On the way to SOA Using Business Processesas a Guideline

The topic of Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) has attracted a lot of interest in recent months. Successful implementation of SOA requires Business Process Management as well as proper orchestration. Many companies actively use Business Process Management as a means to increase their operating agility SOA is primarily a management and architecture concept which requires an IT infrastructure that aptly responds to the ever changing environments of the corporate world. While an SOA serves as the technological basis for an agile company, the functional aspect also plays an important role. This is why Business Process Management (BPM) is a prerequisite for the reflection of functional requirements in terms of company controlling in IT systems.

Business Process Management consists of four steps:

• Strategy Phase- finding a strategy, determined what should be achieved through the desired process changes
• Design Phase- process modeling, the functional business processes and the supporting IT landscape can be documented in process models
• Implementation Phase- transfer to IT, existing technical services are orchestrated that are modeled on the functional business processes
• Controlling Phase- measurement and evaluation, the performance capabilities of SOA are measured in the execution system

An SOA begins and ends with a company's business processes, making it possible for companies to implement innovative business strategies quickly and flexibly.