Agile Model Driven Development (AMDD): Practices for Scaling Agile Software Development

SPEAKER(s):

Scott Ambler Practice Leader Agile Development IBM

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

This interactive workshop explores the differences between modeling on waterfall development, mini-waterfall development, and agile development projects. It defines what it means for a model to be agile and presents numerous examples. The Agile Model Driven Development (AMDD) approach is then described, showing how AM fits in with implementation techniques such as Test Driven Development (TDD) and refactoring. What you will learn:




• Modeling helps to scale agile software development

• Strive for executable specifications over static specifications

• Agile approaches to business rules efforts work and should be preferred over traditional approaches





ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

Scott W. Ambler is the Practice Leader Agile Development with IBM Rational and he works with IBM customers around the world to improve their software processes. He is the founder of the Agile Modeling (AM), Agile Data (AD), Agile Unified Process (AUP), and Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) methodologies. Scott is the (co-)author of 19 books, including Refactoring Databases, Agile Modeling, Agile Database Techniques, The Object Primer 3rd Edition, and The Enterprise Unified Process. Scott is a senior contributing editor with Dr.Dobb’s Journal. His personal home page is www.ibm.com/rational/bios/ambler.html and his Agile at Scale blog is www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/ambler.

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Developing a Business Process Architecture and Program of Change

SPEAKER(s):

Roger Burlton Founder Process Renewal Consulting Group Inc.

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

In most organizations there are many initiatives of various types underway or anticipated. Typically these are not traceable to business value creation nor are they aligned to one another. It is now apparent that an enterprise-wide, process-oriented Business Architecture’s real role is to make sense of the mess and connect the dots to ensure that the business and all of its capabilities can work together and respond as needed. This session will cover the Principles of Business Architecture, Stakeholders and Relationships, Developing the Process Architecture, Alignment of other Architectures, Program Prioritization and Planning and Management and Tools Support. What you will learn:




• How to develop a Business Process Architecture that reflects the business drivers and strategic intent of the enterprise

• How to define the organizational capabilities required for the enterprise to realize its purpose

• How to develop a Process Architecture that will provide the basis for aligning the IT and other architectures with the creation of business value

• How to ensure the ongoing management of cross-functional processes as assets themselves





ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

Roger is a founder of the Process Renewal Group. He is considered a global leader, recognized internationally for his pioneering contributions in Business Process Management since 1991.

Roger has conceived and chaired several high profile BPM conferences in North and South America, Europe, Middle East and Australia including Knowledge and Process Management Europe and the BPM Conferences for Shared Insights in the US. His pragmatic BPM seminar series has been running globally since 1991 and is the longest continuous series of their kind in the world. Roger spends most of his time, however, helping complex organizations to implement BPM strategically.

Roger’s highly acclaimed book Business Process Management: Profiting from Process is regarded as the reference book for process professionals who want to conduct process architecture initiatives, process renewal projects as well as those who wish to entrench process governance across the enterprise.

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Top 10 Data Mining Mistakes (and how to avoid them)

SPEAKER(s):

Dr. John F. Elder IV, Ph.D. Chief Scientist Elder Research, Inc.

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

Discovering useful business rules is a form of “data mining”, which has proven capable of enormous returns in many fields and industries. But, it is easy to go too far in one’s analysis and “torture the data until it confesses” or otherwise doom the rules to fail where they really matter: on new situations. A key to achieving quality is to avoid “worst practices”. Dr. Elder will share his (often humorous) stories from real-world applications highlighting common, but deadly, mistakes. Come learn how to achieve success by laughing (or gasping) at stories of barely averted disaster. Note: Some analytic details are quite technical, but the stories (and their lessons) have proven to have appeal to attendees across experience levels and job classifications. What you will learn:




• How to find useful patterns in your data worthy of rules

• Data Mining Best Practices by learning their flip side: worst practices

• The tremendous value of learning from data





ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

President and Chief Scientist Dr. John F. Elder IV has 25 years experience making practical the latest Data Mining research in order to solve challenging commercial applications. John has led ERI since its founding in 1995. Before founding ERI, John led research on adaptive data-driven techniques at an engineering consulting firm, an investment firm, at Rice University, and at the University of Virginia (where he recently was an adjunct faculty member, teaching graduate optimization). He has written numerous book chapters and articles on pattern discovery techniques, and is a frequently invited conference speaker. John also served for 5 years on a panel formed by Congress to guide critical defense technology for the National Security Agency.

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SOA and Business Rules - Building a Powerful, Flexible Application Platform

SPEAKER(s):

Michael Krouze Chief Technology Officer and Director of Management Consulting Services Charter Solutions

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a powerful paradigm for developing new applications and integrating new service-level features into existing applications. As the popularity and maturity of SOA grows, organizations are looking at how they can best leverage Business Rules Engines (BRE) in these new architectures. This session will provide a quick review of SOA then dive into the value proposition of BREs in SOA, traditional and non-traditional uses of BREs in SOA, and finally a review of different approaches to integrating a BRE into your SOA with benefits and challenges of each. What you will learn:




• How to evaluate the value of integrating a BRE with your SOA

• Uses of BREs as a core part of an Enterprise SOA platform

• When to use various BRE integration techniques in your SOA

• How to leverage a BRE in shoring up inherent weaknesses in the SOA approach





ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

Michael Krouze is Charter Solutions’ Chief Technology Officer and Director of Management Consulting Services. Michael brings a broad and deep knowledge of the Information Technology arena from both a technology and business perspective. He is an innovative thinker adept at planning and initiating change, a superb strategist with a solid combination of business and technical acumen, and a hands-on leader skilled in balancing user requirements, corporate objectives, and technology capabilities. Michael has a proven track record in the definition and leadership of IT initiatives for organizations ranging from Fortune 500 to start-ups and non-profits. He is an active board member of the International Association of Software Architects; a national speaker on topics such as business architecture, business rules/workflow, and enterprise architectures; and has taught classes on software development and business rules.

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Capturing Business Rules - from Facilitated Sessions, from Great Big Book and from Application Code

SPEAKER(s):

Gladys S.W. Lam Principal Business Rule Solutions, LLC

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

Business Rules should come from the business. However, you cannot simply ask business people to come together and then multiply rules. In this practical tutorial session, Ms. Lam will present a comprehensive approach for gathering business rules from business experts using facilitated sessions. Ms. Lam will also discuss the steps required to harvest rules from great big source documents and share her experience on reverse engineering business rules from application code. What you will learn:




• How to coordinate facilitated sessions to collect business rules, including preparation, objectives, agenda and documentation for each session.

• The four primary business model deliverables—Policy Charter, Workflow, Fact Model, and Business Rules.

• Techniques for capturing, presenting and documenting the deliverables.

• A pragmatic way of harvesting rules from great big source documents.

• Insight and experiences in reverse engineering business rules from application code.

• Lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid.





ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

Gladys S.W. Lam is Principal of Business Rule Solutions, LLC www.BRSolutions.com, the most recognized company in business rule methodology, publications, consulting services, and training. She is the co-founder of Business Rule Community www.BRCommunity.com, a vertical community for professionals working with business rules and related areas, and a regular columnist for its flagship publication, the Business Rules Journal. She is also co-creator of Proteus®, which is used by companies world-wide.

Ms. Lam is a world-renowned expert on the Business Rule Approach. She has assisted numerous companies, both large and small, in adopting and implementing business rule techniques and concepts. She specializes in managing business rule projects that focus on the capture, analysis, management and implementation of business rules. Ms. Lam speaks internationally at conferences and other professional events. She also co-presents in the popular Capturing Business Rules public seminar offered through AttainingEdge www.AttainingEdge.com.

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Succeeding as a Decision-Centric Organization

SPEAKER(s):

Neil Raden Co-Founder Smart (enough) Systems

James Taylor Co-Founder Smart (enough) Systems

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

Organizations attempting to compete using analytics, build adaptive/agile infrastructure and optimize their business operations must become more decision-centric. It is clear that the precision, consistency, agility, speed and cost of operational decisions are key to effective and efficient operations. This session will cover the principles of Enterprise Decision Management, its application to critical business processes and decisions and the appropriate use of available technology. What you will learn:




• How to identify and prioritize the operational decisions that drive your organization’s success

• How to use business rules as a foundation to automate these decisions for maximum agility

• How to improve these decisions using data mining and predictive analytics

• How to ensure continuous improvement and competitive advantage using adaptive control





ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

Prior to co-founding Smart (enough) Systems, Neil Raden was the founder of Hired Brains, a research and advisory firm in Santa Barbara, CA, offering research and analysis services to technology providers as well as providing consulting and implementation services in Business Intelligence and Analytics to many of the Global 2000 companies. Mr. Raden began his career as a casualty actuary with AIG in New York before moving into software engineering, consulting and industry analysis, with experience in the application of analytics to business processes from fields as diverse as health care to nuclear waste management to cosmetics marketing and many others in between. He is a practicing consultant, industry analyst, speaker and author. His articles appear in industry magazines and he is the author of dozens of sponsored white papers for vendors and other organizations.

Prior to co-founding Smart (enough) Systems, James Taylor was a Vice President at Fair Isaac Corporation where he developed and refined the concept of enterprise decision management or EDM. Widely credited with the invention of the term and the best known proponent of the approach, Mr Taylor helped create the emerging EDM market and is a passionate advocate of decision management. Mr. Taylor has 20 years experience in all aspects of the design, development, marketing and use of advanced technology including CASE tools, project planning and methodology tools as well as platform development in PeopleSoft’s R&D team and consulting with Ernst and Young. He has consistently worked to develop approaches, tools and platforms that others can use to build more effective information systems. He is an experienced speaker and author, with his columns and articles appearing regularly in industry magazines.

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Business Rules from A-Z: What You Need to Know

SPEAKER(s):

Ronald G. Ross Principal & Executive Editor www.BRCommunity.com Business Rule Solutions, LLC

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

What are Business Rules, and how can you apply them effectively in your organization? What pitfalls have other organizations encountered, and how can you avoid them? How can you get up to speed about the very latest in the field? This tutorial tells you what you need to know to get into the express lane for Business Rules. Using the Business Rules Manifesto as a guide, it provides clear, authoritative insight into the essential concepts, techniques and tools of the Business Rules Approach. Find out what you need to know to be successful in your organization on a point-by-point basis, amplified by far-ranging professional experience. Cut through the hype about technology, methodology and standards. Learn about the key areas of practical importance to your company. If you are looking for a way to get the latest and best scoop on what’s happening, this tutorial is for you. Come prepared with questions you want answered!
What you will learn:




• Achieving business agility through Business Rules.

• Business Rule methodologies.

• Fitting Business Rules into projects—and into your organization.

• Pitfalls, lessons learned and best practices.

• The latest trends and emerging standards.

• Establishing rule management.





ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

Ronald G. Ross serves as Executive Editor of www.BRCommunity.com and its flagship publication, Business Rules Journal. He is a sought-after speaker at conferences world-wide. His gives popular public seminars through AttainingEdge (www.AttainingEdge.com) and IRM-UK (www.IRMUK.co.uk).

Mr. Ross is recognized internationally as the “father of business rules.” He has served as Co-Chair of the annual Business Rules Forum Conference since 1997. He was a charter member of the Business Rules Group in the 1980s, and an editor of the two landmark BRG papers, “The Business Motivation Model: Business Governance in a Volatile World” and the “Business Rules Manifesto”. He is active in OMG standards development, with core involvement in SBVR.

Mr. Ross is Co-Founder of Business Rule Solutions, LLC (www.BRSolutions.com). At BRS, Mr. Ross co-develops Proteus®, its landmark business requirements methodology, including the popular RuleSpeak®. Mr. Ross is the author of eight professional books. His newest are: Business Rule Concepts (2005), a 2nd edition of his popular, easy-to-read 1998 handbook, and Principles of the Business Rule Approach, Addison-Wesley (2003).

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A Framework for Selecting Business Rules Platforms

SPEAKER(s):

John R. Rymer Vice President and Principal Analyst Forrester Research, Inc.

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

Selecting a platform for business rules applications requires much more than consideration of deep technical features. Features for business analysts and operations staff, fit with other systems within an IT landscape, standards support, fit to application requirements, and vendor strategy are also vital elements of any product selection. Forrester Research has developed a set of detailed criteria on product features and vendor characteristics to guide its clients’ selection of business rules engine. These criteria are at the heart of Forrester’s Wave research methodology for comparing products, and form the basis for a comparison of business rules platform vendors to be published in late 2007. Come to this tutorial to learn how to use the Forrester evaluation criteria and approach to select the best business rules platform for your organization. What you will learn:




• How to evaluate business rules platforms products with criteria tailored to your organization’s requirements.

• How to evaluate business rules platform vendors with criteria tailored to your organization’s requirements.





ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

As an analyst on Forrester’s Application Development & Architecture research team, John R. Rymer covers the market for application platforms, including business rules platforms, the Java/J2EE application servers from BEA, IBM, JBoss, Oracle, SAP, and Sun Microsystems, and the equivalent portions of Microsoft’s .NET platform. Mr. Rymer has 19 years of experience as an industry analyst, business strategy consultant, and software marketing executive. Previously, Mr. Rymer served as vice president of product marketing at IONA Technologies, where he gained firsthand experience in creating and executing market strategies.

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Optimization Technology and Business Innovation

SPEAKER(s):

Dr. David Simchi-Levi Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Systems MIT

ABOUT THIS SESSION:

Many business challenges in diverse areas such as production planning, supply chain management, foreign exchange and commodity trading, asset-liability management, portfolio optimization, corporate risk management, and yield management, among others, involve choosing an appropriate decision from many possible strategies so as to improve various KPI (Key Performance Indicators) such as profit, cost, inventory or risk, to name a few. In a growing number of companies, these decisions are made using decision support systems that combine information, modeling frameworks, optimization technology and easy-to-use user interface. This technology allows companies to make effective decisions in real time; consider a large range of business drivers; optimize across regions and business processes; and identify risk mitigation strategies and recovery processes. What you will learn:




• A review of basic optimization concepts

• The role of optimization; and

• Applications of optimization models that are widely used in diverse industries and functional areas, including finance, accounting, operations, and marketing.





Our objective is to review the technology, processes and impact on the enterprise.



ABOUT THE SPEAKER(s):

David Simchi-Levi is professor of Engineering Systems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on developing and implementing robust and efficient techniques for manufacturing and supply chains. He was the founder and chairman of LogicTools (www.logic-tools.com), now part of ILOG (www.ilog.com), which provides software solutions and professional services for supply chain planning. These solutions have been used widely to reduce cost and improve service level in large-scale supply chains in various industries for over 250 customers.

He is co-author of The Logic of Logistics, published by Springer in 1997 and Designing and Managing the Supply Chain published by Irwin/McGraw-Hill in August 1999 and is now in its third edition and translated into several languages. The book received the Book-of-the-year award and the Outstanding IIE Publication award given in 2000 by the Institute of Industrial Engineers. Professor Simchi-Levi received his Ph.D. in operations research from Tel-Aviv University.

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