iPhone as an Enterprise Platform Event – Dublin

December 2, 2009 3 Comments

Full notes and links below. Key Learning points

  1. User Experience. User Experience. User Experience
  2. iPhone currently the leader, revolutionized Mobile app sales, but market (and devices) evolving very quickly.
  3. Good case for usage in Enterprise (cost reduction, growing use of iPhone platform in Enterprise, New channel to customers) but be flexible, be ready for the evolution.

iphone

The iPhone as an Emerging Enterprise Platform

1.15pm Wednesday 2nd December 2009
Venue – The Alexander Hotel  Dublin .

The iPhone has captured significant mindshare since its launch in 2007, and in particular the application development model and the iTunes App Store, which has had over two billion downloads of over 100,000 applications.
There has been a move from games and other ‘fun’ applications to software companies looking to add mobile channels for their products. Enterprise focussed companies like Intuition are developing iPhone applications in order to add to the value of their core product or service.

As part of the Enterprise Europe Network, Enterprise Ireland are hosting an information and networking event on December 2nd in Dublin.

This is a chance for software companies to explore the opportunities presented by mobile applications and Apple’s iPhone in particular. Topics covered will include:

  • What is so special about the iPhone?
  • How does one develop applications – what are the skills required?
  • What are the costs?
  • How to deploy enterprise applications?

There will also be an opportunity to meet with the iPhone developer community in Ireland.

Enterprise Features iPhone – Dermot Daly, Tapadoo

What is an iPhone?

  • Basics ; phone, location/direction/tilt aware , quality web browser and multimedia,Document and pdf viewer)
  • And apps

Enterprise features

  • Originally consumer (02 contracts reflected this)
  • Latest iPhone 3GS had enterprise (not emphasised) e.g. Compass Video Cameria
  • Enterprise Mail (e.g. ActiveSync from MS, but also POP/IMAP/CALDAV/LDAP)
  • Centralised Config (e.g. App lockdown, can prevent changes)
  • Security Enhancements (e.g. FindmyIPhone, RemoteWipe)
  • VPN out of the box (all internet standards)

All stuff Nokia/ Blackberry do, but iPhone slicker

Apps

  • iPhone enhanced website
  • Website with iPhone specifc css
  • Similar to Mozilla Prism?
  • No deployment / easier to deploy
  • No access to underlying hardware.

Native Apps (code to phone)

  • Underlying hardware access
  • Objective C & SDK Libraries
  • Number of ways to deploy

iPhone SDK (4 layers 20+ frameworks each)

  • iPhone OS / based on MacOS/ derived from BSD Unix
  • Core Services (e.g. Core Data, backed by SQLLite on phone) , contact , addressbox, GPS, StoreKit (for upsell) within app e.g. eBooks)
  • Media (Quartz 2d animation, Open GL 3D in Hardware, iPod Library and Core Audio / Video)
  • Coco Touch – User Interface / controls ; Messaging UI; Map Kit (with Google Maps); Game Kit (P2P Games)

Sample Native Applications

  • iPhone version of existing e.g. RTE Breaking news
  • Own staff to allow

Challenges

  • Deployment to public via App store
  • To own own staff
  • Enterprise Deployment (more than 500 employeees – Limited e.g. University of Ulster)
  • Ad Hoc Deployment (Management Overhead – need to gather specific device ID’s – limit up to 100)

The Market

  • Nobody will release figures on iPhone in Ireland (est 50k – 150k based on app downloads – guess)
  • 02 -> Vodafone Q1 next year (around Feb?)
  • Expects Market to double overnight
  • Expect Vodofone business plan
  • UK – 5% – 1m phones and pushing other platforms
  • Better than any other single handset (as opposed to single manufacturue) – one app works on all iPhone
    - e.g. no problem of testing like Java phones
    - Worldphone – 50m devices (inc iPod touch)

Developer

  • Need to develop on Mac
  • Object C, DSK and App store process (need to learn)
  • xCake Developer community / apps.ie
  • Cost (people expect it to cost less / yet usage pattern very differnt – little and often) similar to Senior Java
  • Base on Spec (like most software projects)

Intuition Keith O’Loughlin (CTO)
“Intuition’s experience with iPhone”
Scaling / eLearnging

  • Don’t repeat same mistkaes; think of user experience
  • Intuition provide professional learning applicaiton to corporates globally
  • Mobile started Blackberry, client demand led to iPhone – also on Windows Mobile
  • Mobile allows eLearning in users time / on their terms
  • Not a Laptop as that experience is more akin to desk based (e.g. phone always there, always ready unlike Laptop)
  • iPhone Experience (Emotional attachment)
  • Three modes of use (Bored Now / Repetitive Now e.g. stock or Football news/ Urgent Now ) – from Google
    - 6 Month old can use iPhone (but not Blackberry!)
  • iPhone has created market for mobile applicatoins (Blackberry, Orange, Vodafone all trying to copy idea)
  • Free apps; usage over time ; shelf life tails off sharply over 3 days ; What is user call to embed in their

Lifestyle (use again and again, evangilise) – doesn’t happen for PC’s.  All about the user experience

iPhone and Enterprise

  • Blackberry v Apple
  • 2 millon  Apple iPhones  in Corporate , growing hughely , 35m Blackberry, overtake in 3 years at current rate of growth
  • Beware of Google (space evolving very quickly – like 1980 in PC space)
  • More smartphones sold last year than Laptops
  • Enterprise benefits : rich apps / improve effecienct / workflows / reduce costs / grow revenues
  • Issues: Security (percieved issue) / difficult deployment / Early adoptor days

Developer: good that single screen size and form size (develop once) , only 3 OS v Java experinece

  • First app on apple platform in 6 weeks
  • Some API missing e.g. to turn off phone API not exposed

Apple; focus on qualiy and brand – control!!

  • Won’t allow apps with bugs (and Apple decide what bug is!)
  • Limited develop support
  • App store very easy to use
  • A lot of applications – easy to get lost
  • Low cost of entry / but slow process / very thoroought process

Repeat: Not about the technology, about the user
Average phone replaced every 2 years – very easy for market to change

Opportunites / Pitfalls

  • Scale
  • Devices Big Picture (be flexible; devices will change, Apps will not) – iPhone good place to start.
  • Style v Substance
  • Platform subsistence
  • 2 models
  • consulting / developer
  • existing product , new channel

MyHome.ie Keith Mahon
“Experiences with MyHome.ie on the iPhone”

Head of Technology , Irish Times digital group.

  • Phoneware created local based search engine, fitted with what MyHome where thinking of doing.
  • Involved since Dec 08 (12 months); 4 Months to develop while Irish Times learned
  • Apple is ‘blockage’ in systems – useful to get professional advice!

Lessons Learned

  • Reduce functionality to what users really want
  • Traffic with not reach mobile (yet) for iPhones – set expectations – more strategic move for future.
  • Estimates market at 15,000  users (note – estimate of user based  much less than Dermot Daly)
  • At least one month to get on Appstore, 1 week for each update; but no committment to dates from
  • Need to promote, like any other website

Success

  • Number 1 Irish app store 12 days / top 50 for 2 months- will change up and down over time.
  • Give credibility with other users, even if they don’t use iPhone themselves.
  • Strong commuter audience (morning and evening spikes).
  • Agents started getting calls / emails directly from iPhone – very visible change!
  • Writeup in Sunday Business Post – can lead to spike in Traffic.
  • 449,000  page views within 15 days; Tiny v Main web sites (15million  in same time) – but new and growing audience

App

  • Shows map with homes for sale (will include rental)
  • Virtual overlay (look through camera, see available houses around you)
  • Give app away free , but looking how to get people to subsribe

Strength and Weakness

  • Smaller , restriced audience – shortage of supply of devices, being kept expensive. Maybe wider when Vodafone sell iPhone Q1 2010.
  • Does not work on stardard iPhone – needs 3GS iPhone
  • No SMS integration like normal mobiles (maybe later versions)
  • A lot of strengths (Locaion aware, excellent delivery channel)

iPhone -  a new Frontier for payments
WorldNet TPS

Enterprise Ireland  HPSU ( Startup) – provide secure online payment (Payment Gateway) going 2 years, product 1 year.

See Opportunity as enabling business – promote iPhone as payment terminal
Complements existing business / other virtual access points such as laptop / PC

For business this means  e.g. Tour Operator / Sell items on Tour Buses while promoter is still on road

Competitor to iPhone in payments space is Desktop – very different proposition (good and bad)

PCI Compliance (part of Visa contract) means storing credit card info on PC / or paper means fines up to 25,000 Euro  for each infringement

Moving to (all ideas that have been tried before , with various success, mainly due to societal factors

  • Cardholder present transation
  • Pay by mobile instead of credit card
  • P2P payment applications

A lot of the leading payment players behind these ideas – will market take off?

OS3 – Damian O’Suilleabháin
“Approaches to iPhone development & the Irish iPhone Developer community”

OS3 develop iPhone apps (3 public , more on way)

Can’t activate iPhone without giving Credit Card details – very low friction sell through AppStore – like DoCoMo model.

Why iPhone?

  • Trip to future; demographics – about 25% Western world only know internet on mobile / social network natives . Don’t like ads,  but friends think it’s cool.
  • Growing rapidly.
  • 2 Billon n apps downloaded in last 18 months – last month 500m
  • Major brands have apps available
  • Opportunity; Extra revenue / new customers through new channel / association with coolness

Web Apps v Native Apps

  • Web development use existing web technologies (Simple) Apple Browser the best mobile browser – compares well to many desktop browsers. Doesn’t do flash.
  • Web App +: Write in (web) langugae teha you’re familar with) Easier upload – no dealings with Apple. Dynamic. Reused web application for other mobiles / from Desktop.
  • Native Apps gives (almost)  full power of API.  Mac Based Operating System – very powerful. e.g. Gesture Capture, Compass.
  • Native App can be used offline. Easier to Monetize app (sell through appstore).

InHouse v Outsourced Development

  • Same as traditional software development pro’s and con’s.

iPhone Developer Community in Ireland

  • xCake - loose developer community / act as group when talking to Enterprise Ireland , O2
  • Apps.ie – evolved from XCake – showcase for Irish iPhone apps, evangilize mobile applications in Ireland.
  • Members; available on site include 21 developers from companies to individuals

Filed under Business, Dublin, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, iPhone, Ireland, IT, jobs Tagged with

Collective Intelligence in Action

June 30, 2008 4 Comments

Don’t you hate it when you spend months (or years) working on a pet project / book / mad take over the world idea, then somebody comes out with something even better?

Yep, it’s just happened to me. Years working on the idea of the ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ (even prior to web 2.0 in the shape of Red-Piranha). Month’s working on a Masters Dissertation on applying Web 2 techniques to the Finance industry (pdf link). And somebody comes out and does it even better.

Not just better. But much much better.  The sort of better as in ‘If I had this earlier, I’d have just copied it and changed the words around a bit’. The book is available from Manning as ‘Collective Intelligence in Action‘. A free, first chapter (Understanding Collective Intelligence) is available here (pdf).

Collective Intelligence in Action

So what’s it about? We’ve all heard about the Wisdom of Crowds idea. But what if you need to actually implement it on your website? This book shows you how to (using both concepts and practical code, as well as the theory behind all of it that I was missing). It includes

  • Intelligent, learning search, using Lucene.
  • Extracting data from blogs using web-crawling.
  • Executing Real time feedback on facebook-like sites.
  • Scalable data-mining techniques to manage the torrent of information
  • Making personalised recommendations based on all of the information.

Disclaimer:Manning provided me with a free review copy of the book – but no strings attached. And , maybe if I’m nice enough to the Author (Satnam), I can persuade him to talk about making millions using JBoss Drools and Complex Event processing in the book.

Filed under architecture, blogs, book, drools, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, Finance, Knowledge Management, RedPiranha, Technorati, web2, whitepaper

Web2 with Java:Struts2, Spring MVC, Flex, JavaFX and Google Web Toolkit

March 13, 2008 2 Comments

Originally posted on the O’Reilly Books OnJava blog. 

My fellow Java Developers. Two years ago I wrote an article on ‘Web 2.0 and Enterprise Java – move over Struts‘ looking at what was likely to replace Struts 1 (then and now a de facto web standard). How did our predictions fare?

Remember that article (and this one) isn’t looking for technical best, but which is going to be a best investment of your time to learn (in a mercenary commercial sense). And if you’re deciding which to use in a project , which framework is going to be easiest to support in 5 or 10 years time?

Broadly speaking, the frameworks we talk about break into two types: those that treat the web as a set of pages, and those that treat the web as a set of components (think Visual Basic, Delphi or Oracle Forms act-a-likes).

So , what has changed in the last 2 years:

  1. The rise of Spring. Not only has it gone mainstream, but the Spring MVC, Spring Webflow and Spring-JavaServerFaces are very powerful and widely used web frameworks. A sign of how things have changed is that for Sruts 1 the Spring guys wrote the integration for the (then) bigger Struts framework. For Struts 2 , the integration was provided by the Struts community. With the forthcoming Spring 3 release the framework is increasing momentum; More annotations and less XML in Spring MVC; Rest Web Services out of the box, support for Dynamic languages like Groovy and Spring Webflow becoming a more ‘just use it where you need it’ solution.
  2. Adobe Flex and OpenLaszlo – Flash graphical interfaces on the Web, built using Java. I don’t think these will be *the* mainstream choice but I do think the will be more than a just a niche. And for design led companies, nothing else (not even Microsoft Silverlight) can come close in terms of a user ‘wow’ factor.
  3. JavaFX and Applets done right (Jim Weaver has a good article on this). More of a competitor to Adobe Flash as both are rich content in the browser using an easily obtainable plugin. JavaFX will appeal to developers because of it’s Java like syntax. I hope I’m wrong, but for rich web content, would you put your money on Sun (an Engineering led company) or Adobe (an almost apple-like design led one)?
  4. Frustration with JSF (Java Server Faces). For the last 3 years I’ve thought that ‘*this* is the year of JSF. I’m still waiting not because of lack of demand (as web apps become more complicated and use more Ajax they become more like the JSF component based model). It’s now uphill for JSF as I (and a lot of other Developers) have given up. I’m still waiting for the ‘EJB 3′ moment when JSF becomes more simple and more usable. Remember , we ‘re not talking about technically best, but which is going to be in widespread use.
  5. Google Web Toolkit (GWT). Looking at it one way , GWT is JSF done right – a component based web framework , but one that is fast and has a lot of community support. Even then it took me a long while to warm to GWT – I’ve bad memories of web-components that hide their internals (remember Microsoft Interdev 10 years ago?) . What got me over the hump was thinking of GWT as a compiler not to Assembly or bytecode , but to Javascript and HTML.

How has Struts 2 got on in the meantime? I’m not sure. Remember , Struts 2 is very different from Struts 1. Conceptually it’s very similar to Spring MVC (Simple Java Beans based with configuration); Slightly easier to learn and maybe slightly less powerful than Spring (although both are more than capable for most Enterprise web applications.

The ‘I’m not sure’ bit comes from two (non technical) factors:

  1. Struts 2 hasn’t achieved the massive Enterprise developer mind share that Struts 1 did. It’s a better framework, but it’s got more competition.
  2. If you’re using Spring in the middle tier, why not have one less framework and use Spring MVC (instead of Struts 2) in the presentation layer as well?

Back to the previous predictions , how did we get on?

Scenario 1: Adding Ajax to existing Struts Applications. Use AjaxAnywhere – closest to the approach taken in the article Sprinkle Some Ajax Magic into your Struts Web Application. Despite writing this article , I see the frameworks evolving rapidly to the point where you would only take such an approach for adding Ajax to ‘Legacy’ applications.

How did we do? I’d maybe widen the choice of Ajax Libraries (to include DWR , Dojo, Prototype and others) but the basic idea of evolving rather than replacing your Struts 1 app still holds true.

Scenario 2: Need Ajax Now for a new Java Application. Use Appfuse as it gives Struts, Ajax (with DWR) and the possiblity of JSF integration now, all ‘out of the box’.

How did we do? I still recommend AppFuse, as it combines (name-your-web-framework) with Spring Hibernate(and other ORM) and Maven. However I’d now tend towards choosing Spring MVC (unless you’ve a reason to use Spring 2), given that you’re probably already using Spring in the mid tier.

Scenario 3: Medium Term. Use an implementation of JSF (either MyFaces or whatever Appfuse promotes – probably Struts Shale). Struts Shale (JSF) has so far released only ‘overnight’ builds. Apache MyFaces (JSF) tool support and Ajax capabilities are likely to improve over time. Both Struts-Shale and MyFaces are likely to play well with AppFuse , making it a safe bet for investing your time checking it out.

How did we do? Struts2 and Spring both still give you migration route to JSF. But do you want it?

So out of the creative ajax-induced chaos of 2 years ago, I see 4 or 5 clear choices in Enterprise web frameworks: Struts 2 (as a follow on from Struts 1). Spring MVC, due to the huge mindshare Spring has on the mid-tier. Google Web Toolkit , both as a natural home of frustrated JSF developers , and because who’s going to argue with the people who gave us maps and mail? Flex, because Flash apps done well just look so good. And JavaFX, because Applets-haven’t-gone-away-you-know.

In my view, we would have been delighted to have any of these framworks 5 years ago. And each (for different reasons) is likely still to be popular in 5 years time. Your missions now is to pick the one that suits your project needs.

Filed under apollo, applet, architecture, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, flex, Forms, Java Server Faces (JSF), JSF, mvc, silverlight, struts2, web2

Irish Web Technologies Conference – IWTC- 2008

February 27, 2008 2 Comments

I’ve just been to the opening session of the Irish Web Technologies Conference 2008. The one at which Fergus Burns tore into Irish Govenment Support (or lack of it) for the Web startup sector.

To be fair, it’s probably nothing that he hasn’t already said face to face, but if the rest of the conference continues at this pace it’s going to be a do-not-miss event. A full listing of the speakers at the event are here. I’m hoping to see the presentations of Sean Hanley from Exoftware, John Ryan, CEO of SugarCRM, Bill de hOra of Newbay and Jason Barry of DeCare Systems Ireland.

Supporting the Irish Technology Community

Disclaimer: Barry from Irish Dev gave us complementary tickets to the evening event, on the basis that we spoke at the recent Irish Java Conference.

And apologies to Joe Drumgoole for having to walk out mid sentence. The words ‘Web 1 is about broadcast, Web 2 is about communication’ followed me out of the hall.

Filed under apollo, EnterpriseWeb2.0, event

OpenLaszlo – Cool Flash for Clunky Java people

August 23, 2007 7 Comments

Flash is created by cool people who wear black and use Apple Macs. If you’re not sure as to what flash is, the chances are that if you’ve seen something on the web recently that made you go ‘wow’ for it’s coolness, then it was built using Adobe Flash.

To add substance to this froth Java people can use Flash (instead of normal web pages) to create cool pages that do useful stuff. For example Google Analytics uses Java and Flash to create a stunning User Interface. Even though Ajax and DHTML give you a lot of interactivity on your web pages, Flash goes one better at the small cost of not being as good for SEO and requiring a plugin (that most people already have installed).

So, what are you to do if you want to combine the coolness of Flash with the heavy lifting of Enterprise Java on the Server? The two main options are:

  1. Flex from Adobe is one way for Java people to create flash. The core toolkit is free, but the editor costs about $500 and that’s before you pay for using it on your servers. More details in the previous blogposts on Adobe Apollo and Adobe Flex.
  2. Open Laszlo Project is open source all the way, but does’t have a drag and drop editor (i.e. it’s more technical than graphical). Still , it allows you to create some cool effects , such as this Flash Clock.

Which framework will win out? I don’t know , and that’s before you even consider the Standard Java Web Frameworks such as Struts 2.

More (In progess) notes on Open Java and Flash are on the wiki. In an impulse buy , I bought the OpenLaszlo in Action yesterday. As an EBook , with rebate (coupon LZ35607 before the end of August) it costs about 10 Euro. Initial impressions are good (both for the book and Open Laszlo) , but I’m still working my way through it (so don’t quote me on it).

</p> <p>33</p>

Disclaimer: I get a rebate if you buy the book from Amazon, but not if you buy the (Cheaper) E-Book direct from Manning. I bought the E-Book this time, but have got free books from Manning in the past for having reviewed (as yet unpublished) JBoss items.

Filed under ADF, adobe, Ajax, apollo, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, flash, Java, Java Enterprise Edition, Java Server Faces (JSF), JSF, Web 2.0, web2

Moaning about Struts 1 won't help you move to Struts 2

July 27, 2007 5 Comments

(Struts is one of the most popular way for companies to build their websites. This was to be posted on Bill moaning about Struts 1 problems, but Bill’s blog isn’t accepting comments at the moment.)

Struts 2 Logo

Bill,

I hate to spoil your Struts 1 party , but most of these problems have been known for some time (and the Struts team would be the first to articulate them). Struts 2 is a huge improvement and , as you mention, there are good alternatives out there (including Spring MVC).

The problem is that migration from Struts 1 to (for example) Struts 2 , while easy, still carries a risk for the project in question. It can be hard to convince the business decision maker when all they see is pain (‘so you’re going to break the existing site?‘) for very little gain (‘where’s the immediate payback of upgrading?‘).

My advice is to stick with Struts 1 on existing projects. Use Struts 2 (or even better, Appfuse) on new projects. And for new code on existing projects, consider running them both side by side. They’re all tried and tested solutions.

Paul

Filed under Ajax, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, Java, java enterprise, Java Enterprise Edition, Java Server Faces (JSF), JSF, struts, struts2, Technology

Business Rules (Drools), Workflow (jBPM) and Seam – anybody want a training session?

May 13, 2007 39 Comments

Update: The presentation to the Irish Java Technologies Conference: Life and Death Workflow, using JBoss jBPM is partly based on this training session. (Link to Slides)

We’ve given Enterprise Java Training, Struts 2 Training (the most widely used Java-Web framework), and now it’s the turn of JBoss Rules (Drools) , Workflow (jBPM) and Seam. A lot of the material is coming from the forthcoming Masters Dissertation on Enterprise Web 2.0.

The course (summary below) is a private session. If there’s enough interest I’ll setup a public training session, or cut it back to 1 hour and do it as a ‘free’ intro session. If you can’t wait for that, Mark Proctor’s blog has a lot of useful rules information, and Tim Shadel has the pdf of a presentation that he gave in Phoenix Arizon on his blog.

Knowledge and Process Management

JBoss Rules, jBPM and Seam

Executive Briefing

Description: Success or failure in your business depends on dealing with information faster and better than your competitors. This briefing shows you how the JBoss Business Stack (Rules , jBPM and Seam) can do this and how to apply it to your organisation. Crucially, the briefing shows you when not to use these and details the alternative approaches.

The briefing will give delegates an overview of JBoss Rules within a web / enterprise development environment, how to architect an distribute rules within multi-tier applications and how to link these components with existing sources of information using Enterprise Application Integration (EAI).

Audience: This Briefing is suitable for IT Managers and Directors, IT project managers and technical staff who need an insight into the latest JBoss technologies and business processes, and business managers who need to be aware of the new application models and to give buy-in and commitment to applications developed within it.

Duration: Half-day

Objectives: On completion of this Briefing, delegates will:

  • Understand the benefits JBoss technologies offers your business and the key areas where it should be used.
  • Know how to successfully use JBoss Rules, jBPM and Seam with new and existing systems and technologies, including the use of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI).
  • Be able to boost projects using pre-built components and frameworks and be able to choose the right one for their needs.
  • Be aware of the main precepts of good application design within the Java component framework, as well as knowing the main Enterprise Java architecture components, terminology and acronyms and their interaction.
  • Understand how end-to-end applications are built using the JBoss frameworks (Rules, jBPM, Seam) and appreciate their organisational impact.

Presenter Biography

Paul Browne has 13 years experience delivering IT Projects in the Financial, IT/ Telecoms, Pharmaceutical and Public sectors. An author on JBoss Rules for O’Reilly Books, he has delivered courses for Limerick Institute of Technology, Siemens, Dell, Trigraph and IACT. Holding a Degree in Business from UUC, he is awaiting conferral of an Msc. in Advanced Software Engineering from UCD.

Briefing Content

Introduction and Problem Space

  • Delegate introduction
  • Trainer introduction
  • Course introduction
  • The problem we are trying to solve
  • Who is JBoss
  • 3 Tier Applications
  • What is a rule engine
  • Alternatives using Java
  • Alternatives to Rules
  • Alternative Rule Engines
  • Section Summary / Intro to next section

Rule Engine overview

    • Business Rules (examples)
    • Sample Business Uses
    • If then statements – can we do better?
    • Rete Algorithm
    • Forward and Backward Chaining
    • Domain Specific Languages (DSL)
    • Decision Tables (what the user sees)
    • Decision Tables (for the Developer)
    • Rule Editors
    • JBoss IDE (Red Hat Tools)
    • Advanced Rule Language
    • System Development Roles
    • Section Summary / Intro to next section

    Integration and Deployment

    • Web environment
    • 3 Tier system
    • Integration with Spring
    • Integration with EJB
    • What is workflow
    • What is jBPM
    • What is Seam
    • Seam and JSF
    • Seam and jBPM
    • Drools.Net
    • Section Summary
    • Course Summary and Feedback

Filed under enterprise java, EnterpriseWeb2.0, java enterprise, Java Enterprise Edition, Java Server Faces (JSF), RedPiranha, rp, Rule Engine, rules

Business Rules (Drools), Workflow (jBPM) and Seam – anybody want a training session?

May 13, 2007 Leave a comment

We’ve given Enterprise Java Training, Struts 2 Training (the most widely used Java-Web framework), and now it’s the turn of JBoss Rules (Drools) , Workflow (jBPM) and Seam. A lot of the material is coming from the forthcoming Masters Dissertation on Enterprise Web 2.0:

The course (summary below) is a private session. If there’s enough interest I’ll setup a public training session, or cut it back to 1 hour and do it as a ‘free’ intro session.

If you can’t wait for that, Mark Proctor’s blog has a lot of useful rules information, and Tim Shadel has the pdf of a presentation that he gave in Phoenix Arizon on his blog.

JBoss Rules Logo

Knowledge and Process Management

JBoss Rules, jBPM and Seam

Executive Briefing

Description:
Success or failure in your business depends on dealing with information faster and better than your competitors. This briefing shows you how the JBoss Business Stack (Rules , jBPM and Seam) can do this and how to apply it to your organisation. Crucially, the briefing shows you when not to use these and details the alternative approaches.


The briefing will give delegates an overview of JBoss Rules within a web / enterprise development environment, how to architect an distribute rules within multi-tier applications and how to link these components with existing sources of information using Enterprise Application Integration (EAI).

Audience:
This Briefing is suitable for IT Managers and Directors, IT project managers and technical staff who need an insight into the latest JBoss technologies and business processes, and business managers who need to be aware of the new application models and to give buy-in and commitment to applications developed within it.

Duration:
Half-day

Objectives:
On completion of this Briefing, delegates will:

  • Understand the benefits JBoss technologies offers your business and the key areas where it should be used.



  • Know how to successfully use JBoss Rules, jBPM and Seam with new and existing systems and technologies, including the use of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI).



  • Be able to boost projects using pre-built components and frameworks and be able to choose the right one for their needs.

  • Be aware of the main precepts of good application design within the Java component framework, as well as knowing the main Enterprise Java architecture components, terminology and acronyms and their interaction.

  • Understand how end-to-end applications are built using the JBoss frameworks (Rules, jBPM, Seam) and appreciate their organisational impact.

Presenter Biography

Paul Browne has 13 years experience delivering IT Projects in the Financial, IT/ Telecoms, Pharmaceutical and Public sectors. An author on JBoss Rules for O’Reilly Books, he has delivered courses for Limerick Institute of Technology, Siemens, Dell, Trigraph and IACT. Holding a Degree in Business from UUC, he is awaiting conferral of an Msc. in Advanced Software Engineering from UCD.

Briefing Content

Introduction and Problem Space

  • Delegate introduction

  • Trainer introduction

  • Course introduction

  • The problem we are trying to solve

  • Who is JBoss

  • 3 Tier Applications

  • What is a rule engine

  • Alternatives using Java

  • Alternatives to Rules

  • Alternative Rule Engines

  • Section Summary / Intro to next section

Rule Engine overview

  • Business Rules (examples)

  • Sample Business Uses

  • If then statements – can we do better?

  • Rete Algorithm

  • Forward and Backward Chaining

  • Domain Specific Languages (DSL)

  • Decision Tables (what the user sees)

  • Decision Tables (for the Developer)

  • Rule Editors

  • JBoss IDE (Red Hat Tools)

  • Advanced Rule Language

  • System Development Roles

  • Section Summary / Intro to next section

Integration and Deployment

  • Web environment

  • 3 Tier system

  • Integration with Spring

  • Integration with EJB

  • What is workflow

  • What is jBPM

  • What is Seam

  • Seam and JSF

  • Seam and jBPM

  • Drools.Net

  • Section Summary

  • Course Summary and Feedback

Filed under BPM, Business, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, java enterprise, Java Enterprise Edition, presentation, Rule Engine, rules

Enterprise Web 2 Book – latest chapters (workflow,rules,search)

April 3, 2007 Leave a comment

This an in progress draft of ‘Financial knowledge capture using Rules , Workflow, Search and Enterprise Web 2.0‘, complimenting the Red-Piranha Open Software project.


Chapter 1 – Introduction – notes

Chapter 2 – Problem Domain – good draft

Chapter 3 – Red – Piranha Framework – good draft

Chapter 4 – Technical Overview – draft [new]

Chapter 5 – Financial Workflow – draft [new]

Chapter 6 – Financial Calculator and Business Rules – draft [new]

Chapter 7 – Adaptive Search – good draft [new]

Chapter 8 – Future Work and Conclusion – notes

Chapter 9 – Appendices – notes


Filed under architecture, BPM, enterprise java, enterprise web 2.0, EnterpriseWeb2.0, RedPiranha, web2

Barcamp Presentation Summary – Enterprise Web 2.0

March 30, 2007 1 Comment

A quick summary of the Barcamp talk on Enterprise Web 2

Until now, innovation has stopped at the corporate firewall, with most of the Web 2 activity taking place in the personal and consumer space. With blogs (slowly) coming to the attention of the business mainstream, what is next to be taken up? Why should large companies bother? How will they implement it, or is Enterprise Web 2 just a fancy name for stuff they are doing anyway? More importantly, will anybody make a living out of it?

Any thoughts / comments / suggestions on what people what like to see?

Barcamp Dublin Logo

Filed under barcamp, EnterpriseWeb2.0, Events, Web 2.0, web2, Web2Ireland

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