Globeteam publicerer artikel om SOA i The Architecture Journal 21

A Simple, Successful EA/SOA Model

When it comes to developing an EA, there are several acknowledged frameworks out there from which you can choose to aid you in your work. Some of the best known are the Zachman Framework and The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF). These frameworks are excellent; when they are used correctly, they give good results. However, they are also very complex and require a lot of experience.   

Read article pdf.: Architecture Journal.pdf

Getting backing from the business
Many enterprises are not ready to start with such complex frameworks, no matter how good the framework.

To get backing from the organization, an EA/SOA project must be kept simple—or, at least, be explained in a simple way. A principle that we follow at Toyota is that you must be able to explain any project in just one page. If you are not able to do that, the project will not be funded.

It is hard to make Zachman/TOGAF look simple. But as Albert Einstein once put it, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” A good way to keep explanations of complex SOA projects simple is to limit the primary focus to:

• An easy-to-understand model for describing business processes.
• A simple model for describing the service architecture.
• An expandable technical infrastructure that will support the SOA.

Extending the EA and SOA Infrastructure Iteratively
A key point for success with keeping SOA projects simple is to build the architecture and the infrastructure in an iterative way. The architecture should evolve together with the projects, instead of being the result of several months (or years) of work during which all other projects are put on hold.

The business people must understand what is going on, all of the way. If the business does not understand the EA/SOA model, it is because you are moving too fast or making things too complex. So, slow down!

A successful approach
We have used this approach with several customers who have had little or no prior experience in developing enterprise architectures. One of these customers is Toyota Denmark, where the approach has provided the following results (among others):
Involvement of the businesspeople already has ensured a high level of reuse of messages from the second project, after the implementation of the initial enterprise-architecture model.
Having seen the immediate reuse of messages, the businesspeople display further engagement and enthusiasm.

A new project model is developed with consistent mapping, which gives shorter and more predictable implementation of projects and better control of IT projects (as well as the vendors).

Stop by at our SOA web site www.soain10days.com for all of the details.