Architectures for Enterprise Integration

The 1990s have seen many large scale efforts to transform companies into more agile and efficient global enterprises. An important lesson of the efforts in computer-integrated manufacturing and other businesses has been that enterprises - like any other man-made system - need to be properly designed and that methods to do this should become widely available and publicised. This text describes the latest methods for guiding enterprises and consultants, managers and technical personnel through a complete life-cycle of enterprise development. It is based on the findings of the IFIP/IFAC Task Force and presents the state-of-the-art of enterprise architecture including: analysis and comparison of the three major architectural frameworks and methodologies; identification of the strengths and weaknesses of each methodology to enable users to select the approach which best suits their needs; and a road map for the development of more complete methodologies by using existing ones. This book is aimed at all practising engineers and researchers in manufacturing and engineering management, with special interest for those involved in CIM and Enterprise Modelling and Integration.