If there is no formal agreement and management of architectural style and principles then SOA is almost certainly a waste of money. Consistently high levels of business agility will not happen by accident, it will only happen by design and this requires a step change in the execution of architecture and engineering.

Service Architecture & Engineering (CBDI-SAE ™) is a comprehensive, defined approach for service architecture including taxonomy, classification and policies together with repeatable service engineering processes that guide the delivery of the agile enterprise, implemented in a knowledgebase with integrity between the architecture concepts, processes, tasks, techniques and deliverables.

Why Service Architecture & Engineering?
The Knowledgebase
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Related Reports and Links

Many SOA initiatives will fail to deliver on the promise of business agility and reduced cost. Good architectural thinking is often ignored by implementing project and program teams. Many organizations are treating SOA as just another technology to be accommodated into their existing practices. They are delivering and using services but there is no structure to their service activity and there is little or no consensus or consistency across the organization on what SOA is, let alone explicit policies and repeatable processes that permit governance. The result is there is something near service anarchy in many corporations as inconsistent, incomplete and duplicative services are delivered by unchanged solution and integration processes.

SOA requires a differentiated approach that is more analogous to a manufacturing and assembly environment, where different classes of service have different, repeatable processes that reflect varying requirements for funding, provisioning, assembly and management. Enterprises need to adopt more mature architecture and engineering processes and practices for delivering and managing IT assets that more closely parallel other engineering disciplines. This is an essential next step to deliver services that are not only fit for purpose, but also deliver future flexibility, utility and cost.

CBDI Forum Service Architecture & Engineering ™ provides a defined, structured approach to architecture and engineering tasks and deliverables that provides visible traceability from business requirements to implemented services. The structured approach provides the necessary level of formality over policy implementation to ensure governance over business requirements and architectural policies.

The CBDI SAE Knowledgebase has been developed to provide a best practice platform that can enable organizations to rapidly develop mature practices in architecture and engineering.

Knowledgebase Datasheet

SAE and the Knowledgebase are based upon, but also a considerable development of CBDI published materials. The following reports provide an overview and introduction to the methodology and principles underlying the SAE approach documented in the Knowledgebase.

Service Architecture & Engineering

Enterprise adoption of SOA is currently in a very early stage enabled primarily by service based technology. The next phase of adoption will be marked by process and organizational change that enables effective implementation and governance of business service architectures. The combination of mature architecture and engineering practices is critical to delivery of the agile enterprise .

http://www.cbdiforum.com/secure/interact/2006-07/serv_archi_eng.php

A Meta Model for Service Architecture & Engineering from Everware-CBDI

The meta model is presented in the form of several UML class diagrams. Each diagram depicts a number of Service Architecture and Engineering concepts, and shows how these concepts are related. The main attributes of each concept are given. Each of these diagrams provides one particular view of the overall unified meta model.

http://www.cbdiforum.com/public/meta_model_v2.php

The Architecture Component of the SAE™ Reference Framework for SOA

There is no “one size fits all” methodology, ours or anyone else's, and so best practice in method development calls for incorporation of a framework of artifacts, tools and techniques that can be tailored to the nuances of each organization that wants to implement the methodology. However, most popular methods don't tend to focus on the needs of service lifecycle instead covering a broad but typically less focused method landscape. CBDI's SAE™ Reference Framework is built to remedy that problem by highlighting aspects of methodology such as process, techniques and artifacts needed to embrace SOA concepts in a structured manner. This article provides an introduction to the Architecture component of the Reference Framework and the rationale that went into its creation .

http://www.cbdiforum.com/secure/interact/2007-03/the_architecture_component.php

The Service Oriented Process

The rapidly emerging service oriented business world fuels the demand for a truly service oriented process. Many approaches to SOA treat the software process as something entirely different to existing processes, disconnected from traditional lifecycles and approaches to software architecture. This is very unrealistic! Pragmatism is required. Organizations need to move forward at their own pace and in a way that realizes previous investments in processes and best practices. In this article we provide an overview of the work that CBDI has been doing to move this discussion forward and achieve a balanced process .

http://www.cbdiforum.com/secure/interact/2007-02/service_oriented_process.php

Architected Solution Delivery: Enhancing the Service Oriented Process

For some while now CBDI have concentrated their SOA process guidance very much on the provide side of the provide-consume divide. This reflects continuing high demand for advice in SOA analysis and design techniques. At the same time TIBCO have focused on the development of SOA-based solutions targeted at bringing about business process improvements solutions that employ services as one albeit key - part of a complete solution. In short, CBDI's work on SOA and service provisioning, and TIBCO's work on solution delivery as part of a fully architected approach represent a natural marriage. Following collaborative workshops between the two companies, this article provides an overview of that work. We think you'll agree that the result is a more complete and balanced process framework that embraces the shift from pure service consumption to fully architected solution delivery.

http://www.cbdiforum.com/secure/interact/2007-11/architected_solution_delivery_enhancing_service_oriented_bronze.php

SOA Governance Framework

At CBDI we have always advocated that governance needs to be rooted in clear policy definition and in fact devoted an article to this in June 2007. Since that time we have been busy assisting organizations improve SOA governance approaches based on an underlying foundation of clear policy definition. One thing that has emerged vividly from this work is that organizations must move forward at their own pace and in a way that is realistic in terms of their current SOA adoption level. Moreover the approach taken to SOA governance must be in tune with the overall governance requirements and political climate. We have therefore distilled these experiences into an SOA Governance Framework - embracing policy, process, infrastructure and capability maturity - that can be tailored to each organization's specific needs.

http://www.cbdiforum.com/secure/interact/2008-04/challenge_opportunity_br.php