Defining Service Ownership For A Service Oriented Architecture

• US 20090198550A1
• Filed: 02/04/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Brown, William A., Holley, Kerrie L., Moore, Garrison A., Tegan, William J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,275,643 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Defining service ownership for an SOA including defining, in response to an event requiring a change in service ownership and in dependence upon data describing business functions within a business, a service domain; reviewing, by a service domain ownership review board, the defined service domain for approval; upon approval of the defined service domain, identifying potential impact upon currently existing service domains caused by implementation of the defined service domain; identifying a potential owner of the defined service domain in dependence upon a service type of the defined service domain and funding requirements of the service domain; presenting, to relevant stakeholders in the business, the potential owner of the defined service domain for approval; and upon approval of the potential owner of the defined service domain, assigning the potential owner of the defined service domain responsibility for managing the defined service domain.

Claims

1. A method of defining service ownership for a Service Oriented Architecture (‘

SOA’

), the method carried out in response to an event requiring a change in service ownership, the method comprising;

defining, in dependence upon data describing business functions within a business, a service domain, including identifying a structure and scope for the service domain;

reviewing, by a service domain ownership review board, the defined service domain for approval;

upon approval of the defined service domain, identifying potential impact upon currently existing service domains caused by implementation of the defined service domain;

identifying a potential owner of the defined service domain in dependence upon a service type of the defined service domain and funding requirements of the service domain;

presenting, to relevant stakeholders in the business, the potential owner of the defined service domain for approval; and

upon approval of the potential owner of the defined service domain, assigning the potential owner of the defined service domain responsibility for managing the defined service domain.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein reviewing, by a service domain ownership review board, the defined service domain for approval further comprises:

determining whether the structure and scope of the defined service domain shares any structure or scope of a currently existing service domain; and

if the defined structure and scope of the defined service domain shares any structure or scope of the currently existing service domain;

determining whether to consolidate the currently existing service domain and the defined service domain or restructure the currently existing service domain.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying potential impact upon currently existing service domains caused by implementation of the defined service domain further comprises:

determining whether implementation of the defined service domain will cause an impact on currently existing service domains; and

if implementation of the defined service domain will cause an impact on currently existing service domains;

determining whether the impact on currently existing service domains is capable of being resolved;

if the impact on currently existing service domains is not capable of being resolved, presenting the impact to a service domain ownership appeals board for appeal; and

receiving a decision from the service domain ownership appeals board.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein after presenting, to relevant stakeholders in the business, the potential owner of the defined service domain for approval, the method further comprises:

determining by the relevant stakeholders whether the potential owner meets ownership criteria; and

if the potential owner does not meet ownership criteria, identifying one or more alternative potential owners.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the event requiring a change in service ownership comprises a decision to create a new service domain.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the event requiring a change in service ownership comprises a decision to create a new service.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

communicating a description of the implementation of the defined service domain and the approved potential owner of the defined service domain to relevant members of the business.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein communicating a description of the implementation of the defined service domain and the approved potential owner of the defined service domain to relevant members of the business further comprises:

tailoring, for communication in dependence upon classifications of the relevant members of the business, the description of the implementation of the defined service domain and the approved potential owner of the defined service domain.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

gathering metrics describing effectiveness of one or more steps of method of defining service ownership for an SOA; and

modifying, in dependence upon the gathered metrics, the method of defining service ownership for an SOA.

10. A system of defining service ownership for a Service Oriented Architecture (‘

SOA’

), the system carried out in response to an event requiring a change in service ownership, the system comprising;

means for defining, in dependence upon data describing business functions within a business, a service domain, including identifying a structure and scope for the service domain;

means for reviewing, by a service domain ownership review board, the defined service domain for approval;

means for identifying, upon approval of the defined service domain, potential impact upon currently existing service domains caused by implementation of the defined service domain;

means for identifying a potential owner of the defined service domain in dependence upon a service type of the defined service domain and funding requirements of the service domain;

means for presenting, to relevant stakeholders in the business, the potential owner of the defined service domain for approval; and

means for assigning, upon approval of the potential owner of the defined service domain, the potential owner of the defined service domain responsibility for managing the defined service domain.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein means for reviewing, by a service domain ownership review board, the defined service domain for approval further comprises means for:

determining whether the structure and scope of the defined service domain shares any structure or scope of a currently existing service domain; and

determining, if the defined structure and scope of the defined service domain shares any structure or scope of the currently existing service domain, whether to consolidate the currently existing service domain and the defined service domain or restructure the currently existing service domain.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein identifying potential impact upon currently existing service domains caused by implementation of the defined service domain further comprises means for:

determining whether implementation of the defined service domain will cause an impact on currently existing service domains; and

if implementation of the defined service domain will cause an impact on currently existing service domains;

determining whether the impact on currently existing service domains is capable of being resolved;

if the impact on currently existing service domains is not capable of being resolved, presenting the impact to an service domain ownership appeals board for appeal; and

receiving a decision from the service domain ownership appeals board.

13. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

means for determining, after presenting, to relevant stakeholders in the business, the potential owner of the defined service domain for approval, by the relevant stakeholders whether the potential owner meets ownership criteria; and

means for identifying, if the potential owner does not meet ownership criteria, one or more alternative potential owners.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the event requiring a change in service ownership comprises a decision to create a new service domain.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the event requiring a change in service ownership comprises a decision to create a new service.

16. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

means for communicating a description of the implementation of the defined service domain and the approved potential owner of the defined service domain to relevant members of the business.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein communicating a description of the implementation of the defined service domain and the approved potential owner of the defined service domain to relevant members of the business further comprises means for:

tailoring, for communication in dependence upon classifications of the relevant members of the business, the description of the implementation of the defined service domain and the approved potential owner of the defined service domain.

18. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

means for gathering metrics describing effectiveness of one or more steps of system of defining service ownership for an SOA; and

means for modifying, in dependence upon the gathered metrics, the system of defining service ownership for an SOA.