When thinking of SOA governance, I like the analogy of a condo or neighborhood association. That is, there is no single owner -- everyone is the owner. Yet, there has to be some overseer in place to provide support and set policies to keep the neighborhood from disintegrating into a weed-choked, trash-strewn wasteland. Or, even worse, a bunch of houses with drapes that don't match.
But what exactly is governance? Many in the industry talk about registry, change management, and policy management. But there's a lot more to the story than that. It's a people thing. As with the neighborhood association, power has to be delegated to a management committee to fulfill the wishes and needs of the community. People need to feel assured that things are getting done. They need a place to work out their grievances. This all applies to the enterprise as well.
So, yes, governance boards are needed. Some of the essential elements of good governance are explored by Ooi Sze Kai in a new report in CIO Today:
Planning: What's the business problem that needs to be addressed? "SOA project leaders should focus on understanding the overall scope of the governance need within the organization and identify areas for improvement. Most of these activities are people-centric and focus on extensive collaboration between IT and business management."
Defining: Business and IT professionals need to agree on new approaches to creating policies at this stage. This includes "policies for service reuse across lines of business, putting funding mechanisms in place to encourage reuse, and establishing mechanisms to guarantee service levels."
Measuring: "All governance arrangements need to be monitored, managed and measured. this provides the opportunity to evaluate the results." This includes evaluating arrangements such as service-level agreements, reuse levels and change policies.
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