Intelligence Revisited

In information world, Intelligence is overloaded word.

Today’s dilemma is "Intelligence presupposes problem is known". That’s where the roots of rework and dead end roads start.

Case in point -:  Business Manager asking how business process is doing. Well the answer lies in, what’s the basis. That's were building the target line comes into picture. How do we get to know those target lines? Seems to be million dollar question?

There are two sources to identify the target line.

·         Experience

·         Discovery

Technologist hands are tied up as far as Business Experience is considered. Now we move towards discovery mode. We can get the top performance numbers from past data. And this forms the basis of target lines. Let’s beat our numbers - that’s the way to go. And supplement this with experience of business managers.

Once target lines are set we can measure, and improve. Intelligence enables Progress......

MVC an Insight

A input triggers a process which may produce implicit or explicit output. In the backdrop of this simplicity MVC framework/architecture manifests itself.

MODEL - Core Process Engine
CONTROLLER - Communication Hub (Receives/Sends Instructions/Data)
VIEW - User Interface

In the trio, Controller forms the basic fabric of the architecture. Its the layer which "cements" as well as provides "independence" to Model and View. Infrastructure which provides PERSISTENCE by modulating/handshaking on both sides i.e. VIEW and MODEL.

As the clients now a days have enough memory and CPU power , VIEW (user-interface) can be intelligent. And that's the space which can contribute to scalability , all the UI needs can be taken care of without the server coming into picture.

Business logic and data binding makes the MODEL. Here flexibility is a big challenge , SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) approach makes this area of architecture most refined process of all. Business Processes identification leading to component build up. Data Layer acts as persistent memory while data schema will reflect business cases (Entity-Relationships).

Cloud Gate

A prompt on a black screen to evoke a link , thus the story started of the mother of networks INTERNET. Till today we do the same thing. Light the fire enjoy the meal. Click a link and access the information.

A small lab with few terminals talking to each other , on black screen prompt. Then there was gui's (Graphical User Interface) to communicate between client and servers - I prefer to call them INTRANET ( 'A' is Personal - age old ownership issue).

Dawn of Global Travel Age brought challenges which compelled organizations, to break the narrow confines of ownership, restricted to geographies. Thus arrived the mighty 'E' Era. And Ms (Microsoft) was at the forefront with brilliant leaders at the helm to be the GateWay to this mighty network with 'IE' Internet Explorer.

Germinating the concept of real time cloud - Netscape appeared on the horizon with Thick Interface to INTERNET. We all know how monopoly may suppress ideas for some moments.

Then arrived Professor Google to take on MS but as if it was not enough Mr Apple played the I - card (Iphone, Ipad etc). Connection points or Gateways to Virtual world long dominated by MS - IE slowly gave way to Chrome,Mozilla,Safari ...

As I write this 'E' Era gateways are slowly giving way to 'M' Era -- So M-Apps are the Cloud Gates.

Where the Rubber Kisses the Tarmac

When a business process need to synchronize with other business process for generating synergy (or to weave the process flow) , foremost challenge is -"interfaces need to couple". Often Orchestration faults at this very juncture.

Following Question need to be answered to take the plunge :

- Business Process (BP) Significance (What BP stands for in the Value Chain)
- Interface Exposure ( What the BP expects and delivers)
- Heartbeat ( How BP are aware of each other presence )
- Referee ( In case the touchdown not possible between BP's, managing process needs to be informed for alternatives)

Interface is the key component for a Business Process in order to communicate to the external world. More often technologies involved in creation of Business Process are varied. This leads to Silos and eventually gaps in value chain labeled as "not Fit For Automation".Building an Interface (Adapter) to expose the Business Process, can make it " Fit For Automation".

Standards of engagement need to follow universal principles of communication - Messaging Protocol, Channel Specification, Transmitter and Receiver Identification.

Competition is driving businesses to build new business models in the blink of an eye. Technology need to reuse granular business processes to deliver. Need of the hour is to be a expert weaver of Business Process.

When It Happened One Day ..

Flood came and a business was shut down forever. A human error and we were history. Scary thoughts ,lets think again does these things,happen. Yes Sir/Madam they do. A big question resounds 'So, What we need to DO ?'.

Lets understand what we are up against : There are either of the two : A Natural Disaster or A Human Error (which includes wilful ones also). Depending on the Location and Business Stream a list of the disruptive events can be built. ( to emphasis :: we are only listing events which we don't have control on )

Now the aim is to build a Plan of Recoverability. Answer the following questions :

• Time Required to Recover? - How much time the organisation have or can provide to recover.
• To what Degree we want to Recover? - How much Loss the organisation can bear.
• What's the Cost of Recoverability? - A million dollar question.

Stage is finally set to brainstorm and build the plan. These plans will be function of (business stream,location,threats) so it will be specific and unique.

When It Happened One Day - We Survived.

A System Is Born!

Drive to act, is genesis of any system. Motivation propels the human logic to conceive a system, building it is a saga of trial and errors culminating into a workable model. Continuum of refinement has no limits as perfection is never absolute. Everyday, we go about using System without conscious of the fact how they came into existence.

Pause, right now are we using one? -yes!. What's the excitement all about its a routine affair? But here is the seed of a System yet to be born. First in human mind then in the world.

My memory throws names :: Wright Brothers, Steve Jobs, ............. list is big, commonality, they all brought new systems in existence for civilization.

Innovative, Futuristic, Ambitious, Daring synonyms for all these personalities, but that’s the post era accolades , when the system was born in their mind, to a normal routine affair person, it would have been too adventurous, hypothetical and too ambitious to be true.

Opportunity is right now right here; wake up call, to person, to break the mundane daily routine affair attitude. System take shape when reflection on the existing system is done. Meaning of being conscious is State Of Realization, and that’s how civilization have grown. A System is BORN!.

Architecting Performance

Architecture is all about scale and performance - " Striking a balance between extremes ". Technology per se is a tool in the hands of an Architect.

The journey of architecture starts with conceptual framework , at this stage ideas take shape in virtual world of the architect. Vision plays the most important role here and logical framework is built around it.

Till now architecture is only on papers - to bring it to life it needs POC "Proof of Concept" (Prototype, Small Scale model etc).

Above phase brings most of the learning to the team as the room for experimentation and errors is wide open. Experience can cut down time spent in above phase but there is a caveat "Tendency to Innovate reduces as experience increases", thus the team needs to be a healthy mix of both young experimental brains and wisdom of seniors to guide it.

Stream of architecture application has greater influence on the Implementation or physical manifestation as even ounce of error translates into immense cost. Case in point is "Architecting a Robot for Operating on a Patient" Vis-a-Vis "Architecting a Information Platform".

Architecting Saga is evolutionary, as factors change so the reach and impact. Success is always relative here.

Commonality Factors of Architecting are

• Available Technology
• Experience
• Lateral Thinking
• Eye for Detail
• Focus on Scalability
• PERFORMANCE