Mike Walker's Blog

Office Web Applications

There hasn't been a shortage of announcements this year at PDC. The next big one besides Windows 7 is the new "Office Web Applications" live services. The Office team will be delivering the five most popular Office applications as light weight browser based versions that include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

Folks at PDC got a sneak peak at a demo and screenshots, see below:

        

So what does this mean for architects? Is this just consumer black box services? I don't think so. The Office team is trying to move away from the Software as a Service (SaaS) model and focus on solutions that expose rich integration capabilities with not only the browser environment but what ever form factor is appropriate for a specific scenario. This is the software plus services (S+S) theme that has been delivered all through PDC with Azure, Windows 7 and now Office.

Existing solutions in the web based productivity space such as Google Docs and Zoho offer a very limitted and black box solution. It makes it tough to have rich collaboration as you can see below in the interview with Antoine Leblond, Senior VP of Office Productivity Apps and Chris Bryant of General Program Manager.

 

First Look: Office 14 for Web

 

I haven't gotten completely briefed on the architecture of the solution but what I do know is that the technologies that enable Office Web is a mixture of Silverlight, AJAX and HTML. It is great to see a mixture of technologies used for this implementation because there is a variety of web technologies that are right for particular aspects of the architecture.

From a browser perspective it looks like Office Web will also be compatible with IE8, Firefox (used in the interview above) and Safari.

One could imagine the possibilities here and what it could mean for customers that have built Office Business Applications (OBA). The story get much richer now that you can introduce the cloud into the mix.  It is still too early to tell how much of the API will be available but more details are forth coming.

Office Web Applications will be released to a limited set of partners and customers at the end of this year. The release date will closely align with Office 14 and Windows 7 which will be sometime in late 2009 or early 2010.

Resources

• Interview with Chris Capossela (SVP of Business Division)
• Video Overview (above as well)
• E-Weeks Take on Office Web
• Microsoft Watch Review

Technorati Tags: Office,Cloud Computing,Office Web,OBA

Using the EATK to Capture Architecture Descriptions

The EATK makes Microsoft Word 2007 a first class citizen in the architecture description area. As I described in  my recent post called "Do Office Tools Still Play a Role in Architecture Design?" I talked in length how at least for the time being we are still using productivity tools for describing our architectures. Since this is the case more often than not, the EATK uses Word to articulate these architectures.

In this post I will give you a brief summary of how the EATK helps with documenting architecture descriptions.

There are a series of problems that the EATK is trying to solve by leveraging Microsoft Word 2007. I will not go into length in all of them but highlight some key areas.

The first is to make the creation of architecture descriptions much more intuitive and easy to do. Even though tools such as Word are easy to use we still see complexity here. That complexity comes in the form of:

• Duplicate data entry
• Template overload
• Limited ability to control quality of descriptions
• etc.

 

 

As shown above, we are adding more and more documents to an already large portfolio of documents that need to be completed. In the past this was manageable but now documents can be bloated and information has a higher probability of being duplicated. Often times this is a result of tightly coupling a document with a process step that results in a great deal of redundancy.

So how does the EATK attempt to solve these challenges? It does so by changing the context in which Word is used. Changing the context is a sometimes not an intuitive task. It takes some investigative work both on the capabilities you want to expose and potential development to the tooling.

The underlining goal is to change the role of Word from simply a word processor to more of a User Interface (UI) for designing architectures. Applying structured UI concepts to Microsoft Word provide many benefits to the architecture document.

• Structured Content – Information can be better described in the document. The reason we want to do this is because of the challenges mentioned regarding how information doesn’t integrate well with process or future design activities. One example is the process of importing a model into an architecture document. Often times we import a picture that represents a model of a specific view point of an architecture. If we had an information model we could specific that the model imported is indeed the logical model, rather than a generic image file.
• Extensible – With a little more structure information has meaning and definition. This makes that information extensible to other processes downstream.
• Consumable – Abilities to consume external content is also possible with a more structured interface. As an example, if you choose to you could import external architecture information from other systems to automate you design efforts.

 

Let's take a look at this from a technical perspective. Below illustrates how the EATK separates areas of concerns with the implimentation in Microsoft Word.

• Tool - The mechanism of Microsoft Word is referred to here. The tool provides extensibility into the user interface that provides Office Ribbons to execute tasks easily with a level of context and Office Task Panes that extend the UI with additional entry or listings of information.
• Document - The document provides the way in which a user can enter in architecture descriptions. This is different in the EATK as the document acts as the glue between the Tool and the information itself. This is accomplished through a architecture document template and the use of word custom controls.
• Information - The information in the document is managed completely different than in a traditional document. All information typed into the document is linked back to an XML node behind the scenes. This fully qualifies what is typed the information. Not only is the information rich but it is extensible.

 

Let's take a look at the implementation in the EATK. Below you can see how Ribbons, Meta-Data Properties and Task Panes are implemented. The EA Toolkit Ribbon shows at the top of the screen. These represent the functionality the functionality in this tool.

The meta-data properties provide context around the document or high-level architecture itself. There are the following fields: Title, SDLC Phase, Architecture ID, Architecture name, Project ID. This information is utilized in throughout the implementation from integration to the workflow to surfacing information in context.

Task panes shown below are able to make architecture information as transparent as possible. It allows the EATK to surface information from the architecture meta-data repository. With a double click on a pattern or asset that information is populated in the document. The document tracks if an existing pattern is used so the governance process can track reuse (among a series of other benefits).

 

The new OOXML features in Office 2007 allows us to separate the information from the document in a much cleaner way. With the new formats, the entire document is XML based. The document itself is a zip compressed file with the extension of .docx. In these files are a series of file folders.

The customXML folder is used in the EATK. Below we see that item1.xml is the system architecture XML file used for storing architecture information. All information entered into the System Architecture Document will be stored here.

 

 

Additional Screen Shots

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Enterprise Architecture,EATK,Solution Architecture

Loan Origination Reference Architecture v.2.0 Source

Many have asked for source code to the Loan Origination Reference Architecture and now it's on CodePlex.

Source Code

http://www.codeplex.com/los/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=15173

Home Page

http://msdn.microsoft.com/architecture/orlos

Do Office Tools Still Play a Role in Architecture Design?

I thought I would write this potentially controversial post about how traditional productivity tools such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Visio) can still play a role in the architecting process.

Whether we like it or not the Office tooling is used throughout the architect community as a tool to describe architectures. This topic comes up quite a bit in my conversations with customers. I still find that the overwhelming majority of enterprises still use productivity tools for architecture design and descriptions. I recently did an informal survey at the Open group Practitioner conference in January. What I found from this informal survey was that 90% of enterprises use these tools day to day for architecture. I found similar results at Gartner EA summit and FSTC EA Forum the year before.

The Enterprise Architecture Toolkit (EATK) is set out to help in this area. It provides a series of templates and add-ins to the productivity tools to enhance the architecting process.

Changing the Way we Describe Architecture Designs

Today many enterprises use the Office tools for different purposes. There isn't a one size fit all. Shown below is how we see many enterprises using the productivity tools.

Traditionally architects have been forced to develop architectures in a restrictive and monolithic way. Meaning that the input mechanisms for architecture require a set of fairly sequential steps in which the information is derived. The question now is; are the existing tools we use for architecting, been outgrown or outdated for the tasks at hand. The answer here is no, the current tools are still used for mainstream development of architectures.

The underlining goal is to change the role of Word from simply a word processor to more of a User Interface (UI) for designing architectures. Applying structured UI concepts to Microsoft Word provide many benefits to the architecture document.

• Structured Content – Information can be better described in the document. The reason we want to do this is because of the challenges mentioned regarding how information doesn’t integrate well with process or future design activities. One example is the process of importing a model into an architecture document. Often times we import a picture that represents a model of a specific view point of an architecture. If we had an information model we could specific that the model imported is indeed the logical model, rather than a generic image file.
• Extensible – With a little more structure information has meaning and definition. This makes that information extensible to other processes downstream.
• Consumable – Abilities to consume external content is also possible with a more structured interface. As an example, if you choose to you could import external architecture information from other systems to automate you design efforts.

Why not a Model Driven Approach?

So the next question that is probably in most of your minds is, what about Model Driven Development (MDD)? Through these same surveys my findings found that MDD as an architectural practice is very difficult. There are a variety of reasons for this:

• Education - There is a substantial learning curve to learning an ontology, tools, notations, process, etc. Also, there is the issue of un-learning what you have been doing for so long.
• Tooling Maturity - There are a lot of great tools for modeling but these tools are still not as mainstream as they need to be. There are many tools that are proprietary in nature. There needs to be more standards support.
• Adoption - Usability and complexity comes into play here. I have seen revolts against a structured modeling tool because it wasn't as intuitive or easier to learn as other shape (not modeling) based tools.

Does this mean that we not go down the MDD approach? Of course not. We just have some challenges to overcome. To overcome these challenges we need to take a pragmatic and iterative approach.

Meaning, not all organizations are ready for the MDD approach right away. For these organizations they should take a "baby steps" towards MDD. The big bang approach has proven to be a painful and perilous route to take when trying to change how an organization develops.

If an organization is ready for a MDD approach, that's great and should do so. The role of documents changes again, right? Of course, now the document can be used as a report or can be used to describe the models at the meta level. The role may become smaller but still can play a role.

 

Tags: Enterprise Architecture

New Financial Components Released for Insurance and Capital Markets

   

 

Claims Processing Reference Architecture

Claims Processing Reference Architecture provides quality services in the field of Auto Insurance Claims Processing however these components can be leveraged for other forms of claims processing such as: Home, Medical, Mortgage, and other general claims processing services to work on behalf of clients for better advanced services. Today, global insurance industry is facing a challenge to provide cutting edge services and value added customer experience coupled with faster response time and easily adaptable services. Like with the other Financial Services architectures released, this reference architecture leverages the ACORD standard throughout. This insurance interoperability with both Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) and custom built applications in your enterprise.

 

Shown above is the flow and business process demonstrated in the reference architecture. There are multiple personas involved from third parties, agents and internal personal such as various underwriters.

All of this workflow is managed from Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and uses various technologies to implement.

Demo

 

Get the code and the binary installers: Claims Processing Reference Architecture

 

Capital Markets Structured Product Creation

This reference architecture addresses the space of structured product creation.  This is unique and complex process in capital markets. This is due largely to non standardization and isn't often like anything the bank is already trading. This presents a problem in that these types of deals are unlikely to be captured in a core trading system immediately.

Below is an illustration of the process captured from the creation of the product to selling and finally managing that product.

Demo

 

Get the code and the binary installers: Capital Markets Reference Architecture

 

Refreshed Installers Available

1. Broker Commissions Reference Architecture
2. Loan Origination Reference Architecture
3. Online Banking Reference Architecture

 

Get the code and the binary installers: Claims Processing Reference Architecture

 

Capital Markets Structured Product Creation

This reference architecture addresses the space of structured product creation.  This is unique and complex process in capital markets. This is due largely to non standardization and isn't often like anything the bank is already trading. This presents a problem in that these types of deals are unlikely to be captured in a core trading system immediately.

Below is an illustration of the process captured from the creation of the product to selling and finally managing that product.

Demo

 

Get the code and the binary installers: Capital Markets Reference Architecture

 

Refreshed Installers Available

1. Broker Commissions Reference Architecture
2. Loan Origination Reference Architecture
3. Online Banking Reference Architecture

 

Get the code and the binary installers: Claims Processing Reference Architecture

 

Capital Markets Structured Product Creation

This reference architecture addresses the space of structured product creation.  This is unique and complex process in capital markets. This is due largely to non standardization and isn't often like anything the bank is already trading. This presents a problem in that these types of deals are unlikely to be captured in a core trading system immediately.

Below is an illustration of the process captured from the creation of the product to selling and finally managing that product.

Demo

 

Get the code and the binary installers: Capital Markets Reference Architecture

 

Refreshed Installers Available

1. Broker Commissions Reference Architecture
2. Loan Origination Reference Architecture
3. Online Banking Reference Architecture

 

Get the code and the binary installers: Claims Processing Reference Architecture

 

Capital Markets Structured Product Creation

This reference architecture addresses the space of structured product creation.  This is unique and complex process in capital markets. This is due largely to non standardization and isn't often like anything the bank is already trading. This presents a problem in that these types of deals are unlikely to be captured in a core trading system immediately.

Below is an illustration of the process captured from the creation of the product to selling and finally managing that product.

Demo

 

Get the code and the binary installers: Capital Markets Reference Architecture

 

Refreshed Installers Available

1. Broker Commissions Reference Architecture
2. Loan Origination Reference Architecture
3. Online Banking Reference Architecture

Updates to the Financial Services Component Library

Hello everyone! More news on the Financial Services Component Library front.  I have developed a series of videos that give a solution overview. These are helpful for those that want to see these components in action before downloading.

There have also been updates to the source code and the MSI installers.

Links

See below for links to the projects:

• ACORD Software Factory (insurance messaging framework)
• Broker Commissions Reference Architecture
• Capital Markets
• Claims
• Insurance Rating
• Life Insurance Reference Architecture
• Loan Origination Reference Architecture
• Online Banking Reference Architecture

Videos

Videos of the components have been uploaded as well:

Broker Commissions

Video: Broker Commissions Reference Architecture

Life Insurance

Video: Life Insurance Reference Architecture

Online Banking

Video: Online Banking Reference Architecture

Life Insurance

Video: Life Insurance Reference Architecture

Online Banking

Video: Online Banking Reference Architecture

Life Insurance

Video: Life Insurance Reference Architecture

Online Banking

Video: Online Banking Reference Architecture

Life Insurance

Video: Life Insurance Reference Architecture

Online Banking

Video: Online Banking Reference Architecture

Presentation: Changing the Face of Banking Development

It's amazing how many e-mails I have received so far about sharing my presentation. So instead of sending to a few people I would like to share it with all of you. Keep in mind that with any presentation the deck is just a tool for communicating, I usually talk to a slide and not really follow bullet point. Also, with the publishing process the demos can't be seen, some of the animations broke and there is no voice over. This should give you a better feel for the presentation though.

| View | Upload your own

Financial Services Component Library Downloads

You may of seen my post announcing the Financial Services OBA Component Library. If you did you were most likely wondering when and where the code was going to be released. Due to a small issue on the code publishing side these were a little delayed. But don't fret, we have them uploaded now on CodePlex:

• Broker Commissions Reference Architecture
• Life Insurance Reference Architecture
• Loan Origination Reference Architecture
• Online Banking Reference Architecture

You will find several materials on the site including:

• Source Code
• Binaries Installers
• Installer Help Files

If you at the Financial Services Developer conference in New York we will be showing these architectures.

More coming reference architecture coming shortly!

Loan Origination Reference Architecture Version 2

I announced at the Office Developers Conference 2008 the release of the Loan Origination Reference Architecture version 2. Like the previous version, this reference architecture shows architects and developers how to bridge OBA technologies with transactional service oriented systems such as BizTalk.

The Loan Origination Reference Architecture shows how to build architectures that unify people, process and technology through familiar Office 2007 user interfaces. It includes an architecture framework for lending with an Office Business Application based scenario and BizTalk “MISMO” Accelerator for the loan origination process in banking. OBAs are an emerging class of business applications that connect existing line-of-business (LOB) systems with the people that use them every day through the familiar user interface of Microsoft Office, bridging the gap between how business process systems work, and how people work. OR-LOS will help customers simplify document management, increase integrated workflow, improve efficiency and ultimately lower time-to-market offering for faster turn-around and reduced cost.

Solutions that leverage the OR-LOS have the following benefits:

• Empowers Business Users to make informed lending decisions
• Using familiar Office tools for common business tasks (e.g., Outlook or Excel)
• Provided with a extensible lending platform that will reduce the development cycle
• Lending technology consolidation strategies can be derived
• Interoperable Lending Platform through BizTalk MISMO Accelerator
• Rich collaboration platform

 

Summary of Additions

• New Instant Messaging OCS Integration for Broker and Loan Processor collaboration
• A new set of five Excel based Mortgage Calculators
• More Content Management
• Real-World Patterns for ECM
• 2 New Business Intelligence Reports
• New 1003 FannieMae v.3.2 based InfoPath form
• InfoPath Quick Registration Enhancements including:
• Enhance Look and Feel
• Surfacing Workflow Steps
• MLS Integration using the RETS standard for an S+S example.
• Add Data Elements to conform to the industry standard 1003 Form
• New OpenXML Document Generation of Loan Documents Includes an example of generation of the Good Faith Estimate

 

Last month Gartner releases whitepaper entitled “Banks Must Redesign Their Lending Architecture”. The guidance is very similar to the guidance in the Loan Origination Reference Architecture.

Be sure to check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

Links for downloads of the source code will be made available soon.

Office Developers Conference 2008 Wrap-Up

What a great conference! Thanks to everyone that attended the conference and my sessions. I will be posting my deck very soon so all of you can see. Also, if you didn't get a chance to come to the Office Developers Conference to see Bill Gate's keynote, you can see the video here.

If you would like more information on the FedEx Outlook Plug-in you can find some great material on one of the guys that worked with FedEx on the project. Check out John Mullinax's Blog.