Service-Oriented Business Architecture (SOBA)

Abstract

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) can be best defined as “services” that provide a platform for different systems to communicate with each other. This chapter explains how SOA can be the basis in the world of business to bring benefits to the organizations that deploy it. The services I talk about are essentially groups of software components that help a company seamlessly carry out important business processes. SOA implementation makes interoperability between heterogeneous applications and technologies possible.

SOA implementation carries several benefits to the organizations:

• Shortened deployment time

• Reduced operating costs

• Reduced risk of failure

All the above (and more) are the reasons for emergence of the concept of Service-Oriented Business Architecture (SOBA). SOBA can be defined as set of steps executed within business processes in the organization, and this will be as services delivered to these processes. These services can then be matched with IT services or others that deliver the necessary functions. The foundation of this concept has been pioneered by IBM to move the position of SOA from IT to the business domain. SOA, as a style of business architecture, adds value to the business architecture by enabling modularity at the business service level, and this will improve manageability. Relation of SOA and quality will be discussed in this chapter.

At the end of this chapter, you will learn:

• What the Service-Oriented Business Architecture means

• The impact of service-oriented architecture on quality attribute and business goals

• The method that is used to evaluate SOBA