Introduction
Allen Brown welcomed attendees to this meeting. He explained the objectives for the
meeting (as above) and added that we hope to encourage greater member engagement and
provide opportunities for members to express their opinion about what we do. This
meeting is intended as a one-off event to stimulate a renewed outreach to the membership,
and that we hope that follow-on discussion will take place in teleconferences, email and
web, and in future Conferences. He introduced the existing Member representatives on the
Governing Board:
- Elaine Babcock, U.S. DoD, Customer Council
- Alan Doniger, POSC, Co-Chair, Customer Council
- Bill Estrem, University. of St. Thomas, Customer Council
- Walter Stahlecker, HP, Supplier Council
and Ian Dobson as The Open Group staff support to the Customer and Supplier Councils.
Purpose and Agenda
Alan (see slides) confirmed that The Open Group member
representatives on the Governing Board are essentially there to represent The Open Group
community. Members strengthen the value of their participation by being aware of each
other’s needs and interests. This meeting provides a platform for all members to
become more aware of the opportunities to engage in the wider member community and to
exert member influence on Open Group activities, particularly in respect of conference
locations/themes/agendas, strategy and operations, and new initiatives.
Alan then gave an overview of the agenda for this meeting, then introduced Allen for
the next item.
Conference Locations, Agendas, and Themes
Allen listed (see slides) the planned conference locations and
themes for 2004 (see slides). He then asked for member feedback on:
- How many meetings we should have in a year
- How many of these should be co-located with Forum member meetings, or conference-only
meetings
- How many meetings should be in North America, Europe, and elsewhere in the world
- What city locations are favored as best meeting locations (top ten)
- What conference themes members would like to be addressed (top ten)
Attendees were invited to complete their preferences on a set of four slide printout
forms. The results will be shared with members as soon as they are available.
In discussion, members suggested locations other than those on the slide, including
Hawaii, Asia - Singapore, Moscow, Tokyo, Orlando, Canada, and Stockholm. It was noted that
costs to attend far-off locations such as in Asia are often no more expensive than those
in the USA and Europe. It was suggested that where possible we should take the opportunity
to make the conference theme fit the IT strengths of a conference location (e.g.,
mobile/wireless in Stockholm). The question of other conferences competing with ours came
up, and John Meyer explained how we set dates and locations and book hotels and facilities
for our conferences up to 12 months ahead, taking into account local industry bases, and
usually the competing conference events arise due to other organizations booking their
events after ours are already confirmed. It was also noted that to avoid losing attendees
to other events we should open registration for our conferences much more in advance than
we do at present.
Governance Model
Allen explained (see slides) the opportunities for members to
stand for election to the Governing Board, covering:
- The roles of those serving on the Governing Board
- The Open Group's governance model
- The responsibilities of Board Members - the legal ones, then the consortia ones
- The eligibility for nomination in a member representative election to the Governing
Board, who has the right to vote, the process for the upcoming elections in 2004, and the
legal steps involved in elected representatives becoming appointed to the Board
Elaine then presented (see slides) her personal
perspective on her experience as a current serving member representative on the Governing
Board. She presented her "top ten" reasons for why she enjoys serving on the
Governing Board (in ascending order of priority - 10 is highest priority). These were:
- To communicate the will of fellow members
- To influence the future of The Open Group
- To ensure the Board is responsive to the Members
- To help The Open Group and Boundaryless Information Flow succeed
- To serve the IT industry
- To influence the direction of the IT industry
- To give back some of what she has received over many years in the industry
- To represent the organization paying her salary
- To provide value-add to The Open Group products and services
- To work with a great group of people!
In response to a question, Elaine estimated that the time involved in serving as a
member of the Governing Board is a one/two-day meeting four times a year, plus reading of
materials and discussion in preparation for board meetings - perhaps totaling three weeks
in the year.
Customer Intent on Procurements of Certified Products
Alan outlined (see slides) the role of the
Customer Council and its mission to promote the customer voice. One way to do this is to
support procurements of certified products. In several slides he explained:
- The background issues
- The benefits
- The enhanced value of independent certification over supplier claims of conformance and
warranties
- The Open Group certification scheme, and its current certification programs
- The belief that pull-through gained by customers giving preference to purchasing
certified products is the best way to promote wider availability of certified products
Alan presented the "Certified Products" brochure that the Customer Council
has produced to summarize this case (available to Members at: www.opengroup.org/customer_council/index.tpl).
A questioner noted that certification can be for more than just IT products. For
example, the certification program for TOGAF allows not only for certification of product
but also for certification of accredited IT Architects who have been qualified as
competent to deliver TOGAF professional services.
Sharing Presentation Resources
Walter Stahlecker presented (see slides) a proposal to create
value for members from The Open Group’s wealth of presentation materials that we have
collected over many years of Conferences and other events, and are still accumulating with
the passage of each new Conference.
Today’s pattern is that in conferences, working groups, and other member
inputs, we have an inventory growth of presentations and other materials that represents a
significant resource. While this information is in the main still available as attachments
linked to reports on past conferences, it is not readily accessible to Members. We could
create a properly indexed repository to enable ease of finding and access for re-use of
these materials.
Walter's proposal is to define a "license" under which appropriate
materials can be made available to Open Group Members for re-use. He made a specific
proposal that Forum Reports from meetings should be expanded to say 10 slides, so the
Members can take a Forum's summary report slide set into their organization and present it
to interested colleagues, or even at external events. He proposed how he personally would
contribute to starting off a resource center of this kind.
The regional chapter leader covering China & Hong Kong commented that an
additional and more valuable resource to regional chapters would be help from US and
European members to identify their key colleagues in regional chapter areas, to help
regional chapter leaders establish working links in their regions. Walter replied that as
an HP representative, he is willing to collaborate to support regional leaders but only if
the collaboration is based on an agreed plan and a context.
Customer View on Reference Model
Bill Estrem gave a short presentation on the
business value for customers of Reference Model Architectures. In the past few days we
have heard from many major vendors and US Government agencies on the value of enterprise
architectures. In practice, you have to work with what you already have, and with an
installed base this situation greatly constrains what you can do to change from where you
are now to where you want to get to. In this context, looking at the ISO 7-layer model and
extending it to reflect realities, it is easy to forget that religion and politics are the
8th and 9th layers!
We have seen in this Conference that the value of reference architectures
is:
- They must inform decision-making
- They must guide technological evolution in aligning with business objectives
- They must structure information
- They define the business logic and technology flow
- They define the technology infrastructure
Bill showed his diagrammatic view of the determinants of technical
strategy. He then showed the evolution of the Computers & Automated Systems
Association (CASA) wheel structure, from its early days in 1985, through the version that
applied in 1992, and to where it is in 2003. In 2003 we need to embrace the virtual
enterprise, and the boundaryless organization - cultivating a healthy hierarchy, and
questioning how we can define an architecture that enables the organization to adapt to
change over time. As a reminder, Bill showed The Open Group's Reference Architecture
Framework from 1998, and the TOGAF In3 version from 1991. He also recalled the
catch-phrase that "the great thing about standards is that there are so many to
choose from".Yes, there are many standards to choose from, but The Open Group can
help us here - architecture without standards, and standards without architecture, are
unhelpful. However, standards driven by architecture are the key to enabling us to do what
makes sense.
Starting New Initiatives in The Open Group
Allen said he has heard that some members think it's not so easy to get
anything new going in The Open Group. However, the truth is it's very easy. Maybe the way
to do it is not well understood, so this part of the presentation
explains how.
He showed a process diagram to describe three ways to get something
going:
If it's an activity that fits into an existing Forum, take it to that
Forum Director and ask that the Forum members consider taking it on. If they say yes, then
the support is there to do it and away it goes. If they say no, then move to option 2 or
3.
If it really does need significant Open Group staff to get it going,
then find five other members who support it, then bring it to The Open Group management,
who will assign an Open Group staff member and set up a new Forum to do it.
In this regard, Members should keep in mind that The Open Group model for Forum activities
can be likened to a gymnasium or sports club: you pay your joining fee to use the
facilities but you do the work, and the staff are there to help, give training advice, and
support you, but not to do your exercises (press-ups, etc.) for you. Occasionally our Open
Group staff do some of the exercises too, but that is the wrong model.
If it does not need significant Open Group staff, and can be driven by
one or more members, then the championing member should request The Open Group management
to set up a Plato web site for them to use, and that member can drive the activity as they
please, with the support of The Open Group's web and email facilities, etc.
When requesting a Plato web site, we require certain minimum information to populate the
index page for the site, and Allen listed this information in his presentation.
Allen closed by reminding Members of The Open Group commitment to its members, as
embodied in our Mission Statement.
