Authors:
Paul Abraham
1
;
Vishal Sikka
1
and
Gordon Simpson
2
Affiliations:
1
SAP AG., Germany
;
2
Independent Enterprise Technologist, United States
Keyword(s):
Software reuse, Product platform, Application platform, Technology platform, Product line architecture. Cost-benefit analysis.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Artificial Intelligence
;
Biomedical Engineering
;
Collaboration and e-Services
;
Communication and Software Infrastructure
;
Communication and Software Technologies and Architectures
;
Complex Systems Modeling and Simulation
;
Data Engineering
;
e-Business
;
Enterprise Architecture
;
Enterprise Engineering
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Generic Platforms
;
Health Information Systems
;
Integration of Data Warehousing and Data Mining
;
Integration/Interoperability
;
Interoperability
;
Knowledge Discovery and Information Retrieval
;
Knowledge Management and Information Sharing
;
Knowledge-Based Systems
;
Languages, Tools and Architectures
;
Middleware Platforms
;
Model-Driven Software Development
;
Ontologies and the Semantic Web
;
Sensor Networks
;
Service-Oriented Architectures
;
Simulation and Modeling
;
Software Agents and Internet Computing
;
Software and Architectures
;
Software Engineering
;
Symbolic Systems
;
System Architectures
;
Technology Platforms
Abstract:
SAP is a complex multi-national development organization with a large number of diverse products and changing target markets. Effective allocation of resources is a difficult at the best of times. Of late, the target markets, and supporting technologies, change every couple of years exponentially increasing the complexity, necessitating a way of recalibrating that keeps pace with new realties. SAP, with a mature understanding of functional, software and technical relationships, has adopted a platform approach covering both functional and technology capabilities. However, a variety of factors, many in the management space, prevent that from being effective. This paper will explain why product-line/platform is a better strategy than platform or custom product strategies, in a way that can be understood, proven and adopted by management and developers alike. Specific recommendations of practices for delivering reuse effectively are also provided.