SOA Lessons Learned & the need for Continuing Education

1. SOA Lessons Learned & the need for Continuing Education Presented by: Bob Brown US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) S/W Development Organization (SDMG) 30 October 2006

2. Positives at the USPTO • One man’s view of reality at the USPTO • Great infrastructure • Excellent staff • We agree on standards SOAP, WSDL, XML • It appears we at the USPTO are moving as quickly as others in adopting the SOA approach • Strong showing with our International Partners • European Patent Office (EPO) • Japanese Patent Office (JPO) • World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) • International Bureau (IB) for Trademarks Bob Brown v0

3. Top Down, Bottom Up, Inside Out • Regardless of how Services came into existence they have allowed us to • Decouple Systems • Release impacts are minimized • Simplifying system release testing • Less interface testing if services do not change • Exposing only the information and environment necessary – e.g, no DB-links • Allows simplified infrastructure changes • Server, Database, disk reallocations, etc. Bob Brown v0

4. SOA Working Group – We came together to move forward • SOA Working Group in existence for 2 years • Development Managers, Architects, Security Staff, Testers, Standards people • Is mostly a technical focus • Contractors, Vendors, and Government • Bring people up to speed and discuss shared concerns • Allowed cross-group insight into other’s efforts • Determine shared impediments • Vendor presentations on their support of SOA • Current and planned Bob Brown v0

5. Successful Lessons Learned • Communication and Education are excellent for a jump-start • Have many areas involved in discussions— • Customers, Contractors, LCM Committee, Configuration Management (CM), Operations Support • We set up the CM system to capture all Services as one unit • We have addressed Fine-grain and Course-grain services • Behavior changes and testing • For example, a regulation requires a behavior change • Thinking of “higher level” services • Customer I/T Services could eventually span the USPTO Bob Brown v0

6. Less that Successful Lessons • Difficult to go against Human Nature • Not invented here • Cannot meet my timeline, etc. • Deciding the dividing line for the “Enterprise” • S/W + Infrastructure + Security + Extranet? • The extra communication and responsibility required for sharing • The loss of control • Changing the Game so shared services are in EVERYONE’s interest • Changes to Performance Plans • Cash incentives • The anti-incentive  job insecurity Bob Brown v0

7. Impediments – to Rapid Migration • Organizational • “Get_Customer” Service comes in many flavors at the USPTO depending on context • moving to a basis for Enterprise services • Power and Control • In the Government P&C = more people and more $$s • Less code => less staff & funding • No counteracting Stock Price • Ownership of Services • Whom should create? • How is owner “compensated” for shared services? Bob Brown v0

8. Going Forward • We have made it onto the Management’s radar • Attempting real Governance • Added processes specific to Services into the LCM • Addressing the issues of SLAs for Consumers of Services • Response time, Availability, and Behavior • Factor in Consolidation with Services • Removing functional replication even when handling different data, e.g. scanning Bob Brown v0

9. Conclusions • The effort is accelerating • Many more people are aware and comfortable with the concept • A big part of Services come in something called COTS • As more-and-more Business Processes standardize • Then Vendors can create services Bob Brown v0