Services are the building blocks of SOA, and like building blocks of a house or a building, the quality will define the value of the finished product. In this case, the SOA itself.
SOA Watch: When Considering Services…
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The Business Architecture Life Cycle
In the realm of Information Technology, a commonly-employed software development methodology is the Systems Development Life Cycle, usually abbreviated SDLC, which describes a systematic, if generalized approach to developing and deploying new software. While details can vary, the steps typically include analysis, design, implementation, testing, and maintenance.
BPMS Watch: BPM Hall of Fame
Is there a BPM Hall of Fame? I don’t think so, but there should be, to recognize the true pioneers and innovators in the field. BPM’s core ideas and technologies come from several divergent fields, and my list would include those who first introduced them – ideas about what a business process is, and what managing one really means. Thinking about who should be in a BPM Hall of Fame is a fun exercise, and you might it helpful in framing your own views.
BPM Supports a New Way of Working – The Dynamics of Swarming
What makes a flock of birds or a school of fish move as if they are a single entity? What makes them all suddenly rise, turn and accelerate at the same time? There is something else at work here than just a leader bird or a captain fish telling all the others what to do. This quick coordinated behavior from large groups of individuals is called swarming.
Deciding on the Right Level of Business Process Documentation
One of the most ambiguous terms in business today is “process documentation”. It has become the key phrase looked for whether it’s a prospective employee looking for that process-centric organization, an employer trying to lure talented workers or a CEO providing proof of compliance to corporate auditors or assuring the Board of Directors that the organization has achieved a process maturity level consistent with its key goals and objectives.
Integrating Lean and Six Sigma
Both the Lean and the Six Sigma methodologies have proven that it is possible to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, and time by focusing on process improvement. Six Sigma is focused on reducing variation and improving process yield by following a problem-solving approach using statistical tools, Lean is primarily concerned with eliminating waste and improving flow by following the Lean principles and a defined approach to implement each of these principles.
Business Architecture: Post Merger/Acquisition
Any Business Architect can make a case for developing and maintaining business architecture for any business situation; it is the best way to create agility, align IT with the business, and establish the governance that keeps the business focused on the stated strategy. However, there is one situation that benefits from business architecture that is more obvious than any other – merger/acquisition.
BPMS Watch: Organizing Complex BPMN Models
When you first begin to model processes with BPMN, it’s hard to look past the challenge of the notation itself – all the event types, flow control patterns, exception handling patterns, and the rules for sequence flows and message flows. With a bit of training and practice, the rules and diagram patterns soon become second nature, and that part of the modeling effort gets easy.
Adapting ERP Solutions, via SOA, to the Business Needs of Government
Government decision makers faced with the need to streamline their business operations have begun to worry that the architectural construct we call services-oriented architecture (SOA) cannot be reconciled with the implementation of bundled, enterprise-wide product suites – a.k.a. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions.
SOA Watch: Most SOA Consultants Need a Lesson in SOA
Many people in the planning stages for SOA do not get the proper advice and guidance as to how to proceed, or even what a SOA actually is.
