+1 Anne
On 12/20/08, Gervas Douglas <[email protected]> wrote: > > <<SOA: Time to wake up and smell the data > > user-pic > <http://www.ebizq.net/MT4/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=28&id=24> > By Ronan Bradley > <http://www.ebizq.net/MT4/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=28&id=24> > on December 4, 2008 5:31 PM 0 > <http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soaroads/2008/12/soa_time_to_wake_up_and_smell.php#comments> > 0 > <http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soaroads/2008/12/soa_time_to_wake_up_and_smell.php#trackbacks> > Vote 0 Votes <javascript:void(0)> > > The line is taken from a report by Madan Sheina entitled "Realising the > promise of SOA and BPM" (Madan is also speaking on a related ebizq > webinar <http://www.ebizq.net/webinars/10570.html>). I am quoting it > because it strongly arguing a point that I have made consistently over > many years when consulting or writing about SOA and BPM: You must > recognise the centrality of data integration in these initiatives. To > quote Madan: > > / > > "SOA and BPM projects cannot effectively deliver on their promise if > they don't resolve issues related to the various data formats, > semantics, hierarchies, inconsistencies, staleness and inaccuracies > within the underlying data sources." > > / > > This weakness in many SOA/BPM projects tends to lead to SOA/BPM being > restricted to specific problem types where all the participants have > similar and preferably simple data models. In many industries, including > financial services, this has meant SOA and BPM is more often found only > in secondary business areas (HR, operations etc) where the data is > simple and static or in areas with well defined processes (for instance > in the case of BPM, message fixing or client on-ramping). > > The problem is that many SOA evangelists focus exclusively on the > functionality side of the service and ignore what I sometimes refer to > as the implicit data model embedded in any service definition. To quote > Madan again: > > / > > "Most business processes supported by SOA are inherently > data-driven. Yet > many organisations don't intuitively think about their SOA or BPM > problems as data problems." > > / > > This mismatch is potentially fatal to success with SOA/BPM and Madan's > paper is most timely (not only because she agrees with my own views of > course!) and well worth a read <http://www.ovum.com/go/content/s,76443>. > To address it effectively requires significant thought and effort > combining appropriate software, data governance and leveraging standards > (such as those the EDM council > <http://www.edmcouncil.org/default.aspx>is working on). > > Ronan>> > > You can read Ronan Bradley's article at: > > http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/soaroads/2008/12/soa_time_to_wake_up_and_smell.php > > Gervas >
