Quality of Service: You Can't Measure What You Don't Specify!

by Paul Allen

At the heart of risk management and governance of service-oriented applications is the need to achieve agreed and measurable quality of service (QoS) levels. Traditionally, analysis and design techniques have tended to focus primarily on functional requirements, relegating quality concerns to the backseat position of nonfunctional requirements, with lip service to QoS levels such as availability and responsiveness. In contrast, service orientation requires that QoS take on a much more central, demanding, and diverse role. As detailed in this Executive Report by Paul Allen, clear definitions and overall guidance are required for addressing these challenges in a way that fits coherently into the bigger picture of roles, service-oriented architecture (SOA) policy, service specifications, and service-level agreements (SLAs).