from abstractions of the application elements and mechanisms. These benefits can provide value to several different teams in the following ways: Value for business Business tasks can be simplified which can significantly increase user productivity. This is achieved through using common and consistent user interfaces that reduce the need for end-user training. Easy deployment of new and updated functionality and flexible user interfaces also allows end users to perform tasks in a way that follows the business workflow. Data quality improvements reduce the need for data exchange between application parts through the ALT+TAB and copy and paste techniques. Value for architects Software factories can be used by architects to design applications and systems with improved quality and consistency. This is achieved through the ability to create a partial implementation of a solution that includes only the most critical mechanisms and shared elements. Known as the baseline architecture, this type of implementation can address design and development challenges, expose architectural decisions and mitigate risks early in the development cycle. Software factories also enable the ability to create a consistent and predictable way of developing, packaging, deploying and updating business components to enforce architectural standards independent of business logic. Value for developers Developers can use software factories to increase productivity and incur less ramp-up time. This is achieved through creating a high-quality starting point (baseline) for applications which includes code and patterns. This enables projects to begin with a higher level of maturity than traditionally developed applications. Reusable assets, guidance and examples help address common scenarios and challenges and automation of common tasks allows developers to easily apply guidance in consistent ways. Software factories provide a layer of abstraction that hides application complexity and separates concerns, allowing developers to focus on different areas such as business logic, the user interface (UI) or application services without in-depth knowledge of the infrastructure or baseline services. Abstraction of common developer tasks and increased reusability of infrastructure code can help boost productivity and maintainability. Value for operations Applications built with software factories result in a consolidation of operational efforts. This provides easier deployment of common business elements and modules, resulting in consistent configuration management across a suite of applications. Applications can be centrally managed with pluggable architecture which allows operations teams to control basic services. Other approaches There are several approaches that represent contrasting views on software factory concepts, ranging from tool oriented to process oriented