Description
The SvcV-9 defines the underlying current and expected supporting technologies and skills. Expected supporting technologies and skills are those that can be reasonably forecast given the current state of technology and skills, and expected improvements or trends. New technologies and skills are tied to specific time periods, which can correlate against the time periods used in SvcV-8 Services Evolution Description model milestones and linked to Capability Phases.
The SvcV-9 provides a summary of emerging technologies and skills that impact the architecture. The SvcV-9 provides descriptions of relevant:
- Emerging capabilities.
- Industry trends.
- Predictions (with associated confidence factors) of the availability and readiness of specific hardware and software services.
- Current and possible future skills.
In addition to providing an inventory of trends, capabilities and services, the SvcV-9 also includes an assessment of the potential impact of these items on the architecture. Given the future-oriented nature of this model, forecasts are typically made in short, mid and long-term timeframes, such as 6, 12 and 18-month intervals. In addition, this model is useful in support of net-centric (service-oriented) implementation of services. As technologies change, like incorporation of Representational State Transfer (REST) services in the Web Services Description Language, this model can present a timeline of technologies related services over time.
The intended usage of the SvcV-9 includes:
- Forecasting technology readiness against time.
- HR Trends Analysis.
- Recruitment Planning.
- Planning technology insertion.
- Input to options analysis.
Implementation
SvcV-9 can be represented using a SvcV-9 table.
The specific time periods selected (and the trends being tracked) can be coordinated with architecture transition plans (which the SvcV-8 Services Evolution Description can support). That is, insertion of new capabilities and upgrading or re-training of existing resources may depend on or be driven by the availability of new technology and associated skills.
If standards are an integral part of the technologies important to the evolution of a given architecture, then it may be convenient to combine SvcV-9 with the StdV-2 Standards Forecast into a composite Fit-for-Purpose View.