Business processes and solutions should be designed and developed using service oriented architecture (SOA). SOA has been defined by OASIS, the “Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards”. SOA is intended to be achieved for increased agility in IT organizations through the development of independent services which are highly reusable.

This provides for the multiple use of service modules in different areas and so lead to increased flexibility through modularity. Important prerequisites for an SOA approach are the definition of what services are and include, clarity regarding interfaces and dependencies between services, the application of standards for the development and definition of services and the use of broadly-based technologies and tools. When applying SOA principles it’s important to maintain a corresponding service catalogue as part of a comprehensive service portfolio.