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Copyright © 2006, ZapThink, LLC 1

The Role of the Architect

Jason BloombergSenior AnalystZapThink, LLC

Take Credit Code: ROLEARCH


The Role of the Architect

Governance

Project Management

Design

Organizational Issues

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Challenge: SOA is Architecture


What is Architecture?

The fundamental organization of a system embodied by its components, their relationships to each other and to the environment and the principles guiding its design and evolution. (IEEE P1471/D5.3)

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The SOA Metamodel

• SOA Metamodel is a model of models: Business Model, Service Model, & Implementation Models

• Service model is abstract representation of– Requirements for Services– Services in production

• Model actualized in Service contracts and other Service metadata

Service Metadata

Service Model

Business ModelImplementation

Models


Service Model Drives Contract-First Development

• Service contracts specify required functionality to IT and provided functionality to the business

• Service model represents the clearinghouse for information about IT environment

• Contracts go beyond WSDL:– Usage policies– Security policies– Consumer delivery contracts– Service-level agreements, etc.

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SOA Foundation: The 4+1 View Model

Logical ViewFunctional requirements

Deployment ViewPlatforms

Process ViewProcesses

Implementation ViewComponents

Use Case ViewSOAs

Data View

Information View


SOA Foundation: The Zachman Framework

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The Zachman Framework (cont.)


SOA & Zachman

DATA FUNCTION NETWORK

SOA

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SOA & Zachman (cont.)

SemanticModel

Messages

Events

GovernanceFramework

Policies

RulesPhysical

DataModel

BusinessStrategy

ServiceLifecycle

ServiceNetwork

UIServices

ServiceConsumers

Users

ServiceModel

ProcessModel

SystemArchitecture

ServiceInfra-

structure

BusinessEntities

ComponentArchitecture

LogicalDataModel

SOBAsThe

OrganizationThe

InternetBusinessChange

IdentitiesNetworkNodes

ComponentsSchemas AssertionsElements


The Service Model: Processes

Source: IBM

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The Service Model: Building Business Services

Source: IBM


Organizational Issues

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Building the right SOA team

• Shared Services cross organizational boundaries

• Siloed IT management styles are becoming obsolete

• The new role for enterprise architects


Where Do You Find Enterprise Architects?

• Enterprise Architects (EAs) must have the big picture of the relationship between business & technology

• Some are more technical, some are more business-oriented, many organizations put both types together on a team

• Typically rise through ranks internally, because of need for intimate knowledge of business

• Supplement EA team with consultants, but don’t let consultants drive EA

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Building Support for SOA

• Find your champion– May be LOB manager, CIO, management-

level architect, or other architect

• Build the business case– Solve business problems while

transitioning to new architecture

• Tackle project iteratively within context of overall plan


Change Management Issues

• Organizational change more challenging than technological change

• Keep business focused on TCO

• Focus on human aspects of change management (education, etc.)

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The “Ivory Tower” Problem

• Architects create design and other artifacts, but don’t have the authority or mandate to require their use

• Development team considers them optional

• Business likes idea of architecture in principle, but short-term needs trump best practices

• When architects are external consultants, the “not invented here” syndrome makes the Ivory Tower worse


The Power of the SOA Center of Excellence

• SOA experts who maintain a knowledge base of best practices– General and company-specific– Design time and runtime

• Drives SOA policy (either explicitly or implicitly)

• Can unify approaches across a large organization

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Enabling Service Domains

• A Service Domain is a logical grouping of shared Services with a common business context

• Examples: customer-facing Services,purchasing-related Services

• Manage Services by managingthe Domains

• Move away from traditional IT silos for the purposes of managingServices, but retain technical teamsas needed


The Roles of SOA

Use Case ViewSOAs

Use Case ViewSOAs

Use Case ViewSOAs

Logical ViewFunctional requirements

BusinessStakeholders

Information View

InformationSpecialists

Business AnalystsLOB Experts

Process ViewProcess ViewProcesses

Use Case ViewSOAs

Enterprise Architects

Deployment ViewPlatforms

Systems Experts

Data View

Data Experts

Implementation ViewComponents

Component ArchitectsDevelopers

Copyright (C) 2004, ZapThink, LLC

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The Role of the Architect:Governance


SOA Governance “in the Narrow”

• Governance of SOA initiative

• Design time governance– Are developers and other personnel

following the policies that apply to Services?

• Runtime governance– Are running Services and SOBAs conforming

to runtime policies?

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SOA Governance “in the Broad”

–Policy management• SOA configured & controlled via metadata,

including policy

–Visibility• Services abstract heterogeneous data sources,

providing necessary business intelligence

–Flexibility• Ability to build Services that address compliance

issues and adjust them as regulations or business needs change

Not just governance of SOANot just governance of SOA……governance in the context of SOAgovernance in the context of SOA


Project Management

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IT Governance Feedback Loop

Source: LogicLibrary

> Delivery of architectural guidelines and supporting materials

> Governance over project-specific selection of architectural materials

> Traceability of architectural materials used within a project

> Feedback on effectiveness of architectural materials

> Delivery of architectural guidelines and supporting materials

> Governance over project-specific selection of architectural materials

> Traceability of architectural materials used within a project

> Feedback on effectiveness of architectural materials


Project Management for an SOA Project

• Pilot project much like a standard IT project, because business Services not yet in place.

• As your SOA matures, you must shift to a more agile, model-driven approach that requires more flexible project management.

• Basics of project management won’t change (resource management, client management, schedule/dependency management).

• Project managers will have to deal with larger, more diverse teams.

• Maintaining agility requires the project manager to change the project plans over time more frequently.

• Key to keeping SOA projects on track: measurement of key indicators– Quality indicators– Governance indicators– Other indicators

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The Relationship with Portfolio Management

• SOA rollout projects vs. ongoing Service lifecycleprojects– Break up SOA rollout into individual

projects, based on iterative approach showing business value at each step

• Plan for ongoing change– New Services– New versions of Services– Ongoing reconfiguration of SOBAs,

policies, etc.


Architectural Visioning Session

• Attendees: architecture team, business analysts responsible for business processes

• Provide the SOA perspective

• Processes drive the Services, Services drive the technology

• Split into two initiatives: process definition followed by Service definition

• Balance “big picture” with realistic pilot starting point

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Key Elements of Successful SOA Projects

• Building the right SOA team– A diverse group that bring different perspectives and

wide-ranging support to the implementation

• Handling organizational/people issues– Human resistance to change more challenging than

the technical issues

• Tackling the project iteratively– Won’t have full spec as you get started

• Managing the Service lifecycle– Very different from the traditional software

development lifecycle (SDLC)


Thank You!

ZapThink is an advisory, analysis, & influence firm focused exclusively on Service-Oriented Architecture, Web Services, & XML.

Read our new book, Service Orient or Be Doomed! How Service Orientation Will Change Your Business.

Jason Bloomberg

[email protected]

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