Managing Automation - December 2008 - (Page 29)

enabled this strategy to be deployed much easier in our environment.” If SOA is done right, deployment can, indeed, be relatively easy. But most companies move ahead without fully understanding the underlying technology or the business reasons behind the deployment. It’s a recipe for disaster. In a recent Burton Group study of about two-dozen Fortune 1,000 companies that rolled out projects based on SOA technology, fully 50% of the deployments were deemed complete failures. Another 30% were considered neither successes nor failures, which leaves 20% of the companies actually succeeding because they were able to pull value out of their first-generation SOA deployments. “Projects that failed had little or no measure of what they delivered,” Watson says. “Their biggest challenge was getting business to adopt the services built on the infrastructure.” So, SOA is no field of dreams. If you build it, they will not necessarily come. That’s why, experts say, in the second wave of SOA deployments, business process management (BPM) technology will be key to making SOA more useful. So will governance policies that manufacturers can use to manage and change Web services in a productive way. In addition, as always, it’s best to start small. “What we’ve found over the last few years is that organizations in all sectors are taking a more pragmatic approach to SOA,” says Vic Morris, CEO of Vordel. “Rather than starting with a blank sheet of paper and a huge SOA for all applications, they are solving specific business [needs] one by one.” Even when starting small, manufacturers should first make sure a common data structure is in place. Beckman Coulter is using TIBCO SOA technology to build interfaces between Oracle ERP modules and legacy systems that came to the company as part of a business acquisition. TIBCO contains Web services that enable 99% reusability of integration ser vices. Rather than customizing each application interface, Web services use common data elements that streamline the integration process, says Tony Giang, group manager of application services in Beckman Coulter’s Integrated Business Solutions group. This commonality and interface reusability have resulted in an ROI success story at Beckman Coulter. “We are capable of creating interfaces for a lot more applications in a much shorter time period, so the ROI is the reduced development costs,” Giang says. In some cases, manufacturers can make use of common data structures based on the business language standards outlined by the Open Applications Group (OAGi). The Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS) 9.0 inSOA SLOW TO CATCH ON A 2008 Gartner survey shows that enterprise SOA cludes naming and design adoption is not universal. It is stronger in Europe, rules, as well as guidelines for moderate in North America, and lagging in Asia. creating XML Schema. ComOverall adoption is expected to slow significantly panies use it to create a canondue to tighter economic conditions worldwide. The industries with the highest percentage of organizaical model for application tions not pursuing SOA — with no plans to — are in integration that provides a government and manufacturing, the report said. common business language based on business object docWhy doesn’t your organization plan to impleuments for CRM, logistics, and ment SOA in the next 12 months? Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, Lack of internal expertise among other tasks. 60% Groups such as OAGi and No perceived business value in SOA implementation the Web Services Interoper50% ability (WS-I) organization are Lack of skill sets working to establish common 48% data structures that can be Cost and/or resources required to implement SOA combined with Web standards 44% to make SOA more useful. But Lack of organizational buy-in the next step is to establish a 40% model of how SOA works within common business scenarios SOA is a relatively new concept; waiting to see more industry justifications (see sidebar, p. 28). 40% In order to incorporate busiSOA is seen as too complex ness scenarios into SOA, better 23% orchestration of processes, also known as BPM, is needed. Do not have the need 13% “SOA is all of the pieces, but it needs context,” says Don’t know Dave Brooks, director of 6% Source: Gartner Inc., September 2008 strategic business solutions group at Software AG. “It is really business process management, or orchestration of the things that have to be achieved from the business perspective, that provides the flexibility.” Detroit Diesel recognized the connections linking SOA, process management, and a lean enterprise. The mapping tool the company uses for business process analysis is the ARIS BPM modeling software from IDS Scheer, which is built on an SOA. After parent company Daimler implemented ARIS BPM modeling tools, Detroit Diesel’s Troschinetz adopted the same software to define and implement processes that enable his team to track quality certification for everything from engine manufacturing to purchasing, finance, sales, and service. “From a functionality standpoint, it opened up a new world of possibilities on how to manage processes,” Troschinetz says. Before ARIS, Detroit Diesel documented and reengineered processes using Excel spreadsheets and even what Troschinetz calls the progress report 29 December 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - December 2008

Managing Automation - December 2008 Contents Take 1 Business Objects Chief Says Union with SAP Meets Objectives After One Year Yes, Emerson, Too, Is in the MES Market Infor Chief Puts Off IPO, Restarts Buying Plans Kronos Now Tracks Shop Floor Machines IQMS Rolls Out User Interace, Other Upgrades Notes Five Ideas for Demand Planning Building on the SOA Blueprint Innovation Now A Team Effort Lean %2B Technology = LEAN^2 Finding Flaws Before They Spread Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - December 2008

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