A Supporting Systems Architecture

As discussed at the outset of this chapter, companies often turn to the research organizations, the vendors, or both. However, the vendors are clearly self-interested, and the research organizations receive much of their funding from the vendors and are not articulating a comprehensive vision for how IT enablement tooling must interoperate. Hence, this chapter. Enablement tools and architectures are important and must be given their due. This chapter has several goals. First, it discusses the generic categories of internal IT enablement systems and potential interactions and overlaps. One issue in particular in this area is the proliferation of single-point systems. Providing a framework to support such efforts is a primary goal of this chapter. Finally, the use of a common logical process and data model can assist in the integration of the vendor packages available, and in particular the master data subjects be clearly established with defined systems of record so that the diverse systems can be aligned.