Sustainable IT Architecture: The Progressive Way of Overhauling Information Systems with SOA

Sustainable IT Architecture: The Progressive Way of Overhauling Information Systems with SOA This book focuses on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), the basis of sustainable and more agile IT systems that are able to adapt themselves to new trends and manage processes involving a third party. The discussion is based on the public Praxeme method and features a number of examples taken from large SOA projects which were used to rewrite the information systems of an insurance company; as such, decision-makers, creators of IT systems, programmers and computer scientists, as well as those who will use these new developments, will find this a useful resource.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements xiii Foreword xv Preface xxi Guide for the Reader xxvii Introduction to the SOA Project at SMABTP xxxi Chapter 1. Initial Perspectives 1 1.1. 50 years of computing – an overview 1 1.2. What remains today? 5 Part I. Why a Sustainable Information System? 7 Chapter 2. Company-oriented Services 9 2.1. Consequences of the Internet revolution 9 2.2. What do the leading market players say? 12 2.3. What do the chief information officers think? 14 2.4. The issues faced at general management level 14 2.5. Levels of maturity 16 Chapter 3. SOA Maturity Levels 21 3.1. Towards the creation of a more agile information system 21 3.2. Cosmetic SOA 23 3.3. Extended SOA 24 3.4. Overhaul SOA 26 3.5. The matrices of SOA maturity 28 3.5.1. The matrix showing the definitions of SOA 28 3.5.2. The matrix showing the quality criteria of SOA 29 3.5.3. The matrix showing the strengths and weaknesses of SOA 29 Chapter 4. Economic and Social Aspects 31 4.1. Removal of obstacles that may slow down the progressive overhaul of an information system 32 4.2. The future of IT specialists 33 4.3. Off-shoring 33 4.4. The generation mix 34 4.5. The role of software infrastructure editors 35 Part II. The Principles of SOA 37 Chapter 5. The Properties of SOA 39 5.1. The definition of service for users 41 5.1.1. The user of the service 42 5.1.2. A business ambiguity 42 5.1.3. An example of a business service 43 5.2. The definition of service for IT specialists 44 5.2.1. The granularity of service 44 5.2.2. The separation of concerns 46 5.2.3. The service categories 47 5.2.4. Batch services 49 5.3. The properties of basic SOA 50 5.3.1. Loose coupling 50 5.3.2. Communication by messages 51 5.3.3. Design by contract 52 5.3.4. The limits of the basic properties 56 5.4. The properties of agility 56 5.4.1. The difference between the version and the variant of a service 58 5.4.2. Agility of the data 60 5.4.3. Agility of the rules 65 5.4.4. Agility of the processes 66 5.4.5. Agility of the human–computer interface 67 Chapter 6. Orchestration (BPM and SOA) 69 6.1. Multiple requirements in orchestration 71 6.1.1. Orchestration and SOA maturity levels 71 6.1.2. Functional requirements 73 6.1.3. Technical requirements 75 6.1.4. Enterprise architecture requirements 77 6.2. The levels of orchestration 78 6.2.1. Orchestration at the process level 79 6.2.2. Orchestration at screen level 80 6.2.3. Orchestration at the micro-process level (use cases) 81 6.2.4. Orchestration at the business service level 82 6.2.5. Orchestration between domains through the use of ESB 83 6.2.6. The orchestration of batches 83 6.3. The techniques of orchestration 85 6.3.1. The BPM engine 85 6.3.2. The business rules engine 86 6.3.3. Specific programming 86 6.4. Towards the homogenization of orchestration 87 6.4.1. Unified modeling 87 6.4.2. Unified standard 89 6.5. The benefits of orchestration 91 6.5.1. Advantages 91 6.5.2. Disadvantages 91 Part III. The Need for an Enterprise Method 93 Chapter 7. The Discovery of Services (Reference Framework and Urbanization) 95 7.1. New needs for the information system 96 7.1.1. Expansiveness and progressiveness 97 7.1.2. Mobilizing the many different competences 98 7.2. Why are different methods seldom used within companies? 98 7.3. Reference frameworks 101 7.3.1. Zachman’s framework 101 7.3.2. TOGAF 102 7.3.3. Peter Herzum’s framework 103 7.3.4. Important information to be taken from the reference frameworks 104 7.4. Essential tools 105 7.4.1. UML (Unified Modeling Language) 105 7.4.2. MDA (Model Driven Architecture) 106 7.4.3. Urbanization of the information system 107 Chapter 8. The Praxeme Enterprise Method 111 8.1. Praxeme: the initiative behind a public method 112 8.2. The Praxeme method 112 8.2.1. Product 113 8.2.2. Process 113 8.2.3. Procedures 114 8.2.4. Combining the three dimensions114 8.3. Enterprise system topology according to the Praxeme method 115 8.3.1. Upstream models 115 8.3.2. Logical (SOA), technical and software architecture models 117 8.3.3. Hardware and physical architecture models 117 8.3.4. Enterprise system topology 118 8.3.5. Pre-modeling 119 8.4. What the Praxeme method means for SOA 120 8.4.1. How can we find the correct services? 120 8.4.2. The link between urbanization, the object-oriented approach and SOA 121 8.5. Advantages of the Praxeme method 124 8.5.1. A method that unites different approaches and integrates SOA 124 8.5.2. Risks associated with the Praxeme method 126 Chapter 9. Modeling with Praxeme 129 9.1. The modeling of requirements 130 9.2. Semantic modeling 130 9.2.1. The basic principles 130 9.2.2. How to obtain a semantic model 133 9.2.3. How to validate a semantic model 134 9.2.4. Semantic models and property rights – who owns a semantic model? 134 9.2.5. The structure of a semantic model 135 9.3. Pragmatic modeling 137 9.3.1. The basic principles 137 9.3.2. A new procedure for designing processes 139 9.3.3. Usage view 140 9.4. Pre-modeling 142 9.5. Logical modeling 143 9.5.1. SOA’s style of logical architecture 143 9.5.2. Service-oriented architecture as logical architecture 144 9.5.3. Types of logical components 145 9.5.4. The strata of logical architecture 151 9.5.5. Pivot language 153 9.5.6. Service algorithm specification 154 9.5.7. Specification of the services’ pre- and post-conditions 154 9.5.8. Logical architecture of data 156 9.5.9. Logical architecture of data repositories 157 9.5.10. Logical architecture and user interface 158 9.5.11. Designing a logic for tests 159 9.5.12. Considering ERP 160 9.5.13. Considering existent assets 160 9.5.14. Federation of systems 160 9.5.15. Roles of logical modeling 161 9.6. Logical modeling of batch computing 162 9.7. Technical modeling 163 9.7.1. Required competences 163 9.7.2. Technical/logical negotiation 164 9.8. Software modeling 166 9.8.1. General principles 166 9.8.2. Towards the industrialization of programming 169 9.9. Benefits of the methodology 169 9.9.1. Opportunities 169 9.9.2. Obstacles 171 Part IV. Mastering Existing Techniques 173 Chapter 10. Tools for Industrializing the Method 175 10.1. Requirements in the industrialization of procedures 176 10.2. Frameworks and design patterns 178 10.2.1. From services framework to virtual machines 179 10.2.2. Frameworks and human–machine interfaces 182 10.2.3. Design patterns 186 10.3. Tools for increased agility 189 10.3.1. Rules engine 189 10.3.2. Reference data management system 196 10.4. Representation tools 203 10.4.1. Modeling CASE tool 203 10.4.2. Formal language (pseudo-language) 207 10.4.3. MDA 209 10.5. Tools for tests and management 212 10.5.1. Non-regression tests 212 10.5.2. Designing tests and test data 213 10.5.3. Different levels of tests 214 10.6. Tools for the management of different versions and the configuration of programs 216 10.6.1. The level of versions and variants 216 10.6.2. The level of delivery packages 218 10.7. Benefits of using tools in the method 219 10.7.1. Opportunities 219 10.7.2. Risks 220 Chapter 11. Systems Integration and Common Information Language 223 11.1. New requirements in communication 225 11.1.1. Increase of data flow 225 11.1.2. Considering the business 225 11.1.3. Take the bus! 227 11.2. ESB’s functions 227 11.2.1. Use perimeter 227 11.2.2. ESB’s components 230 11.3. Integrating ESB into SI 235 11.3.1. Towards a common language 235 11.4. ESB’s benefits 239 11.4.1. Opportunities 239 11.4.2. Limitations 240 Chapter 12. SOA Platform 243 12.1. Requirements for the global vision of technical architecture 244 12.2. New technical components 245 12.2.1. The transformation of data 245 12.2.2. From a directory to a registry of services 248 12.2.3. Security 250 12.2.4. Traceability of services in production 252 12.2.5. BAM and CEP 254 12.2.6. Business Intelligence 255 12.2.7. Editing 257 12.3. Managing performance 259 12.3.1. A new order of things? 259 12.3.2. Best practice 260 12.3.3. Testing performance 261 12.4. Managing exploitation 263 12.5. Managing maintenance 269 12.6. Benefits of SOA platforms 265 12.6.1. Opportunities 265 12.6.2. Limitations 266 Chapter 13. Rules Management at the Scale of the Whole Enterprise 267 Jérôme BOYER, ILOG Software 13.1. Overview 267 13.2. Deep view 268 13.3. When to use a rule engine 271 13.4. Logical architecture view 273 13.5. BRMS and SOA 283 Chapter 14. Semantic Integration 287 Erik STEINHOLTZ, Progress Software 14.1. Enabling the adaptive enterprise 288 14.2. Inhibitors for change 289 14.3. Definition of semantic integration 290 14.4. Parallel track information modeling 291 14.5. Change inhibitors addressed with semantic integration 294 14.6. Putting it to work 295 14.6.1. Canonicalizing the BIM 295 14.6.2. The quick win: a pilot project 296 14.6.3. Using the CIM for integration 296 14.6.4. Tools used 297 14.6.5. Managing change and keeping the models alive 298 Conclusion 299 Weblinks 303 Bibliography 305 Special Technical Note 307 Index 309

About the Author :
Pierre Bonnet is co-founder of Orchestra Networks Master Data Management software. He is a Consultant and Director of the SOA project. He is also co-founder of the Praxeme Institute for a public enterprise method, particularly applied to SOA. Jean-Michel Detavernier is Information Director of a mutual insurance company. He is responsible for It studies and Director of the company’s informatization project. Dominique Vauquier, modelization and methodology specialist, is the creator of the public method, Praxeme. He has participated in a large SOA project for an insurance company. Erik Steinholz is a Senior Integration Architect at Progress Software. Jérôme Boyer is a Senior Technical Director at ILOG.