Enterprise Engineering
Transformation--Right The First Time
by Jerry W. Torres

The fundamentals are essential to achieve success even in today's complex business world. Simple practices stimulate success and simple mistakes cause failure.

Over 75% of all enterprise engineering initiatives fail. They're halted before solutions are delivered but not before significant time, money and resources are wasted and lost. Those that do succeed are mostly second go--rounds of previously failed efforts. Project failure doesn't discriminate. It's routine to both public and commercial sector enterprises and to every business space regardless of the initiative's size, location, complexity, investment or objectives.

Routine failure isn't new but it's increasing in frequency, and the losses are greater than just a few years ago. The reasons: more practitioners declaring expertise in anything; the rising cost and complexity of technology, increased geographical distribution of planned business and technology solutions, and the high cost of consulting services, just to name a few. Meanwhile, enterprises routinely throw huge amounts of money at deteriorating initiatives even when failure is inevitable.

We've always known why failures are common and successes few. We know, for example, that initiatives begin with similar visions, goals, objectives and budgets. So what's the difference between success and failure? It's the consulting practitioners that provide enterprises with their 'expertise.' They are the greatest obstacles to success, and now they're poised to break their own records. The condition is so notorious that foreign companies routinely set up shop in America to get their share of the easy pie. The good news is that both you and your competitor will likely suffer the same fate.

This book is a practical guide that defines how to deliver transformational business solutions right the first time. It details proven methods, practices and approaches that consistently result in accurate, precise and complete solutions. It also describes the forces and dynamics that cause initiatives to fail and describes how to avoid and manage them. Initiatives that succeed protect themselves against these challenges, while those that fail routinely fall victim to them. None of these dynamics are surprising. They do, however, require sound judgment, diligence and vigilance. Apply the practices in this book, and you'll have a better chance at success than failure. Ignore them and, well, you know.

The methods, practices and insights in this book are relevant to nearly any enterprise initiative that involves the implementation of business or technology solutions. This includes enterprise engineering, reengineering, architecture, technology or any combination. They're also equally applicable to both the public and commercial sectors and to nearly every business space, regardless of the initiatives's size, complexity, geographical distribution, or cultural diversity.

This book names failure's cause and culprit, since it provides basis and context for the real issues. And regardless of its political suitability, the book gives straightforward answers to those who entrust their enterprise's future to haphazard practitioners. The information in this text is empirically based with substantial evidence that supports the conclusions and the recommended practices. Examine it in the manner it was intended--to give enterprises a fighting chance. Ignore the facts, and simply become a statistic.

The United States is today investing monumental resources to protect its citizens against the global threat of terror. Public and private sector enterprises have initiated expensive security awareness programs to protect their employees and their assets. First response and medical service organizations now routinely conduct assessment to improve emergency response to acts of terror such as the deployment of weapons of mass destruction. The bottom line results shouldn't be a surprise. The same practitioners with 75% failure rates now proclaim expertise in anti--and counter--terrorism medical emergency and first response, and security and protection services. Just yesterday, they were business analysts and technologists.

This book doesn't offer impressive solutions to the 'big problems.' Project success and failure is rarely hinged on the big things. It instead focuses on solving the numerous seemingly routine dynamics that, when combined, form the right formula for disappointment. The solutions are straight--forward and common sense. Fortunately, it costs little to do things right the first time.

Enterprise Engineering
Transformation--Right The First Time
by Jerry W. Torres

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