Overview

Service Oriented Architecture (SoA) is one of the architectural frameworks (a collection of guiding design principles, a vocabulary of types of components and assembly rules) used to define and build Information & Communication Technology systems.  As the name implies, SoA is based on building systems that are composed or built from services.  However, SoA is more than just a technology framework, it also has significant implications for business processes that use IT.  This material focuses on:

• Why, when, where and how an organization should use SoA-based IT systems to improve commercial competitiveness and to make their business processes more efficient and effective;
• Why, when, where and how a business should use SoA-based technologies to extend and improve the functionality of their IT products.

Target Audience

This material is aimed at senior managers in SMEs (CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, CFOs and senior middle management).  It is a mix of business and technical materials and so is suitable to non-IT focused managers.  The material is relevant to any SME, in any sector, provided the organization is:

• Looking to develop new versions of its products that either use or are SoA-compatible
• Looking to purchase/adopt systems/tools/applications that are based upon SoA technology.

This material is targeted at decisions makers i.e. people who feel they need to understand the business and technical issues to determine whether or not SoA is relevant to their organization, and if relevant provide guidance on what to do next.

Rationale

eCommerce and network-based delivery of IT services are now accepted business practice.  With more and more services being made available electronically, organizations now face the problems of how to co-ordinate and integrate these to improve their own business processes.  Similarly IT system/tool/application suppliers will soon be expected make their products available as IT services.  SoA is a framework and the technical/business language by which service integration is expressed and achieved.  Large private and public organizations have started to address SoA and its implications.  SMEs must start to consider SoA for two reasons:

• Suppliers of IT system/tool/application products will be required to integrate with this service approach otherwise their sales will decline dramatically over the next 2-3 years
• As more services are made available based upon an SoA framework, every organization needs to assess how it can make best use of these services to improve corporate efficiency e.g. through better management reporting, reduced operational costs, etc.

By making use of the propose training materials a learner will:

• Understand the terminology used for SoA and be able to confidently converse with suppliers of systems/tools/applications that claim SoA relevance
• Be able to determine how they could make use of SoA based services to improve their business/organization operations
• Decide if the IT products they sell should be developed to support a SoA approach.

Use the Materials

A series of six sessions of material have been produced, namely:

• Session 1 – Concepts for Service Oriented Architecture
• Session 2 – the Business Perspective and Opportunities
• Session 3 – SoA Maturity Models
• Session 4 – Enterprise Integration
• Session 5 – Three Case Studies
• Session 6 – Core Technology.

The various learning materials are available using the Table below. There are three ways to learn using this material:

• Listen to the Podcasts – each session is available as a 1 hour podcast. To get all the podcasts, click on the Podcast column header;
• Read the Booklets – each session is available as an electronic book. This book provides in text form the same material presented in the corresponding podcast. To get all the booklets, click on the Booklet column header;
• Create your own teaching materials based upon this content. The available source materials are the Powerpoint slides, the Garageband podcast and the InDesign booklets. To get all the source materials, click on the Source column header.

Use the column header links to view the set of resources. Use the 'Download' buttons to obtain the actual resource. Use the 'View' buttons to provide more details about a resource. For those of you who want use the source materials to make your own material then click on the Source column header.

Session	Podcast	Booklet	Source	All
1
2
3
4
5
6
All

Click on the Source column header to get more information on how to use this the source content to create new learning/training materials.

Licensing

The materials developed under this Digital 20/20 project are made available under a Creative Commons license.

Service Oriented Architecture: Preparing Your Business & IT Products by Colin Smythe, Dunelm Services Limited, June 2009 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

The attribution should be: Colin Smythe, Dunelm Services Limited, June 2009.