WHITE PAPER: STRATEGIC IMPACT PILLARS TO ACHIEVING A HIGH-IMPACT ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE THROUGH SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECHURE

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER: STRATEGIC IMPACT PILLARS TO ACHIEVING A HIGH-IMPACT ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE THROUGH SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECHURE IntelliDyne, LLC MARCH 2012

2 STRATEGIC IMPACT PILLARS TO ACHIEVING A HIGH-IMPACT ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE (EA) THROUGH SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECHURE (SOA) Executive Summary The purpose of this white paper is to introduce IntelliDyne s Four Strategic Impact Pillars to help government CIOs effectively utilize service-oriented architecture as a mechanism to change the way the Federal Government does business. Ultimately, by utilizing a shared services infrastructure, government agencies will provide better service and be ensured cost-savings and a solid return on investment per the federal CIO s mandate of doing more with less. Enterprise Architecture-Service Oriented Architecture, out of two dozen Federal Government IT initiatives, was given a 3.4 on a scale of 5 in terms of importance to the government and its ability to provide cost-effective services. 1 According to Vivek Kundra s, former U.S. Chief Information Officer, 25 Point Implementation Plan To Reform Federal Information Technology Management, As part of a broader IT transformation, the Federal Government needs to fundamentally shift its mindset from building custom systems to adopting light technologies and shared solutions. Too often, agencies build large standalone systems from scratch, segregated from other systems. These systems often duplicate others already within the Federal Government, wasting taxpayer dollars. The growth in datacenters from 432 in 1998 to 2,094 in 2010 highlights this problem. WHAT IS SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE AND WHY DOES IT FIT INTO THE FEDERAL CIO S MANDATE? SOA helps create greater alignment between IT and lines of business while generating more flexibility--it flexibility to support greater business flexibility. Business processes are changing faster and faster, and for the government to remain efficient it requires the flexibility that SOA can provide. SOA can help provide better reuse of existing IT investments and can enhance new services being developed today. SOA makes the integration of your IT investments easier by making use of well-defined interfaces between services. SOA also provides an architectural model for integrating business partners, customers and suppliers services into an enterprise s business processes. This reduces cost and improves customer satisfaction. 1 Note: Mean average ratings Base: 131 respondents in July 2011 and 154 in July 2010 Data: InformationWeek Analytics Federal Government IT Priorities Survey of Federal Government technology professionals White Paper 2

3 Figure 1: IntelliDyne s Strategic Impact Pillars To Achieving a High-Impact Enterprise Architecture (EA) Through Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) STRATEGIC IMPACT PILLAR 1: ALIGN EA WITH THE GOVERNMENT S BUSINESS NEEDS EA is a method and an organizing principle that aligns functional business objectives and strategies with an IT strategy and an execution plan. The EA provides a guide to direct the evolution and transformation of enterprises with technology. This, in turn, makes IT a more strategic asset for successfully implementing a modern business strategy. By taking an enterprise-wide overview of business services, business processes, information, applications, and technology, deploying an enterprise architecture ensures the enterprise goals and objectives are addressed in a holistic way across all IT projects. This enterprise-wide view is critical in identifying shared services opportunities throughout an agency and between an agency and its sub-agencies. Common business patterns are identified during the development of White Paper 3

4 EA. These patterns become prime candidates for shared services in the organization. The EA can then provide a roadmap for implementing these shared services. To be successful, EA should be woven into a business culture, not viewed as a closed-scope project. The value of EA is greatly enhanced when it is organically embedded into the lifecycle of the organization, including capital planning, project management, asset management, resource allocation, and strategy formulation. By eliminating silos, the government becomes more flexible, more able to serve its customers, more costeffective and more nimble. Having stove pipe systems creates unnecessary redundancies, diminishes effectiveness and creates unwanted and unwarranted costs. Simply put, why have ten people doing the same thing, when one can accomplish it quicker and more accurately? STRATEGIC IMPACT PILLAR 2: EMPLOY AN EFFECTIVE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE As in any business, the Federal Government continues to seek mechanisms to better deliver services at less cost. Certainly, SOA can and should play a vital role in establishing an EA. However, starting the process of an EA implementation can be overwhelming. Although, the rewards are clear and the need exists, federal CIOs are, on occasion, unsure how to begin moving the ball forward. Taking the leap to proceed with EA and identifying how an organization begins an EA implementation can determine the overall success of the project. Approaching EA incrementally will set you and your organization up for greater successes than those who opt for complex, unwieldy implementations with the possibility of a lot of long-term returns but very few short-term gains. Perhaps you want everything in your organization that can be service-oriented to be service-oriented, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should do it all at once. In fact, you probably should ease in this technology. Starting small minimizes your risk, improves your success factors and builds confidence and momentum for the next phases. One way to start is with a project that the agency is doing on the mobile platform, thereby having a requirement for data elements from several possible sources. Begin by focusing on what your immediate needs are for the EA based on a SOA solution. Keep in mind that if you don't deliver in the short term, you won't deliver in the long term, and the investment will be promptly shunned. As you are doing these smaller projects, it is important to think about how they funnel into your long-term EA goals. Of course, put those immediate requirements in the context of your longer-term EA platform goals so that your agency can best balance near-term and long-term concerns. White Paper 4

5 Figure 2: IntelliDyne s View of Enterprise Architecture with SOA at Its Core STRATEGIC IMPACT PILLAR 3: DEVELOP THE RIGHT EA TO GAIN OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES AND COST-SAVINGS By developing an Enterprise Service BUS (ESB), a key component of SOA, you can deliver a solution for gathering data from many systems into a layer that allows full manipulation of the data. Thus, it can extend the life of old systems or, if desired, help to retire those systems. In turn, you ll help your users use their data in the most effective way. An ESB helps move data across the network because it eliminates redundant moves. Coordination and governance are key in successfully employing an ESB. An ESB allows you to build applications that solve a particular problem once, and then enables you to propagate the usage of that code across the organization. This reuse of code, as well as having a single structured location to store the data, increases efficiency and eliminates the duplication of code and data in the various silos of the organization. Once the first application is fielded, as new applications are needed, they can be built re-using the same structure (and the data that is already stored in the application). This way, the new application does not require an entirely new database that must store the identifying information. This is when the SOA starts to bring real value: when the application being developed is more efficient from the start and data storage and computer systems can be reused or used more efficiently. As a result, the organization no longer needs to invest in new hardware, software, database structures and storage. This gain, after adding the initial system, is much more apparent than it was in the first application. The gain from subsequent applications is the real benefit of SOA and should be the ultimate goal of the organization. White Paper 5

6 STRATEGIC IMPACT PILLAR 4: SELECT A TRUSTED PARTNER WHO UNDERSTANDS YOUR AGENCY, ITS BUSINESS NEEDS AND HOW EA CAN BE USED TO MEET THOSE NEEDS The federal CIO s mandate represents a dramatic new way to use the Federal Government s resources. Doing more with less, eliminating unnecessary repetition and ensuring data is being shared across agencies is significant in moving the government forward. In today s world of tightening budgets and increased scrutiny, the creation of permanent new structures is just not sustainable. EA will maximize government resources and eliminate unnecessary ones. How will your federal agency best utilize EA? A trusted technology and business partner can help you through all the steps and processes described in this white paper. Your partner should not merely be an installer, putting technology in place. Rather, your partner should know your agency s business; know your goals and work to ensure that your IT needs mesh with the federal CIO s mandate and with your agency and subagencies business needs. Choosing your trusted advisor wisely is critical to your success. The advisor s risk management strategy must be assessed, keeping aware that IT solutions providers are also going through their own transformation to cloud delivery models. And in terms of your staff, you ll need to assess them and determine how well their skills match up to the model being considered. About IntelliDyne, LLC IntelliDyne, LLC is a consulting firm that enables better business performance through innovative technology solutions. We manage public sector programs that deliver higher operational efficiency and measurable value to clients. We advise, develop, and execute effective solutions in Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Application Development, Mobile Computing, Business Process Management, Data Center Consolidation, Enterprise Collaboration and Enterprise Infrastructure Management. For more information, visit our web site at or contact us at cloud@intellidyne- LLC.com. White Paper 6