SOA Watch: Architects gain ground in data wars

By David S. Linthicum

October 15, 2008 — (Page 2 of 2)
I’ve seen architects do one of two things. First, they get the power they need to gain control of the data they need to understand and define for the architecture, typically through advocates at the executive level, if they exist. Or, they work around the ownership issues and they become much less effective.

Obviously, the first option is the better approach, and most effective architects will have the people skills needed to convince the current data owners and stakeholders that the emerging SOA is something that will enhance the business. They are not here to find issues with the data, but to consider how that data can be more effective when leveraged in the context of an agile architecture. However, unlike technology issues, which almost always have a solution, people issues do not.

So, people issues aside, let's get a few things very clear.

First, you can't do SOA right without a clear understanding of the data. I call this a semantic understanding in my SOA methodology, but it's really just defining a common understanding and modeling of the information within the architecture. While this is an important step in defining and designing your SOA, it’s also a step that is most often skipped for the reasons I gave above. However, like the foundation of a house, you need to have a good foundation of data/information to support the architecture.

Second, force that metadata into a CDM for use within the new architecture. The CDM should be more reflective of the business, with clean and understandable schemas and entities. This is both logical and physical, but not yet deployed. The CDM should be around for the existing project or problem domain, and then expand to the entire enterprise. The idea is that we define and normalize the enterprise data, and build upon that foundation.

Finally, figure out a technical approach to managing and changing the data. This may mean a physical change, an abstraction, or larger, more invasive redesign and normalization efforts. There are many tradeoffs here, and this really could be a separate project unto itself. The bad news is that this is a lot of work, and you’ll have to deal with the turf issues as I suggested above. The good news is that within most enterprises, this is desperately needed, even out of the context of SOA.

Any investment here will come back tenfold when you consider the value of agility and support for new business processes down the line.

Reach analyst David S. Linthicum at david@linthicumgroup.com.

Related Search Term(s): professional development, SOA & SaaS

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