Service-Oriented Architecture Governance for the Services Driven Enterprise

10.8. GOVERNANCE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: A NECESSARY DISCIPLINE

As SOA governance places increased pressure on IT governance processes and capabilities, and as corporate compliance continues to be a mandate for publicly traded organizations, we feel that the seeds have been sown for a new discipline of governance.

Governance performance management is our phrase describing the process of implementing a sustained governance capability in an organization and managing its performance and effectiveness through time. The following activities are dimensions of governance performance management:

• Governance process ownership and accountability

• Governance process execution and facilitation

• Governance management, metrics, and performance management

• Ongoing governance principle and policy management

We feel that SOA governance will be a catalyst for the realization that governance is an ongoing and strategic capability for an organization. Governance must become elevated into a standing management and operational capability, and managed as a permanent process focused on execution of strategy and achievement of corporate or organizational goals. Governance performance management is what I call the ongoing process of governance in an enterprise. SOA may be the reason for the renewed focus on governance, but the elevated interest and understanding of governance concepts will help raise the profile of governance into the formalized discipline that it should be.

Figure 10.1. SOA Governance Across ...