An Interview with Craig Ashapa

What did you like about the project's implementation?
The NT architecture team designed the system's architecture independently ofapplications that needed to run on it. In other words, the domain and securityarchitecture and the tools for systems management were independent of anyapplications. As a result, MCI was able to replace hundreds of character-basedterminals with NT workstations in a matter of days. In addition, once the teamdeployed the basic NT and domain structure, it completed the remaining systemconfigurations with SMS, eliminating countless hours of sneakernetinstallations.

What didn't you like about the project's implementation?
Getting people and teams to think globally instead of locally. Systemsarchitecture from an enterprise perspective is a different beast from designingsingle-site architecture. With NT, you can get from point A to point B by takingmany different routes. The difficult part is realizing and accepting that theshortest route between the two points might not be the appropriate choice whenyou're designing enterprise architecture. Because each call center is anindependent entity from the other centers, communicating the benefits ofenterprisewide manageability and standardization is extremely challenging.

What would you have done differently on the project?
I would have given the team additional resources, such as more employees andtime. With additional resources, the team could have better focused onoperations staff training and architecture documentation. I'm a big advocate ofdocumentation, so now the team is going back and documenting everything.

What advice can you give your peers?
Spend time on the basics­then add the bells and whistles. Split thearchitecture into functional components, such as domain structure and security,systems management, and backup. Ensure that each function is in sync with theoverall system architecture. Be objective, and don't allow passion to enter intothe mix. And don't be afraid to swallow your pride and make changes to yourarchitecture once it's deployed.