Service-Oriented Architecture Promises Increased Flexibility (continued)
Successful Services Reuse
Once you have identified the services to be reused and shared, consider refining a common service rather than simply duplicating it. "The best way to get to plain-and-simple 'use' instead of the typical so-much-copying-and-pasting 're-use' scenario is to K.I.S.S. -- Keep It Simple and Smart," advises Braski.
"Think Legos," Braski explains. "Given just a handful of basic building blocks with a couple different styles and colors -- presto! You can pretty much create anything you can imagine. Good Lego designers eventually discover a common set of basic 'tricks' or 'patterns' which they can apply time and again to solve problems common to many building challenges. In systems development, services can be as basic as those plastic building bricks."
K.I.S.S. also entails keeping the core definition of the service intact. "Designing a limited set of interactions as messages that are completely abstracted from any implementation or technology underpinning allows other technology-centric configuration and policy elements to change around them," says Sandra Rogers, IDC Program Director, SOA, Web Services and Integration in Framingham, Mass.
As artful as the end product may be, it must still face a reality check. "When several team members revise a document, it soon looks nothing like its original form. A similar situation can occur once a service is in production," says Carter. "This is why IT needs to conduct continuous monitoring to make sure the service meets the established business requirements."
About the Author
Pam Baker is the author of six books and numerous articles for national and international media such as CIO Today, Institutional Investor, Wireless IQ and Knight-Ridder/McClatchy newspapers.
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