Service-Oriented Architecture Governance for the Services Driven Enterprise

3.3. TIER 2: SOA OPERATING MODEL GOVERNANCE TIER

The SOA Operating Model Governance tier is an important one that is often overlooked in organizations. SOA operating model governance focuses on development and execution of various SOA-specific processes and capabilities in alignment with the SOA strategy. These are essentially the SOA extensions to enterprise and strategic governance processes that are necessary to manage and govern a SOA initiative.

We call it SOA operating model governance because these processes effectively instill a SOA operating model in a given organization, including repeatable execution of key SOA processes and disciplines to support the ongoing generation of SOA value for the organization. SOA operating model governance activities are processes and enforcement mechanisms that reflect your eventual "SOA steady state." Certainly most organizations will not have these SOA operating model governance processes in place early in their SOA adoption, but they should most certainly plan for them as there will be dependencies in migrating from your incipient governance model to a more mature SOA governance model over time.

Field experience shows that these SOA steady state processes are most often overlooked and, in many cases, are not even under consideration in most organization's plans. SOA operating model processes are usually neglected in favor of buying SOA tools as well as placing undue emphasis on the provider side of the SOA/Services SDLC process. A recent ...