Tag Archives: Middleware

Version Control Systems and other Repositories

ALM, Architecture, BPM and SOA, Technical Stuff, Tools, , , , , ,

Recently, a few colleagues and I had a very interesting discussion about what should go into a Version Control System (VCS) and what should not. In particular we were arguing as to whether things like documents or project plans should go in. Here are a few things that I came up with in that context.

I guess the usage of VCS (and other repositories) somehow comes down to a few general desires (aka use-cases):

  • Single source of truth
  • History/time machine
  • Traceability
  • Collaboration
  • Automation of builds etc.

In today’s world with its many different repositories you can either go for a mix (best-of-breed) or the lowest common denominator which is usually the VCS. So what’s stopping people from doing it properly (=best of breed)?

  • Lack of conceptual understanding:
    • Most people involved in those kinds of discussion usually come from a (Java) development background. So there is a “natural” tendency to think VCS. What this leaves out is that other repositories, which are often DB-based, offer additional capabilities. In particular there are all sorts of cross checks and other constraints which are being enforced. Also, given their underlying architecture, they are usually easier to integrate with in therms of process-driven approaches.
    • Non-technical folks are mostly used to do versioning-by-filename and require education to see the need for more.
  • Lack of repository integration: Interdependent artefacts spread over multiple repositories require interaction, esp. synchronisation. Unless some kind of standard has emerged, it is a tedious task to do custom development for these kinds of interfaces. Interestingly, this goes back to my post about ALM needing middleware.
  • Different repositories have clients working fundamentally differently, both in terms of UI and underlying workflow (the latter is less obvious but far-reaching in consequence). Trying to understand all this is really hard. BTW: This already starts with different VCS! As an example just compare SVN, TFS and Git (complexity increasing in that order, too) and have “fun”.
  • Lack of process: Multiple repositories asking for interaction between themselves also means that there is, at least implicitly, a process behind all this. Admittedly, there is also a process behind a VCS-only approach, but it’s less obvious and its evolvement often ad-hoc in nature. With multiple repositories a more coordinated approach is required to the process development, also because often this means crossing organisational boundaries.

Overall, this means that there is considerable work to be done in this area. I will continue to post my ideas here and look forward to your comments!

ALM and ERP Software: Middleware needed for both

ALM, Architecture, BPM and SOA, Technical Stuff, , ,

The idea to write this post was triggered when I read an article called “Choosing Agile-true application lifecycle management (ALM)” and in particular by it saying that many ALM tools come as a package that covers multiple processes in the lifecycle of an application. Although strictly speaking this is not a “we-cover-everything” approach, it still strongly reminds me of the take that ERP software has made initially. Its promise, put simply, was that an entire organization with all its activities (to avoid the term process here) could be represented without the need to develop custom software. This was a huge step forward and some companies made and still make a lot of money with it.

Of course, the reality is a bit more complex and so organizations that embrace ERP software have to choose between two options: either change the software to fit the organization, or change the organization to fit the software. This is not meant to be ERP bashing, it simply underlines the point that the one-size-fits-all approach has limits. And a direct consequence of this is that although the implementation effort can be reduced considerably, there is still a lot of work to be done. This is usually referred to as customizing. The more effort needs to go there, the more the ERP software is changing into something individual. So the distinction between a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) software, the ERP, and something developed individually gets blurred. This can reduce the advantages of ERP, and especially the cost advantage, to an extent.

And another aspect is crucial here, too. An ERP system, pretty much by definition, is a commodity in the sense that the activity it supports is nothing that gives the organization a competitive advantage. In today’s times some of the key influencing factors for the latter are time-to-market and, related to that, agility and flexibility. ERP systems usually have multiple, tightly integrated components and a complex data model to support all this. So every change needs careful analysis so that it doesn’t break something else. No agility, no flexibility, no short time-to-market. And in addition all organizations I have come across so far, need things that their ERP does not provide. So there is always a strong requirement to integrate the ERP world with the rest, be it other systems (incl .mainframe) or trading partners. Middleware vendors have addressed this need for many years.

And now I am finally coming back to my initial point. In my view ALM tools do usually cover one or several aspects of the whole thing but never everything. And if they do, nobody these days starts on a green field. So also here we need to embrace reality and accept that something like ALM middleware is required.