Mashups: An Approach to Overcoming the Business/IT Gap in Service-Oriented Architectures

For quite a long time already, great importance has been attached to the concept of Service-Oriented Architectures for future IT-architectures. However, a major challenge in implementing this concept lies in the gap between the functional department and IT department. Mashups, an architecture also based on services, try to avoid this gap by letting the user himself integrate the services. The following article analyzes similarities and differences between both architecture approaches, and explains to what extent and in which cases Mashups could complement a Service-Oriented Architecture

A Method for Information Systems Development According to SOA

While service-oriented architecture (SOA) is gaining momentum in research and industry, we believe the field of methods for designing information systems according to SOA still leaves room for improvement. Nevertheless, the implementation of SOA design principles demands a methodical approach. All existing methods have shortcomings of some kind, but also propose some useful concepts. In this paper, the SOA method (SOAM) is presented. It is based on an understanding of the useful concepts from existing methods and puts them together with new ideas that address the key shortcomings. It has been tested in practice at Vattenfall Europe, one of the largest European energy and heat providers and three other companies. The evaluation has shown that SOAM is well-defined, supports the design of information systems according to the SOA design principles and can be applied in practice

DO WEB SERVICES FOSTER SPECIALIZATION? AN ANALYSIS OF WEB SERVICE DIRECTORIES

Web service technologies are expected to foster the creation of networks of specialists which expose their digital services over the internet for the dynamic discovery of services by other organizations. Although the idea of a global Web service directory, which was considered a key enabler of e-commerce in the dot.com era, has failed with the shutdown of the Universal Business Registry in 2006, the vision of an open market for Web services has regained popularity lately in the context of the SOA and Web 2.0 concepts. Given these latest developments, the interesting question is whether there is empirical evidence of an emerging market for Web services. Based on a longitudinal study of Web services directories, this paper aims at analyzing the evolving offering and market structure of B2B Web services. The study suggests that commercial Web services which enable companies to out-task discrete, repetitive tasks to specialized service providers continue to be relatively scarce. However, Web services specialists emerge in specific domains, such as compliance, online validation and alerting. In addition, Web services directories are extending their scope beyond service discovery and evolve into either ‘real’ electronic marketplaces or infomediaries

Identification of Business Services Literature Review and Lessons Learned

Business-driven identification of services is a precondition for a successful implementation of service-oriented architectures (SOA). This article compares existing identification methods retrieved from related work and discusses the shortcomings. In particular, a lack of economic aspects constitutes a problem and leaves space for improvements. Finally, the paper proposes a process-oriented method of service identification. This approach incorporates the business point of view, strategic and economic aspects as well as technical feasibility

A Framework for the Design of Service Maps

The concept of service-oriented architecture (SOA) is recognized as an important enabler for business transformation and application integration. Service maps emerge when individual services are (pre)configured on various architectural levels. For example, business-oriented service maps sustain the communication and coordination among participants within and between businesses. Difficulties occur when, based on different service design strategies, heterogeneous service maps are created which need to be aligned. A methodological approach to establish a systematic design process for such service maps within companies or business networks is needed

THE (LACKING) BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE ON SOA – CRITICAL THEMES IN SOA RESEARCH

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) has gained much popularity lately, in both practice and academia. Since SOA concepts and technology are maturing, companies have started to engage in projects that will fundamentally transform IS landscapes over the next decade. While the growing body of SOA research is mostly technology-oriented, the IS community needs to investigate the strategic, organizational, and managerial issues associated with SOA implementation. This paper profiles SOA and Web services research since 2000 with a focus on practices, adoption, and impact. Drawing on a sample of 175 papers in academic journals and conference proceedings, we establish transparency of the current state of research. Our analysis finds that the science base for SOA research from an IS perspective is still under construction thereby reflecting the novelty of the underlying technologies. We conclude that business aspects remain underserved and derive a number of recommendations for the IS community on how to proceed with SOA research

Using Service Oriented Computing for Competitive Advantage

Research literature in strategic management indicates that firms may gain a competitive advantage in rapidly changing market environments by concentrating on their dynamic capabilities – i.e., product flexibility and agility in organizational transformation in response to rapidly changing market conditions and customer requirements. Service-oriented computing (SOC) has emerged as an architectural approach to flexibility and agility, not just in systems development but also in business process management. There is, however, a lack of critical research assessing the strategic impact of SOA on the competitiveness of organizations. The intent of this paper is to empirically examine the conduits through which serviceoriented architectures (SOAs) may exert influence on dynamic capabilities within firms. The results could potentially assist in evaluating if and how the adoption of service-oriented architecture may help achieve key dynamic capabilities, giving the enterprise a competitive edge

The Impact of Service-Oriented Architecture on Business Networkability

Increased networking among firms has become a competitive necessity in many industries and the ability to efficiently establish, operate and dissolve business relationships has become a competitive advantage. The degree of this networkability is influenced by several factors, such as organizational structure, business processes, people and culture, but also information systems. In fact, current technological developments aim at the efficient and flexible orchestration of standardized modules, referred to as services. Past research has analyzed networkability primarily qualitatively without providing a specific perspective on the concept of service-oriented architecture (SOA) which has only emerged on a broad scale since the beginning of this century. This paper is a first attempt to investigate the impact of SOA on the notion of business networkability. It is assumed that the ability to flexibly link business services among business partners also positively influences the firm’s networkability. Empirical evidence will be provided from the financial industry which is currently undergoing a strong vertical disintegration. The results show a moderate, but nevertheless significant impact