Kerrie L. Holley

SOMA: a method for developing service-oriented solutions

Service-oriented modeling and architecture (SOMA) has been used to conduct projects of varying scope in multiple industries worldwide for the past five years. We report on the usage and structure of the method used to effectively analyze, design, implement, and deploy service-oriented architecture (SOA) projects as part of a fractal model of software development. We also assert that the construct of a service and service modeling, although introduced by SOA, is a software engineering best practice for which an SOA method aids both SOA usage and adoption. In this paper we present the latest updates to this method and share some of the lessons learned. The SOMA method incorporates the key aspects of overall SOA solution design and delivery and is integrated with existing software development methods through a set of placeholders for key activity areas, forming what we call solution templates. We also present a fractal model of software development that can enable the SOMA method to evolve in an approach that goes beyond the iterative and incremental and instead leverages method components and patterns in a recursive, self-similar manner opportunistically at points of variability in the life cycle.

Increasing business flexibility and SOA adoption through effective SOA governance

Most organizations understand the need to address service-oriented architecture (SOA) governance during SOA adoption. An abundance of information is available defining SOA governance: what it is and what it is not, why it is important, and why organizational change must be addressed. Increasingly business and information technology (IT) stakeholders, executive and technical, acknowledge that SOA governance is essential for realizing the benefits of SOA adoption: building more-flexible IT architectures, improving the fusion between business and IT models, and making business processes more flexible and reusable. However, what is not clear is how an organization gets started. What works and what does not work? More importantly, what is required in SOA governance for organizations to see sustained and realized benefits? This paper describes a framework, the SOA governance model, that can be used to scope and identify what is required for effective SOA governance. Based on client experiences, we describe four approaches to getting started with SOA governance, and we describe how to use these four approaches to make shared services (services used by two or more consumers), reuse, and flexibility a reality. We also discuss lessons learned in using these four approaches.

The Service Integration Maturity Model: Achieving Flexibility in the Transformation to SOA

Business flexibility requires IT flexibility. IT flexibility can not occur if the old ways continue to be followed. Transformation to SOA is the way forward. SIMM has proven to be an effective means to achieve that transformation to SOA through a successive set of adoption of states of maturity that is relevant to the enterprise