Contents

• Summary
• Expected Contributions to the TC
• From the SOA Adoption Blueprints TC Charter
• About the SOA Blueprints Initiative
• Principal References

A Call for Participation has been issued in connection with a new OASIS Service-Oriented Architecture Adoption Blueprints Technical Committee, chartered to develop, circulate, maintain, and update a set of example business profiles (adoption blueprints) which illustrate the practical deployment of services using SOA methods.

Members proposing the SOA Adoption Blueprints TC state that there is often "a shortage of clear, demonstrable examples of working implementations based on real needs and requirements that can be used as best practices reference, to kickstart implementation projects and to compare implementations. One way to encourage these examples is to supply an archetypal blueprint set of business requirements and functions that can be fulfilled by SOA methods. In planning and building Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), concrete examples often are useful. SOA designers, vendors and users can reference a wealth of abstract guidelines, descriptions of functional layers and sets of specific standards or software that fulfill SOA requirements."

The new Technical Committee provides a forum for continuation of work begun as the SOA Blueprints Initiative, originally founded by The Middleware Company and BEA Systems, Inc. The TC anticipates "starting with the original blueprint scenario created by The Middleware Company and its expert group. This scenario, the Generico core application set, will serve as a basic Adoption Blueprint. It is expected that additional blueprints will be developed to address other business requirement sets. Additional Adoption Blueprints may interoperate with the basic Generico blueprint, or may describe a new separate scenario."

Each of the adoption blueprints "will provide a business problem statement, a set of business requirements, and a normative set of functions to be fulfilled — all on a vendor- and specification-neutral basis."

Anticipated contributions from the SOA Blueprints Initiative include four documents: SOA Blueprints Initiative Definition, SOA Blueprints Concepts, SOA Blueprints Reference Example Requirements Specification, and SOA Blueprints: Occasionally Connected Profile.

The goal of the SOA Adoption Blueprints TC is to:

• Circulate, improve, maintain and standardize the existing "Generico" blueprint to be contributed, in the form of a basic Adoption Blueprint.

• Accept contributions of data that may be circulated regarding permutations of specifications and methods that fulfill the blueprints. This data may include sets of standards, specifications, source code or other illustrative lists of methods used to implement the requirements and functions of an Adoption Blueprint.

• Provide perspectives and events designed to help implementers assess interoperability between Adoption Blueprints as well as between specific implementation examples.

• Consider the creation of additional supporting material for the Adoption Blueprints, to make the reference value of each blueprint more robust. These may include additional specified functions, additional feedback and business requirement information obtained from relevant actors in the subject space of the scenario, and additional methods of representing, modeling or formalizing requirement statements.

• Consider the creation of additional Adoption Blueprint scenarios based on end-user requirements, such as an occasionally connected blueprint, a policy management blueprint or a business-to-business blueprint.

• Consider the creation of descriptions of sets of open standards that could fulfill various Adoption Blueprints, when their use demonstrates best practices in SOA.

The first meeting of the will be held Thursday September 1, 2005, sponsored by Infravio. The proposed TC Chair is Miko Matsumura (Infravio).

Expected Contributions to the TC

Anticipated initial contributions to the TC:

• "SOA Blueprints Initiative Definition." Draft Version 0.5. Technical Specification for Public Review. Description of the complete initiative aimed at defining Blueprints and Best Practices for SOA. Published by The Middleware Company Research Team. [Edited by] Steve Wilkes and John Harby. June 2004. 7 pages. [source .DOC, source cache]

  Expert Review Group Members: Will Pugh (BEA), Paul Patrick (BEA), Steve Jones (Cap Gemini), Hugh Grant (Credit Suisse First Boston), Chris Peltz (Hewlett-Packard), Scott Metzger (Truelink), Bola Rotibi (Ovum), Annrai O'Toole (CapeClear), Frank Cohen (PushToTest), Alan Zenreich (Ness Technologies), Michele Leroux Bustamante (IDesign), Vince Salvato (E2E Consulting), David Murrell (Xede), Rob Castaneda (CustomWare), Doron Sherman (Individual), Chris Judson (E2E Consulting), John Cheesman (7irene), Rainer Ammon (FH Wels), Mike Sawicki (Compuware), Shigeru Urushibara (UL Systems), Akira Hirasawa (UL Systems Inc), and Koichi Hayashi (UL Systems).

• "SOA Blueprints Concepts." Draft Version 0.5. Technical Specification for Public Review. By Steve Wilkes and John Harby (The Middleware Company, Research Team). June 2004. 9 pages. "A move to drive industry standardization of SOA concepts and terminology." [source]

• "SOA Blueprints Reference Example Requirements Specification." Draft Version 0.5. Technical Specification for Public Review. By Steve Wilkes and John Harby (The Middleware Company, Research Team). June 2004. 131 pages. A set of interconnected applications demonstrating the Blueprints and Best Practices for SOA. [source]

• "SOA Blueprints: Occasionally Connected Profile." Version 0.1. By Steve Wilkes. The Middleware Company, Research Team. August 2004. 9 pages. An extension of the SOA Blueprints Reference Example to deal with occasionally connected rich client interfaces. [.DOC source, cache]

From the SOA Adoption Blueprints TC Charter

The Charter for the OASIS Service-Oriented Architecture Adoption Blueprints TC outlines the proposed technical work of the committee. Excerpts from the Charter and additional information:

SOA Adoption Blueprints TC Deliverables

1. A final draft of a reviewed and updated version of the basic Adoption Blueprint, to be issued 4 months from formation of this TC.
2. (Optionally) Additional adoption blueprint profiles, and/or extensions of existing blueprints, to fulfill expressed needs to demonstrate new functionalities or evolving user requirements.
3. (Optionally) Descriptions or profiles of sets of open standards that could be used in combinations to fulfill the requirements of Adoption Blueprints.

IPR Mode

RF on Limited Terms (as specified in the OASIS IPR Policy)

Anticipated Audience

Anyone involved in the design, documentation or implementation of Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) or components thereof.

Language

English. The TC may elect to form subcommittees that produce localized documentation of the TC's work in additional languages.

Similar and Applicable Work

There is some relevant work that has been done by the OASIS ebSOA TC [*1] that we intend to explore. The OASIS SOA Reference Model TC [*2] appears to be distinct, in that it seeks to develop reference models for SOA at an abstract functional level, rather than specific functional examples, although it's possible that those abstracts models may be of some descriptive use to this TC. A variety of other standards projects including the OASIS FWSI TC [*3] have defined or provided specific functional web service or SOA elements that might populate or guide a specific Adoption Blueprint. The TC anticipates seeking liaison with those TCs, and any others that may have relevant work that can be deployed to fulfill Adoption Blueprints.

The TC may also seek to establish liaisons with industry groups in specific user domains that can contribute actual SOA use scenarios and provide or elaborate business requirements.

[*1] http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ebsoa/
[*2] http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/soa-rm/
[*3] http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/fwsi/

Anticipated Contributions

SOA_Blueprints_Initiative_Definition_v0.5
SOA_Blueprints_Concepts_v0.5
SOA Adoption Blueprints_Requirements_Specification_v0.5
SOA Adoption Blueprints Occasionally Connected Profile draft v0.1
See: http://www.soacenter.com/
See: http://www.middlewareresearch.com/soa-blueprints/index.jsp

TC Proposers

• Gopalakrishna Bylahalli, gopalakrishna.bylahalli@wipro.com, Wipro Technologies
• Mark Cowan, mark.cowan@adobe.com, Adobe Systems
• Mark Little, mark.little@arjuna.com, Arjuna Technologies
• Miko Matsumura, mmatsumura@infravio.com, Infravio
• Oleg Mikulinsky, oleg.mikulinsky@weblayers.com, WebLayers
• Mike Morris, mmorris@mw2consulting.com, MW2 Consulting
• Jyoti Namjoshi, Jyoti.Namjoshi@patni.com, Patni
• Ash Parikh, ash.parikh@rainingdata.com, Raining Data
• June Park, june.park@samsung.com, Samsung SDS
• Gunendra Patil, gunendra.patil@wipro.com, Wipro Technologies
• Seema Patil, seema.patil@wipro.com, Wipro Technologies
• Sadagopan Singam, Sadagopan_S@satyam.com, Satyam Data Systems

TC Convener

Miko Matsumura, [mailbox@gmail.com] mmatsumura@infravio.com

Proposed TC Chair

Miko Matsumura, [mailbox@gmail.com] mmatsumura@infravio.com

About the SOA Blueprints Initiative

SOA Blueprints is an industry effort designed to help organizations more easily and affordably build applications using service-oriented architecture (SOA)... SOA Blueprints creates a common vocabulary to discuss SOA in an architecturally neutral way allowing comparable implementations to be crafted using different technology sets including J2EE, .NET and Web Services.

In creating the SOA Blueprints specification, we aim to highlight the best practices for service-oriented application development by way of example. This is achieved through multiple use-cases, described in detail at both a functional and behavioral level, that show how SOA can be applied to real world problems...

Rather than creating a set of disconnected examples, the specification defines a complete environment consisting of a set of intercommunicating applications that make up an enterprise. Additionally, a number of existing resources (such as a Payroll system) are utilized to demonstrate how applications may be integrated using SOA-based solutions. The industry domain of GeneriCo is purposely vague so that the specification can be applied to as many industries as possible.

The specification is designed to be understandable by architects and developers. It can be implemented with existing enterprise technologies in a reasonable space of time. There are no restrictions for the technology used to implement the specification, so Web Services, J2EE and .NET are options. Middleware vendors will be the primary organizations creating implementations, giving end users an opportunity to see a rich, diverse set of comparables...

The requirements for implementation are that business processes can be created that consume services and other resources, processes can be exposed as services through HTTP and message broker technologies, and applications can be built from services in a Portal environment..." [from "About SOA Blueprints" 2005-08-01]

The Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Blueprints initiative is a comprehensive attempt to define and implement a fully functional application suite demonstrating SOA best practices...

The initiative as a whole has several major goals and related deliverables:

• To encourage industry standardization around SOA concepts and terminology encompassed in the SOA Blueprints Concepts document
• To define the requirements for a reference example that highlights SOA best practices in the SOA Blueprints Requirements Specification document
• To encourage and assist vendors in creating implementations of the reference example that showcase best practices within the vendors particular environment
• To architect and develop a freely available open source implementation of the reference example demonstrating best practices within an open source environment..." [from the SOA Blueprints Initiative Definition]

SOA Blueprints Initiative Expert Group: "SOA Blueprints is dependent upon the expertise, knowledge and wisdom of SOA experts. SOA experts are individuals who are working on the front lines of SOA: specification development, interoperability, and real implementations. The expert group is responsible for reviewing and documenting feedback, both positive and negative, of each version of the specification that is developed. We are currently working with OASIS on a governance and organizational models for SOA Blueprints that will allow us to provide more structure, process and formality into the way improvements and recommendations are incorporated...

Expert Group Members:

• Will Pugh, BEA
• Steve Jones, Cap Gemini
• Hugh Grant, Credit Suisse First Boston
• Chris Peltz, HP
• Scott Metzger, Truelink
• Bola Rotibi, Ovum
• Annrai O'Toole, CapeClear
• Frank Cohen, PushToTest
• Alan Zenreich, Ness Technologies
• Michele Leroux Bustamante, IDesign
• Vince Salvato, E2E Consulting
• Paul Patrick, BEA
• David Murrell, Xede
• Rob Castaneda, CustomWare
• Doron Sherman, Individual
• Chris Judson, E2E Consulting
• John Cheesman, 7irene
• Rainer Ammon, FH Wels
• Mike Sawicki, Compuware
• Shigeru Urushibara , UL Systems Inc
• Akira Hirasawa , UL Systems Inc
• Koichi Hayashi , UL Systems Inc [list 2005-08-01]

Principal References

• Charter for the OASIS Service-Oriented Architecture Adoption Blueprints TC
• Announcement and Call for Participation: OASIS Service-Oriented Architecture Adoption Blueprints Technical Committee.
• TC home page
• SOA Center: SOA Blueprints, Best Practices, Patterns and Attitude
• "Broad Industry Support Announced for SOA Blueprints. BEA Systems, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Sun Microsystems, The Middleware Company, VERITAS Software, Others Endorse Initiative to Boost Adoption of SOAs."
• "Assisted SOA Development: Productivity Comparison of SOA Development Tools." Research Report. November 2004. Research Team, The Middleware Company. Email: research@middleware-company.com.[cache]
• Related: "OASIS Creates SOA Reference Model, Adopts Blueprints." By Nitin Bharti (News Editor). From SearchWebServices.com (May 03, 2005).
• SOA Blueprints Initiative - Local references
• "Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)" - General references.