January 24, 2008

Defining SOA Service Life-Cycle Management

Understanding A Core SOA Governance Process

by Larry Fulton

with Randy Heffner, Catherine Salzinger, Katie Smillie

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

The objective of service-oriented architecture (SOA) governance is to ensure that an SOA strategy delivers maximum value and SOA service life-cycle management is a fundamental SOA governance activity. The three processes within life-cycle management — service portfolio management, service consumption, and service creation — manage the planning, definition, development, and use of services. Tactically, service life-cycle management ensures that each service is of the highest possible quality and used appropriately. Strategically, service life-cycle management ensures that you are building the right portfolio of services to deliver the highest possible business value over time. Understanding the essentials of these processes and how they relate to each other enables architects to guide their firms' SOA strategy toward delivering consistent business value.