What Is an Enterprise Framework?
Aside from the learning and networking aspects of conferences, another great by-product of attending a conference is the sharing of ideas. I came away from the International PHP Conference reinvigorated with new ideas and techniques and applications I want to try out. Also, I came away with a great definition for the ever-intangible “enterprise framework.”
The phrase “enterprise framework” eludes defining at times and starts holy wars. However, Joseph Kolin presented me with a definition: an enterprise framework allows the end-user to drop in only the business logic to make it work; they do not need to add anymore programming to the framework. The folks over at Achievo ATK agree with this definition.
What do you think? Is this the proper definition of an “enterprise framework?”
5 Comments
What is the enterprise?
Good point.
The definition of "enterprise" is "a business organization." That's pretty simple. So, when we talk about "enterprise-ready applications," we're really asking, "Is this software ready for business use? Does it meet the needs and requirements of a (usually large) business organization?"
Now, the next question really is this: what are the requirements for software running in a business?
Being one of the developers of Achievo ATK, I'm of course biased, but I think enterprise applications are often about data management. Not about html rendering, plugins, modules, community features (which a lot of frameworks focus on).
Enterprise applications use the 'web-based' feature for easy access and low-threshold deployment. Building enterprise web-applications should therefor not focus on html or webtechnologies, but on the business logic. Bringing the key processes of a business to the browser. A good framework should eliminate the web-aspect of the application, and let the developer focus on the actual application logic. At least, this is what we try to accomplish with ATK.
I found an article that could be related to this in some way: http://www.veen.com/jeff/ar...
It's for CMSs, but it relates to the same subject of "Enterprise Ready".
I never knew about ATK before I read this entry, and I like what I see so far. I'm going to check it out further, but I love the simplicity.
There is a general tendency to close the gap between business users and technical people. This is an example.
It is important that processes facilitated by software systems are flexible enough to allow organizations to change their business process easily, and this is better done if the people carrying out the processes are able to introduce changes directly in the system.
Business Process Management Systems is a technology that puts a special focus on this new way of working.
Lucas RodrÃÂugez Cervera
Nevant - Process implementation