Keynote: Leveraging Reusable Architectural Decision Models as a Design Method for Service-Oriented Architecture Construction
Keynote ECOWS 2007
Leveraging Reusable Architectural Decision Models as a Design Method for Service-Oriented Architecture Construction by Olaf Zimmermann
Numerous research efforts regarding service-oriented computing and Web services are currently underway. Most of these efforts focus on advancing the state of the art in infrastructure and programming model design; service composition, dynamic matchmaking, and service virtualization are particularly popular topics. Regrettably, very few researchers investigate design-time aspects such as the identification, specification, and realization of business-aligned services of quality and style.
In this talk, we argue that the absence of a prescriptive service realization method is a key inhibitor for a broad and sustainable adoption of service-oriented architecture concepts and Web service technologies in
practice. We review several existing service engineering methods from academia and industry and discuss what related fields such as object-oriented analysis and design have to offer. Using two case studies from the finance and the telecommunications industries, we then show that none of the existing approaches meets all requirements observed in practice. Next, we introduce reusable architectural decision models as a design method for service realization that is both comprehensive and comprehensible, and present excerpts of such a pre-populated SOA Decision Model. We close with a call to action for further research.
Olaf Zimmermann
Research Staff Member, Executive IT Architect
IBM Zurich Research Laboratory