Service-Oriented Architecture Governance for the Services Driven Enterprise

6.26. SUMMARY

Governance is critical to the success of an SOA. Policies are the substrate of governance. This chapter developed some far reaching concepts for policy-based governance and suggested some gaps in industry standards around the unified model of policies and an integrated policy enforcement model. We offer suggestions on how a policy model is defined such that it is enforceable using an integrated policy enforcement model comprised of governance boards, governance processes, and governance tools and technologies. Policies are almost as misunderstood as governance itself. We hope that policies and policy enforcement are now clearer for you, and that you can see how to begin developing enterprise policies that make sense and will help achieve the business goals you seek. Remember, the sooner you achieve policy-based governance, the sooner you can transition into more normative behavioral models and realize collaborative self-governance capabilities.