2 Identify Assets to be Governed

The second step in getting started with Governance is to identify the assets that need to be governed.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 2.1, "Overview"
Section 2.2, "Best Practices"

2.1 Overview

Oracle Enterprise Repository provides automated tooling to get assets into the Enterprise Repository so that they can be managed and governed. Careful consideration of which assets to be submitter to the repository is advised.

While an iterative approach to governance is recommended, it is important to demonstrate the value of governance as quickly as possible. Oracle recommends that organizations bootstrap the enterprise repository in phases, with sharp focus on getting visibility into the assets that will bring the greatest value and benefits.

For example, if your organization's primary focus is application development, you may want to start bootstrapping the Enterprise Repository with domain-independent enterprise components and services that have high reuse potential, such as:

Logging services
Error handling services
Authentication services
Online data capture and storage routines
Data access services (that provide customer information, account information, inventory information, etc)
Connection pooling services
Caching services
Frameworks (STRUTS, security, etc)
Validation routines

Approximately 20% of every application is composed of domain-independent functionality (Poulin, 1996) , so this type of functionality is highly reusable across the entire organization. In addition, organizations typically want to standardize this type of functionality so that there is consistency across applications. The initial productivity savings for the few key assets mentioned above can be quite impressive. Many organizations realize several hundred thousand dollars in savings in t a matter of months, in addition to the value derived through standardization.

Organizations focused on application integration may want to start bootstrapping the enterprise repository with:

Commonly used data access objects
XML schemas
Messaging hubs and common message formats
Services that access information in the legacy systems
Existing business processes with links to the underlying systems and services that orchestrate them.

If you're not thinking Governance at this point, but just want to use the Enterprise Repository as a communication mechanism for your project, bootstrap the enterprise repository with the information that is most relevant to the project team. This might include:

Existing functionality that fulfills the project's functional and/or non-functional requirements
An overview of the functionality/capabilities to be delivered by the team (this allows the team to determine what pieces of functionality will be delivered by whom, and to manage dependencies throughout the project)
Standards and best practices
Open Source licenses and projects
COTS dependencies - which commercial packages/libraries are used
Build labels - check in the repository location of the latest build, test results, etc. using the Ant task.
SCM information (location of the source code)
Configured platform (for example - WLS configured for use in development environments)

2.2 Best Practices

This section provides descriptions of the components in the Governance Suite. It contains the following topics:

Understand which portfolios will help the organization reach its goals

Identify the organizational goals for governance, and align these goals with the supporting asset portfolios. For example, if the organization is focused on bringing new products to market more quickly, product line asset portfolios should be among the first included in the governance program. If the goal is to establish a standard Software Development Lifecycle Process in order to bring new products to market more quickly, process templates and process standards should be among the first asset portfolios.

Identify requirements

After identifying the asset portfolios, it's time to identify Asset Portfolio Management Team requirements for managing their respective portfolios. For example, Architects may need to package and track the use of standard solution sets, and monitor compliance to standards. Service Competency Centers may need to communicate the services that orchestrate a business process. The Governance program serves as a channel of distribution for asset portfolios and help Portfolio Management Teams better manage their portfolios.

Structure the program to deliver value

We know that people don't do anything without motivation. Motivation can take the form of a stick (penalties for not completing the task) or a carrot (benefits for completing the task). There are advantages to leveraging both. A clear understanding of the program vision from executives puts you in a better position to gain their sponsorship and to structure a program that will have value for the Asset Portfolio Management Teams and their consumers. But it's not enough to communicate the benefits - benefits must be demonstrated. Teams will not be truly motivated to participate unless they can see tangible benefits.

The Bottom Line

Governance will not be successful unless there is a supply of assets of sufficient value to help the organization reach its goals. Asset Portfolio Management Teams are the primary sources of asset supply. These teams must be engaged and their needs must be factored into the structure of the governance program.

For more information about the role of the Asset Portfolio Management team, see Chapter 4, "Identify Stakeholders".

Resources

Oracle offers a whitepaper and a workbook that will help you evaluate the expected ROI from your asset portfolios. You can use this tool as one mechanism for identifying assets of the greatest value to the organization.

Whitepaper: Determining the ROI of SOA through Reuse
Workbook: Determining the ROI of SOA through Reuse
Additional resources are available that can help you determine the total cost of ownership for your application integrations:
- Whitepaper: Building the Business Case for Application Integration Architecture
- Workbook: Application Integration Architecture Total Cost of Ownership

A wealth of additional Governance information can be found within Oracle's Unified Method (OUM). OUM can be used by Oracle employees, Oracle Partner Network Certified Partners or Certified Advantage Partners, and Clients who either participate in the OUM Customer Program or are engaged on projects where Oracle provides consulting services. OUM is a web-deployed toolkit for planning, executing and controlling software development and implementation projects.

For more information about OUM, see the OUM FAQ at

http://my.oracle.com/portal/page/myo/ROOTCORNER/KNOWLEDGEAREAS1/BUSINESS_PRACTICE/Methods/Learn_about_OUM.html