Resumen
This article presents a case study related to derivative business at the Bankers Trust Australia Ltd. (BTAL) embarked on the Arcadia project in 1994. The domain complexity of derivatives poses a fundamental problem in building such systems. Technology specialists lack the domain expertise to react rapidly to changes, while business users lack the technology skills to maintain the systems. Such a gap between technology specialists and business users referred to as the Business-Technology gap (B-T gap) results in excessive reliance of both groups on each other to institute changes rapidly. The goal of the Arcadia project was to build component-based end-user computing architecture to bridge the B-T gap. Pre-defined components allow business users to be self-reliant and to assemble their own applications on demand. These business components are reusable with well-defined interfaces. However, creating and using business components are nontrivial tasks. This case study highlights the impact of component technology on the B-T gap and reinforces the importance of shared knowledge and cultural issues in bridging the gap. There is, in fact, a two-way effect-the B-T gap affects business components and vice versa. This article takes a holistic view to discuss the successful implementation of a business component architecture at BTAL. One of the important objectives of component-based systems is to provide business users the ability to assemble their own applications. Certain key decisions from an organizational perspective that are critical to the success of this project, to reduce the B-T gap are development of a shared knowledge base, voluntary acceptance rather than mandatory usage, and leveraging business users' existing skills. The Arcadia project has been a continuous learning experience for BTAL. INSET: Lessons Learned.