SOA policy lifecycle
You use the SOA policy lifecycle to govern a policy from initial identification, through specification, approval, and deployment in production, and finally deprecation when it is no longer required.
The term policy in these topics is taken to refer to a policy document containing policy expressions. It is the policy document that is initiated into the SOA policy lifecycle. The policy expressions inherit their state from this containing document.
The following table and diagram describe the states of the SOA policy lifecycle, and, for each state, names the transition that moves the policy forward to that state. There are a number of transitions which will allow for revision of the policy by moving the policy into a previous governance state.
| Transition | State (and state ID) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| (Initial state) | Draft (Identified) | The Draft state indicates that a new version of a policy has been requested or identified. During the Draft state, stakeholders identify the requirements for this version of the policy and propose the specification for review. |
| Send for Review | Awaiting Review (SpecificationReview) | The specification review must check that the definition of the policy will meet the stakeholder requirements. |
| Send for Revision | Draft (Identified) | During the specification review, if rework is required, the policy can be moved back to the Draft state. |
| Approve | Approved (Approved) | When the policy reaches the Approved state, it is ready to be used in a runtime environment. |
| Send for Revision | Draft (Identified) | If an error is found with the policy in the runtime system, it can be reworked. However, to rework the policy, it must be transitioned back to the Draft state using the Send for Revision transition. |
| Supersede | Superseded (Superceded) | The Superceded state indicates that there is a more up-to-date version of the policy, which consumers should use in preference to this policy version. |
| Deprecate | Deprecated (Deprecated) | The Deprecated state indicates that consumers should no longer use this policy and that it could be removed at any point. |
| Retire | Retired (Retired) | The Retired state indicates that the policy has no consumers and can be removed from all systems. |
SOA policy lifecycle diagram
Note: In the lifecycle diagram, any transitions
that are highlighted in red represent a promotion step in the sample
promotion file.
State and transition URIs
Each of the states and transitions in the SOA policy lifecycle are identified by a URI.
The following table lists the URIs for the states and transitions:
| Transition | State (and state ID) |
|---|---|
Initiate |
Draft (Identified) |
Send for Review |
Awaiting Review (SpecificationReview) |
Send
for Revision |
Draft (Identified) |
Approve |
Approved (Approved) |
Send for Revision |
Draft (Identified) |
Supersede |
Superseded (Superceded) |
Deprecate |
Deprecated (Deprecated) |
Retire |
Retired (Retired) |