SAN DIEGO -With all the hype surrounding Web services, little mention is made of the risks facing enterprises that are plotting a course from conventional software architecture to a services oriented architecture (SOA).

Amidst the lectures, presentations, and vendor booths that are often the main attractions for Symposium/ITxpo attendees, Gartner is running a series of workshops where IT execs reveal their most pressing problems and work with Gartner analysts to identify practical solutions.

One of these workshops focused on successfully plotting a course from conventional software to a services oriented architecture (SOA). Here, in no particular order, are some concrete recommendations on SOA migration that emerged from the collective braintrust of one Gartner's workshop.

Resolving the conflict between legacy applications and SODA. One question that came up was how to deal with the RTE (real-time enterprise) expectations in environments that are struggling to maintain a balance between entrenched legacy systems and services oriented development of applications (SODA).

Gartner analyst Jim Duggan took the lead on this one, saying "Legacy applications do not give you an easy path to services-oriented applications. One step towards SOAs is to wrap the legacy applications in a services-oriented layer, and there are a lot of products for doing that. But before doing that, you need to understand which legacy applications you want to use and how you can use them in an SOA. Even if people don't get all the way to SODA, understanding your legacy and how it can work in an SOA in a much more detailed way is something that all companies need to master. This has not been the common practice."

To outsource, or not to outsource? Gartner analyst Robert Solon warned attendees not to underestimate the value of their in-house application developers' business knowledge. Outsourcing business knowledge is riskier than outsourcing technical operations that are unrelated to a business' primary domain.

When outsourcing, what happens to the conventional programming staff? The workshop produced two recommendations: First, move newer programmers into object oriented programming. Second, move more experienced legacy programmers--those with significant business and domain knowledge-into business analyst roles. Gartner analyst Theresa Lanowitz pointed out that "moving those people into business analyst roles is a very good move because they're logical thinkers and their skill set directly translates into a role where a lot of business modeling has to take place."

One IT executive added this recommendation: "Keep your architects with domain knowledge, but outsource the routine programming."

To manage the conflict of fixed budgets vs. the expensive architectural shift associated with SOAs, the workshop recommended that non-domain tasks be moved offshore, where results can be had at a fraction of the cost.

Getting buy-in, setting expectations: Transitioning from a conventional software infrastructure to a services-oriented one doesn't happen overnight. Such a massive undertaking t affects not only the IT department but the entire business. To assure a buy-in from executive management, the IT department must communicate clearly the business benefits of SOA.

Setting proper expectations with the executive office as well as the rest of the organization is imperative. The tangible benefits from a huge amount of work at the foundation level that came at great expense to a company may not be obvious to the people it will ultimately impact at first.

Several IT executives suggested selecting smaller but more visible project candidates that can be addressed more quickly than long term projects and whose benefits are obvious to everyone. Success with projects like these will help sell grander SOA-based undertakings.

Addressing the cultural shift to SODA: Conventional approaches to software development don't map perfectly into the world of SODA. Management's commitment should be followed by an organization-wide communication that the company is about to make a strategic move. The IT department has to know that the entire company is excited about the change such a move represents.

Then, existing development processes must be revisited, adjusted, and formalized for SODA. Those processes must be clearly identified, and the people those processes affect need to understand the reasons for the change. . Because migration to an SOA could represent job changes for some members of your IT staff, job satisfaction will be critical for the people that you're moving into new roles. Also be sure to develop a training strategy that is integral to your long term roadmap. Your developers will require just-in-time training for those points in the roadmap that demand new skills.

The attendees to this and other Gartner Symposium workshops compiled a significant amount of practical advice that addresses an array of issues faced by information technologists. The advice from these workshops is codified by meeting participants, and is accessible on Gartner's Website in exchange for your name and e-mail address.