From a technical viewpoint, a Dynamic Enterprise Management System (DEMS) basically encompasses an Integrated Composition and Execution Environment (ICEE) and a Composition Registry and Repository (CRR). The CRR contains reusable and composable assets, and thus effectively represents an enterprise asset management registry and repository.

In contrast, from a business-oriented perspective, DEMS capabilities and the user experience are the most important factors, while software architecture is considered less critical. Thus, we deliberately take the side of the business and focus on software products that we consider fit to evolve into full-blown DEMS. That said, we consider DEMS an emerging product category with currently no software products claiming to actually qualify as DEMS.

From the business-oriented viewpoint, we define a minimum profile that candidate DEMS products are expected to conform to:

• The ICEE is composition-driven, model-driven and metadata-driven.

• The ICEE supports Dynamic BPM (Case Management), but also more structured business processes. Models are executable by some kind of execution engine without requiring intermediary steps.

• Business analysts can do the modeling work. IT experts are only needed for developing "glue code".

At this time, existing candidate products are labeled very differently, such as "Web-based BPM Platform", "Business Process Platform", or "Self-adaptive Enterprise Software", enabling business users to create "dynamic BPM applications", "adaptive case flow", or whatever labeling software vendors deem appropriate or suitable.

Clearly, BPM would be too narrow a focus. The BPM life cycle represents only one of the many life cycles involved in enterprise life cycle management. For example, the business ecosystem, business visions, business goals, and business objectives have life cycles, and there are governance, risk and compliance life cycles.

Conceding that true DEMS is not available at this time, the product evaluation starts out with software products that we consider to have the potential to evolve towards the ultimate goal: Dynamic Enterprise Management Software mastered by business persons.