The intended audience for this book is people with business knowledge as well as people with an information technology background. The book is not intended to be a technical reference; the San Francisco documentation provides the information you need to develop an application.

The book guides you through San Francisco in the following manner:

- Introduces the San Francisco approach to an application - Explains the San Francisco value proposition - Describes the layers of the San Francisco components and concepts - Introduces the design patterns used for implementing San Francisco - Discusses the utilities which are part of the San Francisco Base - Gives an overview of application development with San Francisco - Explains the methodology that is introduced by the San Francisco Roadmap - Points out the issues to consider when planning to move to San Francisco - Discusses the tools that are needed to develop with San Francisco San Francisco requires knowledge of object-oriented technology and Java programming. This book also assumes familiarity with these base concepts. The bibliography points you to reference works that can help you acquire the necessary skills in these areas.

As an executive or manager, you should read the following sections:

- Chapter 1, "Introduction to San Francisco" - Chapter 2, "San Francisco Architectural Approach" - Introduction to each of the subsequent chapters

As a domain expert or business analyst, you should read the following sections:

- Chapter 1, "Introduction to San Francisco" - Chapter 8, "San Francisco Application Development Methodology" - Chapter 5, "San Francisco Core Business Processes" - Introduction to each of the subsequent chapters