Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Strategy, Methodology, and Technology

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Strategy, Methodology, and Technology by James P. Lawler, DPS, associate professor of information systems, Pace Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, and H. Howell-Barber, president, HBiNK, Ltd. Since 2003, my colleagues in the Seidenberg School and I have been analyzing the continued adoption of evolving technologies in firms in industry. One of the technologies being aggressively applied by industry is service-oriented architecture (SOA), a framework for enabling flexibility, efficiency, and agility in business processes, so firms can gain a competitive edge. As a technology, SOA is considered by consultants and pundits as consequential to industry as the Internet. My colleague in industry, H. Howell-Barber, and I decided to collaborate on a book that details how to adopt SOA, and the result is our book Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Strategy, Methodology, and Technology.In it, we define a practical program management methodology that can compliment project management methodologies already used by firms. The methodology is described in frameworks of best practices for corporate, business, and technology employees engaged on projects of SOA. The frameworks consist of governance, communications, product realization, project management, architecture, data management, service management, human resource management, and post-implementation.The majority of the book focuses on in-depth case studies and analyses of 15 firms in industry—from the automobile, banking, energy, health, insurance, manufacturing, technology, telecommunications, training, and travel and leisure industries—that are headquartered in the U.S. and which deploy SOA. Our evaluation highlighted key business, procedural, and technical factors on the projects that were perceived by us as contributing most effectively to an SOA strategy. Firms which lead projects of SOA with procedural and business requirements have more success with SOA than those that lead projects with technical functionality. Those firms which hesitate to investing adequately in SOA programs may be hindered by not having competitively flexible and agile processes that might service their customers.The findings of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Strategy, Methodology, and Technology benefit those who are beginning to apply service-oriented architecture as a business strategy in their firms, as well as managers and analysts who are learning more about business process management, enterprise architecture, and information systems in industry. Since information systems students are the future technologists of our century, we hope instructors will consider the book as a guide for educating technology students on SOA.https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/bookshelf/1002/thumbnail.jp