Migrating to SOA and Web services

Developing an SOA and moving to Web services is an iterative and evolutionary process. It requires work and diligent design. When switching to Web services from another integration method, it is recommended to initially focus on shorter term business benefits, targeting an SOA and Web services project that has tangible goals with measurable benefits.

Once an SOA contains some useful services, these services can be arranged together in a workflow that automates a business process. Web services can be reused to answer new questions, and implemented as new business services in an SOA. A well-defined Web service does not contain business logic or business process information. Because each Web service in an SOA can be called individually to perform a specific task, they can be arranged (orchestrated) together to perform many different business functions. As a result, companies with a mature SOA in place can change business processes through configuring of the orchestration software as opposed to programming individual links between systems.