Whether your system boundaries are blurred or you've tangled your use cases in user-interface screens, you'll soon find that the first time you model it's easy to fall into some fairly predictable problem areas. Luckily for you, it's also easy enough to avoid them.

Web site with lots of information (and links to other sites) about software configuration management (SCM).

Site has extensive and very useful information about data warehousing concepts, development, and testing.

Over the years, I have found that a matrix depiction of the data warehouse plan is a pretty good planning tool once you have gathered the business requirements and performed a full data audit. This matrix approach has been exceptionally effective for distributed data warehouses without a center. Most of the new Web-oriented, multiple organization warehouses we are trying to build these days have no center, so it is even more urgent that we find a way to plan these beasts.

Data warehouses are threatening to become the most overrated hype in the history of the computer industry. Not since the failed promises of the CASE tools of the 80's have we seen so many products and so many experts leap into a field with so few skills, so little training and so little expertise.

In my last column, I mentioned the two key elements needed to succeed in electronic business: tight data integration and merging traditional and online customer service organizations... But there is a third area, software quality, that also should have a place high on your priority list.

How is it that a group of talented, highly motivated, hard working software engineers consistently produce low-quality software, late? It is the author's view that schedule management and quality management go hand in hand. This paper discusses the notion that schedules are probability distributions, and presents several, practical quality and schedule management techniques.

Quality is a word that gets a lot of attention. Everyone wants it in their work. Al Reis, in his 1996 book Focus, stated that a survey showed that "80 percent of U.S. managers thought that quality would be a fundamental source of competitive advantage in the year 2000."

It's easy to make mistakes when testing software or planning a testing effort. Some mistakes are made so often, so repeatedly, by so many different people, that they deserve the label Classic Mistake.

Although specifically focused on testing web-based applications, this article has some good principles related to testing any application which frequently changes/evolves.

Practical perspective on why it's not possible to "completely" test an application. Not necessarily directly useful, but it points out some interesting concepts for consideration when preparing test cases and deciding how to go about testing something as thoroughly as possible with limited resources.

Corporate it executives today face ever-increasing demands to show a return on information technology. In cost-benefit analysis, however, the cost of quality is seldom considered. But this is changing as the cost of quality (CoQ) principles applied routinely and effectively in manufacturing emerge as important factors in the application value equation.

Microsoft has a database of the various versions of the common/shared DLLs that are shipped with their products. The database is searchable by DLL file name or product and it provides a list of the products which distributed a particular version. This may be a useful resource for resolving those frequent DLL conflicts (a.k.a, "DLL Hell").

TO BE EFFECTIVE, IT professionals have to communicate technical information to people who aren't as immersed in technology as they are. Much of this communication is written, in the form of e-mail messages or memos.

Non-profit web site with information about ethics in business and technology industries. Has bi-monthly newsletter online with editorials and articles about ethical issues. Topics mesh very well with Williams' Core Values and Beliefs.

FOR IT PROFESSIONALS at all levels, communicating effectively via e-mail can be a challenge. Some messages go to other technical staff members; others go to non-technical users. And it is all too easy to fire off an e-mail message in anger or to convey the wrong impression based on the words you use or omit.

Article by Peter Drucker from the Atlantic Monthly.

The Industrial Revolution altered our mental maps, gave rise to industries that could not have been predicted, and created a new class of technological workers whom wise societies took pains to nurture. Are we about to go through this process again? A renowned social analyst and management philosopher looks to history for insights.

The success of next-generation networks depends on their ability to deliver new enhanced services. Chief among these is voice that is carried on IP data networks. IP is simply more economical and flexible than delivering these services over the current PSTN.

Very useful utility for doing screen captures. Allows you the save your screen capture in a variety of formats (GIF, JPG, BMP, etc.), to change the color depth (to minimize file size when e-mailing a screen capture), print the capture directly to the printer, or save just a portion of the capture.

Excellent replacement for Notepad with great features such as minimizing to the system tray so it's easily accessible, tabbed interface to allow more than one file at a time to be edited, selectable screen and printer font, printing header information, such as file name, and it's all in one simple executable file with no install program!

A fully configurable replacement for the system tray clock in Windows 9x/NT. It allows you to change the time display format (including seconds!), font, background, and even display the time and date. It even has CPU and memory load graphs, ability to copy the current date and time to the clipboard, and a popup monthly calendar.

Super replacement for Windows 9x/NT registry editor (RegEdit). Some great features include cut, copy, and paste just like Explorer, background search and replace, and bookmarking for frequently visited keys/values.

Nice virtual desktop utility with capability to define as many desktops as you want and to move windows easily from one desktop to another. The taskbar still shows all open windows regardless of desktop. The desktop manager autohides so that it's easily accessible, but not in the way of your work.