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Developing a canonical policy as part of a major integration project
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Challenge
Oakleigh Consulting had been working with a large UK government agency to create enterprise application integration (EAI). Historically the solutions offered by this agency had been developed independently of each other and the EAI service was to be a key mechanism by which this silo mentality was to be removed.
In order for this to be successful, a number of policies and patterns had to be provided to project teams so that the EAI service was used to promote code re-use and facilitate 'enterprise-wide' thinking. For instance, one of the areas perceived to provide the greatest source of reuse was in the exchange of data over the EAI service where it was hoped that the use of common mechanisms and standards for the exchange of data would enable the reuse of interfaces developed for other projects.
Oakleigh Consulting were engaged to develop a data exchange policy (known as the canonical policy within the agency) over a three month period.
Solution
The approach Oakleigh took was one of consensus building and education amongst a wide range of individuals and projects within the client. The approach was divided into four stages:
- Firstly, a steering group including senior architects (business and technical) and the CTO was formed in order to create a 'terms of reference' for the work and more importantly to demonstrate to those being approached that the work was seen as strategic by the executive board of the agency.
- Secondly, a series of interviews was undertaken with various key staff within the agency. The purpose of these interviews was to elicit business and technical knowledge around data and information within the agency's estate. These interviews also provided an opportunity to re-emphasise the use of the integration architecture within the estate.
- Thirdly, a policy document was written which sought to describe an effective data exchange policy for the use as the agency moved forward in implementing new systems. The document was based on the material captured previously and Oakleigh's experience of best practices within integration.
- Finally the report was presented to the steering group and then to the agency executive board for approval.
Outcome
The resulting canonical policy document published has been adhered to by all new projects wanting to exchange data using the EAI service, which has increased re-use of data and helped overcome much of the previous silo mentality.
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