Architecture - Prepare

During the prepare phase of the architecture aspect there are a number of challenges such as Context, Vision and Architecture Method selection that needs to be addressed.

In this post I will talk about Context.

The context of the SOA needs to be defined at the very start of the architecture work. The context is used to limit the scope of the SoA in some way, e.g. a set of business areas, certain business activities or certain products or solving a specific problem.

What is the starting point for creating a SOA? Traditionally, we create architectures in terms of the design of a specific or general solution to some business problem or opportunity. But with the SoA world, we may have to start earlier – even creating the architecture to identify problems and opportunities in the first place.

In the SoA world, the business focus is to provide value-adding services to its customers. What you as a business have to decide is: what is a reasonable and economically viable set of services to offer. And then you build a platform of services. This is not a complete architecture to one problem – it is a partial architecture to many different problems, in many different contexts. That’s how you get reuse, economics of scale and scope, and ultimately business value.

So how to your resolve this challenge!

The context should be based on both getting short term and long term benefits. The first attempts on SoA should quickly deliver business value easy to measure (low hanging fruit). The SoA architecture work can be based on context definitions derived from a specific known business problem; from creating an architecture in a specific domain within the enterprise; or from creating an architecture for the eco-system of the enterprise. The context shall always be documented and agreed with the steering group, responsible for the architecture work.

So we have a few major types of context definition processes:

• Problem related process
• Business Domain related process
• Eco-system related process

Problem related process
Identify Business Problem
Identify Problem Stakeholders
Define Boundaries of Problem
Document and Agree on Problem & Scope

Business Domain related process
Define Domain
Identify Domain Stakeholders
Identify Domain Experts
Identify Short and Long-term Domain Strategies
Document and Agree on Domain and Strategies

Eco-system related
Identify Ecosystem
Identify Stakeholders
Identify Interactions
Identify Short and Long-term Ecosystem Strategies
Document and Agree on Ecosystem and Strategies

Simple as sliced bread!!!

This was all for this time. Next time I will talk about the Vision.

See ya later
Mats