Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Migration Strategy for U.S. Operational Naval Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC)

The Commander Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (COMNAVMETOCCOM) manages a scope of activities that sponsor, create, operate, and maintain capabilities that support the operational goals of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC). Effective and efficient Naval METOC operations require partnerships and collaborations within the U.S. Navy, with external U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. Federal agencies, and with military allies and coalition partners. Partnerships are or will be supported by the integration of operational processes, functional capabilities, and data useful in multiple contexts. The U.S. DoD has followed the global industry base in adopting a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) architectural pattern as the best technical approach to integration of processes, functionality, and data in heterogeneous, cross-organizational, technical environments. Naval METOC is a domain in the U.S. DoD enterprise that provides critical environmental characterization of the battlespace along with associated impacts on platforms, sensors, weapons, people, and warfighting missions and operations. This information must be efficiently and effectively produced and integrated into sensor systems, warfighter systems and decision processes. It is imperative, therefore, that all Naval METOC information technology (IT) programs that are essential for continued operations and/or business processes migrate towards an SOA environment. The level of migration will vary depending on the resources available and the need for agile integration with internal and external systems. An effective migration requires a clear understanding of the end state SOA environment and its impacts on IT, as well as the current readiness of Naval METOC to make the required transformation. A strategy that matches these assessments with available financial and human capital resources in the Naval METOC domain and the level of acceptable risk must be articulated. This paper first summarizes - the value proposition of Naval METOC for the U.S. warfighter, IT transformation requirements in moving toward a SOA environment, and the end state SOA architecture for Naval METOC. Given this target migration environment, the remainder of the paper describes a strategy that manages SOA migration via a cost, complexity, and risk (CCR) model of the IT project portfolio that is required to support transformation to a domain-wide SOA. Finally, specific technical and management guidance for Naval METOC transformation projects is summarized.