Technology Transfer - IT education at the highest level

Understanding ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE:
Structure, Domains, Disciplines, Value

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:48:00 GMT

The complexity of today's IT environments, regulations and competitive pressures are driving many Enterprises to initiate IT architecture programs. While Enterprise Architecture (EA) isn't new, it has produced mixed results. Successful organizations have streamlined costs, improved alignment between Business strategy and IT systems, and improved flexibility. Now, the demand for qualified architects is even greater.

Unfortunately, most organization or architects do not have an overall understanding of what Enterprise Architecture is, how programs are structured, the roles, responsibilities and skills of an Enterprise architect, what Enterprise Architecture looks like, how to create architecture, how to apply it, and how to deliver value to their organization through EA. This workshop is aimed at making sure you understand these questions and how to achieve these results. We will illustrate the many different aspect of EA and discuss how to deliver maximum value with EA architecture and avoid common pitfalls and mistakes. Topics will include EA principles and practices, EA domains of Business, information, application, and technology architecture, and the architectural skills and thinking needed to be an Enterprise architect.

The workshop is structured as a mix of presentation, interactive discussion, and group based exercises, so the students get the chance to apply the techniques learned to example scenarios during the facilitated exercises.

by Mike Rosen

Enterprise Business Integration

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:41:00 GMT

In today's Business climate, many companies are trying to widen margins by reducing operational costs while at the same time becoming more Agile and Intelligent in Business operations. In addition they want to become more responsive to Business events and more flexible in their ability to quickly change in response to competitive pressures. To do this requires that companies improve the efficiency and automation of their Operational Business Processes through Enterprise Business Integration and on-demand intelligence. Four levels of Integration are needed to create the Agile Process Centric Intelligent Business. These are User Interface Integration, Business Process Integration, Application Integration and on-demand Data Integration. This in-depth two-day seminar discusses the Business benefits that can be obtained from Business Integration and then focuses on the architecture options, the technologies and a methodology on how to integrate Business operations and also leverage Business Intelligence on-demand in operations to create the Intelligent Business. Attendees will learn how to justify the Business benefits of Enterprise Integration, create an Enterprise Architecture and then bring the architecture to life using common integration infrastructure technologies to join up Business operations. They will learn about the components of Business Integration including standardising integration interfaces using Web Services, using Metadata integration technologies to create a shared Business vocabulary, on-demand Data Integration using Enterprise Information Integration (EII) technologies, Business Process Management technologies, Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), on-demand Business Intelligence and Enterprise Portal technologies. In addition attendees will learn what technologies to use, how to select and how to integrate these products into an end-to-end integration technology framework based on integrated shared Metadata.

by Mike Ferguson

Using BI, BAM and Event Processing for Business Optimization

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:01:00 GMT

There is no doubt that Business Performance Management (BPM) is becoming fundamental to building, growing and managing a successful Business.This concept is based upon the principle that improvements in performance can only be delivered if performance is measured in specific Business areas and related to strategic Business objectives and targets. A full BPM implementation therefore includes:

CPM/EMP/SPM Scorecards and Dashboards
Enterprise budgeting and planning
Processes and BI both integrated with Scorecards and Dashboard software (not just BI)
In-line analytics for on-demand BI, reports and analyses available in operations
BI Web Services to integrate BI into operational Business processes
Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) to monitor Business process events to detect exceptions and opportunities
On-demand and event driven data integration to integrate historic and operational data for analysis
Data Mining services for automatic analysis,
Reporting services for on-demand and event driven reporting
Rules engines to make automatic decisions and take automatic actions
Automated alerts
Live recommendations
Guided analytics
Dynamically guided intelligent processes
Activity based costing to monitor and measure the cost of operating

This new two-day seminar provides a roadmap and methodology to creating the Right-Time Intelligent Enterprise by using methodologies and new technologies to manage a Business at both strategic and operational levels.

It looks at how Operational Performance Monitoring technologies like BAM can be integrated with Operational Business Processes and linked to Strategic Performance Management technologies such as Scorecards and Dashboards as part of a top-to-bottom Enterprise Business Performance Management program.

by Mike Ferguson

Data Modeling Masterclass:
Sharpen Your Data Modeling Skills!

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:07:00 GMT

Do you already know data modeling basics and want more? Take the Masterclass! You will first apply a Best Practices approach to building and validating data models through the Data Model Scorecardtm, a tool for improving data model quality. Next we focus on a collection of intermediate and advanced modeling techniques, including advanced normalization and enterprise data modeling. The final section contains guidelines used to gain consistency across our data models in areas such as in abstraction and whether to star schema or snowflake.
Each participant will receive a copy of all presentation material and a copy of the 2^nd edition of the book “Data Modeling Made Simple”, by Steve Hoberman.

by Steve Hoberman

Information Quality Management

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:21:00 GMT

Poor information quality costs organizations ten to twenty percent of total sales or revenue in the form of process failure and “information scrap and rework.” These costs are real and direct costs equivalent to manufacturing scrap and rework. Lost and missed opportunity costs as a result of poor information quality can be even greater than that. You learn the quality principles that must be applied to both business processes and information systems processes to achieve effective business performance. You learn how to measure and improve information quality to reclaim the lost profits of poor quality information.
This course provides guidelines for implementing a Total Information Quality Management (TIQM^tm) environment to create a “Center of Excellence” and sustain an information quality environment for business effectiveness.
W. Edwards Deming’s 14 Points of Quality provide the basis for defining an information quality management environment. You learn management techniques for implementing sustainable information quality improvement. Illustrations show leading-edge best practices that result in business effectiveness and competitive advantage.

by Larry English

Mastering the Requirements Process

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:44:00 GMT

People use software, but other people build that software. There's the problem. Solving it means understanding the actual work of the Business users and what they need in order to do it. And then the resulting requirements need to be communicated to system builders, customers and suppliers. Requirements analysts need a process that provides a structure for organizing the requirements. However the requirements process needs to be flexible enough to suit each particular situation. This seminar teaches you that process. Since the first version of the Volere process and template was released, it has been adopted and adapted to improve the requirements of thousands of organizations all over the world.The Volere requirements specification template, links the functional, non-functional and constraint Business requirements to the requirements models and connects them to the design specification. This seminar has indispensable information for Business analysts, requirements engineers, systems mangers, project leaders, consultants, systems analysts and planners.This material applies to all stakeholders: users and customers will benefit from learning how to participate in this multi-disciplinary approach. It is for anybody who has a responsibility to deliver the right products-the ones that get used.The seminar focuses on:

A process for gathering the correct requirements
Methods of eliciting requirements from all the stakeholders
Ways of knowing when your solution precisely matches what the user needs
The ability to write a complete and unambiguous requirements specification
Improved relationships between developers, customers and suppliers.

The delegates will also receive a copy of the book "Mastering the Requirements Process" by Suzanne and James Robertson (Addison Wesley, 2004).

by Suzanne Robertson

BI² (Business Integrated Insight)
From Business Intelligence to Enterprise IT Integration

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:23:00 GMT

The original Data Warehouse architecture of the 1980s separated “decision support” from day-to-day business operations. This supported Decision-Making needs at the time and was easily implemented on then emerging technologies, such as relational databases. However, today’s Business needs fully integrated processes, closely linking information and activities from all areas of the Enterprise. Decision-Making and Action-Taking are tightly bound. Business cycles are dramatically shorter and span company boundaries. So far, Enterprise IT, including Business Intelligence, has responded slowly and incoherently.
Business Integrated Insight (BI²) is a new architecture that reintegrates all Decision-Making and Action-Taking into the overall processes of the Business. Starting from the Data Warehouse, it incorporates a variety of technological advances, such as SOA, distributed access, Web technologies, Content Management and specialised relational databases. BI² thus provides a comprehensive structure for the full Enterprise IT integration demanded by modern Businesses. In addition, it directly addresses the current Data Warehousing issues, such as operational BI, executive Decision-Support, comprehensive information discovery and innovation, and Enterprise-Wide Decision Management. And, although novel, BI² is designed as an evolution from current Data Warehouse, operational and collaborative technologies.

by Barry Devlin

SOA:
Architecture, Governance, Standards and Technologies

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:58:00 GMT

SOA has rapidly seized the momentum and center stage because it is seen as the key for Enterprises to achieve Business agility, improved quality of service, lowered total cost of ownership and to align Business with technology. SOA represents a unique and rare opportunity to bring IT and Business together. However, this opportunity implies an evolution and often an organizational change, especially in the role of IT within the organization and in the way IT and Business work together. This seminar starts with examples of popular Business strategies, explains how SOA can enable them and foster a better alignment between Business requirements and IT deliverables. It gives you insight into the key organizational challenges that IT Managers face with the adoption of SOA and how to master them through efficient governance. Next, the seminar discusses the key standards that one should consider when implementing services and it outlines the important aspects of Enterprise Architecture that have to be addressed in order to make SOA projects successful. This includes defining a loosely coupled architecture and proper separation into service layers, as well as a comparison of conventional Web Services based and RESTful architectures. The seminar then drills down into the major aspects of application architecture, for example how SOA enables new types of clients, the characteristics of orchestration, application, and infrastructure services, and it maps standards to the layers of the application architecture. Furthermore, the seminar will help you understand how SOA can be applied to integration initiatives within your company, in particular through Service Oriented Integration (SOI). In this context the concept of the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is introduced. The seminar concludes with an overview of today’s predominant platforms for building and deploying new Business applications (Java EE and .NET, as well as open source tools), examining these platforms in terms of their support for SOA.

by Max Dolgicer

CISSP^tm:
Preparation Class

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:23:00 GMT

Easy to understand CISSP^tm prep curriculum with intense (daily) online quizzes ensure you master the 10 domains and successfully pass the CISSP^tm exam the first time”. 99% Pass the first time, The SU CISSP^tm Prep class effectively prepares information security professionals to pass the rigorous six-hour Certified Information Systems Security Professional [CISSP^tm ] examination. This SU CISSP^tm Prep program offers each student a zero-distraction, fully-immersed CISSP^tm CBK training and certification experience that employs accelerated learning techniques to minimize time-to-proficiency while maximizing retention.

You are taught by CISSP Master Clement Dupuis, the father of the www.cccure.org Website
More CISSP's pass the first time they take the exam
Accelerated learning techniques to focuse on long term information retention
Mmultiple daily quizzes - approved www.cccure.org vendor
Guarantees the highest quality of education and customer satisfaction

The CISSP exam covers the CBK, which is broken down into the ten domains listed next:

Information Security and Risk Management
Access Control
Cryptography
Physical (Environmental) Security
Security Architecture and Design
Application Security
Telecommunications and Network Security domain address
Legal, Regulations, Compliance, and Investigations domain addresses
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Planning
Operations Security

by Clement Dupuis

Modeling, designing and implementing SOA applications

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:35:00 GMT

After a brief introduction of Service Oriented Architecture the seminar discusses the guidance that typical Enterprise Architectures provide, and it compares today’s two mainstream approaches to SOA, namely conventional Web Services based architectures and RESTful architectures. It moves on to the more detailed application architecture, starting with the relationship of different types of clients to the services they consume, the separation of services into three distinct layers (orchestration, application, and infrastructure services layer), and it gives a quick overview how a variety of standards can be mapped to the elements of the application architecture.

The seminar then addresses how a typical Object Oriented application development methodology can be modified in order to derive a methodology that is suitable for implementing services. A Case Study is used for a detailed illustration of the modeling and design of a SOA-based B2B gateway. It includes the design of service interfaces, the encapsulation of a legacy system, the definition of schemas that are broken down into reusable components, the development of Business processes, and a walk-through of the complete B2B gateway architecture.

by Max Dolgicer

Extreme Scoping^TM:
Agile Approach to Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:52:00 GMT

There is unanimous agreement among “agile” authors, experts, and practitioners that agile development works for building small stand-alone systems, including front-end BI applications. However, there is considerable disagreement among the experts whether “agile” can work for large, complex systems like an Enterprise Data Warehouse, which requires an Enterprise perspective for activities like data standardization, data integration, enterprise data modeling, business rules ratification, coordinated ETL data staging, common meta data, collectively architected (designed) databases, and so on. Today’s popular agile methodologies do not take any of these additional DW-specific complexities and interdependencies into account. However, the presenter’s 7-step Extreme Scoping^tm approach does.

by Larissa Moss

Show me the numbers:
Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:57:00 GMT

Having good information visualization software is not enough. Even knowing how to use the software is not enough. The ability to design effective visual displays of data is not intuitive; it requires a set of visual design skills that must be learned.
Based on his recent book, "Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten", Stephen Few introduces the Best Practices in data presentation in this workshop.
We make huge investments annually in Business Intelligence (BI) technology, but it often fails to deliver on the promise of improved productivity and smarter decisions. Assuming that you need only install BI software and the rest will take care of itself is a false hope.
To use BI technology effectively, you still need fundamental skills in the analysis and presentation of information. A relatively small investment in skills development can make the difference between the success or failure of a huge investment in technology.
The most common and important use of BI software involves the analysis and presentation of quantitative information - the numbers that measure Business Performance. Most quantitative data, such as sales data and other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), are presented as tables and graphs. Unfortunately, most tables and graphs used in Business today are poorly designed. Why? Because almost no one who produces them, including specialists such as financial analysts and other report developers, have been trained in effective table and graph design. You can become an exception to this norm.
This course provides practical instruction in table and graph design developed specifically for the needs of Business. It will alleviate countless hours of confusion and frustration. Following Stephen Few's clear precepts, communicated through examples of what works, what doesn't, and why, you will learn to design tables and graphs that present data clearly and drive your message home.

by Stephen Few

Data Visualization for Discovery and Analysis:
Simple Graphing Techniques for Analyzing Quantitative Business Data

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:02:00 GMT

Somewhere around 90% of all Business data analysis can be done using simple graphing techniques to discern meaningful Patterns in the data.
Plenty of existing resources already teach the skills and practices involved in doing sophisticated statistical and financial analysis to support the mere 10% of Business data analysis that requires it those specialized skills, but where are the resources that teach the skills needed by the rest of us?
Even though these skills are simple and easy to learn and apply with the right help, very few people involved in analyzing Business data know them. This workshop provides a solution.
This book is intended for all those whose work requires them to make sense of quantitative Business data. This audience is much broader than financial analysts, or even analysts by any name; it provides practical skills that are useful to managers at all levels and to anyone interested in keeping a keen eye on the Business
Anyone who uses Excel or any of the many other Business productivity tools used for data access, analysis, and reporting, will learn how to use them productively, perhaps for the first time.

The delegates will also receive a copy of the book “Now you see it: Simple Graphing Techniques for Quantitative Analysis” by Stephen Few.

by Stephen Few

Dashboard Design for Immediate Insight

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:22:00 GMT

Dashboards have become a popular means to present critical Business information at a glance, but few do so effectively. Huge investments are made in Information Technology to produce actionable information, only to have it robbed of meaning at the very last stage of the process: the presentation of insights to those responsible for making decisions.
When designed well, Dashboards engage the power of visual perception to communicate a dense collection of information in an instant with exceptional clarity. This can only be achieved, however, by applying visual design skills that address the unique design challenges of Dashboards.
These skills are not intuitive; they must be learned.

The delegates will also receive a copy of the new book "Information Dashboard Design" by Stephen Few.

by Stephen Few

The Corporate Strategy for Information Technology

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:45:00 GMT

Why a Corporate Strategy for IT – What’s in it for You?

Developments in IT and the world economy have changed the paradigm for corporate IT people and the strategies they lead. Consumers and Business managers are increasingly confident at exploiting technology in ways that they value. Meanwhile, executives remain determined to constrain IT spending, not always certain of what they get in return. The economic climate makes it even more important to understand the links between value creation and IT costs.
The Corporate Strategy for IT harnesses the energy of Business-led strategies for exploiting IT, to create maximum total value. It also makes transparent the linkages between Business decisions and IT costs - often with some very surprising results.

What This Seminar Will Give You

This seminar provides a proven framework for deeply integrating IT with corporate and Business strategies, exploring the impact on investments, operating costs, Enterprise architecture, organisation, and sourcing.
Taking a strategic Business perspective of IT, the seminar reviews where the IT market currently stands. What does this mean for existing and new investments in IT, for IT organisations and the people they work with?
Many delegates who have already attended this seminar find that it permanently changes their understanding of what Corporate Strategies for IT are all about.

by Chris Potts

Extreme Project Management Workshop

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:31:00 GMT

In a recent advertisement for Microsoft Project, a Project Manager is shown alone in a high-tech room looking at 20 computer screens on a wall with project plans, tracking reports and other project information produced by Microsoft Project.The caption reads "Excellent". The project is going to plan. In the client-driven, internet-speed world of contemporary world of new Business, nothing could be further from reality than the Microsoft advertisement. With the evolution of XP (Extreme Programming and Lite or Agile Methodologies), the need for appropriate Project Management techniques to support the radical development approaches involved in Extreme projects has become critical.Traditional Project Management focused "downwards" to the technical content of the project. In other words, the Project Manager focused on issues such as schedule, deliverables, costs and so on (the Microsoft advertisement). Extreme Project Management balances the internal focus on the content with an external focus on the context of the project.Simply, what used to done with the project team is now shared fully with the project stakeholders. In addition, the broader context issues such as Business impact, Change Management, Business drivers, benefits realisation, organizational politics, communication, relationship and expectation Management are the main focus of the new Project Manager.In a recent US survey, Robert Charette reported that Project Managers were struggling to cope with the changing Business environment. Challenges facing Project Managers include:

Lack of budget or time to establish stable processes in highly compressed schedules
The need for innovative new solutions to Business initiatives
Insufficient planning
Redundant work caused by sudden changes in priorities
Too many dependencies with other projects
Competition for resources with other projects
Slow decision making

In this highly-provocative and challenging Master Class, Extreme Project Management will be explored. The workshop will provide a forum for experienced Project Managers to come to grips with the new world of Project Management.Each student will receive a copy of Thomsett's book "Radical Project Management".

by Rob Thomsett

Building the Textual Data Warehouse

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:30:00 GMT

For years corporate decisions have been made on the basis of the data found in transaction based systems. Transaction oriented data fits well with standard data base management systems because data base management systems structure data in a repetitive manner, where each occurrence of data has the same structure as each other occurrence of data in a table. But there is another viable and important source of data in the corporation. That source of data is the information found in the form of text. There are many forms of text in the corporation – emails, spreadsheets, contracts, warranties, medical and healthcare information, and so forth. Because text is not repetitive it does not fit easily and well with standard data base management systems. But now there is textual ETL and the ability to build data bases and data warehouses that contain textual information. When textual data is able to be transformed so that the text fits inside a standard data base management system, whole new opportunities for analysis and decision making are created.
This two day lecture/workshop is about what is required to create the textual, unstructured data warehouse. The first day is lecture and the second day is a hands on workshop.

by Bill Inmon

International SOA Conference 2010:
Making SOA Work

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:01:00 GMT

Technology Transfer’s International SOA Conference 2010 will answer key questions on how to navigate the road ahead of your current SOA. A lineup of experienced practitioners will present on topics that are crucial for any organization that wants to move beyond small scale projects and apply SOA across projects, across the Enterprise, extend it to the cloud and to Business partners. Join us when we discuss:

Is SOA the Holy Grail that will finally allow us to align Business and IT? We will look at the transition from a Business Architecture to a SOA and how they can be linked together
While the numbers of failed SOA projects are still high it is important to arm yourself with hard facts before you meet your Business sponsors. ROI calculations can convince even the most skeptical CFO
Moving from a grass roots approach for building services to an Enterprise strategy requires understanding the SOA maturity level of your organization, defining a roadmap for the evolution of SOA to the next level, and employing the right Governance to the implementation of your Roadmap
REST-based architectures seem to compete with the traditional approaches to building a SOA – but do they really, or is it just another flavor, and how do you decide when to use what?
Web 2.0 continues to be one of the hottest topics in IT. It is more than a pretty face for services; and we must understand its implications on how we architect services
Services have started to proliferate throughout your organization – how do you put a structured integration approach in place before your SOA spins out of control like we have witnessed with point-to-point integration “quick fixes”?
Enterprise Service Buses can be an essential tool to integrate and virtualize your services, but they should not be confused with an architecture blueprint
Most companies are using server virtualization to consolidate hardware and save cost; however, this is typically driven by data center operations and not in line with the SOA that Enterprise architects are concerned with – but it should be, and cloud computing is the next step that has to fit under the SOA umbrella
Security – while often an afterthought, it becomes more critical in a SOA environment
Business Process Management (BPM) has a synergy with SOA that can provide the needed flexibility to make alignment of Business and IT a reality

by MultiSpeaker

Enterprise Data Governance and Master Data Management

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:28:00 GMT

This two-day seminar is intended for Compliance Managers, Data Architects, Database Administrators, Data Integration Developers and Master Data Management Professionals, who are responsible for Management of Enterprise Data. The seminar takes an in-depth look at the Business problems caused by poorly managed data, and defines the requirements that need to be met for a company to confidently define, manage and share master, transactional, analytic and unstructured data across operational and analytic applications and processes.
In order to achieving Enterprise Data Management a company needs to invest in a suite of technologies that support end-to-end Data Management activities. These include:

Enterprise Metadata Management
Data Modelling
Data Profiling
Data Cleaning
Data Integration (Batch, on-demand and Event-Driven)
Data Synchronisation
Master Data Management
Enterprise Content Management

During the two days we take an in-depth look at the technologies needed in each of these areas as well as Best Practice approaches and methodologies to Data Integration and Master Data Management.

by Mike Ferguson

ENTERPRISE 2.0:
Business/IT adoption of Collaborative Computing, Web 2.0, and Social Networks

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:57:00 GMT

A new wave of computing tools and applications – illustrated by examples ranging from Wikipedia to MySpace to blogs – has grown in popularity during the past five years, and is now reaching “mainstream” status in some parts of society. More important, it is now being investigated and adopted by CIO’s and senior executive in large, pragmatic Business organizations as a way of reaching new markets, increasing revenues and profits, increasing productivity and effectiveness of its employees, and many other benefits.
“Enterprise 2.0” is the term now used to describe Business-Oriented adoption and implementation of technologies, Business strategies and cultural practices that were originally focused on informal networking activities among consumers, students, and teenagers.
But most organizations believe that the technologies of Enterprise 2.0 are less important than the Business strategies that need to be reexamined and updated.

How can Enterprise 2.0 help us find new markets and customers?
How can it help us find new products and services to offer existing customers?
How can we find ways to increase collaboration between our employees, customers, suppliers, and other citizens – using, for example, strategies like “crowd-sourcing” - rather than operating entirely within a fortified firewall barrier?
And how can we improve the effectiveness of communications with our customers, so we can spend more time listening to them, and less time preaching at them?

Enterprise 2.0 is a “strategic” issue: it requires senior corporate executives – including the CIO and senior IT Managers – to rethink basic assumptions about their Business, their customers, their suppliers, their work-force, their revenue models, and the day-to-day processes by which they carry out their Business.
This seminar is designed to help attendees understand the importance and impact of Enterprise 2.0 from both a Business and technology viewpoint.

by Ed Yourdon

Business Process Management

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:20:00 GMT

Almost every organization around the globe is now moving beyond processes as solely a way of synchronizing change and is attempting to transform the way their enterprise plans, manages, monitors and aligns capabilities and motivation using a process-managed baseline. The bad news is that most organizations have little ability to make it happen in a consistent or reliable way and most managers do not really understand what it will take to succeed. This seminar provides a comprehensive examination of the state of the art in Enterprise-level Business Process Management (BPM). It addresses innovations in ways of managing processes as assets of the enterprise. It focuses on maintaining the critical role that processes play in the alignment of the strategic objectives of the organization with what people do every day. It is geared to those with or without process experience seeking to learn a set of pragmatic practices packaged into a reusable BPM way of working strategically and tactically. The facilitated workshop sessions are highly interactive and ensure experience-sharing with other delegates. Built on lessons learnt, both good and bad, from real companies, this seminar provides you practices to deal with the real and tough challenges you will face.

Delegates will benefit from the experience and wisdom of the world leader on the topic. Roger Burlton’s book, Business Process Management: Profiting from Process will also be provided to all who attend.

by Roger Burlton

Business Process Modeling, Analysis and Design

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:42:00 GMT

This seminar delivers the foundational skills and techniques required to analyze and improve existing processes. It focuses on identifying opportunities for process change and presents the analysis, modeling and design techniques and tools required to improve performance. Participants will learn to scope specific processes using graphical models to document results. And, they will learn how to define measurement techniques for evaluating outcomes. They will also learn how to model As-Is and To-Be process workflows using industry standard notations. The class is organized around a case study that will be developed by attendees working in teams along with the instructor. The approach is practical and business oriented and attendees will be able to immediately apply what they learn within their own organization. It naturally follows on from the lessons in the preceding class ‘Enterprise Business Process Management’ to provide a complete methodology.

by Roger Burlton

Business Rules and Decisioning Masterclass:
How to Make Your Business and Its Processes Truly Agile

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:49:00 GMT

If your processes don't always produce the correct or consistent results, then you probably have a decisioning problem. You need the right techniques to fix these decisioning problems - process models, use cases, data models and other Business analysis tools just don't do the job.
Decisions are day-to-day, minute-to-minute decisions in running the Business. Generally, the decisions are made within some Business process, which might or might not be formally organized by a model. The important thing about these operational decisions is that they are highly repetitive - they might be taking place hundreds or thousands of times per day, per hour, or even per minute. They are predictable and fairly well structured in terms of the kinds of outcomes they produce. You want such decisions to be consistent and traceable across platforms, channels and organizational units.
Business Rules are the criteria for making these decisions. Business Rules should be treated as a first-class requirement so they can be validated, managed and changed as easily and as quickly as possible. For that, you need to know how to express Business Rules, and organize them into decision tables wherever possible.
This seminar gives you the essential insights you need to achieve order-of-magnitude improvements in your company's capacity to manage decisions. The result is simpler, smarter process models and a huge boost in Business agility. Learn applied techniques from the recognized world leader in the field.
All delegates will receive a free copy of Ron Ross's book “Business Rule Concepts” (3^rd Ed.), 2009.

by Ronald Ross

Optimizing Enterprise Data Warehouse:
Design utilizing Dimensional Normal Form

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:13:00 GMT

Dimensional Normal Form is a new approach to Data Warehouse Data Architecture which combines the strengths of both the normalized and the dimensional design paradigms to provide usable, flexible, scalable, and high performing schemas for the Enterprise Data Warehouse. Dimensional Normal Form allows an Enterprise Data Warehouse to be constructed a Data Mart at a time without requiring an intermediate Data Warehouse. While this sounds like the Kimball approach it is differentiated by its completely normalized ETL dimensions and its methods for tracking dimension history and differentiating contextual from detail or audit history.
This seminar fully covers design techniques for Data Warehousing and BI solutions based on the Dimensional Normal Form Data Architecture and discusses the pros and cons of the many design decisions that must be made. History considerations are discussed in detail along with their impact on schema design.
Various schema design examples are presented and discussed. The seminar participants will also be given design exercises will have their solutions analyzed and discussed by the group.
The seminar will also present contrasting Data Warehouse architectures and discuss the variations in physical design that are required for different Data Warehousing environments.
The following seminar on “Template-Driven ETL” will show how to build, populate and maintain the schemas built following the Dimensional Normal Form Data Architecture.

by Michael Schmitz

Major Web Attacks and How to Defeat Them

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:11:00 GMT

This course teaches the students how to develop secure web applications in today’s complex internetworked environment. Students will receive a deep and thorough understanding of the most prevalent and dangerous security defects in today’s applications. Additionally, they will learn practical and actionable guidelines on how to remediate against these common defects in Java/J2EE and how to test for them in their own applications.

This class starts with a description of the security problems faced by today's software developer, as well as a detailed description of the Open Web Application Security Project’s (OWASP) “Top 10” security defects. These defects are studied in instructor-lead sessions as well as in hands-on lab exercises in which each student learns how to actually exploit the defects to “break into” a real Web application. (The labs are performed in safe test environments.)

Remediation techniques and strategies are then studied for each defect. Practical guidelines on how to integrate secure development practices into the software development process are then presented and discussed.

by Ken van Wyk

ETL for the Data Warehouse:
a Template-Driven approach

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:38:00 GMT

Extract, transformation, and load process development (ETL) typically accounts for more than half of the work on a Data Warehouse project. Although complex and challenging a rigorous ETL process ensures data quality and currency thus ensuring Data Warehouse credibility and usefulness.
The good news is that using a standardized approach along with proven techniques and templates can exponentially lessen the amount of effort required and can ensure data quality, scalability and performance.
This class gives a broad overview of ETL processing for the Data Warehouse and delves into the in-depth issues and considerations involved. The class looks at the increasing need for Real-Time data feeds to the Warehouse and discusses the various methods to meet these needs. It specifically presents and teaches a template-driven approach which quickens development speed and provides completeness.
These templates are demonstrated with working Informatica/Oracle code, but can and have been adapted for other ETL tools and database platforms. They are also applicable for hand-coded efforts.

by Michael Schmitz

Enterprise Architecture

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:55:00 GMT

Enterprise Architecture is fundamental for enabling an Enterprise to assimilate internal changes in response to the external dynamics and uncertainties of the information age environment.
It not only constitutes a baseline for managing change, but also provides the mechanism by which the reality of the Enterprise and its systems can be aligned with management intentions.
The objective of this seminar is to build an understanding of the concepts of Enterprise Architecture and develop a sense of urgency for implementing those concepts in a modern Enterprise.

by John Zachman

Innovative Software Testing Approaches

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:14:00 GMT

This workshop is designed for software developers and testers that want to learn new and innovative ways to perform Software Testing. The topics covered in this workshop are appropriate for any level of Testing knowledge and experience, from foundation to advanced levels.
This workshop is 40% lecture and 60% interactive labs where you will be able to practice with others the techniques covered in the lectures.

by Randy Rice

Software Test Automation

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:22:00 GMT

This course focuses on the basics of software test automation and expands on those topics to learn some of the deeper issues of Test Automation. This course is not specific to any particular tool set but does include hands-on exercises using free and cheap test tools. The main objective of this course is to help you understand the landscape of Software Test Automation and how to make Test Automation a reality in your organization. You will learn the top challenges of Test Automation and which approaches are the best ones for your situation, how to establish your own Test Automation organization, and how to design software with Test Automation in mind. You will also learn many of the lessons of Test Automation by performing exercises using sample Test Automation tools on sample applications. You will leave the course with your own Test Automation strategy and plan for implementing it.

by Randy Rice

Designing Web 2.0 Applications

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:30:00 GMT

The convergence of Windows and the Web is upon us. Google Maps, Gmail, Flickr and a variety of new AJAX and Rich Internet applications have begun to legitimize moving beyond HTML to deliver interactive applications that deliver the best of the Web and the best of the desktop application experience.

We will show how these techniques are changing the way designers think about their application designs. You will learn how Web 2.0 applications are using new interaction techniques to replace existing Client Server and windows applications without sacrificing user productivity. Plus, you'll see the usability challenges introduced when these new interaction techniques are implemented.

by James Hobart

Managing High Risk Projects:
A Software Process Improvement Workshop
“Better, Faster, Cheaper”

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:53:00 GMT

This course is designed for individuals and teams seeking to reduce software project risk, improve delivered quality, and increase productivity and efficiency. Industry data clearly indicate larger projects, the primary focus of this workshop, carry significantly greater risk of failure and experience large cost and schedule overruns. We will examine root causes and discuss how those causes relate to participant organizations.

Participants in this highly interactive hands-on workshop will participate in a series of exercises that result in a self-assessment vis-à-vis proven best practices related to principal risks. With the self-assessment as context additional exercises will produce an action plan tailored to each participant’s situation. In particular each participant will develop an analysis of alternative defect containment strategies using models and benchmark data provided. Finding and fixing defects typically accounts for 50-70% of total software cost. These models demonstrate how a typical software organization can reduce these costs by 50% or more while reducing delivered defects by up to 75% - results best in class groups realize today.

All delegates will receive a free copy of Gary Gack's book “Managing the Black Hole: A General Managers Guide to Software and IT Projects”.

by Gary Gack

International Summit on Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence 2010:
Technologies, Techniques and Tools for Next Generation Systems

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:43:00 GMT

Economic pressures are forcing companies to become more innovative while also trying to reduce costs. In this tough climate, the Information-Driven Business is key to success. However, information is growing at a phenomenal rate with many companies now talking about supporting and managing petabyte data systems. In parallel with these issues, the rate of change in information-related technologies and products continues unabated. Vendor consolidation and failures, and the emergence of lower-cost solutions and new deployments models such as Open Source and Cloud Computing make developing a flexible IT strategy for Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing a daunting task. This conference examines the latest state of the art in Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing and Data Management and takes a detailed look at the key technologies that will be driving next generation systems that support the Information-Driven Business.

Topics that will be covered include:

Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing: Industry Status Report
The Convergence of Business Intelligence and Collaborative Computing
BI and Data Warehousing in Private and Public Clouds
Next Generation Data Warehouse and Data Management Solutions
Comparing the Vendors: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP or Perhaps Someone Else
Open Source Solutions: Ready for Prime Time?
Business Analytics and Unstructured Data
Data Mining and Predictive Analytics: Tools, Techniques and Case Studies
Operational BI and Data Integration: Ten Mistakes to Avoid
Advances in Data Visualization for Information Workers
Developing a Flexible and Cost-Effective BI Tools Strategy

by Mike Ferguson, Colin White, Merv Adrian, Rick van der Lans, Jos van Dongen

Guiding SOA Evolution through Governance:
from SOA 101 to Virtualization to Cloud Computing

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:06:00 GMT

The evolution of how companies employ SOA can be broken down into three phases: the initial phase focuses on migrating from previous approaches like component based applications to services and the best practices around building services. Once a company has completed initial SOA projects, the number of deployed services increases such that the key question no longer is how to build services, but rather how to efficiently govern the development and operation of services on an enterprise scale. The focus of a second phase SOA shifts to reusability, securing how a growing number of clients access the services, assuring that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are met, etc. Service virtualization plays a key role in this phase, which provides a decoupling of clients and services and replaces non-business logic in services with configuration in middleware that acts as intermediaries, like Enterprise Service Buses and SOA Appliances. While enterprise architects focus on SOA, the data center and operations managers have server virtualization on their agenda as a top priority to increase efficiency and reduce cost. These two efforts have not been treated synergistically by most companies, but they should. The provisioning of virtual servers should be done using a SOA based service infrastructure paradigm and the business services should automatically be mapped onto infrastructure resources in order to implement on-demand resource provisioning to better meet SLAs. This approach to the second phase in the SOA evolution positions a company for a natural progression into phase three, where services move into the cloud. Regardless whether we move to an enterprise cloud or one that is hosted by an external provider, everything we have learned and implemented in the first two phases of SOA applies – even more so, since issues like security and integration become are more complex in the cloud and SOA Governance plays an even bigger role. This seminar walks you through the three phases of evolving SOA and how to use a maturity model to build your SOA Roadmap. It then discusses how SOA Governance relates to business, IT, and Enterprise Architecture (EA) governance; it details what comprises SOA Governance, provides insights into current standards, vendor approaches and technologies, and closes with a case study that illustrates some of the governance principles and how to measure success.

by Gerhard Bayer

Database_Technology_for_the_Web__The_MapReduce_Debate

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:04:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Colin White]]

Database_Technology_for_the_Web_The_MapReduce_Debate

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:31:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Colin White]]

Seven_Keys_to_Effective_Performance_Measurement

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Harry Chapman]]

Ten_Things_an_Architect_Does_to_Add_Value

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Mike Rosen ]]

Developing_Secure_Applications

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:04:00 GMT

[CDATA[

For something that is so vital to our world, it’s strange that we clearly don’t care much about how secure it is. I’m talking about computers, and software in particular. All kinds of software, from our operating systems through our desktop software tools we use each and every day—and running on anything from large mainframes through small handheld smart mobile devices.

by Ken van Wyk]]

The_ECM_Landscape_in_2008

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:57:00 GMT

[CDATA[

You know you have an information management problem, but what kind? Defining the exact nature of the problem is always half the battle to finding a solution.

by Alan Pelz-Sharpe]]

Information_Workers_Who_Are_They_

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Colin White]]

Information_Quality_and_Management_Transformation

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Larry English]]

Making_the_Case_for_Business_Taxonomy

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Zach Wahl]]

Using_Rich_Internet_Applications_in_Business_Intelligence

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[

The use of Web 2.0 technologies in enterprise systems is changing the way organizations create, integrate, explore, analyze, and deliver information. Used wisely, Web 2.0 can significantly improve the productivity and effectiveness of business users. In this article, I explore new Web techniques that aid the development of richer and more flexible business intelligence (BI) applications, focusing specifically on technologies for building rich internet applications (RIA) and an associated web-oriented architecture (WOA).

by Colin White]]

Enterprise_Search

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[

What exactly is enterprise search – and what should you consider when identifying needs and choosing a solution?

by Theresa Regli]]

The_Power_of_Abstraction

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Steve Hoberman]]

The_Road_To_Pervasive_BI

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

[CDATA[

If you're not using business intelligence tools throughout your workforce, it's time to start--or get beat out by the competition!

by Cindi Howson]]

A_Strategy_for_Testing_SOA

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:15:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Randy Rice]]

The_Need_for_Easier_and_Lower-Cost_Business_Intelligence

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:07:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Colin White]]

Killer_Web_Content

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:31:00 GMT

[CDATA[
by Gerry McGovern]]

Extreme_scoping_What_iterative_development_really_means

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:07:00 GMT

[CDATA[

A data warehouse (DW) is not a DW unless it has two components: data management (cleaning up the data chaos) and data delivery (building BI applications). Unfortunately, most companies put more emphasis on data delivery than on getting their data under control.

by Larissa Moss]]

IQ_AND_DATA_WAREHOUSING__TRENDS_AND_BEST_PRACTICES

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:30:00 GMT

[CDATA[

This article is a brief review of information quality in data warehousing and trends that are increasing business intelligence effectiveness through proactive information quality.

by Larry English]]

What_is_Enterprise_Content_Management_

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:39:00 GMT

[CDATA[

You know you have an information management problem, but what kind? Defining the exact nature of the problem is always half the battle to finding a solution.

by Alan Pelz-Sharpe]]

The_Birth_of_Web_3.0

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:55:00 GMT

[CDATA[

The World Wide Web has developed into a gigantic and loosely organized collection of billions of documents connected by links and search engines, which we know as Web 2.0. Now, the computer industry is developing technology to make that data the basis of a sophisticated human intelligence network.

by John Kneiling]]

Technology Transfer - IT education at the highest level

Understanding ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE:Structure, Domains, Disciplines, Value

Enterprise Business Integration

Using BI, BAM and Event Processing for Business Optimization

Data Modeling Masterclass:Sharpen Your Data Modeling Skills!

Information Quality Management

Mastering the Requirements Process

BI2 (Business Integrated Insight)From Business Intelligence to Enterprise IT Integration

SOA:Architecture, Governance, Standards and Technologies

CISSPtm:Preparation Class

Modeling, designing and implementing SOA applications

Extreme ScopingTM:Agile Approach to Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence

Show me the numbers:Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten

Data Visualization for Discovery and Analysis:Simple Graphing Techniques for Analyzing Quantitative Business Data

Dashboard Design for Immediate Insight

The Corporate Strategy for Information Technology

Why a Corporate Strategy for IT – What’s in it for You?

What This Seminar Will Give You

Extreme Project Management Workshop

Building the Textual Data Warehouse

International SOA Conference 2010:Making SOA Work

Enterprise Data Governance and Master Data Management

ENTERPRISE 2.0:Business/IT adoption of Collaborative Computing, Web 2.0, and Social Networks

Business Process Management

Business Process Modeling, Analysis and Design

Business Rules and Decisioning Masterclass:How to Make Your Business and Its Processes Truly Agile

Optimizing Enterprise Data Warehouse: Design utilizing Dimensional Normal Form

Major Web Attacks and How to Defeat Them

ETL for the Data Warehouse:a Template-Driven approach

Enterprise Architecture

Innovative Software Testing Approaches

Software Test Automation

Designing Web 2.0 Applications

Managing High Risk Projects:A Software Process Improvement Workshop“Better, Faster, Cheaper”

International Summit on Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence 2010:Technologies, Techniques and Tools for Next Generation Systems

Guiding SOA Evolution through Governance:from SOA 101 to Virtualization to Cloud Computing

Database_Technology_for_the_Web__The_MapReduce_Debate

Database_Technology_for_the_Web_The_MapReduce_Debate

Seven_Keys_to_Effective_Performance_Measurement

Ten_Things_an_Architect_Does_to_Add_Value

Developing_Secure_Applications

The_ECM_Landscape_in_2008

Information_Workers_Who_Are_They_

Information_Quality_and_Management_Transformation

Making_the_Case_for_Business_Taxonomy

Using_Rich_Internet_Applications_in_Business_Intelligence

Enterprise_Search

The_Power_of_Abstraction

The_Road_To_Pervasive_BI

A_Strategy_for_Testing_SOA

The_Need_for_Easier_and_Lower-Cost_Business_Intelligence

Killer_Web_Content

Extreme_scoping_What_iterative_development_really_means

IQ_AND_DATA_WAREHOUSING__TRENDS_AND_BEST_PRACTICES

What_is_Enterprise_Content_Management_

The_Birth_of_Web_3.0

Understanding ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE:
Structure, Domains, Disciplines, Value

Data Modeling Masterclass:
Sharpen Your Data Modeling Skills!

BI² (Business Integrated Insight)
From Business Intelligence to Enterprise IT Integration

SOA:
Architecture, Governance, Standards and Technologies

CISSP^tm:
Preparation Class

Extreme Scoping^TM:
Agile Approach to Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence

Show me the numbers:
Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten

Data Visualization for Discovery and Analysis:
Simple Graphing Techniques for Analyzing Quantitative Business Data

International SOA Conference 2010:
Making SOA Work

ENTERPRISE 2.0:
Business/IT adoption of Collaborative Computing, Web 2.0, and Social Networks

Business Rules and Decisioning Masterclass:
How to Make Your Business and Its Processes Truly Agile

Optimizing Enterprise Data Warehouse:
Design utilizing Dimensional Normal Form

ETL for the Data Warehouse:
a Template-Driven approach

Managing High Risk Projects:
A Software Process Improvement Workshop
“Better, Faster, Cheaper”

International Summit on Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence 2010:
Technologies, Techniques and Tools for Next Generation Systems

Guiding SOA Evolution through Governance:
from SOA 101 to Virtualization to Cloud Computing