Proposing and Testing SOA Governance Process

Abstract

Longstanding Healthcare Information Systems (HIS) integration challenges drove healthcare organisations to invest in new paradigms like Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Yet, SOA holds challenges of its own, with SOA Governance surfacing on the top. This research depicts the development of a conceptual SOA Governance Element entitled “SOA Governance Process”. ?his element is part of a SOA Governance framework that includes nine distinctive elements with SOA Governance Process being one of the critical ones. The conceptualisation of the proposed element is based on the authors' previous research, grounded in the normative literature and further developed to include healthcare aspects. The proposition is tested in a large Greek hospital utilising qualitative methods and the findings presented herein. This proposal aims to pinpoint attributes and guidelines for SOA Governance Process, required to successfully govern SOA and tackle longstanding HIS challenges.