IT assets that cannot flexibly respond to changing business needs can compromise business agility. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) addresses this issue by providing a standards-based design that creates an integrated IT infrastructure capable of rapidly responding to changing business needs, without replacing the entire IT infrastructure. SOA projects designed to quickly and iteratively deliver on business goals are referred to as a "real-world" approach to service-orientation. This real-world approach to SOA enables organizations to align their IT assets with changing business needs. Microsoft Dynamics business management software greatly simplifies real-world SOA projects. Core service-orientation capabilities are built not only into Microsoft Dynamics, but also into the native infrastructure—components based on the Microsoft Application Platform, such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft BizTalk Server, the Microsoft .NET Framework, Windows Server, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Microsoft Dynamics extends the reach of business solutions and enables business agility through real-world SOA. The business benefits of Microsoft Dynamics and service-oriented architectureEnhanced business decision-making. By combining access to business services from different sources and by providing relevant information faster, Microsoft Dynamics business management software enables people, processes, and systems spanning multiple organizations to be more readily mapped into a single unified view. This helps organizations react more quickly to problems as they arise. "We now have the visibility we need to analyze critical business data from start to finish. The bottom line is that we can sell more, do more, and protect our profit margins through this integrated real-world SOA solution." Joe Divona, Director of Information Technology, AES2 Greater individual productivity. By providing streamlined access to systems and information, in the form that meets the needs of individuals in different roles, Microsoft Dynamics allows employees to focus their energies on value-added processes rather than conforming to the limitations and restrictions of the underlying IT systems. "This new system means that salespeople can now spend their time closing deals, not following up on pending contracts." John LeBeau, Director of Financial Processes and Systems, Jet Support Services Inc. Read the full story on real-world SOA at Jet Support Services Inc. Stronger connections with customers and suppliers. Real-world SOA and Microsoft Dynamics help companies integrate different systems and applications, which tightens relationships with customers and suppliers, strengthens internal supply-chain processes, and increases the profitability of mergers and acquisitions. "We've seen some of our cycle times in the early stages cut in half. It used to take us 40 days to do something, and now we can do it in 20." Dan Hedger, Vice President, Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing Read the full story on real-world SOA at Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing. What is real-world service-oriented architecture?Service-oriented architecture (SOA) by itself does not guarantee the alignment of business and IT. Top-down approaches do not work in the real world, and bottom-up approaches often fail to accurately target business goals. Organizations that have found success with SOA often adopt a "middle-out" strategy, a successful hybrid of the two other approaches. These organizations all have something in common—they start with clear business challenges and focus on creating business value. Through incremental SOA projects, these companies can progressively realize their strategic business goals. Microsoft has long advocated this real-world approach to leveraging service-oriented architectures. The approach is focused on rapid time-to-value, and it delivers business results through iterative, incremental steps that facilitate close alignment of IT resources with changing business conditions.  A real-world SOA project starts by defining clear business drivers. Once the business drivers are defined, the incremental delivery on SOA strategy can begin. Real–world SOA encompasses three distinct phases:Expose: This phase focuses on identifying which services to create from the basic applications and data. Service creation can map to a single business process, or multiple services can come together to perform a related set of business functions. Microsoft Dynamics business management software exposes data and business processes such as standards-based Web services, decreasing integration pains. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics provides prepackaged connectors and adapters that further facilitate this phase. Compose: Once services are created, they can be combined into more complex services, applications, or cross-functional business processes. To do this, Microsoft Dynamics uses the power of SOA as a mechanism to transact and interact. For transactions across organizational boundaries, Microsoft Dynamics uses Microsoft BizTalk Server as the management layer to orchestrate Web services, controlling the flow and aggregating individual services into a larger combined solution. Microsoft Dynamics helps increase productivity through the adaptable workflow capabilities provided by the Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Consume: In the final step of constructing a SOA solution, applications that consume the underlying services and processes are developed. These applications—based on Web technologies (such as portals), rich clients, business applications, or mobile devices—are what drive the productivity of the end user. Microsoft Dynamics serves as a platform to consume multiple services and create composite applications that deliver excellent business value. In addition, the Microsoft Dynamics Client for Microsoft Office consists of a number of self-service applications that are built to plug into the Microsoft Office system and Office SharePoint Server. These solutions use the inherent service-orientation capabilities of the Microsoft Application Platform to extend the reach of business solutions to end users. Read about the Microsoft Dynamics Client for Microsoft Office.  Microsoft Dynamics business management software takes advantage of the Microsoft Application Platform to increase agility and extend the reach of business solutions through SOA and business process management. For more information
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