PISA Methodology

The PISA methodology consists of three major phases (see Figure 1):

• IT Planning Phase (handled by PlanIT): develop a solution sketch at enterprise level, with rough estimates and separation of issues. This sketch is refined in the next phase.
• Architecture and Integration Phase (handled by AIM): concentrate on more detailed issues of how specific components of the plan will fit together to form a service oriented architecture (SOA). AIM guides the user through these difficult but crucial issues.
• Security and Administration Phase (handled by SAM):provides security and administrative services (e.g., project planning) to the entire PISA system.

All phases are essential, albeit with different emphasis. For example, if a business wanted to offer new services for a new business unit, then PlanIT would be used to identify the applications, platforms and networks needed to support these services, and SAM would be used to secure the needed IT assets and to develop a project plan. AIM would be used to determine how the new services will integrate with the existing ones.

PISA consists of a family of automated consultants (Advisors) that are organized in three modules: PlanIT, AIM and SAM. Figure 2 shows the various advisors and illustrates how they work together to develop an overall IT plan that can be refined into a detailed integration plan based on SOA. Each advisor automates a specific stage of the methodology (application advisor automates application planning, network advisor automates network planning, etc.). Specifically:

• The first phase, handled by PlanIT, develops a high level IT plan through several activities: enterprise modeling that captures the needed enterprise information; application planning needed to automate the business processes; computing platform planning to support the applications; and network planning to interconnect these platforms with each other and the end-users.
• SAM supports security planning to secure the assets identified by PlanIT and project planning to develop a project plan that identifies the tasks, work breakdown structures, Gant charts and staffing estimates.
• AIM concentrates on developing a detailed integrated architecture based on SOA (Service Oriented Architecture). AIM starts with the traditional business process and requirements analysis stages and then concentrates on developing an integrated architecture based on SOA. The user is then guided through evaluation and selection of a solution that can be implemented based on performance, security, and cost tradeoffs.

Who Should Use PISA and Why?
PISA is primarily intended for IT managers, systems architects, IT consultants, IT planners and IT professionals who are responsible for IT planning, integration, security and administration projects. PISA can also be used by IT teachers, researchers and students as a learning and research tool.

PISA is for anyone who needs to create solutions for the following scenarios:

• IT planning for a new site (PlanIT)
• Document an existing IT system (PlanIT)
• Develop a security plan for an IT system (SAM)
• Determine how a new application will integrate with existing applications (AIM)
• Transition from existing applications to future applications (PlanIT, SAM, AIM)
• Develop an SOA for a new business partner (AIM)

In fact, PISA can be used to develop, secure and evaluate IT plans and integrated architectures for a wide range of real-life business situations. The following table illustrates a few business situations in terms of the following two broad factors:

• Business services (new or existing)
• Organizational units (new or existing)

As illustrated in this table, the PISA capabilities can be used in a wide range of practical situations that cover new or existing services for new or existing organizational units. Additional and innovative examples are envisioned as more experience with PISA accumulates.

	Organizational Units (New)	Organizational Units (Existing)
Business Services (New)	S1: New services(s) for a new site Examples: Setting up a new company (this means that new IT infrastructure is needed consisting of applications, networks, platforms, etc) Setting up a new site or division of an existing company (e.g., setting up a new sales office overseas) Setting up a SOHO (small office, home office) How to Use PISA: Use Planit and SAM to develop an IT plan that shows the applications, networks, etc. If needed, use AIM to understand how the new site will work with existing ones	S2: New services(s) for an existing site Examples Offering a new business service (e.g., consulting, hardware repair) at an existing site Data exchange between companies (B2B) B2B trade (e.g, Supply Chain, emarkets) between partners How to Use PISA: Use Planit and SAM to develop an IT plan that concentrates on business processes that are influenced by the new services. Use AIM to understand how the new services, especially applications, will work with existing
Existing Business Services	S3: Existing automated services(s) for a new site Examples: Outsourcing an existing application to a new company Providing existing applications (e.g., CRM) at a new branch office Supporting existing (updated) network services at a new site Providing existing platform services (e.g., install servers) at a new site Offering existing security services (e.g., firewalls, vulnerability analysis) at a new site How to Use PISA: Use Planit and SAM to develop an IT plan for the new site by just concentrating on those services that are needed at the new site. AIM is not needed (could be used to understand outsourcing issues)	S4: Existing automated services(s) for an existing site Examples: Migrating from existing system to an SOA-compliant architecture. Integrating an application with several internal and external applications Eliminating a BP and estimating the impact Automating a manual BP Documenting a current configuration. Validating an existing platform, network and security plan How to Use PISA: Use Planit and SAM to document the IT plan for the existing site by just concentrating on those services that are being impacted. Use AIM to understand how the updated/impacted applications will work with existing ones