Towards a reference model for SOA governance

Although the lack of elaborate governance mechanisms is often seen as the main reason for failures of SOA projects, SOA governance is still very low in maturity. In this paper, we address this drawback by presenting selected elements of a framework that can guide organisations in implementing a gov-ernance approach for SOA more successfully. We have reviewed the highly ad-vanced IT governance frameworks Cobit and ITIL and mapped them to the SOA domain. The resulting blueprint for an SOA governance framework was refined based on a detailed literature review, expert interviews and a practical application in a government organisation. The proposed framework stresses the need for business representatives to get involved in SOA decisions and to de-fine benefits ownership for services.