By Bruce Graham, BEA Systems

As SOA projects move from pilot implementations to larger division and enterprisewide IT initiatives, the need for an effective approach to SOA organization and governance (O&G) also increases. In fact, SOA O&G can be the biggest determinant of SOA success. Because of this, forward-looking IT leaders are increasing their direct involvement in order to address fundamental challenges facing their organizations as they move ahead with SOA. These leaders have dispensed with the aura of mystery around SOA O&G, taking a pragmatic approach that establishes boundaries for their organizations to operate within, and providing patterns for success that others can follow.

A recent SOA survey by International Data Group revealed that more than half of all enterprises say organization and governance is the top barrier they face in adopting SOA. This is understandable, as the issues to be addressed are substantial, and touch almost every aspect of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). In addition, over time, divisional IT organizations have been optimized to align with divisional initiatives, yet often SOA yields greater benefits for the enterprise. The nature of some of the best IT initiatives for SOA—such as cross-divisional up-selling and consolidated customer service—makes getting ahead of the O&G issues a top priority for many enterprises today, not an optional activity to be assigned to subcommittees.

"Without strong governance, nearly any SOA project will ultimately fail,” says Mike McCoy, director of enterprise architecture for Accredited Home Lenders (AHL), a residential mortgage lender based in San Diego, Calif., with more than $500 million in annual revenue. AHL currently uses an SOA as the foundation for numerous applications, such as processing “special handling” loans and integrating core underwriting and funding systems.

What Worries CIOs About SOA Organization and Governance?
Most organizations already have some form of IT governance in place. Even so, SOA creates new challenges in terms of the service lifecycle, technology standards and team roles. The bottom line: Enterprisewide SOA can easily fail unless governance issues are addressed early in the adoption process.

This means organizations need to adopt governance that supports, within the criteria unique to each business, the agility that an SOA promises. Experts say that CIOs who are not embracing strong SOA governance are holding back for the following reasons:

• Timing. The most common misconception is about when to deal with SOA organization and governance. Many feel they don’t need to address it up front, but believe it can wait until later. This can plant the seeds of problems that will grow as SOA rolls out across the enterprise.
• Lack of understanding and best practices. Companies don’t always understand what SOA organization and governance is, and why it’s different from a traditional organizational structure and IT governance plan. Many enterprises struggle to implement best practices that ensure the realization of SOA benefits.
• Fear of change. Adopting SOA requires a cultural shift in the way people work together, new skill sets and role definitions. As such, CIOs have to consider the cultural effects of change on people, process and methodology. The larger the company, the more siloed its business units tend to become, making change that much more challenging. Strong governance, however, can help ease the pain of change.
• Lack of SOA expertise. Many CIOs worry that their company lacks the skill sets and experience it takes to implement an SOA, and transforming an entire IT staff into SOA experts overnight is not a realistic option.
• Not the CIO’s responsibility. It’s not uncommon for SOA teams to be in place at the divisional level—siloed—without active engagement in business strategy. Typically, the lack of service-level agreements between central IT and other IT groups diminishes information and process sharing. This communication blackout can lead to an improperly specified SOA, or worse, even more siloed, small-scope SOA initiatives that yield greatly reduced benefits for the enterprise. CIOs need to ensure that SOA is an enterprisewide initiative and drive that message home with all constituents.