by Jim Phelps

About

I am a Senior I.T. Architect for the Division of Information Technology at UW-Madison in Madison, WI. I work with campus to: bring various Information Technology projects into alignment with each other and the campus-wide strategic directions; to facilitate discussions and to capture requirements, use cases and issues; to create standard documents (like UML models) for the project and to develop road-maps for Information Technology.

I am also Chair of ITANA.org, a peer group for I.T. Architects (Enterprise Architects) in Academia.

I also work with vendors and other groups on issues that surround Information Technology in academic environments including Identity and Access Management issues, integration technologies and the unique requirements of academic institutions.

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Latest Work Headline...

Architecture and finding the path

[11 Mar 2010 | No Comment | 5 views]

The growing interdependency of our systems is driving us from a simple environment towards a highly complex environment. This is leading to a strategy of choosing from many good solutions where no perfect solution is obtainable. Enterprise Architecture (and the other architecture practices) can help sort those good solutions and help make sure the choice you make is along the path to desired future state.

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Architecture and finding the path

SOA – Maturity is Key Presentation, EDUCAUSE Enteprise 2009

My presentation on SOA in the Enterprise – Maturity is Key has been posted in a couple of places.
First, on the EDUCAUSE site:
EDUCAUSE – Enterprise 2009 Site
and at Slideshare.net:
Soa Maturity is the Key
View more presentations from jimphelps.

Blue Sky to Ground part 1

I’ve been working with our CIO on the I.T. strategic planning initiative. At the same time, I’ve been working with the Technical Directors and Operational Directors on planning at the technology level. They have been creating a map of what technologies are used to support our services. I’ve had my head in the blue sky [...]

Work Posts:

Academia, Enterprise Architecture, Featured, Headline, JimPhelps, Work »

Architecture and finding the path
[11 Mar 2010 | No Comment | 5 views]

Academia, Enterprise Architecture, Featured, JimPhelps, Presentations, SOA, Work »

SOA – Maturity is Key Presentation, EDUCAUSE Enteprise 2009
[21 May 2009 | No Comment | 124 views]

Academia, Enterprise Architecture, Featured, JimPhelps, Work »

Blue Sky to Ground part 1
[23 Jan 2009 | No Comment | 162 views]

Headline, IT Architecture, JimPhelps, Work »

Uncommon Thinking…
[17 Dec 2008 | No Comment | 108 views]

I was chatting with a colleague about the new EDUCAUSE slogan, “Uncommon Thinking for the Common Good” when I realized that the saying encapsulates one way to think of my work as an I.T. Architect. “Uncommon Thinking for the Common Good” is what I try to foster in the teams that I work with. [...]

Featured, ITANA, JimPhelps, Work »

ITANA.org – bringing the catch home
[12 Nov 2008 | No Comment | 55 views]

I’ve been pondering, wondering and worrying about how to bring value out of ITANA.org to the world at large. I struck upon a metaphor over dinner with a friend at EDUCAUSE recently that brought my vision and the issues I’m pondering into sharp light for me at least.

I watched Captains Courageous, a wonderful 1937 [...]