An Example of a SOA Strategy: “Government of Canada Service Oriented Architecture Strategy - Statement of Direction”

You have to hand it to some organizations, they are indeed thinking proactively around SOA. Case is point is the "Government of Canada Service Oriented Architecture Strategy - Statement of Direction." You can find it on-line here.

From the Introduction:

"In this context "Service Orientation" is the planning and delivery of all services by formally componentizing each of the services and their subordinate services such that the overall collection of services work as a whole and supports a high level master-plan (or strategic design).

This document introduces the Service Oriented approach and the GC SOA reference model that provides all departments and agencies a statement of direction and orientation to help ensure a consistent adoption of SOA in support of a cohesive approach to service delivery across government."

In essence, they are stating a few critical things. First, that SOA is strategic and we're moving in that direction. Second, we want to do it consistently and thus why this document (site) exists. Moreover, kudos to them for putting it on the Web, that shows commitment.

In reading further:

"This document provides a statement of direction for a GC Service Oriented Architecture. The statement of direction consists of:

An announcement of CIOB's intent to place a strong emphasis on service oriented architecture;

An introduction to the concept of service orientation, its benefits and implications; and

An outline of next steps planned by CIOB to provide specific guidance in the adoption of Service Oriented Architecture across the Government of Canada."

Unfortunately, I can't really point to similar document on the US government side of things that is as specific or direct. However, that does not mean they don't exist, perhaps my blog readers can point me to a few.

What's exciting about this to me is that it's so direct, and provides specific guidance, not just "we're moving towards SOA" but how we intend to do it, and why it's important. Moreover, there is a fairly complete definition of the value, thus validating this direction.

I would urge you to read through this and perhaps use it as a template for your own SOA strategy…commercial or government.

Posted by Dave Linthicum on December 7, 2007 06:44 AM

http://weblog.infoworld.com/realworldsoa/archives/2007/12/soa_wins_in_veg.html?source=NLC-SOA&cgd=2007-12-11