This book should be of special interest to SAP users, including developers, architects, business analysts, CEOs, and CIOs. It outlines SAPs roadmap for the future of SOA (Service Oriented Architecture). This is built around ESA (Enterprise Services Architecture), which is SAPs proposed means for building and linking services in a way that promotes maintainability and reuse. It relies heavily on model-driven development
(modeling is the "organizing principle" of ESA).
The authors include fairly extensive discussions of SAPs plans for the future. For
this reason, a better title might be _Enterprise SOA from SAPs Point of View_. However, the strategy outlined, and examples given, should also interest those not using SAP, in that it presents persuasive arguments for an architecture that could be used by organizations faced with extensive complexities in business operations and
therefore, supporting business software. It also brings out issues that such organizations will have to face, such as creating services that are maintainable and reusable. As the authors point out, flexibility in both business operations and
software will be especially necessary to be agile and adaptable in the future--in many
cases, multi-year projects are no longer practical.
Some readers might find the organization of the book a little frustrating if they try to read it from beginning to end without first skimming it, but it is a complex subject, and different ways of organizing the discussion will appeal to different
readers. One nice feature is a brief, high-level introduction to the basics of web services in an FAQ format (pp. 99ff.; pp 321 ff.). The latter reference includes a brief explanation of XML, schemas, and namespaces. Another nice feature is the examples (pp. 184ff., pp228ff., pp372ff., etc.).
A glossary of SAP terms and acronyms might enhance the appeal of the book to non-SAP users, although use of sites such as Google lessens this need somewhat.
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