CBDI Forum CBDI Web Services Roadmap. Guiding the transition to Web Services and SOA
 
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Applying Web Services cont'd...

Application Policy

In the CBDI Roadmap report - The Web Services Maturity Model 3 we introduced the concept of Phases, which illustrate limitations in and the progressive approach to capability development. The phases and capabilities provide a framework for policy and decision making. For example, an organization might take the decision that shared data strategies are first order opportunities in the next two years, but that collaborative processes should only be used in non critical environments until certain standards and associated functionality are available.

These phases are not quantified in terms of time, but in terms of capability at any point in time. Let's look at these in terms of a policy framework, which will provide overriding guidance to project managers.

Phase Status Application policy guidance
Phase 1 - Early Learning Little formalization or coordination; technical matters drive activity; Internal or trusted users; exploratory; minimize investment; mostly non secure or using transport level security; non critical business function; low volume application
Phase 2 - Integration Architectures established; some governance policies in place; some infrastructure and management in place; rudimentary SLA's established Mostly internal usage; limited external users and or trusted partners;
Phase 3 - Reengineering Service based process engineering capability in place; significant number of services now available; message level security implemented; sophisticated management tools implemented External and internal users managed on same basis; extensive collaborations with external businesses; significant process reengineering based on new capabilities
Phase 4 - Maturity    

Table 4 - Policy Framework

Managing Participation

From this policy framework it's pretty clear that a major factor in planning Web Services projects is the type of participation. As we show in Figure 2, there's a clear progression of complexity that needs to be managed. As the number of participants grows then one would expect that gaining consensus on the semantics of the Web Service becomes more challenging. Having said that, once standards are established then the need to gain consensus with subsequent users is of course removed.

With reference to the earlier section, Looking for Boundaries, multiple instances of any boundary, as in multiple participants, would increase the value of using Web Services as a solution.

Figure 2 - Managing Participation

Whilst managing dependency itself is nothing new, Web Services make collaborations much easier and cheaper to implement, so the potential for wider participation is much greater.

Participation Horizon Management issues Timescale
Business Unit   Short
Organization Normal sharing issues Medium
Close Business Partners Semantics Medium
Ecosystem Semantics and business model Long
Industry initiative Semantics, business model, possibly intermediary Long

Table 5 - Participation Horizons

Roadmap Actions
Roadmap Actions
Plan & Manage Set policy on types of Web Service application that is relevant to each phase of the maturity model
Infrastructure Implement infrastructure commensurate with Web Service style in use
Architecture Prioritize infrastructure activity according to application priorities, not availability of new technology
Process  
Projects Establish application type priority and weighting mechanisms, and use in project proposal, budgeting and approval processes

3. A Web Services Maturity Model

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