Get Serious About SOA Governance:

A Five-Step Action Plan for Architects

INTRODUCTION

Whether your organization s service-oriented architecture (SOA) has 50 services

being used by one customer, or 50 customers using one service, you need SOA

governance; increased business agility depends on it. SOA governance provides the

ability to quickly and continuously translate and transmit business strategy and

requirements into the processes, policies, and controls that will guide the evolution

of your infrastructure and your enterprise.

Failure to provide effective SOA governance exposes your organization to serious

risks resulting from

"   Insufficient adoption of services 

"   Fragmented approaches to SOA 

"   Resources wasted on services that can t be reused 

"   Rampant and redundant service creation across siloed SOA initiatives 

"   Ineffective communication of priorities and best practices 

"   Cultural resistance to change 

For any organization that has adopted SOA as its primary approach to enterprise

architecture, governance becomes the conduit that connects and aligns corporate,

IT, and business unit objectives. For these organizations, effective governance

ensures that communication, collaboration, and the two-way flow of information

keep SOA initiatives and investments inextricably connected to the enterprise to

deliver sustainable business value.

Effective governance ensures that

communication, collaboration, and the

two-way flow of information keep SOA

initiatives and investments inextricably

connected to the enterprise to deliver

sustainable business value.

Critical Role of the Architect

The success of a governance initiative rests on the shoulders of the architect, and

you ll need to play several roles, including strategist, communicator, and enforcer.

This white paper describes five key practices to take into consideration as you help

your organization achieve SOA success. There s more to SOA governance than

these five practices, but they provide a solid foundation upon which to grow and

extend your SOA capabilities.

Get Serious About SOA Governance: A Five-Step Action Plan for Architects Page 2