Service-Oriented Architecture: Best Practices for integrating Web Services

Below, I have mentioned some Best Practices, which you could use if you are dealing in with SOA or in other words Service-Oriented Architecture; 

• Know when to use Web services: "First define the extent to which you want to use Web services before developing them. Services can be phased in at different levels, allowing you to customize an adoption strategy.”

• Know how to use Web services: “Limit the scope of Web services in your production environment to the scope of your knowledge. If you know nothing, don’t service-orient anything that matters.”

• Know when to avoid Web services: “Even though Web services are becoming an important part of the IT mainstream, you should begin incorporating them only where you know they will add value.”

• Moving forward with a transition architecture: “Consider a transition architecture that only introduces service-oriented concepts, without the technology.”

• Align ROIs with migration strategies:  “ROIs for service oriented architecture can provide valuable information, beyond that required to justify the project.”

• Build toward a future state : “Design a service-oriented solution to accommodate its probable migration path."

• Label the infrastructure: “Consider naming conventions as a means of labeling your infrastructure."

• Design against an interface (not vice versa): “Consistently describing service interfaces establishes a standard endpoint model. This results in a standardized service-oriented integration architecture that can be positioned as part of enterprise infrastructure." 

• Use SOAs to streamline business models: “Service-oriented designs open up new opportunities for business automation. Rethink business models to take advantage of these opportunities.”

• Research the state of second-generation specifications: As more and more legacy application logic is expressed and represented within ser-vice-oriented environments, the demand increases for Web services to support a wider range of traditional business automation features. The IT community responds to these demands by improving and sometimes replacing technical specifications.

• Strategically position second-generation specifications: “Design your SOA with a foreknowledge of emerging specifications.” Rgardless of whether you are planning to incorporate the features offered by some of the newer second-generation Web services specifications, you should make it a point to research the feature set provided by these standards. This will allow you to identify those that may be potentially useful.

These are a few of the guidelines, if you know more please share them with me.