Home > Articles > Web Services > SOA

SOA Pattern (#9): Enterprise Inventory

The Enterprise Inventory design pattern attempts to maximize the reusability and recomposition of services by proposing the development of services based on a single enterprise-wide service inventory.
Like this article? We recommend

Like this article? We recommend

Figure

The Enterprise Inventory design pattern attempts to maximize the reusability and recomposition of services by proposing the development of services based on a single enterprise-wide service inventory.

In today’s competitive market, with ever decreasing IT budgets, agility remains one of the key reasons behind the development of a service-oriented solution. However, in order to be agile, the developed services need to be interoperable, should support the vision of a federated enterprise, be reusable and last, but not the least, need to facilitate repeated composition over multiple development projects. These aforementioned objectives directly relate to the strategic goals of SOA.

Within organizations that either consist of multiple IT departments, or where various development teams are delivering services as part of different projects, the degree to which the service-oriented design principles are applied might differ. This is a key factor in determining to what extent a given service is recomposable. For example, a service to which the Service Abstraction design principle has been applied to a greater extent might not be easily recomposable as compared to the situation where the same principle has been applied to a modest level. Other factors limiting the recomposability of a service include focusing on tactical requirements that result in services built around a specific implementation architecture that might not be compatible with other services built around a different set of tactical requirements. Furthermore, another contributing factor that may have an effect on the usefulness of a service, which negatively impacts the enterprise-centric characteristic of an SOA, is the development of standalone inventory architectures by the individual IT departments belonging to the same organization. Although such inventory architectures might be based on industry standards, they might not be compatible with each other as they were based on the individual needs of the organizational unit to which each IT department belongs. This factor also impacts the interoperability of services across the organization.

The solution to the problems mentioned above lies in the creation of a single enterprise-wide service inventory as advocated by the Enterprise Inventory design pattern. The creation of such an inventory requires the existence of enterprise-wide design standards as well as an enterprise-wide implementation architecture i.e. the service-oriented enterprise architecture. This further leads to the question of how to build such an inventory in the first place. The answer requires conducting top-down service-oriented analysis in order to come up with a set of service candidates known as a service inventory blueprint. Only by having a pool of services in advance can we derive the combined implementation requirements that would form the basis of the service-oriented enterprise architecture. This also helps in determining any limitations within the current service-oriented enterprise architecture that helps in adjusting candidate services accordingly before their design and implementation.

The application of the Enterprise Inventory pattern, in case of an existing SOA, might lead to considerable redesign efforts. For example, in light of the newly formed enterprise-wide standards for the enterprise inventory, it is quite possible that the service contracts may require another round of functional and data standardization efforts. Similarly, if the new design standards require increasing the abstraction level of the existing services, there is a high possibility that the services’ discoverability and recomposability would be reduced. In either case, any dependent service consumers would be adversely affected. This may create the need to provide concurrent contracts by the application of the Concurrent Contracts design pattern until the non-standardized contracts are phased out.

In large organizations the creation of a single service inventory would require considerable governance efforts and might require governance tools if not already in place. Similarly, the maintenance of service registries would also require extra resources, both in terms of time and effort. When applying this design pattern, it is important to consider the different security requirements of all the services within the enterprise inventory, as the underlying service-oriented enterprise architecture needs to support such requirements. A federated SOA can then be developed by ensuring that all services are able to perform their respective security related processing within the boundary of the standardized enterprise-wide security architecture.

Although the Enterprise Inventory design pattern is considered as an alternative to the Domain Inventory design pattern, its true benefits may only be realized when applied cautiously. This can be achieved by planning in advance to tackle its various impacts that may otherwise impede its success.

The SOA Pattern of the Week series is comprised of original content and insights provided to you courtesy of the authors and contributors of the SOAPatterns.org community site and the book “SOA Design Patterns” (Erl et al., ISBN: 0136135161, Prentice Hall, 2009), the latest title in the Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl (www.soabooks.com).

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020