To understand the relationship between Business Architecture and SOA, we first need to ask the question what are these two types of architecture? For a description of SOA, see my July SOAInstitute article “Key Components of SOA” at http://www.soainstitute.org/articles/article/article/key-components-of-soa.html. So the next question is “What is Business Architecture”? While there are many available definitions, here are a few that I found useful.
Business architecture is, as my co-chair Ken Orr has said, the “missing link” in the architecture puzzle. While our first architecture conference this past spring focused on Enterprise Architecture, we found a groundswell of support from our attendees and analysts for drilling into the specifics of Business Architecture.
Organizations have two universes in constant flux; business architectures and IT architectures. Now a third factor has entered the mix – services oriented architecture (SOA). As organizations seek to align business and IT architectures, SOA can play a key role in streamlining this process. This article discusses how SOA helps align business and IT architectures to deliver more effective, more efficient responses to ongoing business demands – on a transitional basis and over the long-term.
IT architectures are merely a reflection of what business units have been requesting for decades. As the business changed, so too did the IT environment. Unfortunately, complex and often redundant data and application architectures can no longer adapt to increasingly dynamic business requirements. Coupled with the fact that the business architecture itself may be ill suited to respond to industry dynamics, it is clear that enterprise architecture realignment must be a collaborative effort involving key business and IT stakeholders.
Retooling entrenched business processes requires retooling one's information systems. This may involve replacing systems or, in other cases, significantly reworking those systems. In either case, knowledge of the underlying rules that govern those systems is essential...
IT architectures are merely a reflection of what business units have been requesting for decades. As the business changed, so too did the IT environment. Unfortunately, complex and often redundant data and application architectures can no longer adapt to increasingly dynamic business requirements. Coupled with the fact that the business architecture itself may be ill suited to respond to industry dynamics, it is clear that enterprise architecture realignment must be a collaborative effort involving key business and IT stakeholders.
You have dedicated significant resources to creating a services oriented architecture (SOA), investing heavily in hardware, software and personnel. You have trained people, hired experts, engaged vendors and deployed small scale services under an SOA framework. You have moved beyond the crawling stage and are ready to advance to the next stage of SOA deployment. But there is an elephant in the room no one wants to mention – your existing systems.
Large-scale information systems are impacted in a variety of ways as organizations retool business processes and undergo related transformations. Whether migrating, redesigning, consolidating or replacing existing systems, analysts need to gain a better understanding of underlying systems functionality.
I often find organizations trying to modernize application systems while concurrently retooling business processes. On the surface it would seem logical that business process redesign would precede major IT retooling initiatives, yet my experience suggests that organizations often begin modernization projects in the absence of a well articulated business process model.
Business analysts continue to streamline and consolidate business processes to stay competitive and lower costs. As this occurs, entrenched application systems can impede these efforts. To fully realize the goal of business process retooling efforts, organizations may need to retool the legacy applications and data structures supporting those processes.
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