Government of Ontario EA and SOA

ComputerWorld NZ - March 13, 2006 - Technology gets SOA much better for Ontario government

In Ontario, the new SOA framework will reuse systems for common business processes and make the government's IT infrastructure more flexible to adapt to changes in government programs, and even changes in governments.

Ron Huxter, chief technology officer in Ontario's Ministry of Government Services, used an IBM Canada breakfast on SOA best practices in Toronto last month to outline the government's blueprint. He said one key driver for moving to SOA was the need to be more agile. "We have 200 to 300 different lines of business … of which one-third to one-half get whipped-out every four years."

While SOA may be new to Ontario, Huxter says the idea isn't. The government’s current initiative is a carry-on of what’s described as a "common component strategy" the province tried to implement six years ago. "The reason it wasn't very successful is because it was a technology effort and not a business effort."

That's a mistake they're not planning on making this time.

Huxter says the exercise is being driven as a business initiative, with IT as an equal partner at the table. A Common Components and Applications Services group, which Huxter says will be announced shortly, is responsible for identifying common components that can be reused across the government. "All government programs have unique outcomes but not unique processes."

The Government of Ontario also has an Enterprise Architecture initiative.  I did some very quick searching but I couldn't find a specific page for their SOA.