Service-Oriented Architecture Methods to Develop Networked Library Services SOA Symposium December 9, 2005 Richard Akerman NRC CISTI

Outline Enterprise Architecture and the Road to Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) SOA Methodologies SOA Applied: Services in Canada’s scientific infostructure (Csi)

Background National Research Council (NRC) Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) –Canada’s national science library and publisher Architecture Group within CISTI Technology & Research

Service-Oriented Architecture many definitions The OASIS Service-Oriented Architecture Reference Model “Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a paradigm for organizing and using distributed capabilities that may be under the control of different ownership domains.”OASIS Service-Oriented Architecture Reference Model I don’t know what that means either

Web Services This is a terrible name. They are not about the web They are not (necessarily) about services “Well-defined networkable functions?” Another way to slice them is “Vendor-Neutral Middleware” They have attributes that make them well-suited to SOA

Canada’s scientific infostructure Information Management Tools and Access Tools Collaboration Digital Content Technology Infrastructure

Fundamental Challenges What do you want to do? How do you do it successfully?

Goals and Requirements What is the problem we’re trying to solve?

Conceptual Integrity Fred Brooks, author of The Mythical Man-Month, has said that the core challenge in software development is how do you maintain the conceptual integrity of the project?

Goal Cool stuff!... that’s sustainable Successfully deliver on CISTI’s Strategic Objectives by 2010 – This requires identifying the right projects and completing them using the appropriate resources, including technology

Thinking about sustainability Value Maintainability –inevitable enhancements and changes Scalability Survivability –Security –Availability –Reliability ALL systems have a lifecycle

Thinking about efficiency Don’t build the same thing multiple times Find ways to deliver timely solutions to your requirements (i.e. don’t take so long to deliver that your requirements have changed) New systems should be able to build on the work that went into previous systems Avoid building “silos”

Enterprise Architecture Enterprise Architecture is a methodology for addressing these challenges

EA Concept – Infomajic Toolkit Business Framework IT Architecture Framework People Process Buy-In Metrics Projects Framework for Implementation Analysis, Design & Development Tightly link the architecture to the business Architecture outputs are integrated with each other and with other IT outputs – Base analysis & design on the architecture Develop an action plan to support implementation Use an approach that is disciplined (repeatable) and traceable back to the business by permission of Jane Carbone, Infomajic

Enterprise Architecture A process for successful technology planning. Aiming for the target state (also called the to-be state). Central place for big picture, communication and coordination.

Enterprise Architects Are like city planners –define basic standards, structures, transportation pathways

System Architecture IBM defines within a “project focus” the Design and Delivery of IT Solutions They describe this as “the building design”

Why do we need plans and standards? “If you’re going to do something, do it right the first time” (Holmes on Homes)Holmes on Homes

From EA to SOA “We’re on the road to Servicetopia...” Our EA method allowed us to identify business functions, as part of simple models. When we started modelling the business in this way, it got us thinking about the various services the business provides We decided to formally investigate... Service-Oriented Architecture

From Business to Design Elements of Service-Oriented Analysis and Design © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, All rights reserved.

... with SOA Added Elements of Service-Oriented Analysis and Design © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, All rights reserved.

Software Engineering... Evolving As we learn more about how to build systems, and how NOT to build systems, additional roles and methodologies are emerging Unlike physical engineering, software engineering lacks many physical world constraints SOA is one of the latest methodologies to try to define and constrain software engineering – an additional set of patterns Each new pattern is like a new tool in a toolkit

Approaching a definition for SOA The term SOA is used interchangeably for three distinct concepts: –the architectural concept, –the style of the resulting business solutions, –and the supporting infrastructure. from “Service-Oriented World” Cheat Sheet, by Brenda M. Michelson“Service-Oriented World” Cheat SheetBrenda M. Michelson

SOA Defined “In Service-Oriented Architecture autonomous, loosely- coupled and coarse-grained services with well-defined interfaces provide business functionality and can be discovered and accessed through a supportive infrastructure. This allows internal and external system integration as well as the flexible reuse of application logic through the composition of services…to support an end-to-end business process.” Malte Poppensieker, SOA Weblog, addition from ZDnet SOA blogSOA WeblogZDnet SOA blog

Loosely-Coupled information hiding separation of concerns

Coarse-Grained true SOA services provide a lot of functionality – they address an entire business need e.g. “Process Mortgage Application” is a service, “Get Mortgage Application Field #7” is not

Destroy the Silos! © 2000 Canada Science and Technology MuseumCanada Science and Technology Museum

Reuse The Holy Grail

Composition This is the idea that you can begin to build an orchestration (or choreography) layer above your services, in order to assemble them in interesting ways that may change over time

Consider Options –build –reuse –subscribe –outsource –buy –integrate –componentize –mediate / transform / adapt Challenges –Analysis Paralysis –Over-Standardization –Rigidity in Data Definition –Organizational Culture –Software Engineering skillset and methodology from IBM SOMA methodology and Service-Oriented Compass Service-Oriented Compass book

Frameworks and Working Groups JISC Information Environment – Service-Oriented viewService-Oriented view e-Framework for Education and Research Digital Library Federation (DLF) – Service Framework for Digital LibrariesService Framework for Digital Libraries [Library] Vendor Initiative for Enabling Web Services (VIEWS)Vendor Initiative for Enabling Web Services (VIEWS) Talis: ResourcesResources NISO MetaSearch Initiative EduSource Canada: Canadian Network of Learning Object RepositoriesEduSource Canada

Library Projects Using SOA Denmark US National Science Digital LibraryNational Science Digital Library US California Digital LibraryCalifornia Digital Library

ISBN DOI Bibli…dk Netres. AUBKKBKB Bibl…dkmusikDBSamletFAUST Webservice: Aggregator Webservice: Netmusik Webservice: Journals Webservice: Material match SOAP/XML Webservice: Recom- mender service Role: Customer Services OAI JSTORE SOAP/XML Role: Service provider Role: Data service Role: Data service / customer support Personalisation AAI Single Sign On /skole

Relevant information

Csi - Canada’s scientific infostructure

Csi – Goal Develop a Canada-wide infostructure (information + infrastructure) –that provides access to full-text digital content to Canadians regardless of their geographic location or affiliations –is achieved through the development of collaborations and partnerships with stakeholders in the library and information community

Portal Content Infrastructure Csi: Architecture Services Portal Application Csi

Csi – What It Is Trusted Digital Repository –National digital resource (built with partner and publisher content) –Meta-data and full-text digital content –Accessible to all Canadians

Csi – What It Is Flexible, adaptable architecture –Built using Industry Standard SOA methodology and tools. –Scalable horizontally & vertically to meet expanding requirements.

Csi – What It Is Focal point for technology innovation –Take valuable bi-lateral and provincial initiatives and coordinate/facilitate the expansion of these initiatives into a Canada-wide infostructure –Facilitate and contribute to the creation of fundamental infostructure services (e.g. alerting services)

Csi – What It’s Not –Not an application –Not a single packaged deliverable –Not a portal or GUI

Current Status Csi governance structure –Dedicated teams are in place to facilitate development of the Csi Initiative –Pilot projects are currently underway with partners

Current Status Technology –Multi-site infrastructures are being put in place to ensure maximum uptimes and availability –Journal repository is in place and is growing –CISTI repositories will be added to the Csi –CISTI has implemented an SOA Methodology to support Service growth for Csi

Full CISTI support for Csi –An integral part of CISTI’s long term strategic plan –Community based approach to build a Canada-wide research infostructure –Significant investment in Csi has been made by CISTI and the NRC and this investment is continuing. Csi Summary

SOA Methods to Develop... Be mindful of SOA during –Business requirements capture –Architecture –Design In particular, identify candidate services within your architecture –Most importantly, services that you want to expose externally – these will be a contract for your organization

More info / contact Bookmarks: (slightly obfuscated): Richard dot Akerman at NRC dot ca

Questions?