|
Strategic vs. Tactical Web Services. Strategic web services projects are complex and costly enough to require a plan, whereas you can just dive in and get started with tactical projects, learning as you go. How can you tell if a web service is strategic or tactical? Try this decision flowchart. (And let me know how it works for you.)
Complex web services include those that are asynchronous or aggregated (i.e., built on top of other web services). Commercial-grade services are those with requirements for robust deployment (24/7, scalability, etc.) External web services are those that communicate with separate organizations, beyond the firewall.
For example, consider the task of implementing a client to a FedEx package-tracking web service. Such a client would be neither complex nor (at least for most businesses) commercial grade. It’s an external web service, but the client has only one business partner—FedEx. The task therefore qualifies as tactical. Now consider the same web service, but from FedEx’s perspective. It’s not complex, but it is commercial grade, so it’s clearly a strategic web service. It would also qualify as strategic on the basis that it’s an external web service for which the company has multiple business partners.
Tactical and strategic web service projects must be approached quite differently from one another. Each type requires a very different plan and timetable. [An edited excerpt from my forthcoming book, Web Services: Strategies For the Real World.]
Posted Sunday, July 07, 2002 7:09:42 PM 
|
