Service Oriented Architecture

 

The concept of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is logical, however is prone to challenges is a concept that I have struggle to understand at first.  The definition within itself appears to contradictory to itself when not discussed in context.  Since SOA is breaking down software solutions into components and the concept of architecture is to establish an integrated solution, I can see why this term is conflicting.

The effectiveness of SOA solutions appears to be limited to applications and solutions that do not require analytics across the “chunks”.  ERP systems although thought of as dated, do not have the limitation of analytics as the master data required for these cross-system analytics are available for consumption and reporting.

Large scale, effective solutions that require this level of analytics appear to have to plan well ahead and be prepared to have the data required mapped up front to enable effective reporting and management that would replace a full ERP system.

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Supply Chain Management Definitions and Business Processes

 

The keys to supply chain management and documentation of business processes is understanding the concept of the SCOR model.  This includes the key components that include Plan, Source, Make, Deliver.  The additional concept is the Return function, which although valuable is not in my opinion part of the standard model.

Breaking down the supply chain into these stage gates enables the ability to identify the key points of success/failure within the business process.  Identifying the parts of the business process that ultimately produce a successful business outcome is the key to determining what people, process, and technology are needed to improve the results.

Successful documentation and reporting of the information that creates this model can help an organization identify problems before they occur and allow the identification of how long it takes to complete specific tasks.  The effectiveness of Supply chain management is being able to report against the business process to identify key points of failure.  SOA can limit the ability to report across the supply chain.  This type of architecture can potentially limit an organizations ability to improve their SCM solution.

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Netflix Application Architecture

Netflix has proven that the ability to adjust application architecture to support business requirements can be instrumental for some organizations to not only succeed, but also to excel.  I have been a Netflix subscriber for 7 years and use their streaming services religiously, along with the rest of my family.  The primary reasons that Netflix has proven to be an investment that I have continued to support is the simple fact that it works exceptionally well.  Over the 7 year journey I have unknowingly been experiencing the benefits that the optimization of their application architecture has achieved.

It is remarkable to learn that “Netflix went from streaming a million hours of video a month in 2008 to streaming more than a billion hours of video a month by the summer of 2012” (Altman & Robertson, 2013).  This capability was driven through their ability to implement a new cloud architecture that enables the ability for “Netflix APIs to handle more than 17 billion inbound and outbound API requests per day” (Altman & Robertson, 2013).

I am still learning about how this solution works as I read this article a few times, however the concepts are clear enough.  It is impressive to see an organization develop a strategy and successfully use application architecture to realize the organizations strategy and vision with such remarkable success.  It is working for the consumers too!

References

Altman, R., & Robertson, B. (2013). Learn a Few Lessons on Application Architecture from Netflix. Gartner, 12.