SOA Infrastructure - Back to Future, No. 1

The New SOA Maturity Model

Originally introduced in 2005, the SOA Maturity Model white paper and the Quick Reference diagram were co-authored by business partners Systinet, Amberpoint, BearingPoint and Sonic Software. During a 2005 live webinar an audience poll noted that 40% of the webinar participants were “currently developing a SOA project,” and 37% noted that they would “begin a SOA project within the year”. That same year, Gartner, Inc. predicted that by 2008, "SOA will provide the basis for 80 percent of new development projects." (1) But over the past few years, there has been much skepticism about the ROI and business value of SOA. That doesn't mean that SOA is dead or that companies should abandon their SOA initiatives, it means that it might be worth stepping back to review your original goals and best practices, and move forward to seek the right solutions that will help streamline and cut costs.

The players have changed—Systinet was acquired by HP, Sonic Software was brought back under the Progress Software umbrella, and Progress Software acquired Actional whose product offerings align with Amberpoint—but the goals of any SOA technology provider or practitioner are the same; software reuse, agility and the improved alignment of business and IT. (I like Miko Matsumura’s 2005 post, The Rise of the Software Architect in an SOA World.)

With that, I’d like share the New SOA Maturity Model white paper and quick reference diagram which were updated in 2007. The tone may have changed slightly but it still provides a framework for discussion between IT and business users about the applicability and benefits of SOA in an organization across five levels of SOA maturity, including: Functionality, Cost Effectiveness, Responsiveness of Business and Collaborative Services, Transformation, and Optimization. The benefit of these resources also remains the same… to not only to provide a means for organizations to benchmark current implementations, but to offer a source of inspiration as IT leaders successfully advance the value of SOA within their organizations.

Enjoy!

White Paper: The New SOA Maturity Model >

Quick Reference: The New SOA Maturity Model >

1 Hayward, S. "Positions 2005: Service-Oriented Architecture Adds Flexibility to Business Processes," Gartner, Inc. Feb. 2005.