Andersen publishes methodology on Web

In an effort to boost its outsourcing business, Andersen Consulting has published a blueprint for building enterprise level solutions on the Internet.

The top-six consultancy said it had published its Eagle Architecture Specification, which is based on object programming and component re-use concepts, so that the market could use and advance its knowledge with the aim of 'progressing the technology to enable everyone to build better systems'.

But Andersen admitted that the complexity involved in building object and component-based enterprise frameworks would probably result in companies approaching it for help in implementing the solutions laid out in the blueprint.

The company already uses its Eagle specification in outsourcing projects with customers such as Nationsbank and AllState Insurance.

Steve Burnett, service delivery director for outsourcing at Logica, said that while the Web was becoming an important medium for companies to describe how they worked, publishing a single methodology was not always appropriate.

Companies should know what they want their business to do, he said. 'Before a company adopts any particular IT framework for its enterprise, it must first decide which business processes it wants to have in order to gain a competitive advantage.'