4.1.3: Plan and Metrics
Establish a Program Plan for SOA and Measure Results Other Information:
Meaningful change requires a well thought out approach. Our recommendation is to treat SOA as a “program” – not in the sense
of another stovepipe, but rather as a serious cross-organizational initiative – with a plan, a champion or manager, and defined
results that can be measured. Specifically, the natural place for executive sponsorship is shared between the CIO and the
mission or business owner associated with a specific high(est) priority initiative with enterprise scope. The program manager
or champion should be the chief architect or chief technology officer, depending on specifics of the individuals, the organization
of the IT function, and the ongoing IT planning and architecture activities and functions that are to be leveraged. This last
point is key; we are not recommending an additional freestanding planning and architecture activity, we are recommending leveraging
existing activities – enhance and extend - and focusing them within the guidance of this document. The establishment of a
“program” entity does not reduce the power of collaboration at the individual organizational level that SOA facilitates, but
it does help to provide strategic direction and focus to the SOA effort. We feel that the establishment of a program structure
from the top, as described above, must be combined with the bottom-up efforts that are naturally occurring within the organization
to insure an effective implementation. The focus of the program should be on enterprise and segment architecture, identifying
and prioritizing services, and supporting governance activities that channel demand to reusable services. The program should
leverage and align existing activities such as enterprise architecture or technology test and evaluation laboratories. More
importantly, the program should work with existing DME (development, modernization, enhancement) programs and projects for
solution architecture and implementation activities. A measurement strategy is an important component of any change management
initiative, but is particularly important to the SOA implementation. We recommend that agencies use a goal-based measurement
process that focuses on finding meaningful measures for monitoring the progress of SOA initiatives. Generally, there are three
tiers of performance analysis: project, program, and enterprise. The project objectives are to develop, integrate, and deploy
useful services that solve real business problems. While developing these tiers, keep in mind the following guidance: • Project
performance outcomes are the inputs to program performance analysis. • The program objectives are to enhance productivity
and efficiency by evaluating, procuring, and managing services shared across projects. • The program performance outcomes
are the enterprise performance analysis inputs. • The enterprise objectives are to enhance productivity and efficiency by
evaluating, selecting, and controlling services shared across programs. Agencies are constantly required to make IT investments
to field new and better operational capabilities. Accordingly, they need meaningful metrics and benchmarks that allow them
to monitor progress and make adjustments to ensure desired outcomes are achieved. A dashboard is a useful mechanism for presenting
stakeholders a number of key indicators chosen to link SOA-enabled business and technology initiatives with business/mission
performance targets.
Indicator(s):
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