Expert analysis, advice and prognostications about Service Oriented Architecture and distributed computing.
Our bloggers: Mike Kavis is a veteran Chief Architect with over 23 years of IT experience including distributed computing, SOA, BPM, data warehouse, business intelligence, and enterprise architecture. Former applications developers Rich Levin has been implementing, advising on, and writing about information technology for over 20 years, covered computer technology for CBS Radio and hosts the popular "PC Talk" show. Nicholas Petreley is a former programmer and consultant, has worked for InfoWorld, Computerworld, LinuxWorld and Network Computing World, webzines, and serves as contributing editor for CIO, focusing on SOA as a primary area of coverage.
SOA Governance: Balancing Process and Agility
Keywords: SOA, Governance, Agility, Process
Not enough process creates chaos
There are a number of reasons why companies do not have a robust enough governance model. Here are a few reasons that I have seen:
Lack complete understanding of both design time and runtime best practices
Culture does not support standards and best practices
Lack of funding for governance resources and tools
Without an effective governance model, your dreams of SOA nirvana can turn into nightmares of down systems, high development costs, unmanageable production environments and unhappy customers. To get the reuse, flexibility, agility, and ease of integration that SOA promises, design time governance must ensure that services are built in a consistent manner that provides business value, meets certain performance and security requirements, is platform neutral, and does not break anything that already is deployed.
Runtime governance is crucial because of the distributed and abstract nature of SOA. A single business service may be made up of a number of components within numerous layers of the architecture. When that service fails, you better have the proper processes and tools in place to quickly identify the issues and to recover before your customers notice first.
Then there is the complexity of managing service versioning, proactively monitoring performance and security, ensuring compliance and enforcing regulatory controls, and much more.
Implementing SOA without a solid governance model is the equivalent to having an airport without a control tower. Sure, there are some very good planes and talented pilots, but without the proper planning and timely information the end results would be disastrous. So make sure you build a control tower and hire some air traffic controllers!



