In November Griffiths Waite was a main contributor at the Butler Group BPM and SOA Symposium - presenting a case study, running labs and sitting on the panel of experts.

For a long time GW has promoted a holistic approach to process improvement, BPM and SOA. It was therefore pleasing to observe at the symposium a noticeable shift towards this approach by all leadings vendors and practioners.

There are several project delivery approaches that can be employed to SOA - normally described as Top-Down and Bottom-Up. In reality, both should be employed in parallel. However to achieve the strategic alignment of IT with the business and sustain long-term benefit, a Top-Down delivery approach is required. The most pragmatic way of implementing a Top-Down strategy is by starting with the processes of the business.

Processes are important for a number of reasons, not least is that organisations are defined by their processes. Nearly all organisations describe and manage their operations using business processes. Regulation and governance dictate it and audit compliance.

It could be said that the processes are the organisation and so it makes sense to focus on process improvement. From a SOA and integration viewpoint, processes cross system boundaries. Therefore the most obvious route to ensure dialogue between the various services is for the integration approach to start with the process itself.

Our experience has shown that by adopting a process-centric approach to SOA using process improvement methodologies like Lean Six Sigma bring people, processes and technology together, resulting in dramatic improvements. This strategy is driven by improving specific business processes and is likely to have a high level of executive commitment with business improvements directly related to SOA initiatives.

For more information:

• Read 'Implementing Process Improvement' - Tim Jennings, Research Director, Butler Group (pdf)
  
  
• Visit Process Improvement
  
  
• Visit Process Modelling for SOA

We feel this report provides a good strategy. It is closely aligned to Oracle's and our vision of encouraging Oracle Forms customers to have the opportunity to preserve their investment whilst modernising their applications through the benefits of SOA. Essentially the strategy is to upgrade, integrate with SOA and migrate to JDeveloper.

Recent development efforts by Oracle have focused on enabling Oracle Forms to integrate with Java applications. The Gartner report highlights "these integration strategies can significantly extend the role of Oracle Forms with SOA efforts".

For those customers choosing to migrate to newer technologies, the report highlights that "... the least-risky (that is, least-costly) migration path forward from Oracle Forms is Oracle's JDeveloper integrated development environment (IDE) and Application Development Framework (ADF)".

For those considering migration to non-Oracle Java technologies it goes on to say: "...for most Oracle Forms developers, this will represent a significant learning curve that's beyond an acceptable level of risk and cost".

GW's 'Forms to SOA Roadmap' provides execution plans, automated tools and methods that deliver on Gartner's best practices. This approach is the easiest and fastest way for customers to continue to leverage their existing Oracle Forms investments in a Service Oriented Architecture.

For more information:

• Visit Forms to SOA
• Read Gartner's Report on Oracle Forms (pdf)
  

CONTACT US

If you would like to speak to someone about SOA and BPM please contact Griffiths Waite on 0844 800 2782 or complete and submit our enquiry form.