The aim of this paper is to discuss the application of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) in

organizations. The paper begins by defining Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and its
objectives. The paper will then discuss the real world applications of Service-Oriented
Architecture (SOA). Thereafter, the paper will discuss the different organization problems that
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) helps to solve.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that supports service orientation. By

consequence, it is as well applied in the field of software design where services are provided to
the other components by application components, through a communication protocol over a
network. A service is a discrete unit of functionality that can be accessed remotely and acted
upon and updated independently, such as retrieving a credit card statement online. SOA is also
intended to be independent of vendors, products and technologies (Zhao, 2013).

There are three major objectives of SOA; each objective focuses on a different part of the
application lifecycle. The objective is to use services to structure operations or software
components. These services are intended to be loosely connected to applications and utilized
only when necessary. They're also made to make it simple for software developers to create apps
in a uniform manner. The second objective is to create a way to expose available services,
including their functionality and input/output (I/O) requirements. Services are released in a form
that makes it simple for developers to integrate them into their applications. The third objective
of SOA is to keep track of how these services are used in order to avoid security and governance
issues. Individual component security, identification and authentication methods relating to those
components, and safeguarding the actual connections between the components of the architecture
are all important aspects of SOA security.

Organizations of various types benefit from SOA in general. IT companies are one sort of
company that benefits from SOA since it enables for the rapid deployment of new servers and
multiple environments for testing, staging, and release. A high pace is critical for emerging
businesses that offer the major competitive advantages of speed and adaptability. SOA also
enables firms to scale up or down quickly, which is very beneficial for start-ups with a bleak
future.

Web services or Microservices are used to implement Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) in

the real world. This is done so that the functional building blocks can be accessed using standard

1
Internet protocols that are platform and programming language agnostic. These services can be
new applications or simply wrappers for existing legacy systems that enable them to connect to
the internet. Web services standards are often used by implementers while creating SOAs. One
example is SOAP, which received widespread industry acceptance after the W3C (World Wide
Web Consortium) recommended Version 1.2 in 2003. These standards (also known as web
service specifications) improve interoperability and provide some protection against vendor lock-
in.. One can, however, also implement SOA using any other service-based technology, such as
Jini, CORBA, Internet Communications Engine, REST, or gRPC (Komoda, 2006).

Web services based on WSDL and SOAP, messaging, e.g., with ActiveMQ, JMS, RabbitMQ,
RESTful HTTP, with Representational state transfer (REST) constituting its own constraints-
based architectural style, OPC-UA, Internet Communications Engine, WCF (Microsoft's
implementation of Web services, forming a part of WCF), Apache Thrift, etc.

Implementations can employ one or more of these protocols, such as a file-system method to
exchange data between processes adhering to the SOA idea based on a stated interface
specification. The key is independent services with specified interfaces that can be called to do
duties in a standard manner without a service having prior knowledge of the calling application
or the calling application needing to know how the service accomplishes its job.SOA enables the
development of applications that are built by combining loosely coupled and interoperable
services (Zhao, 2013).

These services communicate with one another using a formal definition (or contract, for
example, WSDL) that is independent of the platform and programming language. The
implementation of the language-specific service is hidden behind the interface declaration. As a
result, SOA-based systems can work regardless of development tools or platforms (such as
Java, .NET, etc.). A composite application can consume services written in C# running on.NET
platforms and services written in Java running on Java EE platforms, for example (or client).
Web services allow applications operating on either platform to consume services running on the
other, allowing for reuse. COBOL legacy systems can also be wrapped and presented as software
services in managed environments. High-level programming languages like BPEL, as well as
specifications like WS-CDL and WS-Coordination, extend the service concept by allowing
architects to define and support the orchestration of fine-grained services into more coarse-

2
grained business services, which they can then incorporate into workflows and business
processes in composite applications or portals (Alghamdi et al, 2016).

Service-oriented modeling is a framework for SOA practitioners that outlines the numerous
disciplines that help them conceptualize, analyze, develop, and architect their service-oriented
assets. The Service-oriented modeling framework (SOMF) provides a modeling language as well
as a work structure or "map" that depicts the numerous components that make a successful
service-oriented modeling approach possible. It depicts the primary components that define the
"what to do" portions of a service development strategy (Zhao, 2013). Practitioners can use the
model to create a project plan and set milestones for a service-oriented endeavor. In order to
address alignment between business and IT teams, SOMF also provides a standard modeling
notation.

The use of Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is critical for achieving operational excellence
through increased efficiency and productivity. Service-Oriented Architecture is used by
businesses to encourage interaction. A common way of communication is established using
Service-Oriented Architecture, allowing disparate systems and platforms to function
independently of one another. Service-Oriented Architecture can also work through firewalls
because to this interaction, allowing "businesses to share services that are critical to operations."

By improving customer and supplier intimacy, service-oriented architecture (SOA) assists

enterprises in growing revenue and profitability while cutting expenses. Service-Oriented
Architecture is used by businesses to cut costs. It's feasible to cut costs while "maintaining a
desirable degree of output" with Service-Oriented Architecture. When designing unique
solutions, firms can use Service-Oriented Architecture to reduce the amount of analysis required.
SOA also saves money because to its reusability. SOA-based applications are made up of small,
self-contained, and loosely connected functionality services. It allows services to be reused in
numerous applications without having to interface with other services.

By ensuring stability, service-oriented architecture (SOA) ensures survivability in the face of

business environment changes. Small and independent services in the SOA make it easier to test
and debug applications rather than large code blocks, making the service-oriented architecture
extremely dependable. In addition, scalability is ensured through service-oriented architecture
(SOA). SOA promotes scalability by allowing services to run across numerous platforms,

3
programming languages, and services, i.e., service-oriented architecture services run on separate
servers within an environment. The ability to scale a firm to meet the needs of the client is
critical, but certain dependencies can obstruct that scalability. Client-service contact is reduced
while using Service-Oriented Architecture, allowing for increased scalability (Zhao, 2013).

In addition, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is adaptable. Instead of rewriting and

reintegrating each new development project, the ability to gather applications from reusable
components or services allows developers to construct an application quickly in response to new
business requirements, increasing SOA agility. Furthermore, SOA is simple to maintain. Because
the service-oriented architecture is a separate unit or entity, it is much easier to maintain or
upgrade the application without having to worry about other services (Hau et al, 2008).

In conclusion, SOA is an enterprise-wide approach to architecture that uses Enterprise Service

Bus to communicate with its many capabilities or components (ESB). By improving customer
and supplier intimacy, service-oriented architecture (SOA) assists enterprises in growing revenue
and profitability while cutting expenses. Service-Oriented Architecture is used by businesses to
cut costs. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) also ensures that a corporation's survival is not
jeopardized by changes in the business environment.

4
References

Alghamdi, B., Potter, L. E., Drew, S. (2016). Identifying Best Practices in Organisational SOA
Governance Adoption: Case Study of Saudi Arabia’s E-Government Programme. PACIS 2016
Proceedings, 365.

Hau, T., Ebert, N., Hochstein, A., Brenner, W. (2008). Where to Start with SOA: Criteria for
Selecting SOA Projects, in Proceedings of the 41st Annual Hawaii International Conference on
System Sciences, (314), pp. 1-9.

Komoda, N. (2006). Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in Industrial Systems, IEEE

International Conference on Industrial Informatics, 2006, pp. 1-5.

Zhao Y. (2013). Enterprise Architecture and SOA. ArchiTech Consulting LLC. Retrieved
http://www.architechllc.com/uploads/Publications/EASOA.pdf