The paper defines SOA, Web Services and Extensible Markup Language (XML), and looks at the ways these tools can best be used in governments.
The paper overviews benefits of using SOA to help in data management, workflow management, service consolidation and numerous other areas of "doing the public's business." The paper also outlines action steps to get started and describes what a completed SOA project will look like.
Vibhas Chandrachood, executive director of Application Development for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, was interviewed for the paper. He explains that SOA is an information technology solution that will help Kentucky solve business problems, including the potential loss of employees during baby boomer retirement. "We currently have the personnel [to manage operations]," says Chandrachood, "but we may not have that luxury in the future. So part of SOA is answering the question of how to do more with less."
The paper explains that governments can no longer justify unnecessary duplication of infrastructure and that SOA can provide governments and their leaders an opportunity to cultivate trust among citizens.
BEA (www.bea.com) for underwrote the project.
The paper can be downloaded online.
