Dynamic Systems Services

We provide tailored support in developing a plan for interoperability. This support helps organizations address issues of interoperability from the differing perspectives of the acquirer, the developer, and the user.

Migration of Legacy Components to SOA Environments

This two-day workshop focuses on the decisions and planning that are required for effective migration of legacy components to services within a service-oriented architecture (SOA). This workshop highlights the essential differences between an SOA and a conventional application and then presents a framework for considering different perspectives that are required for a successful SOA. The service provider, application developer, and infrastructure developer have different concerns and must address different issues. Based on this framework, the needs of the service provider are outlined in detail. A method for making decisions on the migration of legacy assets to an SOA (SMART) is presented, using a case study to provide a real-world context for its applicability.

SOA Basic Tutorial

This tutorial identifies the potential and challenges of an SOA approach. In it, we outline the basic concepts of SOA and trace their implications through successively deeper levels of detail.

At a "50,000 foot view," we provide an introduction to the SOA approach, so that everyone has the same understanding of its potential benefits. We also describe a number of common misconceptions about SOA, including the beliefs that it is easy to (a) integrate legacy systems into an SOA environment, (b) compose systems dynamically, or (c) test applications that use services. At a "5,000 foot view," we outline the basic operations of service discovery, service composition, and service invocation. We present the Web Services technology in detail, describing its basic supporting technologies of Web Services Definition Language (WSDL), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and Universal Description Discovery and Integration (UDDI). At a "1,000 foot view," we define the three basic components of SOA-based systems: services, applications, and infrastructure.

We also introduce four "pillars" of SOA-based systems development:

1. a strategic approach to SOA implementation
2. SOA governance
3. realistic context-based technology evaluations
4. a change of mindset

EPIC Tutorial

This two-day tutorial covers fundamental COTS definitions and provides an overview of some of the major engineering, business, acquisition, and contractual activities affected by COTS-based systems. The presenter describes practices, based on real-world case studies, for COTS business case, vendor, and supplier relationships; architecture; license negotiation; requirements; evaluation; and risk management. The tutorial also covers the basic concepts and structure of the Evolutionary Process for Integrating COTS-Based Systems (EPIC) process, the implications for management and the organization's development processes, and the detailed activities, tasks, and artifacts that are used in the process.

EPIC Implementation

After delivering a two-day course in the EPIC methodology, we help organizations incorporate EPIC principles into current COTS-based systems processes. We also provide coaching in the successful execution of the new COTS-based systems process using EPIC.

COTS Software Product Evaluation

The SEI helps organizations apply its evaluation process to the selection of one or more COTS products for a specific system.

CURE Transition

The SEI provides training and coaching to help organizations master the COTS Usage Risk Evaluation (CURE) method and become self-sufficient in its delivery.

For More Information

Tricia Oberndorf
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
Email: po@sei.cmu.edu