Mike The Architect

Enable Cloud Strategy and Planning with Predictable Methods, Models, and Tools

We previously looked at why cloud is so important (Challenge the Status Quo and Advance Business through Cloud Computing, ), approaches to cloud strategy (Understanding Which Investments Should go to the Cloud, Cloud Strategy Begins with Value and Balances Risk ) and who the best people (Why Enterprise Architects Must Drive Cloud Strategy and Planning) are to execute. Today we’ll examine the methods, models, and tools that the enterprise architect should use for effective cloud strategy and planning.

Methodologies
As far as methodologies go, it’s usually better not to reinvent the wheel. There are already proven general frameworks EAs can use, so try to leverage what is already out there whenever possible. When using an existing general-purpose framework like TOGAF, apply cloud specifics to it.

Using a framework like TOGAF can ensure that you are not missing the critical steps, questions and outcomes that every good architecture should have. This will also ensure that all the other architecture work and this work is consistent and predictable with the outcomes it produces. Below are a list of a few benefits for leveraging TOGAF as your methodology for Cloud Strategy and Planning:

• Broad Community – If a custom framework is built, very few people have expertise and experience. TOGAF has an extremely broad EA acceptance, adoption and certification.
• Deliverables and Artifacts – TOGAF comes with a wealth of “out of the box” templates that can be leveraged to architect.
• Linkages to SOA and Cloud IP – The Open Group which manages TOGAF, has other forums  and working groups that builds content for specific architecture areas and domains such as SOA, Cloud, Business Architecture and Security Architecture to name a few.
• Associated Cloud Standards Bodies – The Open Group has done a great job of uniting multiple specialized and deep cloud standards bodies with the TOGAF standard to bring together the best of both worlds. The general purpose framework applied. These partners include NIST, Cloud Security Alliance and more. All this work has come together in The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group.

Below is a visual on how Cloud Strategy and Planning extends TOGAF within this framework:

Another great visual is from Serge Thorn where he shows this from a native TOGAF view:

Check out his blog post, “Cloud Computing Requires Enterprise Architecture and TOGAF”

Is TOGAF the only methodology you use? No. Just like any other architecture work there are many different facets other than just architecture such as: Risk Management, Information Security, Project / Program Management, Software Development and Operations. There are methodologies and frameworks for each specialized area that complement your architecture work.

Some things to remember when adopting methodologies:

• Strategy Methods are Universal – The same macro/basic steps are the same and can be applied to most anything. Just like with anything you will have to tailor slightly to your needs. DO NOT REINVENT PROVEN MODELS.
• Make General Purpose Methods Specific – These were meant to be applied to a specific problem set. Cloud is no different.
• Use Extensions - Cloud tools and techniques such as CSA, NIST, and Open Group-specific resources can be very useful in giving general-purpose frameworks meaning.

 

When we apply these aspects to a cloud methodology you get The Cloud Strategy and Planning (CSP) Framework. It is comprised of three simplified phases and seven activities.

 

CSP embraces and extends proven practices in the industry and the industry resources from the following distinguished bodies:

• The Open Group (TOGAF)
• Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)
• NIST Cloud Computing Working Groups
• Sherwood Applied Business Security Architecture (SABSA)
• Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)

 

Activity Descriptions

Below is a high-level overview of the activities with the description of what occurs in each. The detailed steps are not shown below.

Strategy Rationalization

1	Establish Scope, and Approach	Conduct the Cloud Envisioning Workshop Provide overview of cloud computing Define the enterprise business model for cloud computing Establish project charter
2	Understand Strategic Vision	Gather the IT and business strategic objectives Identify strategic cloud computing patterns and technologies Analyze customer feasibility and readiness State strategic vision for cloud computing
3	Identify and Prioritize Capabilities	Define evaluation criteria for key IT & business value drivers Evaluate the capabilities based on these metrics Identify ~5 high-priority capabilities for deeper analysis

 

Cloud Valuation

4	Profile Capabilities	Determine current state of capability maturity leveraging IO Maturity Tools Execute Risk Analysis Method with corresponding assessments and remediation steps. Profile the capability asset portfolios of information, technology, and processes and analyze by architectural fit, risk and readiness
5	Recommend Deployment Patterns	Research capability proven practices and market direction Define target cloud capability requirements Determine optimal cloud service and deployment patterns for the capabilities based on fit, value, and risk

 

 

Business Transformation Planning

6	Define and Prioritize Opportunities	Completely define opportunities to include  an overview, benefits, risks, assessment results, technology impacts, and project plan Prioritize opportunities for detailed architecture and execution
7	Understand Strategic Vision	Assess implementation risks and dependencies Develop and deliver a business transformation roadmap Validate with the customer and edit accordingly

 

Models

With respect to models, there are many out there readily available. Since we are starting with  business value we want to make sure we continue to do so and ensure there is a bridge from strategy to implementation.

Given the top down nature you will want to pull from models  that lend to our approach. When selecting models, take a step back and ensure you fully understand the scope of what you want to accomplish then select the most appropriate models from the many sources at your disposal such as: analysts, standards bodies, industry bodies or internal reference models.

For example, CSP integrates SABSA to ensure that CSP has a classification scheme to capture business requirements along with the identification, classification and management of risk. The SABSA method focuses on the area of security while CSP extends this for cloud computing. CSP incorporates a similar structure to SABSA and utilized the SABSA matrix as a stellar example of using question-based analysis in IT decision-making. By using the business requirements as the “red thread” through the analysis, SABSA and CSP are both able to ensure that the business objectives are being met. In the case of CSP, the business should be the driving force behind the cloud transformation.

A common issue I see when selecting models are that a model is selected either based on preference or it is good enough. Don’t do that. Make sure you have a fit for purpose model. If you don’t you may not get an accurate output.

 

Below are a good set of models that can be used when rationalizing strategy:

• Strategy maps
• Business canvas
• Hosen strategy
• Net Present Value (NPV)
• Business Scenarios
• SWOT
• Porters Five Forces Analysis
• Motivation Model

Tools

 Now let’s talk about the tools. These will allow us to automate the method along with helping align, measure, quantify and qualify our work.

The tools below will help

• Charter – Template to authorize the project and define scope, stakeholders and timeline
• Enterprise Capability Assessment – Enterprise level 1 capability analysis to segment a customer’s portfolio for the discovery of cloud opportunities.
• Business Heat Map – Graphical view of an organization based on business capabilities and cloud attributes like risk, value, fit and readiness
• Capability Prioritization – Further refinement of each business capability with respect to cloud risk, fit and readiness
• Capability Profiling – Rollup dashboard of a given capability to determine the level of value and risk it provides in the context of cloud.
• Cloud Pattern Valuation – Robust metric driven analysis tool used to determine which cloud service and deployment models should be used for a solution.
• Cloud Pattern Matching – Graphical tool to connect service and deployment models with business or technical capabilities.
• Portfolio Analysis – A tool to plot cloud opportunities to a grid based on Business Priority, Value, Risk and Effort to aid in the roadmapping.
• Cloud Opportunity Dashboard  – A dashboard that provides a complete rollup of the Cloud Valuation assessments into one sheet to support decision making.
• Cloud Taxonomy –This taxonomy provides a way of rationalizing cloud specific cloud implementation decisions.
• Cloud Risk Framework – A risk reference model that identifies the key aspects of cloud risk to be assessed.
• Cloud Risk Method – Process for applying a risk classification to a potential cloud solution.
• CSP Project Planning – Examples of a defined project engagement, with timelines, milestones, activities and deliverables.

A good example of a tool leveraged in CSP is The Capability Planning Tool. It analyses Business and IT capabilities under seven areas that fall under four assessment drivers: architectural fit, value, risk, and readiness:

• Architectural Fit: Adoption and Complexity
• Value: Cost and Strategic Alignment
• Risk: Significance and Regulations, Standards, and Policies
• Readiness: Organizational Readiness and Technical Readiness

For all capabilities, the EA will ask the customer for the enterprise’s score in each topic area. For example, for the business capability, Claims Management, the EA will ask for the capability’s level of adoption based on the following criteria: 5-Enterprise-Proven, 4-Tested, 3-Industry-Proven, 2-Emerging, and 1-Not Available.

This assessment is intended to capture a range from 1 to 5 for each topic area under these assessment drivers. The end result is a rolled-up dashboard with the scores of architectural fit, value, risk, readiness, and an overall score for each capability. The final results presented in the dashboard will allow the EA to determine the high-priority capabilities with the customer.

Conclusion

The Cloud Strategy & Planning (CSP) guidance helps establish a common context for cloud computing among all business and IT stakeholders. Furthermore, it allows companies to define an actionable cloud opportunity plan for qualified & validated cloud opportunities to be architected for a specific service and deployment model.

The CSP guidance has 3 phases and 7 activities which give an overall structure to the approach. These allow the client to assess and identify the current maturity level of their competences, to find out which of these are best suited for cloud migration, and to evaluate and better understand the opportunities for cloud solutions in the organization. This assessment will ultimately lead to a business transformation roadmap that is aligned with the enterprise’s technology and business objectives. 

A few key points:

• Focus on Maximizing Business Value – Leverage a business top down process of analysis and refinement, describing business capabilities to matched cloud technologies is essential
• Capability Driven – Respect both the business and IT dimensions of an organization
• Balance Value and Risk  - Identify cloud opportunities while also rationalizing the potential challenges
• Leverage Industry Best Practices – Amplify value of proven methods, models and tools to reduce risk of a poorly planned and executed strategy.

Related articles

Technology Architecture Questions for Vendors

Challenge the Status Quo and Advance Business through Cloud Computing

TOGAF Templates

The Open Group SOA Governance Framework Becomes an International Standard

The Open Group has moved the technology industry forward yet again with its second international standard on SOA.The Open Group SOA Governance Framework is now an International Standard, having passed its six month ratification vote in ISO and IEC.

This will be the second since January 2012 when the Open Services Integration Maturity Model (OSIMM). The Open Group has certainly have been getting a great deal of momentum on it's SOA OSIMM as it is being considered for adoption as a national standard in countries such as China and Korea. While this framework has been around for awhile it is great to see the broad acceptance internationally.

SOA governance is critical to all SOA implementations. Just like with building a road, laying the asphalt is just the beginning. That road will need  governing aspects such as the law and maintenance plans. The same with SOA implementations, deploying an ESB with some web services is relatively easy but making sure that those services are adopted and sustainable, that is tricky.  Having a standard way of addressing SOA governance is not only an accelerant to companies but also allows them to:

• Leverage a universally accepted and trusted framework
• Exposure to an evolving framework that is leveraged by many companies that contribute to the Open Group with best practices,  guidance and standards
• Eventually tap into a network of SOA practitioners that understand the standard without training
• Potential for certifications to validate competencies and skills

The Open Group SOA Governance Framework includes a standard governance reference model and a mechanism for enterprises to customize and implement the compliance, dispensation and communication processes that are appropriate for them. Long term vitality is an essential part of the framework, and it gives guidance on evolving these processes over time in the light of changing business and technical circumstances, ensuring the on-going alignment of business and IT.

What I really like about this model is that SOA Governance is viewed as the application of Corporate Governance, IT Governance and EA Governance to Service Oriented Architecture. This shows that SOA Governance extends IT and EA Governance ensuring that the benefits that SOA extols are met. This requires governing not only the execution aspects of SOA but also the strategic planning activities.

Take a look at the new standard, it is certainly worth the read!

Resources

• The Open Group SOA Governance Framework Source Book on The Open Group Website
• The Open Group SOA Work Group
• The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group
• IBM’s library, which offers papers and services to help with developing a SOA Governance Regimen: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/gov
• Gartner – SOA Governance remains crucial – http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/news/1261208/Gartner-SOA-governance-remains-crucial
• Gartner – SOA Governance – http://www.zdnet.com/blog/service-oriented/soa-governance-siloed-thinking-top-of-mind-at-latest-gartner-confab/6254

Open Group Publishes its First Cloud and International SOA Standards

Today, The Open Group announced three new industry standards to enable businesses to effectively integrate elements of SOA and Cloud Computing into a solution or enterprise architecture. The new standards are:

• SOA Reference Architecture
• Service-Oriented Cloud Computing Infrastructure Framework
• Open Group Service Integration Maturity Model

 

SOA Reference Architecture

Provides a blueprint for creating and evaluating SOA solutions. With the release of the SOA RA Standard, enterprise architects now have a common language and approach for creating SOA solutions that meet different organizational needs, and bridge the gap between business and IT.

 

This specification presents an SOA RA, which provides guidelines and options for making architectural, design, and implementation decisions in the implementation of solutions. The goal of this SOA RA is to provide a blueprint for creating or evaluating architecture.

Additionally, it provides insights, patterns, and the building blocks for integrating fundamental elements of an SOA into a solution or enterprise architecture.

Informally, the aim of the SOA RA is to answer some of the key questions and issues encountered by architects, including but not restricted to common questions such as:

• What are the aspects, building blocks, and layers of an SOA that I need to consider in designing solutions, establishing enterprise architecture guidelines, or assessing an architecture based on service-oriented principles?
• What are the building blocks I need to include in each layer of my solution or standardize as part of a enterprise architecture?
• What are some of the key architectural decisions I need to make when designing a solution, or assessing an architecture that is based on service-oriented principles?
• How do I increase my chances of gaining benefit from using SOA by taking into account key layers and building blocks with which I may initially be unfamiliar as our company makes it journey through higher levels of maturity? One of the ways in which we can establish a baseline and move to higher levels of maturity is to use The Open Group Service Integration Maturity Model (OSIMM) [21].
• Which roles in a project would benefit from using these principles and guidelines?

The SOA RA is used as a blueprint and includes templates and guidelines for enterprise and solution architects as well as software engineering roles within the software development life-cycle. These facilitate and ultimately enable automation and streamlining the process of modeling and documenting the architectural layers, the capabilities and the Architecture Building Blocks (ABB) within them, options for layers and ABBs, mapping of products to the ABBs, and architectural and design decisions that contribute to the creation of an SOA. It is intended to support organizations adopting SOA, product vendors building SOA infrastructure components, integrators engaged in the building of SOA solutions, and standards bodies engaged in the specifications for SOA.

More: http://www.opengroup.org/soa/source-book/soa_refarch/intro.htm

 

Service-Oriented Cloud Computing Infrastructure (SOCCI) Framework

Is the first Cloud standard from The Open Group, which outlines the concepts and architectural building blocks necessary for infrastructures to support SOA and Cloud initiatives.

Service-Oriented Cloud Computing Infrastructure (SOCCI) is the realization of this framework for the cloud. This document details the SOCCI elements, the synergies realized through the cohesive application of SOA and cloud-based principles, and the SOCCI Management Building Blocks. It expands upon the relationships between service-orientation and its application to various infrastructure components. Finally, the concepts outlined are explained in the context of a business scenario – Motor Cars in the Cloud.

Participants have specific requirements from the cloud computing infrastructure. We will be elaborating on these requirements. The relationship of the base roles (Consumer, Provider, and Developer) and composite role (Integrator) are described above.

More: http://www.opengroup.org/soa/source-book/socci/intro.htm

 

Open Group Service Integration Maturity Model

Delivers a common maturity model, which has now been ratified as an ISO and IEC International standard, for advancing the continuing adoption of SOA and Cloud Computing within and across businesses.

The Open Group SOA Integration Maturity Model (OSIMM) provides consultants and IT practitioners with a means to assess an organization’s Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) maturity level. It defines a process to create a roadmap for incremental adoption which maximizes business benefits at each stage along the way. The model consists of seven levels of maturity and seven dimensions of consideration that represent significant views of business and IT capabilities where the application of SOA principles is essential for the deployment of services. The OSIMM acts as a quantitative model to aid in assessment of current state and desired future state of SOA maturity.

 

More: http://www.opengroup.org/soa/source-book/osimmv2/intro.htm

 

More information

• Press Release - www3.opengroup.org/news/press/open-group-publishes-new-standards-soa-and-cloud
• SOA Reference Architecture PDF - https://www2.opengroup.org/ogsys/jsp/publications/PublicationDetails.jsp?publicationid=12490
• Service-Oriented Cloud Computing Infrastructure (SOCCI) Framework (SOCCI) PDF - https://www2.opengroup.org/ogsys/jsp/publications/PublicationDetails.jsp?publicationid=12510
• OSIMM V2 PDF - https://www2.opengroup.org/ogsys/jsp/publications/PublicationDetails.jsp?publicationid=12450

 

Technorati Tags: Enterprise Architecture,Solution Architecture,SOA,Cloud,Reference Architecture,Patterns,Open Group

Architecture Journal – Service Orientation Today and Tomorrow

A good friend of mine Diego Dagum just published the latest Architecture Journal some time back. I am just now getting to reading it. It's a great issue and would recommend taking a look. Great work to all the authors!

To download the full pdf go to the http://www.architecturejournal.net or you can get updates on the Architecture Blog (RSS) at Microsoft 

Contents

Design Considerations for Software plus Services and Cloud Computing By Jason Hogg et al.  Design patterns for cloud-computing applications.

Model-Driven SOA with “Oslo” By César de la Torre Llorente  A shortcut from models to executable code through the next wave of Microsoft modeling technology.

An Enterprise Architecture Strategy for SOA By Hatay Tuna.  Key concepts, principals, and methods that architects can practically put to work immediately to help their organizations overcome these challenges and lead them through their SOA- implementation journey for better outcomes.

Enabling Business Capabilities with SOA By Chris Madrid and Blair Shaw  Methods and technologies to enable an SOA infrastructure to realize business capabilities, gaining increased visibility across the IT landscape.

Service Registry: A Key Piece for Enhancing Reuse in SOA By Juan Pablo García-González, Veronica Gacitúa-Décar, and Claus Pahl  A strategy for publishing and providing facilities to access services information.

How the Cloud Stretches the SOA Scope By Lakshmanan G and Manish Pande.  An emerging breed of distributed applications both on-premises and in the Cloud.

Event-Driven Architecture: SOA Through the Looking Glass By Udi Dahan.  Looking back on the inherent publish/subscribe nature of the business and how this solves thorny issues such as high availability and fault tolerance.

Is SOA Being Pushed Beyond Its Limits? By Grace Lewis.  Challenges for future service-oriented systems.  This Article is copyrighted by Carnegie Mellon University and is subject to the Software Engineering Institute’s Terms of Use found at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/.

Open Group SOA Governance Framework

The Open Group SOA Governance Framework provides context and definitions to enable organizations to understand and deploy SOA Governance. It describes SOA Governance; defines an SOA Governance Reference Model (the SGRM) and its constituent parts; and defines the SOA Governance Vitality Method (SGVM), which assists an organization in customizing the SGRM to realize its customized SOA Governance regimen.

 

This generic reference model for SOA governance is provided as a standard, to be used by companies to create (and constantly monitor and update) their own specific governance model and best practices. The SOA governance framework may be used in the context of another governance framework, such as COBIT or ITIL; the SOA working group did a mapping of COBIT to this framework as part of the framework development process, and plan to do more in the future in order to help organizations preserve their investment in COBIT/ITIL training and implementation.

The SOA Governance Framework will be available here for free download:

http://www.opengroup.org/bookstore/catalog/c093.htm

 

Technorati Tags: SOA,Goverance,Frameworks,Enterprise Architecture,Open Group

SOA Maturity Models

Over the past week another SOA maturity model emerges. The Open Group SOA Working group released a new maturity matrix (OSIMM) for the identification of where your IT organization is on the SOA continuum.

OSIMM is positioned to be a strategic planning tool that is used to assess where you are along the SOA continuum relative to a standard, vendor-neutral maturity model, and help create a roadmap for how to move on to the higher levels of maturity. At the heart of it is the OSIMM matrix, with maturity levels as columns progressing from left to right, and the different organizational dimensions being measured as rows: business view, governance and organization, methods, applications, architecture, information, and infrastructure and management.

Within each cell of the matrix there are indicators for that dimension and maturity level: for example, if you’re using object oriented modeling methods, that indicates that your methods are at level 2, whereas using service oriented modeling would move you up to level 4 or 5 in the methods dimension. Behind this matrix, OSIMM includes a full set of maturity indicators and attributes, plus assessment questions that organizations can use to determine where they are in terms of maturity: each dimension can be (and likely will be) at a different level of maturity.

While it is stated that the OSIMM is vendor neutral, keep in mind that this was created largely from Service Integrators (SI) and vendors. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as there isn’t a conflict of interest to push/lock us into unnecessary services engagements. 

The OSIMM Technical Standard at no cost and all the materials are located:

http://www.opengroup.org/bookstore/catalog/c092.htm

 

Other Maturity Models

OSIMM isn’t the only game in town when it comes to maturity models. Below are some others used in the industry. As you will notice, these are all provided by SI’s or vendors. While there is good concepts and ideas in these they are not compiled in an open industry forum. This is a large disadvantage to customers as it hasn’t be vetted openly.

• Oracle Maturity Model
• Infosys Maturity Model

• Microsoft Maturity Model (SOAMM)

• IBM SOA Maturity Model (SIMM)

• Sonic and partners SOA Maturity Model

• The Open Source SOA Roadmap

• ZapThink's SOA Maturity Model / Roadmap

 

Technorati Tags: SOA,OSIMM,Maturity Models,Enterprise Architecture

Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference 2009

The annual Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference 2009 continues again this year with some really exciting features for three days dedicated to customer needs. The conference is the event for customers to receive detailed guidance on Service Oriented Architecture and Business Process Management. SOA & BPM span the enterprise, from developers building new services; to architects recommending IT standards; to business analysts designing processes; to business owners using IT to compete effectively and move their business forward.  The conference is designed to cover the relevant areas of concern to you.  

Online Registration

http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=628664

Registration for the conference is $899.  Register by 12/1 to receive a discounted rate of $599.

Conference Highlights

• Keynotes delivered by Microsoft Executives
• Breakout and Chalk Talk Sessions, Case-Studies & Roundtables from partners and SOA customers
• Networking Reception on Tuesday, January 27 with Partners and Customers
• Partner Expo

 

Conference Tracks

            Track 1: SOA & BPM Best Practices

            Track 2:  Technology Offerings

 

Location

The conference will be held in Redmond, WA at the Microsoft Conference Center, January 27-30^th.

 

Technorati Tags: SOA

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New "Real World" SOA Site

Today was the launch of that the new "Real World SOA happens {here}” site. This is one of the first Silverlight 2.0 applications on Microsoft.com and probably anywhere for that matter. This new site extends the existing Microsoft SOA site (http://www.microsoft.com/soa) by providing real world guidance around the SOA space. You can come here to investigate what Microsoft customers have to say about how they have developed their solutions on the Microsoft stack. You will see real world approaches that deliver significant, tangible and measurable value to their businesses.

 

This is interesting to me because there isn't a whole lot of SOA vendors that create a first class experience for customer stories and learning's. Its good to see that we are to democratizing SOA.

There are 4 main areas you can explore:

1. Real World SOA - Mission statements and principles to Microsoft's approach to SOA
2. Events - Upcoming events and registration
3. Customer Stories - Stories and lessons learned
4. Partners - Key partners that extend the capabilities of the MS stack

All and all they did a great job!

Technorati Tags: SOA

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SOA Software Announces Expanded SOA Governance for Microsoft .NET Framework

SOA Software today released an expanded version of it's popular SOA governance suite for a series of Microsoft technologies. SOA Software has provided custom Windows Communication Foundation bindings and an extensible channel stack to provide additional governance capabilities to enterprises using the MSE for service virtualization. Security administrators can centrally define policies for services through SOA Software’s Policy ManagerTM leveraging automated governance approval processes. Once approved, the MSE can dynamically leverage the policy exposed via WS-MetadataExchange to ensure consistent policy enforcement at multiple levels of granularity.

SOA Software provides channels for audit, monitoring, SLA, faults/events, dynamic routing, message recording, and security including Kerberos, mutual auth SSL, username token, authorization (XACML), trust (SAML) and basic auth (LDAP). More channels are on their way; in some cases built by customers and partners using SOA Software’s published APIs.

“The certification of Governed Service Platforms advances the discipline of Integrated SOA Governance Automation,” said Frank Martinez, executive vice president of SOA Software. “Microsoft is deploying the MSE to provide customers with advanced service virtualization capabilities and along with SOA Software’s membership in the Business Process Alliance (BPA), this certification gives them the confidence that SOA Software’s products will preserve the fidelity of the governance models, structures and mechanisms supporting their enterprise SOA program.”

Customers will add SOA Software’s Integrated SOA Governance Automation solution to the .NET Framework and MSE in order to:

• Enable and coordinate enterprise-level Service Lifecycle management across the virtual services through automation and workflow tailored to fit an organization’s roles and policies.
• Leverage SOA software’s end-to-end policy support between clients and services to streamline the effort necessary to enable enterprise governance models.
• Make services they expose from applications running on .NET Framework visible to and compliant with enterprise policies defined, enforced and audited across other platforms; and make services they design and build using other platforms like SAP and open source environments visible to and compliant with enterprise policies defined, enforced and audited across their .NET Framework applications.
• Promote, ensure and formalize consistent alignment between demand from service consumers and the supply of services through Consumer Contract Provisioning.
• Leverage the strengths of Microsoft’s service enablement and adaptation capabilities with SOA Software’s closed loop governance model.

SOA Software’s platform-independent Integrated SOA Governance Automation solution promotes the use of best-practices throughout an enterprise SOA program regardless of where services and consumers are designed, built, deployed and operated. SOA Software’s Solutions offer deep integration with the Microsoft SOA and Business Process solutions including: .NET Framework, BizTalk Server, Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server.

“SOA Software aligns well with our strategy to help customers enable a high level of agility with a rich governance model through dynamic behaviors and centralized configuration,” said Burley Kawasaki, director of product management in the Connected Systems Division at Microsoft Corp. “Its Policy Manager provides robust service lifecycle and policy management capabilities that allow our customers to help maximize the security and performance of their virtual services.”

Microsoft customers take advantage of SOA Software for seamless, heterogeneous SOA Governance, Security and Management integration with their Microsoft applications to ensure interoperability across disparate partners and platforms.

SOA Software’s products deliver mission-critical SOA governance capabilities to customers using Microsoft .NET and BizTalk Server. They provide Closed-loop Governance, Uniform Policy Management, Heterogeneous Governance Automation, Dynamic Policy Enforcement and Implementation, and Trust Mediation and Bridging.

Technorati Tags: SOA,Governance

Open Group SOA Ontology

The Open Group has recently released a draft version of a SOA ontology. They have been developing a formal ontology for SOA for some time now. You can find the ontology described in OWL-DL also. This should give the ontology a more complete level of description.

Open Group explains the benefits as:

1. It defines the concepts, terminology and semantics of SOA in both business and technical
terms, in order to:

• Create a foundation for further work in domain-specific areas,
• Enable communications between business and technical people,
• Enhance the understanding of SOA concepts in the business and technical
  communities, and
• Provide a means to state problems and opportunities clearly and unambiguously
  to promote mutual understanding.

2. It potentially contributes to model-driven SOA implementation. The ontology is designed for use by:

• Business people, to give them a deeper understanding of SOA, and its use in the
  enterprise;
• Architects, as metadata for architectural artifacts; and
• Architecture methodologists, as a component of SOA metamodels.

The full draft can be found here:

http://www.opengroup.org/projects/soa-ontology/doc.tpl?gdid=16940

Tags: Enterprise Architecture