SOA Governance and Beyond

This chapter explores the future of governance in all forms corporate, enterprise, Information Technology (IT), and Service‐Oriented Architecture (SOA) governance. Governance in general, and IT and SOA governance specifically, are immature yet emerging disciplines. There are many dimensions of governance that must be better understood and defined in order to ensure stakeholder input and oversight over critical aspects of enterprise IT and SOA initiatives. An interesting recent trend in IT organizations is the appointment of a governance executive and supporting organization with a direct reporting relationship to the chief information officer. These enterprise governance organizations are established to provide a single point of process ownership for all IT governance activities and extensions to IT governance relating to funding oversight and budget management. In some cases, IT security may fall under this organization. In public firms, this structure provides a focal point for IT governance activities that relate to and support compliance requirements. As SOA governance places increased pressure on IT governance processes and capabilities, and as corporate compliance continues to be a mandate for publicly traded organizations, the seeds have been sown for a new discipline of governance.