1437 Service-Oriented Architecture for Business Management Katrina Leyking Institute for Information Systems at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Germany Jörg Ziemann Institute for Information Systems at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Germany S introduction During the last two decades, many enterprises have put business processes in the focus of their organi- zational strategies both for internal and collaborative business activities. Business process models provide the IT department with a semiformal, business-driven requirements basis for implementing business strategy into information systems (Scheer, 1999). However, despite notable progress in integration technologies such as workflow management systems (WMS) and enterprise application integration (EAI) systems, ex- ecuting enterprise applications along a business process has remained the challenge of any universal business process management (BPM) approach. The most recent technology paradigm of service-oriented architecture (SOA) is expected to accomplish seamless and flex- ible business process automation (Krafzig, Banke, & Slama, 2005). The vision of loosely coupled services, that execute business activities across heterogeneous, distributed software systems via the Internet, captivates by the extent of flexibility and responsiveness given to business management. Thus, service-oriented comput- ing represents more than a concept of software engi- neering. It is rather considered to be the ultimate driver for a complete business reformation, finally bridging the gap between business strategy and technological infrastructure. Beyond these visionary perspectives, the effects of service-orientation on BPM methods and techniques will be manifold and challenging both for research and practice. mEthodoloGy of BusinEss pRoCEss mAnAGEmEnt Since the age of industrialization, organizations have been functionally structured entities. Each department succeeded because it concentrated its efforts on its specific domain irrespective of the overall enterprise mission (Taylor, 1911). With intensified competition in a globalizing world, more informed and demanding customers as well as ever accelerating developments in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, companies had to redefine themselves and align their operations to the market more closely. Being forced to put themselves in the shoes of their customers, they began to view their operations as a continuous series of business activities, spanning various departments, all joining efforts for the purpose of output production to improve the customer's satisfaction. Thus, the idea of business processes gained ground. In the beginning of the 1990s, this process-oriented management approach became known as business pro- cess reengineering (BPR) (Hammer & Champy, 2003). Various methodologies to manage and improve business processes in the context of enterprise architecture have emerged since. Among others--such as the Zachman framework (Zachman, 1987), the open system architec- ture for computer integrated manufacturing (CIMOSA) (Kosanke, Zelm, & Vernadat, 1999), or the business engineering concepts of PROMET--the architecture of integrated information systems (ARIS) has gained recognition throughout the research and industry com- munity. It stands out due to its relevance for introducing standard software (e.g., SAP R/3), its extensive model- ing tool support (e.g., ARIS Toolset), and its imperative focus on continuous process improvement (CPI). As it especially targets deriving IT systems from enterprise models, ARIS lends itself to examine business process management for the SOA context. Being the shared interface of business and IT constraints, a business process model represents the starting point of ARIS for developing and integrating information systems. The core of the ARIS methodol- ogy focuses on structuring an enterprise's reality and Copyright © 2008, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.