The ECM Suite Presentation - 2008

In the Community the presentations from Open Text Content World 2008 are (still) stored. I know that a few colleagues have complained about it being somewhat messy, but that’s because it’s based on finding information looking into folders instead of doing the normal profile search. However do you know what you are looking for (like Events, Content World) you will find it.

Looking at ”The OT OCM Suite Journey”-presentation the Suite is divided into five parts and four layers:

• Layer 1 at top is Experience Service (the user interface)
  
• Layer 2 is divided into Collaboration and Process Services (the applications)
  
• Layer 3 is Enterprise Library Service (the storage)
  
• Layer 4 is named Enterprise Content. Don’t know what the Enterprise Content Layer should include – perhaps it was just only something that sounded nice and looked good.

So regarding the structure of the suite – nothing much changed since 2007. However in the presentation there are some other interesting things mentioned:

• The ECM Suite is not one Application amongst other”Siloed Application”, however it’s not a Monolithic Architecture either (a Gigantic application embracing everything). It’s something in between.
  
• In a slide named “What Makes It a Suite” seven criteria are listed:
  - Comprehensive set of ECM capabilities
  - Clearly defined integration layers based on SOA
  - Consistent user experience
  - Access to all content from any content application
  - Common tools and administration
  - Consistent internationalization strategy and localization
  - Consistent release practices

Does ECM Suite fulfill these criteria to 100%? It is never mentioned and sorry to say the model doesn’t appear again showing how they are fulfilled.

As in a proper business case the benefits of the ECM Suite is mentioned; ”Cost Reduction” is on top of that list? However cost reduction in what way – compared to what companies pay today or compared to buying all the components as single products?

For more details there are three more presentations focused on each layer of the suite.

In the Enterprise Connect presentation a complete scenario including viewing of Cad files and collaborating with subcontractors. It looks like everything is working and fitting together. However looking at the Plugin Schedule and Road Map you start wondering if everything is so complete as it shows to be in the PowerPoint slides.

In the Enterprise Process Services the Graphical Process Designer presentation you get the nice feeling and impression that everything is quite well integrated. However looking at the Administration it’s done through ”IXOS User Management Client” – how well is that integrated with the eDOCS User Management? And why isn’t it an ECM User Management Client used for the overall management?

The last part of the puzzle, ”Enterprise Library Services” (ELS) is the most open presentation in the puzzle and the presentation doesn’t have named author or presenter. It’s like someone didn’t want to take the responsibility for the content. The key points in that presentation are (with my comments in parenthesis) :

• Everything in the Suite is build around SOA expressed throughWeb Services (meaning that you could call on a routine like old quickstart.asp in eDOCS).
  
• There is a Master Installer for installing all ELS Components.
  
• The ELS-products are Livelink ECM Enterprise Server and Live Link ECM Enterprise Archive Server.
  
• Easy and seamless Integration into Customer Infrastructure (what does this mean??)
  
• ELS enables lifecycle management for documents coming from eDOCS DM (apparently documents are not shared and stored between ELS and eDOCS they are moved from eDOCS into ELS).

Again there is a Road Map containing parts that you thing already was solved. However in this presentation from late 2008, there are another quite interesting feature on the “Road Map”. Cloud Storage support – what could that bee?

What is the overall impression about the ECM Suite presentation from 2008. Well, the concept looks like nice and even thought the parts are nicely fitted together in PowerPoint slides the major question is still; do the parts really fit together in real daily work? Another quesion is of course; will it cost a million to implement and requires a department of three, four guys to keep it running?