| DO |
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| Know Who to Trust When you build a mashup, you have to be able to rely on any services that are provided by a third party. For instance, if your application depends on Google Maps, make sure that service will be available 100% of the time. |
| Watch for Changes If you're using external information such as Dun & Bradstreet credit ratings or Google Earth to create mashups, keep tabs on those services. Those services can change, and you must keep up with any alterations or you might be stuck with a broken application. |
| Keep It Simple Don't reinvent the wheel. Instead of building Web services from scratch, first check and see if anyone else has created something you can use. Then focus on creating applications or components where your company can add value. |
| Reuse, Reduce, Recycle By breaking internal applications down into components, they can be reused in multiple mashups. If you can reuse software, you'll reduce development time and spend less money. |
| Think About Architecture If you want to use enterprise mashups, consider implementing a service-oriented architecture. In this framework, applications or resources on a network are made available as independent services, which then can be more easily combined or mashed up. |
| DON'T |
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| Lose Control If you're thinking about creating internal enterprise mashups, be sure to build management tools into your architecture from the beginning. It will help you keep tabs on security and control employee access to sensitive data. |
| Bet the Farm Start with small projects that aren't mission-critical. Enterprise mashups are in their infancy and it's still a bleeding-edge technology, which means there are plenty of unsolved issues relating to security and reliability. |
| Be Unrealistic Expecting a return on investment in six months is unrealistic, says consultant Dion Hinchcliffe. Instead, he says, the return on investment is more likely to be continuous but gradual. |
| Expect a Warm Welcome Some IT departments will resist mashups because it puts more control into the hands of business users. But new products on the market can help IT departments manage mashups and experts say eventually individual business units will create some of their own applications and ultimately take some of the burden away from IT departments. |