Technology

SOA at your service

Service-oriented architecture offers a rational approach to building applications that meet business needs.

01 November 2005

But it isn`t easy.

Perhaps the most aggravating limitation of business software is the seeming inability of applications to accurately embody the strategy and everyday processes of the business, and to keep pace with business-process changes. To a large degree, this is because traditional, so-called “monolithic” applications are made up of individual business functions that were designed, developed and deployed to operate only in that particular application.

In a manufacturing setting, for instance, the process of monitoring a raw materials inventory might support inventory replenishment, as well as production scheduling and accounts payable. The business functions that make up this process might include identifying materials, noting when inventory is used, sending an alert when inventory dips below a certain threshold, and so on. Each group has its own reasons, and own applications, for monitoring inventory, yet the process is essentially the same. Or at least it should be.

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