Since the name came up, just wondering but do IBM have concrete standard guidelines (worksheets and steps) on how to identify services and on choosing the granularity?
H.Ozawa --- In [email protected], "jp_morgenthal" <jpmorgent...@...> wrote: > > Actually, I just let FB pull in my blog now, so this is also available on my > blog site www.jpmorgenthal.com/morgenthal > --- In [email protected], Gervas Douglas > <gervas.douglas@> wrote: > > > > The following can be found in JP's Facebook Notes (trust this is not > > construed as a violation of intimate privacy, JP :) > > > > <<A colleague recently sent me some IBM propaganda on SOA, BPM and EA. > > Discussing my opinion of the white paper with him sparked an idea for a > > blog entry about the my opinion on the relationship between these three > > methodologies. > > > > Okay, let?s dive into the meat of the issue. What, if any, is the > > relationship between SOA, BPM & EA? First, some quick definitions: > > > > *BPM *is a practice that focuses on identifying if a business process is > > operating within normal operating ranges. How can you tell that? First, > > you identify some key performance indicators (KPI) that you will use to > > measure your business process (this implies you actually understand your > > business), next you have to baseline your current business process; > > lastly, you modify one variable at a time to see the impact it has on > > the process. Since this last step can have financial impact for your > > business, you may want to consider using simulation to assist in this > > process. > > > > *SOA *is a practice that focuses on modeling the entities, and > > relationships between entities, that comprise the business as a set of > > services. This can be done on a small or large scale. Typically, the > > relationships in this model represent consumer/provider relationships. > > Doing SOA correctly implies you are taking a top-down approach. I?ve > > seen/read views that discuss the bottom-up approach to SOA and I don?t > > believe the results of that represent SOA. Perhaps it?s a component > > model, but not a services model. The value of SOA is that you are > > aligning IT with the business using this architecture methodology. > > > > Finally *EA *is the ?Big Kahuna? of architecture practices. It attempts > > to get the architect(s) to take a holistic approach to thinking about > > the organization approaches delivery and support of solutions on an > > enterprise scale. The goal of cataloging and modeling at this scale is > > that you can see ?the forest from the trees?. It?s very easy to think > > about solutions in your organization based purely upon need, but you > > will end up with a set of disparate and disconnected silos. Cataloging > > that need in an EA enables the organization to recognize consistent > > patterns and consolidate around them. Thus, operational costs are > > reduced, redundancy is avoided and time is spent solving the unique > > aspects of new problems rather than continually reinventing the same > > solutions over and over again. > > > > Now I will provide my opinion on the relationships between these > > methodologies: > > > > SOA & BPM: SOA & BPM are methodologies, not tools or technologies. It?s > > irrelevant if SOA suites can do BPMS or BPMS suites support SOA. There > > is no inherent relationship between these methodologies just because > > vendors discovered that that they can use Web Services as a means of > > execute a task within a business process. Web Services is not SOA, it is > > merely a standardized approach to accessing functionality on remote > > systems. > > > > However, a well-designed SOA can simplify BPM by enabling rapid business > > process modeling that only needs to go as deep as identifying the right > > service rather than having to identify the entire sub-task. SOA can also > > simplify BPM by denoting in the service the types of KPIs that the > > service maintains for itself. This requires full understanding that a > > service is a measurable unit and that metrics are a key component to > > development of the service contract. If you can?t measure it, it?s not a > > service! > > > > EA, SOA & BPM: SOA and BPM are views within the enterprise architecture. > > They don?t replace the need for EA and they cover only a small subject > > of EA?s requirements.>> > > > > Gervas > > >
