Service-Oriented Architecture Governance for the Services Driven Enterprise

1.15. PURSUE THE "RIGHT" SOA STRATEGY

A SOA strategy is critical to establishing the appropriate business and mission context for your SOA initiative. But what constitutes the "right" SOA strategy? While there are recurring themes in our clients' SOA goals and objectives, the exact SOA strategies pursued are very much customized to the specific requirements of a given organization. Agility. Faster time to market. Reduced software maintenance costs. Faster application development. Reduced application development costs. Reduced integration costs. Be easier to do business with. Software reuse. We believe the SOA strategy must be business aligned and mapped to urgent "fix-it-or-else" imperatives in your organization. The following statements summarize what makes an SOA strategy "right" for your organization.

• Business aligned—maps to business and IT imperatives, supports business or mission goals

• Focuses on clear business or mission needs—addresses desired business outcomes and has business sponsorship

• Targets appropriate SOA opportunities within a realistic time horizon using a SOA Opportunity Roadmap

• Leverages SOA where services add value, make sense, solve business problems or create new opportunities; SOA is not the solution for every challenge you face.

• Has a business case associated with it, but more importantly achieves clear business value

SOA GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS A well-conceived SOA strategy is essential so that SOA governance is aligned with, and leads to the successful ...