I believe that IBM uses a proprietary methodology to model services during their consulting engagements. Components in the methodology include domain-specific capability, process, and data models (developed over the course of many engagements).
Anne On Monday, May 25, 2009, htshozawa <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 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 me > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
