SOA Panel CSG, May 2007

What is SOA? First step is getting multiple groups having a shared understanding of what is meant by “service”. It is a set of design principles. –Decomposes common functionality into discrete services that can be used by a variety of systems It is not a technology –It does not require WS-*, REST, or an ESB

Service Models Infrastructure Service Model (ISM) –Authentication –Authorization –Auditing –logging –Session management –Data persistence –transactions

Service Models (2) Business Process Management (BPM) –Models the services on the business functions instead of the underlying technology –Course –Purchase –Add / drop –Assessment

Service Model Maturity We don’t know if the transition from an ISM to BPM is a measure of maturity but nobody seems to skip directly to BPM

Reusability? “SOA is all about creating reusable services” “SOA is not about reusable code. It’s about creating something good enough to share with others.”

Agility Mashups Changing the nature of development Distributing the ability create systems useful to the enterprise Changing the nature of central IT

Technical Impediments to SOA Security –How do you secure services that interact with users beyond your control? Stability of interfaces –Do you have the ability to update all of the endpoints consuming your service without causing massive disruption? Design for failure –Invest in high availability ($$)

The real obstacles Designing for reusability takes additional time and money Placing that burden on a development team responsible for delivering a line of business application creates an unhealthy tension Changing the funding model –Incentives –budgeting

The Data Issue Do your systems have a common data model? How many schemas of person are used across all of the systems on campus? Doesn’t SOA imply that you need some governance regarding data?

Governance? “Success of SOA requires a governance model.” “Universities don’t like governance.” What is governance in the IT context?

IT Governance Communication Consistent behavior Understanding responsibilities Understanding commitments Conflict resolution