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8.3.2 System Engineering Issues in the Transformation to Service Oriented Architecture
Author(s) -
Halley Marc R.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2005.tb00743.x
Subject(s) - enterprise architecture , enterprise architecture management , service oriented architecture , systems engineering , legacy system , computer science , process management , loose coupling , enterprise architecture framework , modular design , applications architecture , the open group architecture framework , software engineering , engineering management , software architecture , architecture , engineering , software , web service , art , world wide web , visual arts , programming language , operating system
The major problem facing enterprises today is the system engineering of large scale multi‐enterprise “systems of systems“. These initiatives integrate dozens of legacy applications into a “system of pre‐existing systems” that solves a new unexpected problem. A new paradigm called the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been developed in hopes of managing the complexity and adaptability needed. By creating a macro system from loosely coupled modular components, SOA is a solution for the major roadblocks of large‐scale enterprise change: inflexible technology, cross‐organization initiatives, outdated strategic planning, and organizational inertia. However, transitioning to an SOA is a difficult task. Since these projects involve little new software development, the system engineering organization takes the central role. These complex transitions involve uncoupling pre‐existing systems, creating modular components, and loosely re‐coupling these components via common standards. Current widely used enterprise architecture models deal well with static state architectures, but are very limited in the description of transitions between architectures. This paper presents an overview of the issues facing systems engineers when transforming traditional enterprise architecture to a Service Oriented Architecture. The issues are collected together in a strategic issues framework which can be used to guide transformation planning and execution. The framework encompasses the seven transformation issues: a suitable business model, IT governance, enterprise SOA architecture, portfolio investment, risk management, change management, and technology management.