Re: [service-orientated-architecture] Tools for SOA

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 08:55:20 -0700

Anne,

you gave me a splendid description of the things I was looking for, exactly the ones. I've got the same enjoyment as from your presentation in 2004, in Fidelity Inv., in Boston. Thank you so much.
 
I have mentioned business objects as the last, the lowest level of my business model discovery. I am trying to concentrate on the business services and their interactions – business processes. However, what differs my understanding from your explanations is that I try to ignore existing application and manual processes because such kind on ‘business processes’ are mostly based on existing, application-centric architecture. Even my business people talk in the application function terms having difficulties formulate related business tasks and processes.
 
While my approach feels a little bit idealistic (I am trying to discover how the business is supposed to work vs. how it works now), your recommendation on two activities sound to me too much IT legacy dependent. I think, improving IT structure – getting applications and related processes out from the silos is noble but still not business agile task. I do recognize the danger – previous investments may seriously affect ability to move SOA model forward. So, I am doing the reality checks but try to approach it from the global ‘BETTER-TO-DO’ position.
 
As of tools, I have to say that not all observed services might be with Web Service interfaces. I am very much interested in the Contract management and surprised when you positioned it in the Repository. I am looking for a way which would allow me actively monitor contract preservation at the run-time ( I am not after an automatic invocation of the Web Services only because they are published; I need to know if corresponding SOA Service implementations meet my - a Service consumer -  business needs). To me, contract IS the reason why particular SOA Service is preferred to another SOA Service with similar business  value.

Please, excuse my incompetence, but what is the major difference between the Contracts and Policies (I do not mean current WS-Policy Standard which is still weak to my task)?

Thank you again,
- Michael



Anne Thomas Manes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Michael,

You say:

We are in the middle of collecting info about business services and
processes trying to define business objects. We use UML for describing
our discoveries.

An analysis of your current systems is absolutely the right place to start. I'm a little concerned, though, with your focus on "objects" rather than "processes". Your goal in SOA is to identify and refactor duplicate functionality. I encourage you to concentrate on business process modeling rather than object modeling. You can use UML to model your business processes.

I recommend two IT optimization activities to help identify duplicate functionality and to establish priorities for SOA projects. (You should select SOA projects based on solid business goals, and these activities provide excellent justification for your SOA projects.)

The first activity is application rationalization -- analyze your current application portfolio and assess each application based on its value to the business and its total cost of ownership. This primary goal behind this exercise is to provide a business case for application portfolio optimization. Applications that cost a lot and provide little value should be decommissioned. Applications that cost a lot and provide significant value should be rearchitected so that they cost less. Applications that don't cost much and don't provide significant value can stay as there are for the time being. Your long term goal is to shift all applications into the "costs little and provides high value" quadrant.

The second activity is business process mapping -- create a chart of the primary business processes associated with each line of business within your organization. (And by business process, I'm talking about the people perspective, not the application perspective.) Assess how well they work and how much human intervention is required to keep them processing efficiently. Identify really painful or inefficient processes. Identify common processes performed by multiple lines of business.

Next bring the two activities together and map the application portfolio to the business process map. Identify areas of duplication, stress points and gaps. You now have excellent information to use to prioritize projects and to produce a business case for them.

Once you launch a project, you want to select products based on the requirements of the project. The basis types of tools include:
- Platforms: These are tools for implementing services. Examples include .NET, Java EE systems, Java SOA frameworks ( e.g., Apache Axis2), ESBs, CORBA servers, Jini, etc. You must select a platform based on language, OS, and middleware constraints.
- Mediation systems: These are tools that manage and control runtime message processing, supporting  monitoring, security, auditing, routing, load balancing, transformations, etc. Types of products include SOA management systems ( e.g., Actional and AmberPoint), XML gateways (e.g., DataPower, Reactivity, Layer 7, and Forum), ESBs, and pureplay mediation systems (e.g. Apache Synapse and Blue Titan). You are likely to use multiple types of mediation systems, because none of these solutions does everything you need. I generally recommend using a combination of SOA management and XML gateways for mediation.
- Runtime management systems: These tools monitor and control the health of your SOA runtime components. I generally recommend a combination of a SOA management system integrated with your favorite enterprise management suite ( e.g., Openview, Unicenter, Tivoli, Patrol, etc).
- Registry: This tool provides a central reference for all your runtime components. Platforms, mediation systems, and management systems rely on the registry to share information and coordinate activities. A registry should fully support the UDDI v3 protocols, including the inquiry, update, and subscription APIs. The leading UDDI v3-compliant registry vendor is Systinet. Other vendors include Infravio and SoftwareAG. IBM has announced plans to deliver a new registry product this fall (or spring if you're from the southern hemisphere).
- Repository: This tool supports development and lifecycle management efforts. It should be integrated with the registry, but I recommend that the two systems maintain different data stores. (You don't want an intensive impact analysis report job to impede runtime operations.) The registry vendors also provide repositories.
- Contract management systems: This type of tool manages contracts between service consumers and service providers as first class artifacts. Contract artifacts are typically stored in the repository. Vendors include Systinet and Infravio.
- Policy management systems: This type of tool manages policies as first class artifacts. It enables you to group policies and attach them to various SOA artifacts. Policies fall into two basic categories: development policies and runtime policies. Development policies define rules and guidelines that apply during the development process ( e.g., naming conventions, schema definition guidelines, service development guidelines, etc.). Vendors include Systinet and WebLayers. Runtime policies define rules that must be enforced by a mediation system at runtime. The mediation system provides all provide tools for defining and attaching runtime policies. My favorite mediation systems from a policy management perspective is AmberPoint (but this is not the only criteria to be considered when selecting a mediation system).

Please keep in mind that SOA is not the same as integration. Your main goal in a SOA project is to break down application silos: identify and refactor duplicate functionality so that all applications that require the functionality use a shared service. In contrast, when doing integration, you are bridging application silos rather than breaking them down. Rather than refactoring functionality, you are replicating data. It is a subtle but important distinction.

Anne

On 8/14/06, Michael Poulin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]com> wrote:
I will, thank you, Teresa. I always dreamed of a tool which would 'enforce' design into implementation (before, the closest one was TogetherJ)
- Michael



Teresa Jones <teresa.jones@butlergroup.com> wrote:
Michael
If you're familiar with UML it might be of interest to look at a relatively new offering from a young Swiss company called E2E
 - they have a 'virtual UML engine' that interprets UML for integration, and performs much of the functionality of an ESB. I'm still
trying to get my head round it but its customers are very impressed with it in practice.
Teresa

From: Michael Poulin [mailto: m3poulin@yahoo.com]
Sent: 12 August 2006 12:17
To: service-orientated-architecture@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [service-orientated-architecture] Tools for SOA

Hi folks,

I would like to ask you for an advice on the tool set for my project.
We have started to build SOA solution for the firm, which works in
regulated industry, very heavy on document processing/management and
business information discovery/advisory; firm is geographically spread
over several countries and continents.

We are in the middle of collecting info about business services and
processes trying to define business objects. We use UML for describing
our discoveries.

In the next step, we will identify tools - applications, packages,
technological solutions (like ESB) - we would need in the
implementation. Then, we will see how we can leverage legacy IT
systems for the SOA.

I am looking for your advice on which technical products we might look
at (to buy) for the SOA implementation in given condition. For
example, somebody suggests that rule-based solutions are very useful
and s/he recommends ILog, another person recommends Tibco's service
bus instead of analogous IBM product, and so on.

Thank you in advance,
- Michael Poulin

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------_=_NextPart_001_01C6BF73.67D00C70---- "----_=_NextPart_001_01C6BF73.67D00C70-- tent-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Michael If you're familiar with UML it might be of interest to look at a relatively new offering from a young Swiss company called E2E - they have a 'virtual UML engine' that interprets UML for integration, and performs much of the functionality of an ESB. I'm still trying to get my head round it but its customers are very impressed with it in practice. Teresa _____ From: Michael Poulin [mailto: m3poulin@yahoo.com ] Sent: 12 August 2006 12:17 To: service-orientated-architecture@yahoogroups.com Subject: [service-orientated-architecture] Tools for SOA Hi folks, I would like to ask you for an advice on the tool set for my project. We have started to build SOA solution for the firm, which works in regulated industry, very heavy on document processing/management and business information discovery/advisory; firm is geographically spread over several countries and continents. We are in the middle of collecting info about business services and processes trying to define business objects. We use UML for describing our discoveries. In the next step, we will identify tools - applications, packages, technological solutions (like ESB) - we would need in the implementation. Then, we will see how we can leverage legacy IT systems for the SOA. I am looking for your advice on which technical products we might look at (to buy) for the SOA implementation in given condition. For example, somebody suggests that rule-based solutions are very useful and s/he recommends ILog, another person recommends Tibco's service bus instead of analogous IBM product, and so on. Thank you in advance, - Michael Poulin ********************************************************************* IMPORTANT NOTICE The contents of this e-mail are privileged and confidential and intended for the addressee at the specified e-mail address only. Its contents may not be copied or disclosed to anyone other than the intended recipient. If this e-mail is received in error, please contact Butler Direct Limited immediately on +44 (0)1482 586149 with details of the sender and addressee and delete the e-mail. No responsibility is accepted by Butler Direct Limited in the event that the onward transmission, opening or use of this message and/or any attachments adversely affect the recipient's systems or data. It is your responsibility to carry out such virus and other checks as you consider appropriate. www.butlergroup.com *********************************************************************

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