Following its formation after the Houston conference,
the SOA Working Group had identified three initial deliverables.
Two of these - the definition of SOA, and the identification of areas
where The Open Group can add value to SOA - were now complete.
These deliverables were presented publicly during the conference,
and were also made available to the OMG for consideration at their conference.
The third initial deliverable - SOA case studies - was ongoing.
A working session of the meeting reviewed and improved
the method and template for case study collection.
The SOA Working Group was in process of defining
a full work program, based on the results of the initial deliverables.
The work program was discussed in a session of the meeting,
starting with the areas
identified as being ones where The Open Group can add value.
These areas were reviewed, and some additional topics were suggested.
Two of the areas, which appear to be particularly important,
relate to modeling two different aspects of SOA:
technical architecture, and implementation maturity.
These were discussed in a session led by IBM,
which has done substantial work on both of these aspects.
Additional possible inputs to The Open Group SOA modeling work
were identified, including a technical reference model
which is being developed by the National Association
of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)
based on the OASIS SOA reference model.
Perhaps the most important of all the identified areas
is that of the relation of SOA to enterprise architecture and TOGAF.
This was discussed in a joint session with The Open Group
Architecture Forum. The approaches of the two groups were reviewed,
and the relation of SOA to TOGAF as it now exists
and to the forthcoming TOGAF Version 9 was discussed.
A number of potential work items of interest to both groups
were identified.
Specific project proposals
will be formulated in areas already identified
as ones where The Open Group
can add value to SOA, and in additional
areas identified during the conference.
These projects will have outputs
that are practical and tangible, not just educational.
Multiple projects may be grouped into a smaller number of work areas.
