You might have read here or on other blogs that SOA isn’t a purpose. It is a means to an end. The same goes for all the technologies that we use when implementing a SOA, or an architecture, or an application in general. So I wanted to share the next video with you since I think that it – in an even broader perspective – shows this point. Technology itself is not good or bad. It all boils down to how we as people use it.
Later this month on the 27th and 28th of April the 4th International SOA Symposium and the 3th International Cloud Symposium will be for the first time held in Latin America – Brasilia, Brazil. More info on previous editions can be found on this blog. The 2011 SOA Symposium program consists of:
Although there can be a lot of debate on what is Architecture in the world of IT, what IT degree programs discuss about architects, and on who is an architect and who isn’t, I think it is clear that it is not exactly Brain Surgery. And i think that is actually a good thing. Although the implementation of a (Service Oriented) Architecture is in most cases bound to hit vital parts of an organization it isn’t …
And even though there can be just as many parameters in the larger equations, architecture isn’t exactly rocket science either…
On April 27 and 28 2011 the worlds largest SOA and Cloud Computing event will be held in Brasilia, Brazil. The International SOA and Cloud Symposium brings together lessons learned and emerging topics from SOA and Cloud projects, practitioners and experts.
The SOA and Cloud Symposium 2011 program committees invite submissions on all topics related to SOA and Cloud, including but not limited to those listed in the preceding track descriptions. While contributions from consultants and vendors are appreciated, product demonstrations or vendor showcases will not be accepted. All contributions must be accompanied with a biography that describes the SOA or Cloud Computing related experience of the presenter(s).
All submissions must be received no later than February 15, 2011. An overview of the tracks:
The session I presented at the SOA Symposium 2010 is now available online via InfoQ. You can find it as a Service Bus case study. It is introduced as:
a case study of using a service bus in a supply channel connecting a wholesale supplier with hundreds of retailers, the overall context and challenges faced – including the integration of POS software coming from different software providers-, the solution chosen and its implementation, how it worked out and the lessons learned along the way.
This year, in partnership with InfoQ.com (the largest community site for technical architects), 1/4th of the SOA Symposium sessions was filmed and will be published on InfoQ. From early November InfoQ has started publishing these videos. At the time of writing the following videos are available:
an introduction to cloud computing pointing to the fact that the middleware needs of the cloud are similar to SOA’s, showing some of the benefits of running SOA along with the cloud, asking if cloud computing and SOA should evolve together and giving some future directions to consider.
how to design a BPM/SOA solution including: modeling human interaction, improving BPM models, orchestrating composed services, central task management, new approaches for business-IT alignment, solutions for non-deterministic processes, and choreography.
believes organizations need SOA more than before, but using a redefined SOA based on the SOA Manifesto, focusing on models, methodologies and patterns, not on technology, intended to produce the desired business and technical goals.
Most discussions on Cloud Computing I’ve been reading are focused on the infrastructure and technology part. It offers easy to deploy infrastructures or even applications in a very scalable way. All this in a pay-per-* way. And here is where a CFO should get interested. Moving to a Cloud implies moving from CAPEX to OPEX. Usually a CFO has an idea on how to keep these balanced. The Enterprise Architecture of some organizations even have very strict guidelines on whether certain expenses should the one or the other. So that’s the first one to thing about…
As was stated in a previous blogpost on measuring the business value of SOA, project metrics for business value created by SOA projects, IT projects, or even projects in general are rare. If I were a CFO this would worry me.
Besides that SOA efforts in a way also demand a different way of cost accounting than the traditional silo based. If my organizational unit owned (and had to account for the costs) of a rather popular often reused service, I would like to charge them. Say for example in a pay-per-service-call way. How do the financial systems under the responsibility of the CFO facilitate this?
Of course there will be lots of other stuff on your agenda if you are the CFO. But hey due to the crisis interest rates are low, labor is cheap, as are materials, so why not invest now in the foundation/infrastructure for the future
If you’re a CFO and – by incident – are reading this blogpost please let me know what you think, and add a comment…
As Anne Thomas Manes stated in her presentation on Measuring the Business Value of SOA a 2009 Gartner study showed that
36% of SOA projects lack a business justification
1% of all SOA efforts actually measured benefits
From these statistics it doesn’t seem to be a natural thing to do, measuring the business value of SOA. By measuring the business values we mean value in monetary terms – “hard cash”. Think in terms like:
Increased revenue
Lower costs
Better use of assets
Solve customer business needs
In order to have a good assessment of these we need a solid baseline measurement. This is where it gets hard. How many organizations actually have baselines like these. So the intricacies of measuring the business value of SOA aren’t necessarily related to SOA! It might very well be an issue for IT or even businesses in general.
What is specific for SOA or any other architecture or maybe project management approach, is to single out SOA as the direct responsible mechanism for the business value created (causality). In other words what part is SOA specific and what is “just” the availability of a new application? SOA has an indirect impact on business outcomes.
As an example of the previous point: In one of the SOA efforts that I have been involved in – that was at least in my opinion successful – the realization of the business case was very clear: 5 to 10 employees of a department had no longer work to do after 11.00 am. However because we automated a process that wasn’t automated before, it would be very hard for me to point out what part of the savings was actually directly caused by implementing in an SOA context.
This is one of the reasons why I’ve been advising organizations to implement SOA as part of their “normal” projects, or at least projects with a valid business case. Dealing with your project in a SOA way will not only deliver the monetary outcome described in the business case. Applying SOA principles like “Separation of concerns” and “Loose Coupling” will yield in solutions that are modular, interoperable, and shareable.
The agenda for the SOA Symposium 2010 has been posted. Again there are very interesting sessions during this 2 day conference. The largest and most comprehensive in the field of SOA and Cloud Computing. The Real World SOA Case Studies track offers a great opportunity to learn from the experience of others. In this track you will find:
Real-life accounts of successful and failed SOA projects discussed first-hand by those that experienced the project lifecycles and have a story to tell. These veteran practitioners will provide advice and insights regarding challenges, pitfalls, proven practices, and general project information that demonstrates the intricacies of implementing and governing service-oriented solutions in the real world.
I will be presenting the first session in this track on Using a Service Bus to Connect the Supply Chain. If you have any topics or questions in advance that you think I should address, please post them in the comments. Hope to meet you in Berlin.
