Configuration Management vs. Content Management

Managing Changes to Internet Applications

Tuesday, 3rd July 2001 
Senate House, University of London Malet Street London. WC1E 7HU

Internet applications development in one form or another is key to the success of most organisations today. Whether it is an internal intranet, a private extranet or on the public Internet there are many similarities. The main one being the need to maintain control and manage the development of these applications in a professional manner. Typically these projects must meet the very tight schedules and at the same time protect investments and maintain the agreed service levels. There is nowhere more public or embarrassing for "bugs" in your systems to come to light than in the hands of your own end customers on the Internet.
Are traditional software change, configuration and release management disciplines are now being stretched too far cope with the challenge of these environments? Do the newer fast moving content management methods and tools have all the answers? What is the difference between these two approaches anyway?
This one day event, run by the BCS specialist group for change, configuration and release management aims to address these questions through a series of talks and actual case studies. This will be supplemented by an interactive workshop session and a open forum where you can bring your real-world questions to the experts.

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PROGRAMME

09:30 - 10:00 REGISTRATION AND COFFEE

10:00 - 10:45 An Introduction to the World of Internet Applications Development. Roy Harrow, Friends Provident.

Roy will outline some of the different types of Internet application, the typical architectures used and some of the common classes of configuration item that you will come across. Roy is the secretary for the CMSG and updated the latest revision of the Release Management chapter of the ITIL Service Support book. In his "day job" he looks after tools and methods matters in a Java architecture team. He has experience of configuration, change and release management on a number of platforms.

10:45 - 11:15 COFFEE and NETWORKING

11:15 - 12:00 Internet Change Management Case Studies. Roy Barnes, Servista.com Ltd.

Internet companies rarely consider configuration management and the
challenges of maintenance for their application in the rush to get
to market. This presentation discusses the challenges that two companies encountered what decisions were made in the selection and implementation of CM and how these organisations and their Internet applications have been benefited. Roy Barnes is a Technical Project Manager with Servista.com, a company which provides on-line management of gas, electricity and telephone services. Roy has introduced development, CM and delivery procedures in four organisations in the last six years, two of which are "Internet centric".

12:00 - 12:45 An Introduction to Content Management. Mayank Joshi, Noblestar Systems Ltd.

Mayank will define the term "content management", discuss common attributes of tools used in this field and how they address the human and process issues of Internet developments. Mayank will make reference to a case study based on a real assignment that he has worked on through Noblestar Systems Ltd.

12:45 - 14:00 LUNCH and NETWORKING

14:00 - 14:15 CMSG Updates and News

14:15 - 15:00 Content Management Case Study. Zahoor Hussain and Justin Buckley, Object 1 Ltd.

Zahoor and Justin will present a real-life case study of the selection and implementation of a content management system for use in the development of the Internet site for a major European merchant bank. They both work for Object 1 Ltd, a consultancy in this field.

15:00 - 15:30 TEA and NETWORKING

15:30 - 16:15 Interactive Workshop Session.

Delegates will have the opportunity to apply some of what they have learned in a hypothetical case study. The aim being to assess the various factors and recommend the "best" approach to addressing the needs of configuration, change, release and content management.

16:15 - 16:30 Panel Question and Answer Session