A practical method and tool for systems engineering of service-oriented applications

As software organizations develop systems based on service-oriented architectures (SOAs), the role of systems engineers (SEs) is crucial. They drive the process, in a top-down fashion, from the vantage point of the business domain. The SE, utilizing tools that allow work at a suitably high level of abstraction, creates service description artifacts that document service contracts, the obligations that govern the integration of services into useful applications. This paper describes a practical systems engineering methodology and supporting toolset for SOA that has been successfully used within the telecommunications domain. The methodology and toolset, named the STructured Requirements and Interface Design Environment (STRIDE), are based upon a high-level service description meta-model, and as such, encourage top-down service design. STRIDE promotes reuse of service models, as well as of the artifacts generated from those models, across the enterprise. STRIDE also embodies an effective service evolution and versioning strategy.