Case Studies
A New Architecture at Barton Malow
An enterprise solution to eliminate delays, duplicate data entry, time consuming manual processes.
The Challenge
In the first quarter of 2002, Barton Malow decided to step back and take a long look at the technologies and applications that drive their construction business. They were experiencing significant delays in input of important company information, duplicate data entry, time consuming manual processes, and did not have timely access to key operational data. None of the applications supporting the enterprise were integrated and new applications were being developed on technologies not suitable for an enterprise of their size and scope. As an example, they had identified no fewer than 28 different Vendor files in use throughout the company; none of which were interfaced or otherwise integrated with any other. They recognized that they needed a change and so turned to Xede Consulting Group to help them find a new way to do things.
Barton Malow IT management was looking to move from their Microsoft Visual Basic application development paradigm to a more object oriented, web enabled architecture and were struggling with the decision of whether to use Microsoft .Net or the Java Version 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) standard. In addition, they wanted documentation that they could use for planning and executing projects using the chosen application development framework. This documentation would include an integration, data and application inventory for the current systems and recommendations on what the strategy should be for each application or data store (enhance, replace, re-host, etc.).
The Solution
Xede Consulting Group supplied an application architect to Barton Malow to develop the enterprise application, data and integration architecture; help them choose between the development frameworks; and establish the first instance of the chosen development framework.
Data was gathered by creating a standard template of information and then using it to interview all of the key application owners. This provided the baseline of information needed to document sources and uses of data, processes supported by each application and functionality provided. It pointed places where data was duplicated and errors introduced. It also showed where duplicate functionality exists in the current applications and where applications needed to be replaced or retired.
The application functionality and technical requirements also drove the selection of the desired technology framework. The size and complexity of potential applications, as well as the desire for vendor neutrality and use of standards, drove the choice of J2EE. Appropriate tools to support this choice were evaluated and recommended and a development methodology was recommended along with tools to support it.
Example Role: Application Architect
Xede's application architect gathered the technical, integration, data and business process information for each of the major enterprise applications. This information was used to derive integration requirements and an integration architecture; process requirements and an application strategy to support them; and a data architecture with a supporting technical infrastructure architecture with tools and methodology support to enable the development of a next generation set of integrated, enterprise class applications.
