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Fundamental Design
Terminology and Concepts
    Introduction
    Design Characteristic
    Design Principle
    Design Paradigm
    Design Pattern
    Design Standard
    Best Practice

Elements of
Service-Oriented Computing
    Introduction
    Service-Oriented
Architecture (SOA)
    Services and
Service-Orientation
    Service Compositions
    Service Inventory
    A Conceptual View of
Service-Oriented Computing
    A Physical View of
Service-Oriented Computing

Goals and Benefits of
Service-Oriented Computing
    Introduction
    Increased Intrinsic Interoperability
    Increased Federation
    Increased Vendor Diversification Options
    Increased Business and Technology Alignment
    Increased ROI
    Increased
Organizational Agility
    Reduced IT Burden

Service-Oriented Computing
in the Real World
    Services as Web Services
    About Web Services (Part I)
    About Web Services (Part II)
    Service Models and
Service Layers
    Service Inventory Blueprints
    Service-Oriented Analysis
    Service-Oriented Design

Resources
    SOA Book Series
    SOA Training & Certification
    Free SOA Principles Poster
    Notification
    SOAPatterns.org
    SOAPrinciples.com
    SOA Visio Stencil


Service Inventory

Home > Elements of Service-Oriented Computing > Service Inventory

A service inventory is an independently standardized and governed collection of complementary services within a boundary that represents an enterprise or a meaningful segment of an enterprise.


Figure: The service inventory symbol consists of yellow spheres within a blue container.

An IT enterprise may include a service inventory that represents the extent to which SOA has been adopted. Larger initiatives may even result in the enterprise in its entirety being comprised of an enterprise-wide service inventory. Alternatively, an enterprise environment can contain multiple service inventories, each of which can be individually standardized, governed, and supported by its own service-oriented technology architecture.

Service inventories are typically created through top-down delivery processes that result in the definition of service inventory blueprints. The subsequent application of service-orientation design principles and custom design standards throughout a service inventory is of paramount importance so as to establish a high degree of native inter-service interoperability. This supports the repeated creation of effective service compositions.


Figure: The service inventory grows as projects deliver new services. Plus, opportunities to reuse existing services increase with each subsequent project.

The Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl
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