Enterprise Integration Governance
As with any corporate governance, Enterprise Integration governance is the responsibility of the board of directors and executive management. Enterprise Integration includes Service-Oriented Architecture governance (SOA governance) and Business Process Management governance (BPM governance). Developing an effective Enterprise Integration means aligning information technology with business processes. If the business side has strategic demand for projects and plans that can best be implemented with BPM and SOA, then the BPM and SOA implementation needs to be governed by a combination of people, policies, and processes that are led by strategic or executive, management.
Enterprise Integration governance is more than a group of people who meet to talk about Enterprise Integration topics, create Enterprise Integration policy, and then retreat to business as usual. Establishing Enterprise Integration governance can be challenging and disruptive to an enterprise's Enterprise Integration efforts. Many corporate battles can be eliminated if there is a clear boundary of domain areas and a clear definition of what is in the Enterprise Integration policy. Enterprises that succeed in establishing an effective Enterprise Integration governance don’t have just one group that calls itself the Enterprise Integration governance committee, they have a network of governance bodies. In organizations where there is just one committee, it tends to be very strategic and doesn’t view Enterprise Integration governance as necessary to support all Enterprise Integration activities through their full lifecycle. Typically, there will be multiple groups in most organizations that provide strategic and tactical governance.
Enterprise Integration governance involves strategic and tactical layers of abstraction which must be considered at the beginning of an Enterprise Integration implementation.
- The strategic layer: Enterprise Integration governance is necessary to mediate Enterprise Integration conflicts and communicate the mission and vision of the organization. This layer of abstraction determines what Enterprise Integration policies are chosen, what platforms are deployed, and what constitutes the reference SOA architecture for the enterprise. At this layer, executive management needs to make sure IT understands the business issues of the enterprise, and is using technology to implement, rather than drive, business processes.
- The tactical layer : Enterprise Integration governance at the tactical layer is carried out by cooperation between department heads in business and IT. Technology is used to control where services reside, deployment, operation, or versioning of services. The tactical layer of Enterprise Integration governance is often implemented ad hoc throughout the organization as SOA and Business Process Management Systems/Services (BPMS) pilots, projects, and programs that emerge. Ad hoc governance doesn’t work. You must use a formal governance process with centralized tools from day one.
At the beginning of an Enterprise Integration governance implementation the organization should be able to answer questions like:
- Who in the enterprise is responsible for Enterprise Integration governance?
- What services should be implemented?
- Which services will be implemented first?
- Who will finance the service developments?
- Who will maintain and develop the service?
- What are the requirements for availability and performance of the service to meet business processes?
Just as BPM, BPMS, and SOA implementation is meant to be ongoing and reflect business needs, Enterprise Integration governance is meant to be ongoing. Enterprise Integration governance needs to be focused in two dimensions. One dimension of governance is focused on building processes and services that accurately and efficiently maintain the relationship between each constructed process or service and the physical legacy applications. Additionally you must account for the data stores supporting the legacy processes and applications. The other dimension is focused on how BPMS and SOA services are delivered to the consumer in an efficient and engaging manner that results in a positive experience. This requires responsibility for governing the delivery of processes and services consistent with corporate business objectives.
last updated 2010/02/06