pagh Rasmussen explains why IT-architecture is an important issue for managers, with arguments also used in the agency's white paper.

Download slides

09:40 - 09:45
Changeover

09:45 - 10:25
Brian Foote has a long experience of developing complicated software and he has a big heart for sharing knowledge through representations like patterns. And most important: He has a lot of experience in how to make such representations come live.

10:25 - 10:45
Break

10:45 - 11:25
Next an overview of what artifacts IT-architecture consists of will be presented by Nils Bundgaard. The need of business gifted people and technically gifted people to engage with each other is important. This match will move business forward and will do it in a way where the software that is built posseses the wanted qualities.

Download slides

11:25 - 11:30
Changeover

11:30 - 12:10
Peter Eeles then follows by describing the process of architecting, using the RUP (Rational Unified Process) as a framework for the discussion. Using examples from his latest book ("Building J2EE Applications with the Rational Unified Process"), Peter will provide a guided tour through the RUP from the perspective of the architect, while discussing the pragmatics of choosing the process elements needed to ensure success, based on factors such as the size of the project.

Download slides

12:10 - 13:00
Lunch

13:00 - 15:00
Then we will create an interactive open case Goldfish Bowl with all attendees. Suggestions for discussion is proposed by the participants. In the beginning, the people presented on the next page will be situated in the middle of the room with all the attendees around them. All attendees are able to join them, but then someone else must leave the inner circle. The result is open; it will evolve from the debate among and from the creativity of everybody participating.

15:00 - 15:15
Break

15:15 - 16:00
Johannes Mortensen describes his choices of architecture in context of his own experience. Johannes has years of experience as a manager of companies creating complex solutions. He has used architecture as a tool in the development of these companies. In his presentation, Johannes will share his viewpoints and relate it to the day's earlier presentations.

Download slides

16:00 - 16:30
Nils Bundgaard will round off the day by summing up the presentations and discussions.

Peter Eeles, Rational Software, UK
Peter Eeles works for Rational Software, part of the IBM Software Group, and has spent a large part of his career architecting and implementing large-scale, distributed systems. He is based in the UK, and is the Worldwide Community of Practice Lead for Model-Driven Development, assisting organizations in their adoption of the Rational Unified Process and the Rational toolset in architecture-centric initiatives. He is coauthor of "Building J2EE Applications with the Rational Unified Process" (Addison-Wesley, 2002), coauthor of "Building Business Objects" (John Wiley & Sons, 1998) and a contributing author to "Software Architectures" (Springer-Verlag, 1999). He is a regular speaker at conferences throughout Europe.


Niels Pagh Rasmussen, IT og Telestyrelsen, Denmark
Niels Pagh Rasmussen, 48, is the director of the Office of IT Strategy at the Danish National IT and Telecom Agency. He has a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Copenhagen Business School, prior to which he was Director of Software Processes at KMD (Kommunedata A/S). The Office of IT Strategy is the public sector competence centre for applied IT. It is the responsibility of the Office of IT Strategy to establish a framework for, and promote the use of a public sector IT architecture to ensure the establishment of and promote the use of standards to support the government's IT policy with concrete IT projects and IT expertise. They also promote the linkage between the public and private sectors. The vision of the Office of IT Strategy is to support a coherent and effective use of IT in the public sector and to advise the government on information technology.


Ralph Johnson has been studying how object-oriented programming changes the way software is developed. He has worked on several projects, including frameworks for operating systems (Choices), drawing editors (HotDraw), music synthesis (Kyma), and business transaction processing (Accounts). He is co-author of the book "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Design", winner of the 1994 Software Productivity Award. Patterns describe recurring design techniques and explain why and when they should be used. They make designers be more productive and communicate with each other better. He was one of the originators of the software patterns movement, organizing the first conference on patterns, as well as writing many of the first papers on the subject. He holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University, 1987.


Johannes Mortensen, CTO ACURE A/S, Denmark
Johannes Mortensen, 49, is CEO of ACURE A/S. ACURE contains the Health Care IT activities of the Maersk Data Group. Before joining ACURE Johannes Mortensen worked for Maersk Data Industries, where he was director of the division from 1999. From 1992 to 1997 he was employed at KMD as Deputy CEO with responsibility for system development. From 1986 to 1992 Johannes Mortensen was the director of his own systems house. Recently, he was Maersk Data Group's chief representative in the bidding for the Danish State Health Portal which was won by the Maersk Data Group.
Johannes is passionate about systems development, and ACURE uses the concept of architecture at many levels, both in dialog with customers and in software design work.


Frank Buschmann is software engineer at Siemens Corporate Technology in Munich, Germany. His research interests include Object Technology, Application Frameworks and specifically Patterns. In his development work, Frank has lead the design and implementation of several large-scale industrial software projects, including business information, industrial automation, and telecommunication systems. Frank is co-author of "Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture -- A System of Patterns".


Brian Foote has over twenty-one years of professional software development experience. He has been working with Smalltalk and objects since 1985. Brian has written numerous papers on Smalltalk, object-oriented design, software reuse, patterns, and software architecture. Brian was involved in the development of the object-oriented enterprise frameworks developed at the Illinois Department of Public Health. His current research on using objects to build better object-oriented languages is being conducted in Smalltalk.


Nils Bundgaard, Software Architect, PLS RAMBØLL, Denmark.
Nils Bundgaard, 50, is a software architect and chief consultant at PLS RAMBØLL Management. Nils Bundgaard is a specialist in IT architecture with particular emphasis on software architecture the field that connects IT technology with the aims and processes of the company. Nils Bundgaard has worked with IT architectures on the Internet platform since 1996 and has, on this platform, implemented inventory management, customer management, portals, CRM tools, data warehouses, Content Management Systems (CMS) and Application Services (ASP). Nils Bundgaard has consulted on IT architecture for the Foreign Ministry, the National IT and Telecom Agency, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, IDA, HK, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, DMI, DSB S-tog etc.


Klaus Marquardt work as a lead software architect and software engineer at Drager Medical (Lubeck, Germany). Besides testing, coding, designing, architecting and other real work, Klaus participates in company-wide efforts where his expertise in software development processes, modularity, and software and product line architecture helps. Before joining Drager Medical, Klaus have been working for sd&m in Munchen. His university education includes studies of Operations Research at the RWTH Aachen, a diploma in Physics from the RWTH Aachen and a Vordiplom in Physics from the CAU Kiel.