First up was Paul Kurchina, ASUG Board member and Enterprise Architecture (EA) SIG Communicty volunteer, with a few words of welcome and some EA SIG Communities updates. Paul also mentioned the upcoming CoE Days, coming this fall to the same cities as the EA Days. Then I extended greetings from the Houston Chapter and mentioned upcoming Chapter and SIG Community events as well as SAP TechEd. Darin Paton from SAP gave a quick overview of takeaways pertinent to EA from ASUG 09 and SAPPHIRE, for the benefit of those unable to attend those events.
Don Hodde from Shell led off with an overview of enterprise architecture at Shell, explaining their EA organization, use of the TOGAF framework, and their technology focus areas including green IT and globalization. Some highlights were his remarks on the challenges they face working with 10 different partners, particularly when partners become competitors, and growing the next generation of EA personnel.
Mary Sidlauskas from SAP spoke about the value proposition of Business Suite 7 and the SAP Technologies Portfolio. Key points included the value of eliminating the silos among the various products in the suite and how enhancement packages are different from extension sets, as well as an enhancement pack outlook and options for getting to Business Suite 7. A spirited discussion of the challenges of recent enhancement packs broke out and enlivened the morning session, spilling over to the morning coffee break.
John Ferraioli from Utopia spoke on the Enterprise Data Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together with Enterprise Data Lifecycle Management (EDLM). Ferraioli explained how data health check services can uncover issues such as inaccurate vendor master data and discrepancies in management of master data across an enterprise, and system optimization benefits of better managed master data. For me the key takeaways from his remarks were the concept of an enterprise data management framework, the roles and responsibilities of the various participants, the implications of the lack of standards and discipline in data management, and the integration of SAP MDM and BusinessObjects.
The last session before lunch featured Krishna Kuman from Space Time Flight speaking on GeoEnterprise 2.0: Driving Next Generation Analytics with Geo-Spatial Visualization. His remarks made the connection between the current economic climate and impacts on today's ERP landscapes, and demonstrated the value of their solution, particularly to the energy industry. If you have ever used Google Earth, I think you would find that this solution brings that look and feel to an integrated data dashboard.
