Patent Application
20100250298
The present invention generally describes prioritization enablement within service-oriented architecture.
It is known for organizations to use service-oriented architecture (SOA) methods, systems and governance models to develop and deploy shareable and reusable services which need to evolve over time. SOA governance generally encompasses an entire organization involved in a transformation and requires participation by multiple stakeholders in definition and realization. However, existing information technology (IT) and SOA governance methods have inadequacies and do not drive effective change and service adoption across an enterprise, generally ignoring business domain aspects of SOA governance and management.
Methods provide a service-oriented architecture prioritization enablement framework. Business objectives and principles indicative of a service-oriented architecture enterprise are defined and categorized with respect to a plurality of business objectives and principles categories. Groupings of individual measurable business goals are defined and categorized with respect to each of the business objectives and associated principles categories. Total weight values are determined for each of the business goals as a product of an individual weighting values and base weightings of the business objectives and principles categories. The business goal total weight values are iteratively applied priority values of a service of the service-oriented architecture associated with each business goal to generate a weighted priority values for each business goal for all of the plurality of service priority values. The weighted business goal priority values are aggregated to produce an aggregated priority weighting value for the service, and the service is prioritized relative to another service as a function of comparing aggregated priority weighting values. In one aspect, methods comprise providing a programmable device configured to perform at least one of defining business objectives and principles, categorizing the business objectives and principles, defining groupings of individual measurable business goals, determining total weight values for each of the business goals, applying total weight values to service priority values, aggregating weighted priority values and prioritizing services.
Service methods are also provided comprising deploying programmable devices, logic components or applications for providing a service-oriented architecture prioritization enablement framework according to the method steps described above, for example by a service provider who offers to implement, deploy, and/or perform functions for others. Still further, articles of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program in said medium are provided. Such program code comprises instructions which, when executed on a computer system, cause the computer system to perform one or more method and/or process elements described above for providing a service-oriented architecture prioritization enablement framework. Moreover, systems, articles and programmable devices are also provided, configured for performing one or more method and/or process elements of the current invention for providing a service-oriented architecture prioritization enablement framework, for example as described above.
These and other features of the methods, systems and devices according to the present application will be more readily understood from the following detailed description of the various aspects of the embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The drawings are not necessarily to scale. The drawings are merely schematic representations, not intended to portray specific parameters of the invention. The drawings are intended to depict only typical embodiments of the invention, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention. In the drawings, like numbering represents like elements.
For convenience, the Detailed Description of the Invention has the following sections:
I. General Description; and
II. Computerized Implementation.
Examples of SOA aspects and governance processes according to the present invention may be found in the following commonly-owned and co-pending U.S. patent applications or issued U.S. patents, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference: “Identifying a Service Oriented Architecture Shared Services Project”, attorney docket no. END920080252US1, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “Evaluating a Service Oriented Architecture Shared Services Project”, attorney docket no. END920080288US1, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “Service Oriented Architecture Shared Service Inception”, attorney docket no. END920080289US1, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “Service Oriented Architecture Shared Services Elaboration”, attorney docket no. END920080290US1, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “Service Oriented Architecture Shared Services Construction”, attorney docket no. END920080291US1, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “Transitioning to Management of a Service Oriented Architecture Shared Service”, attorney docket no. END920080292US1, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “Service Oriented Architecture Shared Service Management”, attorney docket no. END920080293US1, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “Service Oriented Architecture Shared Service Escalation”, attorney docket no. END920080294US1, filed on (to be provided), and was assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “SOA Policy Versioning”, attorney docket no. END920080316US-IEN106616, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “FRAMEWORK FOR VARIATION ORIENTED ANALYSIS FOR SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE”, attorney docket no. END920080317US1-IEN106617, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY EXPLORATION FOR SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE ENVIRONMENTS”, attorney docket no. END920080318US1-IEN106618, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “SOA Lifecycle Governance and Management”, attorney docket no. END920080319US1-IEN106619, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “ENABLING SOA GOVERNANCE USING A SERVICE LIFECYCLE APPROACH”, attorney docket no. END920080320US1-IEN106620, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “CALIBRATION FRAMEWORK FOR EFFORT ESTIMATION”, attorney docket no. END920080321-IEN106621, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “SERVICE PORTFOLIO APPROACH FOR SOA GOVERNANCE”, attorney docket no. END920080386US1-IEN106642, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “SERVICE EVOLUTION APPROACH IN SOA”, attorney docket no. END920080387US1-IEN106643, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided); “CAPABILITY AND MATURITY-BASED SOA GOVERNANCE”, attorney docket no. END920080388US1-IEN106644, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application serial no. (to be provided); and “SOA POLICY ENGINE FRAMEWORK”, attorney docket no. END920080390US1-IEN106646, filed on (to be provided), and assigned application Ser. No. (to be provided).
SOA governance may be understood to encompass an entire organization involved in a transformation and should require participation by multiple stakeholders in definition and realization. A well-defined governance framework and underlying model helps to drive effective change across an enterprise, and may be a key to success irrespective of an entry point chosen by an enterprise for an SOA transformation. Additionally, an effective SOA governance model may be realized by establishing a governance body comprising domain owners and stakeholders with delegated responsibility for decision making.
One impact of a move toward services orientation is a business units' (BU) consideration of an ‘enterprise perspective’ while making decisions and planning for shared services, rather than solely through their own BU perspective. It is desired for BU's to thus consider interdependencies with other units and any needs to depend on other units for some services needed, and further wherein each BU should deemphasize local optimization in favor of global, enterprise-wide optimization with respect to utilizing shared services.
In the embodiment of
Base weightings 65 are provided and balanced and distributed throughout each of the business goal 62 in a multiple level process, producing a total weight value 63 for each of the business goals 62. At a first level, the broadest categories for scoring each of the business objectives and principles are provided by the categories 54/56/58/60, which each receive a first level base weighting assignment of “45%” 64, “20%” 66 “20%” 68 and “15%” 70, respectively, representing a total distribution of possible base weightings as indicated by a total value 72 of the category base weighting of 100%. At a second level, individual intra-category base weighting distribution values 67 are apportioned and to each of the business goals 62 as a function of business objectives and principles category 54/56/58/60 business goal groupings 69a, 69b, 69c and 69d, respectively, wherein totals of the intra-category base weighting distribution values 67 within each category 54/56/58/60 grouping 69a, 69b, 69c and 69d also each define a total intra-category base weighting distribution value 74, 76, 78 and 80, respectively, of 100%.
In some embodiments, the category base weightings 64/66/68/70 and/or the individual intra-category base weightings 67 may be populated with initial default values as an organization initiates the usage of the present framework 50, which may be adjusted by a user over time as an organization matures and gathers historical data for use in fine-tuning the template 50 and application thereof. For example, initial default values may be adjusted as a function of comparing current organization observation data to historical organization observation data.
At a third distribution level, each of the business goals 62 is then assigned a total weight value 63 as a function of its individual intra-category base weighting distribution value 67 and the base weighting 64, 66, 68 or 70 of its category 54/56/58/60. Accordingly, each category grouping of total weight values 84a, 84b, 84c and 84d have a total value equal to their respective category base weight values 64, 66, 68 and 70, respectively, and a total value 82 of all of the distributed business goal 62 total weight values 63 equals 100%, thus reflecting a first, second and third level-generated total and complete distribution of all possible weighting percentage values throughout all of the defined business goals 62.
The model 50 extends foundational criteria set and provides the mechanisms to identify the business services 90, corresponding business programs 92 and their respective alignment to their business services domains 94. The construct 50 provides flexibility and allows an analytical approach to determine cross-business unit business services leverage. In one aspect, identifying each of the various business services 90 and the business services domains 94 as provided in the framework 50 may be accomplished through application of a Business Model Driven Interactive Platform for Service Identification model described in one or more of the above incorporated references, through an interactive platform design used to identify business process 90 overlaps, business domain 94 and process 90 classification, program 92 dependency, etc., which helps to arrive at a business unit accountability matrix wherein priority “balance” is captured as prioritization ratings 96.
More particularly, in the present example, each of the services 90 are rated for integration with respect to each of the business goals 62 on a 1-to-3 scale, with 1 representing “very little integration,” 2 representing “average integration” and 3 representing “very high integration,” resulting in populating the template 50 with a plurality of individual ratings 96 for each business goal 62. Other scales may be used as well, including 1-to-5 and 1-to-10 scales as well as non-integer or continuous rating value systems, and the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein. Each rating 96 may be captured from multiple stakeholders and aggregated as an average to arrive at a consensus of prioritization, or it may also be accomplished using one single output from one single stakeholder representing an overall organization for SOA prioritization. The ratings 96 are clustered in groupings 98a, 98b, 98c and 98d corresponding to the respective business goal groupings 69a, 69b, 69c and 69d for each of the services 90, and at a fourth level of a prioritization process according to the present invention each of the integration ratings 96 are weighted by application of their respective total weight values 63 and as weighted then aggregated into weighted category rating values 100a, 100b, 100c and 100d for each of the respective business goal groupings 69a, 69b, 69c and 69d, which are then added together to produce total integration weight values 102 for each of the services 90.
For example, the Service No. 190a is assigned an integration rating value 96ai of 1 (
This process is repeated for each of the other integration ratings 96 of the business goal category groupings 69b, 69c and 69d and respective integration rating groupings 98b, 98c and 98d for the Service No. 190a, producing an aggregate weighted category integration rating value 100ba of “0.44” for the business goal grouping 69b/integration rating grouping 98b, an aggregate weighted category integration rating value 100ca of “0.50” for the business goal grouping 69c/integration rating grouping 98c, and an aggregate weighted category integration rating value 100da of “0.30” for the business goal grouping 69d/integration rating grouping 98d. The aggregate weighted category integration rating values 100aa, 100ba, 100ca and 100da are then added together to produce a total integration weight value 102a for the Service No. 190a of “2.0.” These process are further repeated for each of the reminding service 90b, 90c and 90d, resulting in the production of total integration weight values “2.2” 102b for the Service No. 290b, “2.1” 102c for the Service No. 390c, and “1.6” 102d for the Service No. 490d.
A power source 205 is configured to provide operative power to the device 200; examples include battery units 205 and power inputs configured to receive alternating or direct current electrical power, and other appropriate power units 205 will be apparent to one skilled in the art. A communication port or network link/node means (“com port”) 207 is also provided and configured to enable data and other communications as may be appropriate, for example as discussed above.
One aspect of promoting shared services through SOA in organizations is to plan and define the transformation needs through prioritizing SOA initiatives. This includes all supporting roles and processes to meet the growing business requirements. The present invention (for example embodiments illustrated in
Specifically, as organizations mature towards a shared services environment through adoption of SOA, organization-wide impacts may include: planning and governance of services in early stages of a business lifecycle; more interaction between IT divisions and business units to help align individual business goals and objectives through prioritization; usage of a common shared services infrastructure based on individual business unit and enterprise prioritization; and evolution in the prioritization of common resource pools in a shared services world. Each of these organization-wide impacts may necessitate planning and governance to address prioritization of SOA initiatives and corresponding services, which should facilitate the collaboration of the various business units and also the concerned IT units, and can further help staff plan and determine capacity while at the same time filling a necessary gap of facilitating complex issues around funding and ownership of shared services in an SOA.
Prior art models and frameworks adopted by various organizations (for example the prior art model 01 of
In contrast, the SOA prioritization enablement framework 50 according to the present invention and described above contains unique elements not taught by the prior art, illustratively but not exhaustively including: providing a framework 50 (as well as supporting models as described in one or more of the related references incorporated above) to enable SOA program prioritization; providing a prescriptive process that can be adopted using the supporting models; providing a framework-driven approach that can be adopted as an independent organizational governance capability; providing leveraging which may be integrated seamlessly into existing organizational governance processes; providing capability for integrating business services capability redundancy elimination in an overall process of prioritization; providing a framework 50 (as well as supporting models as described in one or more of the related references incorporated above) that enables execution in a collaborative environment as well as by an individual, and thus which can also be applied at a business unit level as well as at a cross-business unit-enterprise level along, with a focus on an overall eco-system; and providing an end-to-end framework 50 that enables SOA program/project prioritization while taking into account both cross-business domains of services and an individual set of SOA services.
The framework 50 may used in a multi-step process in a stand-alone prioritization capability, or it may be seamlessly integrated into an enterprise's organizational governance processes. In some examples, a multi-step process includes establishing business value criteria and assigning base weights; identifying service-oriented opportunities through a goals and objectives analysis in a business value analysis prioritization model; classifying programs through foundational, interlocked and critical business impact aspects; performing business domain and process classification through a program dependency-business unit accountability matrix and priority balancing; performing business process and business services dependency analysis; and performing program and business services scoring through a balanced scorecard.
Referring now to
As shown, the computer system 304 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 312, a memory 316, a bus 320, and input/output (I/O) interfaces 324. Further, the computer system 304 is shown in communication with external I/O devices/resources 328 and storage systems 332. In general, the processing unit 312 executes computer program code, such as the code to implement various components of the process and systems, and devices as illustrated in
While executing computer program code, the processing unit 312 can read and/or write data to/from the memory 316, the storage system 332 (e.g. the, and/or the I/O interfaces 324. The bus 320 provides a communication link between each of the components in computer system 304. The external devices 328 can comprise any devices (e.g., keyboards, pointing devices, displays, etc.) that enable a user to interact with computer system 304 and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system 304 to communicate with one or more other computing devices.
The computer infrastructure 308 is only illustrative of various types of computer infrastructures for implementing the invention. For example, in one embodiment, computer infrastructure 308 comprises two or more computing devices (e.g., a server cluster) that communicate over a network to perform the various process steps of the invention. Moreover, computer system 304 is only representative of various possible computer systems that can include numerous combinations of hardware.
To this extent, in other embodiments, the computer system 304 can comprise any specific purpose-computing article of manufacture comprising hardware and/or computer program code for performing specific functions, any computing article of manufacture that comprises a combination of specific purpose and general-purpose hardware/software, or the like. In each case, the program code and hardware can be created using standard programming and engineering techniques, respectively. Moreover, the processing unit 312 may comprise a single processing unit, or be distributed across one or more processing units in one or more locations, e.g., on a client and server. Similarly, the memory 316 and/or the storage system 332 can comprise any combination of various types of data storage and/or transmission media that reside at one or more physical locations.
Further, I/O interfaces 324 can comprise any system for exchanging information with one or more of the external device 328. Still further, it is understood that one or more additional components (e.g., system software, math co-processing unit, etc.) not shown in
The storage system 332 can be any type of system (e.g., a database) capable of providing storage for information under the present invention. To this extent, the storage system 332 could include one or more storage devices, such as a magnetic disk drive or an optical disk drive. In another embodiment, the storage system 332 includes data distributed across, for example, a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or a storage area network (SAN) (not shown). In addition, although not shown, additional components, such as cache memory, communication systems, system software, etc., may be incorporated into computer system 304.
While shown and described herein as a method and a system, it is understood that the invention further provides various alternative embodiments. For example, in one embodiment, the invention provides a computer-readable/useable medium that includes computer program code to enable a computer infrastructure to implement methods, systems and devices according to the present application, for example as illustrated in
It is understood that the terms “computer-readable medium” or “computer useable medium” comprise one or more of any type of physical embodiment of the program code. In particular, the computer-readable/useable medium can comprise program code embodied on one or more portable storage articles of manufacture (e.g., a compact disc, a magnetic disk, a tape, etc.), on one or more data storage portions of a computing device, such as the memory 316 and/or the storage system 332 (e.g., a fixed disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a cache memory, etc.), and/or as a data signal (e.g., a propagated signal) traveling over a network (e.g., during a wired/wireless electronic distribution of the program code).
Still yet, computer infrastructure 308 is intended to demonstrate that some or all of the components of implementation according to the present application could be deployed, managed, serviced, etc. by a service provider who offers to implement, deploy, and/or perform the functions of the present invention for others, for example by licensing methods and browser or application server technology to an internet service provider (ISP) or a cellular telephone provider. In one embodiment, the invention may comprise a business method that performs the process steps of the invention on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis. Thus, a service provider can create, maintain, support, etc., a computer infrastructure, such as the computer infrastructure 308 that performs the process steps of the present application for one or more customers, and in return the service provider can receive payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or the service provider can receive payment from the sale of advertising content to one or more third parties.
In still another embodiment, the invention provides a computer-implemented method for enabling the processes, methods and devices according to the present application. In this case, a computer infrastructure, such as computer infrastructure 308, can be provided and one or more systems for performing the process steps of the invention can be obtained (e.g., created, purchased, used, modified, etc.) and deployed to the computer infrastructure. To this extent, the deployment of a system can comprise one or more of: (1) installing program code on a computing device, such as computer system 304, from a computer-readable medium; (2) adding one or more computing devices to the computer infrastructure; and (3) incorporating and/or modifying one or more existing systems of the computer infrastructure to enable the computer infrastructure to perform the process steps of the invention.
As used herein, it is understood that the terms “program code” and “computer program code” are synonymous and mean any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a computing device having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following: (a) conversion to another language, code or notation; and/or (b) reproduction in a different material form. To this extent, program code can be embodied as one or more of: an application/software program, component software/a library of functions, an operating system, a basic I/O system/driver for a particular computing and/or I/O device, and the like. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise “computer storage media” and “communications media.”
“Computer storage media” include volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer.
“Communication media” typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as carrier wave or other transport mechanism. Communication media also includes any information delivery media.
The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope of computer readable media.
Certain examples and elements described in the present specification, including in the claims and as illustrated in the Figures, may be distinguished or otherwise identified from others by unique adjectives (e.g. a “first” element distinguished from another “second” or “third” of a plurality of elements, a “primary” distinguished from a “secondary,” one or “another” item, etc.) Such identifying adjectives are generally used to reduce confusion or uncertainty, and are not to be construed to limit the claims to any specific illustrated element or embodiment, or to imply any precedence, ordering or ranking of any claim elements, limitations or process steps.
The foregoing description of various aspects of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously, many modifications and variations are possible. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to a person skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.
