Service Oriented Architecture Field Guide for Executives

2.2. ARE YOU PROCESS ORIENTED?

Invariably, a new business or a new department starts its operations without any well-defined business processes. The activities, roles, and responsibilities are fairly unstructured. This is not because the company does not value structure and method. It is because, in the beginning, a process is not very well understood. A pattern in the day-to-day operations of the business must emerge before the processes can be defined. When you have too many exception scenarios, a pattern is hard to come by.

Once a pattern emerges that can be repeated over and over again, you are ready to start writing down the process. With business processes, the operations of a business become well defined. The quality of the output becomes consistent. Employees can be trained better. Their job becomes more streamlined and less stressful.

SOA depends heavily on business processes. Without a commitment to developing and following business processes, SOA is not likely to succeed in an organization. By the end of this chapter, the relationship between SOA and business processes should be well established.