SOA Governance

1. SOA Governance An Open Group SOA project

2. 26 May 2012 (C) The Open Group 2006 2 Governance Definitions Governance is essentially about ensuring that business is conducted properly. It is less about overt control and strict adherence to rules, and more about guidance and effective and equitable usage of resources to ensure sustainability of an organisation's strategic objectives (TOGAF 8.1) IT Governance provides the framework and structure that links IT resources and information to enterprise goals and strategies. Furthermore, IT Governance institutionalizes best practices for planning, acquiring, implementing, and monitoring IT performance, to ensure that the enterprise's information technology assets support its business objectives (TOGAF 8.1) Governance is a program that makes sure that people do what's �right.� When used in conjunction with software, governance controls the development and operation of software. A governance program is implemented using policies, processes, metrics, and organization (Burton group). Boards and executive management have long known the need for enterprise and corporate governance. However, most are beginning to realize that there is a need to extend governance to information technology as well, and provide the leadership, organisational structures and processes that ensure that the enterprise�s IT sustains and extends the enterprise�s strategies and objectives (ISACA/COBIT) IT and Business processes require Governance from day one. Information and business technologies, such as Web Services, Enterprise Applications and data stores are enterprise assets that will stay with a company for years to come. These assets need to be produced with enterprise quality and adhere to a well-defined set of standards and policies in order to ensure ongoing operations, reduce integration costs and complexities, and limit liabilities and security exposure (OASIS/WebLayers)

3. 26 May 2012 (C) The Open Group 2006 3 What people are saying about SOA Governance We predicts that businesses will waste billions of dollars over the next three to five years in failed efforts to adopt SOA, because they won't institute the necessary governance processes to ensure that things are developed with some sense of purpose and discipline. This is one of the most critical issues facing enterprises today. (Burton Group). As it is clear that Web Services will be adopted by all the major players in the industry, perhaps now is a good time to think about management issues of delivery and using Web Services before they become management problems (CBDI). �Service-Oriented Architecture governance isn�t an option�it�s an imperative. The bigger the SOA is, the more governance it needs, and the more complex the governance roles and mechanisms must be. Governance arrangements take a long time to design and install, and are difficult to enforce, but without them, every SOA project out of pilot phase is at risk.� (Paolo Malinverno, Gartner Group) �Governance is easy to ignore early on. That�s OK during the experimental stages of SOA but quickly changes as services approach the production phase. As Burton�s [Anne Thomas] Manes points out, �Many organizations don't start to think about governance until things are completely out of control.� � (�Governing SOA,� Phillip J. Windley, InfoWorld, January 19, 2006) Governance, the model by which IT is managed within an enterprise to be aligned with the business needs has always been difficult given the many different expectations and aims that it attempts to embrace. The last few years with the pressure on cost reduction, and a rising parallel pressure for frequent change as enterprises adapt to fast changing external circumstances have made it even more difficult. The introduction of Services Orientated Architecture delivering in a different manner may prove to be too much for many existing models (Andy Mulholland, CTO, Capgemini, 2005) Investments in service orientation are paid back internally through increased reuse, which accelerates development and reduces maintenance costs, as well as greater ease of integration, driving greater flexibility. Additional payback flows from the business value accrued when external business services are used by trading partners. However, as enterprises build up large portfolios of business services, these become an asset that must be managed effectively, collectively, and individually if this payback is to be achieved in practice. Enterprises need a comprehensive process framework for managing this portfolio and a model to represent all the important metadata that results (Forrster, 2005). Without SOA governance, you end up in a Web services version of DLL hell,. SOA governance gives consistency, predictability, and allows big apps to be built from small pieces.� (Roman Stanek, Systinet, InfoWorld 2006) Maximizing your services ROI is important to your business. So, making it easy to find, share, and reuse services is essential. On another hand, Services are valuable corporate assets, so controlling and tracking them as such is also essential. That�s why you need Services Governance! (Infravio)

4. 26 May 2012 (C) The Open Group 2006 4 As we saw on the last chart, Governance must be defined and have a clear goal of not just making decisions, but making decisions that effect business value in a positive way. That means that governance is important because it ultimately leads to both value creation and reduced cost of coordination for all parties. When considering any type of governance process, it is important then to ensure that your planning takes into consideration these three steps: The Components of Governance The assumed Results from an Effective Governance initiative The Value derived from instituting Governance in your organization Given the core foundation concepts of Governance as a general business concept, we can now start to look at IT Governance, in particular.As we saw on the last chart, Governance must be defined and have a clear goal of not just making decisions, but making decisions that effect business value in a positive way. That means that governance is important because it ultimately leads to both value creation and reduced cost of coordination for all parties. When considering any type of governance process, it is important then to ensure that your planning takes into consideration these three steps: The Components of Governance The assumed Results from an Effective Governance initiative The Value derived from instituting Governance in your organization Given the core foundation concepts of Governance as a general business concept, we can now start to look at IT Governance, in particular.

5. 26 May 2012 (C) The Open Group 2006 5 Goal of SOA Governance project The SOA Working Group contributes to the Open Group mission of Boundaryless Information Flow, by developing and fostering common understanding of SOA in order to facilitate alignment between the business and information technology communities. The SOA Governance project will provide part of that contribution in the following specific ways. It will: Develop a common definition of SOA Governance, including distinguishing between overall IT Governance and SOA Governance Define reusable processes and structures for SOA Governance Describe the relationship between IT to business governance and technical IT governance Define a SOA Governance Reference Model Better understanding of governance around SOA will facilitate SOA adoption.

6. 26 May 2012 (C) The Open Group 2006 6 How can you participate? The project needs companies and people interested in contributing their knowledge to the goals of the project. Register your interest on http://www.opengroup.org/projects/soa/protected/mailinglists.tpl?CALLER=index.tpl by adding your email details to the soa-governance@opengroup.org mail list or contact the project leaders Tony Carrato [acarrato@au1.ibm.com] and Mats.Gejnevall@capgemini.com Also look at the attached project definition

7. 26 May 2012 (C) The Open Group 2006 7