The information overload on SOA is largely on describing its merits, its principles and the vast variety of products intended to address its needs. This document is written to identify the factors to be considered, and articulate the principles and questions to be asked that will drive the decisions within each enterprise towards creating a road map for implementation.

Most white papers and webinars available on the Internet about choosing enterprise middleware focus the selection process around criteria such as licensing costs, technical coverage of long lists of specified functionalities, and vendor viability. While these criteria may have been suitable in the past, the experience of many enterprise architects leading J2EE projects over the past few years suggest that they are not enough. What’s missing? People costs.