A Method for SOA Maturity Assessment and Improvement

Abstract

This work presents a model for corporate maturity assessment to evaluate and improve Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) adoption. The model is designed by parameterization of a best practices knowledge base in survey´s questions to support evaluation, planning and monitoring the evolution of organizational maturity in SOA. The proposed model is divided into several domains and is carried out inside each domain qualitatively based on quantitative methods. Its concept significantly extends the model The Open Group Service Integration Maturity Model (OSIMM), by allowing the direct monitoring of all strategic goals and their fundamental practices (service lifecycle and design principles). The application of the model is supported by a software system that provides electronic questionnaires, described in a knowledge base and performs classification of maturity through a heuristic method itself. The analysis results provide information to managers, consultants and IT professionals, to perform systematically adjustments of SOA adoption and generate proposed tasks to obtain a desired maturity stage. Therefore, this model proposes activities to stabilize a current state in SOA adoption, or even actions for achieving a higher level of SOA maturity through reference roadmaps.