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  • SOA Checklist

    - by pat.shepherd
    In a recent meeting, the customer brought up a valid question: “How do I know if a problem/system is a good candidate for using SOA (vs. using old but trusted techniques).  I put this checklist together.  If you can answer yes to 2 or more of these, it might well be a good candidate.  This is V1, and I will likely update it over time.  Comments (that are not spam or sales pitches) appreciated. Part of the conversation was also around the fact that SOA has two faces to it; one is around the obvious reuse possibilities. The other, that often gets forgotten, is that SOA provides goodness in terms of simplifying integration even where opportunities to reuse those integrations are small; at least the integrations are standards-based and more flexible.  I did not write a lot of verbiage about each of them, for example “Business Process” implies that there is a set of step-wise actions that need to take place in a coordinated fashion that include integrating with systems (and sometimes people for approvals and other human-only actions) in the process.  

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  • Growing Into Enterprise Architecture

    - by pat.shepherd
    I am writing this post as I am in an Enterprise Architecture class, specifically on the Oracle Enterprise Architecture Framework (OEAF).  I have been a long believer that SOA’s key strength is that it is the first IT approach that blends or unifies business and technology.  That is a common view and is certainly valid but is not completely true (or at least accurate).  As my personal view of EA is growing, I realize more than ever that doing EA is FAR MORE than creating a reference architecture, creating a physical architecture or picking a technology to standardize on.  Those are parts of the puzzle but not the whole puzzle by any stretch. I am now a firm believer that the various EA frameworks out there provide the rigor and structure required to allow the bridging of business strategy / vision to IT strategy / vision. The flow goes something like this: Business Strategy –> Business / Application / Information / Technology Architecture –> SOA Reference Architecture –> SOA Functional Architecture.  Governance is imbued throughout to help map, measure and verify the business-to-IT coherence. With those in place, then (and only then) can SOA fulfill it’s potential to be more that an integration strategy, more than a reuse strategy; but also a foundation for tying the results of IT to business vision. Fortunately, EA is a an ongoing process that it is never too late to get started with an understanding of frameworks such as TOGAF, FEA, or OEAF.  Also, EA is never ending in that it always needs to be apply, even once a full-blown Enterprise Architecture is established it needs to be constantly evolved.  For those who are getting deeper into EA as a discipline, there is plenty runway to grow as your company/customer begins to look more seriously at EA. I will close with a pointer to a Great Book I have recently read on this subject: Enterprise Architecture as Strategy (http://www.amazon.com/Enterprise-Architecture-Strategy-Foundation-Execution/dp/1591398398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268842865&sr=1-1)

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  • Slot Machine Pay Out

    - by Kris.Mitchell
    I have done a lot of research into random number generators for slot machines, reel stop calculations and how to physically give the user a good chance on winning. What I can't figure out is how to properly insure that the machine is going to have a payout rating of (lets say) 95%. So, I have a reel set up wit 22 spaces on it. Filled with 16 different symbols. When I get my random number, mod divide it by 64 and get the remainder, I hop over to a loop up table to see how the virtual stop relates to the reel position. Now that I have how the reels are going to stop, do I make sure the payout ratio is correct? For every dollar they put in, how to I make sure the machine will pay out .95 cents? Thanks for the ideas. I am working in actionscript, if that helps with the language issues, but in general I am just looking for theory.

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  • Enterprise Architecture IS (should not be) Arbitrary

    - by pat.shepherd
    I took a look at a blog entry today by Jordan Braunstein where he comments on another blog entry titled “Yes, “Enterprise Architecture is Relative BUT it is not Arbitrary.”  The blog makes some good points such as the following: Lock 10 architects in 10 separate rooms; provide them all an identical copy of the same business, technical, process, and system requirements; have them design an architecture under the same rules and perspectives; and I guarantee your result will be 10 different architectures of varying degrees. SOA Today: Enterprise Architecture IS Arbitrary Agreed, …to a degree….but less so if all 10 truly followed one of the widely accepted EA frameworks. My thinking is that EA frameworks all focus on getting the business goals/vision locked down first as the primary drivers for decisions made lower down the architecture stack.  Many people I talk to, know about frameworks such as TOGAF, FEA, etc. but seldom apply the tenants to the architecture at hand.  We all seem to want to get right into the Visio diagrams and boxes and arrows and connecting protocols and implementation details and lions and tigers and bears (Oh, my!) too early. If done properly the Business, Application and Information architectures are nailed down BEFORE any technological direction (SOA or otherwise) is set.  Those 3 layers and Governance (people and processes), IMHO, are layers that should not vary much as they have everything to do with understanding the business -- from which technological conclusions can later be drawn. I really like what he went on to say later in the post about the fact that architecture attempts to remove the amount of variance between the 10 different architect’s work.  That is the real heart of what EA is about; REMOVING THE ARBRITRARITY.

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  • 5 Reasons why I hate WPF

    - by Richard Mitchell
    I decided to use writing a new tool as a way to learn WPF and MVVM and I thought I'd write down a few of my problems as a way of cathartic release. I decided to read a book before attempting WPF for the first time as I've heard others complain about the steep learning curve. I chose the rather excellent "WPF 4 Unleashed" by Adam Nathan to read through and "Pro WPF in C# 2010" by Matthew MacDonald as a reference whilst I programmed. 1 - Poor editing support for XAML The first thing I think any...(read more)

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  • Focus on Social Relationship Management at Oracle OpenWorld

    - by Pat Ma
    v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} 0 0 1 422 2408 involver 20 5 2825 14.0 Normal 0 false false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Greetings from Oracle OpenWorld 2012. Today, we’re going to focus on Social Relationship Management at Oracle OpenWorld.?Social networking is touching all businesses today.  Customers are speaking about your brand right now on social media sites. Your employees are speaking to one another on social media sites. In an Oracle survey, 40% of consumers factor in Facebook recommendations when making purchasing decisions. Despite the rise of social networking, 70% of marketers report having little understanding of social media conversations happening around their brand. Oracle has invested in technologies that will help companies leverage social media technologies for their enterprise. Our suite of social products is collectively known as Social Relationship Management. Customers are using Social Relationship Management to get analytics to social media conversations around their brand, manage multiple social media channels while keeping their brand consistent, optimize internal workflows and processes, and create better customer relationships and experiences. In this example, using Social Relationship Management, a high-end national grocery chain is able to see that “Coconut Water” is trending in San Francisco. They are now able to send a $2-off coconut water coupon to shoppers who have checked into their San Francisco locations. This promotion further drives sales of coconut water in San Francisco. In another example, using Social Relationship Management, a technology company creates multiple Facebook pages and runs campaigns on them. These social campaigns are now integrated and tracked as another marketing channel in Oracle Fusion CRM. The technology company can now track and respond to a particular customer as he moves across multiple channels – without having to restart the conversation each time the customer contacts the company. Furthermore, the technology company can see in one interface what marketing channels – including social – is performing best for each promotion. Besides being a Software-as-a-Service solution, social is also a Platform-as-a-Service solution. The benefit here is that customers can extend the functionality of our social applications to suit their particular needs or create their own social application from scratch. During the Social Developer track, developers are learning how to use Java and other industry-standard programming languages to plug in social functionality to enterprise applications. To see how Social Relationship Management can help your business build better relationships and experience with customers, visit us on the web at oracle.com/social. There are a lot more social-oriented sessions left at OpenWorld. To view a schedule of the upcoming social-oriented sessions, go here.

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  • Even EA's Have Bad Days - it's Time to Reset

    - by Pat Shepherd
    I saw this article and thought I'd share it because, even we EA's have bad days and the 7 points listed are a great way for you to hit the "reset" button. From Geoffrey James on INC.COM, here are 7 ways to change your view of things when, say, you are hitting a frustration point coordinating stakeholders to agree on an approach (never happens, right?) Positive Thinking: 7 Easy Ways to Improve a Bad Day http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/positive-thinking-7-easy-ways-to-improve-a-bad-day.html To paraphrase:          You can decide (in an instant) to change patterns of the past          Believe in (or even visualize) good things happening, and they will          Keep a healthy perspective on the work-life / life-life continuum (what things REALLY matter in the big scheme of things)                  Focus on the good (the laws of positive-attraction apply)

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  • OmniGraffle for iPad Now Supports VGA Output

    - by pat.shepherd
    I have (surprisingly) gotten a lot of comments over the last post about using OmniGraffle as an interactive EA tool.  The news flash/update is that it now supports VGA output.  I had sent a note to the developers and they responded that this was a highly sought after feature…well, they delivered. I have tried it informally and it works, thought there is a little lag between the drawing on the screen and the output, but it is not terrible. So buy yourself a VGA adapter and start trying it out in JAD (Joint Architecture Design) sessions. Here is a link to a couple little OG tutorials: "What's OmniGraffle for iPad", you say? Let us show you! Use the link below to see watch a guided tour of the powerful diagraming tool for the iPad. Videos - OmniGraffle for iPad - Products - The Omni Group

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  • Any good C++ Component/Entity frameworks?

    - by Pat
    (Skip to the bold if you want to get straight to my question :) ) I've been dabbling in the different technologies available out there to use. I tried Unity and component based design, managing to get a little guy up and running around a map with basic pathfinding. I really loved how easy it was to program using components, but I wanted a bit more control and something more 2D friendly, so I went with LibGDX. I looked around and found 2 good frameworks for Java, which are Artemis and Apollo. I didn't like Artemis much, so I went with Apollo, which I loved. I managed to integrate it with Box2D and get a little guy running around bouncing balls. Great! But since I want to try out most of the options, there is still C++/SFML that I haven't tried yet. Coming from a Java/C# background, I've always wanted to get my hands dirty with C++. But then, after some looking around, I noticed there aren't any Component-Based frameworks for me to use. There's a somewhat done porting of Artemis, but, aside from not being completely finished, I didn't quite like Artemis even in Java. I found Apollo's approach much more.. logical. So, my question is, are there any good Component/Entity frameworks for C++ that I can use that are similar to Artemis, or preferably, Apollo?

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  • SQL Monitor and "The Cloud"

    - by Richard Mitchell
    So, how can we demo this thing? In the beginning there was a product, and it was a good product for the testers had decreed it so, and nobody argues with a tester. But then comes the inevitable question of how can somebody test it out without risk. Red Gate prides itself on the tools being easy for people to trial before they buy, and no cut down trial for you sir, oh no, for you sir only the best will do - a fully functional trial - suits you sir. The problem The problem comes when you get a...(read more)

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  • SQL Azure Down - how I got labs.red-gate.com back up

    - by Richard Mitchell
    11:06am - Currently SQL Azure in western europe is down How do I know this? Well on labs.red-gate.com (my Azure website) I have elmah installed which started sending me e-mails about connection failures from 10:40am when trying to get the dynamic content from the database (I was too busy playing with my new Eee Pad transformer to notice immediately). Going to the website confirmed the failure and trying to connect to SQL Azure from SQL Server Management studio and the Management confirmed bad...(read more)

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  • Books or help on OO Analysis

    - by Pat
    I have this course where we learn about the domain model, use cases, contracts and eventually leap into class diagrams and sequence diagrams to define good software classes. I just had an exam and I got trashed, but part of the reason is we barely have any practical material, I spent at least two good months without drawing a single class diagram by myself from a case study. I'm not here to blame the system or the class I'm in, I'm just wondering if people have some exercise-style books that either provide domain models with glossaries, system sequence diagrams and ask you to use GRASP to make software classes? I could really use some alone-time practicing going from analysis to conception of software entities. I'm almost done with Larman's book called "Applying UML and Patterns An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development, Third Edition". It's a good book, but I'm not doing anything by myself since it doesn't come with exercises. Thanks.

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  • Architecture Standards &ndash; BPMN vs. BPEL for Business Process Management

    - by pat.shepherd
    I get asked often which business process standard an organization should use; BPMN or BPEL?  As I explain to folks, they both have strengths.  Here is a great article that helps understand the benefits of both and where to use them.  The good news is that, with Oracle SOA Suite and BPM suite, you have the option and flexibility to use both in the same SCA model and runtime container.  Good stuff. Here is the great article that Mark Nelson wrote: The right tool for the right job BPEL and BPMN are both ‘languages’ or ‘notations’ for describing and executing business processes. Both are open standards. Most business process engines will support one or the other of these languages. Oracle however has chosen to support both and treat them as equals. This means that you have the freedom to choose which language to use on a process by process basis. And you can freely mix and match, even within a single composite. (A composite is the deployment unit in an SCA environment.) So why support both? Well it turns out that BPEL is really well suited to modeling some kinds of processes and BPMN is really well suited to modeling other kinds of processes. Of course there is a pretty significant overlap where either will do a great job What BPM adds to SOA Suite | RedStack

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  • NBC Sports Chooses Oracle for Social Relationship Management

    - by Pat Ma
    0 0 1 247 1411 involver 11 3 1655 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; } NBC Sports wanted to engage fans, grow their audience, and give their advertising customers more value. They wanted to use social media to accomplish this. NBC Sports recognized that sports in inherently social. When you watch a game at the stadium or at home, you’re chatting with the people around you, commenting on plays, and celebrating together after each score. NBC Sports wanted to deliver this same social experience via social media channels. NBC Sports used Oracle Social Relationship Management (SRM) to create an online sporting community on Facebook. Fans can watch sporting events live on NBC television while participating in fan commentary about the event on Facebook. The online fan community is extremely engaged – much like fans in a sporting stadium would be during a game. NBC Sports also pose sporting questions, provide sporting news, and tie-in special promotions with their advertisers to their fans via Facebook. Since implementing their social strategy, NBC Sports has seen their fans become more engaged, their television audience grow, and their advertisers happier with new social offerings. To see how Oracle Social Relationship Management can help create better customer experiences for your company, contact Oracle here. Watch NBC Sports Video: Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group, describes how Oracle Cloud’s SRM tools helped the broadcaster engage with their fans on social media channels. Watch Thomas Kurian Keynote: Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President of Product Development, Oracle, describes Oracle’s Cloud platform and application strategy, how it is transforming business management, and delivering great customer experiences here.

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  • A weekend with the Samsung Galaxy Tab

    - by Richard Mitchell
    This weekend I took one of the Samsung Galaxy Tabs we have lying around the office here home to see how I got on with it as I've been thinking of buying one. Initial impressions The look and feel of the Tab is quite nice. It's a lot smaller than an iPad but that is no bad thing as I imagine they are targeted at different markets. The Tab fits into my inside coat pocket nicely and doesn't feel like it's weighing me down too much. Connecting up the Tab to the network at work was fine, typing in...(read more)

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  • DIVs of equal height

    - by Richard Mitchell
    It's the same old old problem you want to make a set of columns the same height but life it too short for the CSS only version. It's technically possible to do but nowadays you can't run the web without having javascript turned on. There must be an easier way. After a short amount of googling I came across a few solutions. A couple were GPL'd which ruled them straight out as I want Red Gate to pay for my mortgage. The best simple solution was found at. http://www.cssnewbie.com/equal-height-columns-with-jquery/...(read more)

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  • Enterprise Architecture - Wikipedia

    - by pat.shepherd
    I was looking at the Wikipedia entry for EA and found this chart which does a great job showing the differences of ENTERPRISE Architecture vs. SOLUTION Architecture across several categories.  This really gets at the heart of a misconception many people have about what EA is and where it sits in the grand business –> technical detail continuum. The following image from the 2006 FEA Practice Guidance of US OMB sheds light on the relationship between enterprise architecture and segment(BPR) or Solution architectures. (From this figure and a bit of thinking[which?] one can see that software architecture is truly a solution architecture discipline, for example.) Enterprise architecture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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  • Tools for Enterprise Architects: OmniGraffle for iPad?

    - by pat.shepherd
    Well, I have to admit to being a bit of an Apple fan and, of course, and early adopter of gadgets and technology in general.  So, when FedEx showed up with my iPad 3G last week, I was a kid in a candy store.  One of the apps that my “buy finger” was hovering over for a while (like all of 3 days) was Omnigraffle for the iPad.  I imagined that it would be very cool to use this with a customer’s EA’s to sketch out Business, Application, Information and Technology architectures.  Instead of using the blackboard, this seemed to offer promise as a white-boarding tool with obvious benefits over a traditional white-board.  I figured I’d get a VGA adapter, plug it into the customer’s projector and off we would go with a great JAD tool.  The touch pad approach offered an additional hands-on kind of feel. So, I made the $49.99 purchase + the $29.99 VGA adapter and tried to give it a go.  Well, I was both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised.  It is both powerful and easy to use.  There are great stencils included for shapes, software icons, Visio shapes, and even UML notation.  There is even a free-hand tool that works well.  I created some diagrams pretty quickly.   The one below was just a test and took all of 10 minuets to do. The only problem was that Onmigraffle does not recognize the VGA output, so I was stopped dead in my tracks, as it were.  My use case was as a collaborative diagramming tool with other architects, though I can still use it off line.  I called Omnigraffle and they said that VGA support is on the feature request list so, hopefully, in a short amount of time, I can use the tool as I envisioned.   Review: Criteria Result Is it fun? Yes Is it Useful? Yes Does it Show Promise? Yes Did the VGA Output Work? No File/diagram Formats PDF, Onmigraffle proprietary, image   Quick Sample:     OmniGraffle for iPad - Products - The Omni Group

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  • BPM Process Accelerator Packs - Update

    - by Pat Shepherd
    There are 3 BPM Process Accelerator Packs available now (Accelerator Packs Available ) as discssed in my earlier post: https://blogs.oracle.com/enterprisearchitecture/entry/bpm_process_accelerator_packs There is a new and very useful white paper on BPM/Accelerator best practices at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bpm/learnmore/processaccelbestpracticeswhitepaper-1708910.pdf Thought I'd post that as the topic is getting more and more attention in various discussions I have been having.

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  • SQL Triggers and when or when not to use them.

    - by John Mitchell
    When I was originally learning about SQL I was always told, only use triggers if you really need to and opt to use stored procedures instead if possible. Now unfortunately at the time (a good few years ago) I wasn't as curious and caring about fundamentals as I am now so never did ask to the reason why. What's the communities opinion in this? Is it just someone's personal preference, or should triggers be avoided (just like cursors) unless there is a good reason for them.

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