What is Enterprise Context

The application software life cycle considers the functionality of a given collection of components within the context of a consumer’s requirements definition. One set of requirements that are frequently overlooked are the requirements for application integration within the context of the enterprise environment. If an application creates vulnerabilities for other applications, is an administrative nightmare to maintain, or does not consider the security context required for execution; the application may not fulfill the intended requirements. This chapter addresses the question of the consideration of the enterprise information system’s administrative and execution context as a component of the application software development process. The potential impact these considerations have on the acceptance of an application by the application’s user community is presented, with illustrations of some representative problem areas for the reader’s consideration.