A Joint Effort of BIAN and IFX Forum, Inc., December 2013

The collaboration of BIAN and IFX on this Proof of Concept (POC) was initiated with the intent to prove:

• that BIAN-defined service domains could be mapped to, and implemented using, a pre-existing service oriented messaging standard — in this case, the IFX Business Message Specification; and,
• that the IFX service framework could be used to implement a pre-existing view of standard business services — in this case BIAN service landscape and service domains.

These concepts, once proven, can be viewed more generally to conclude that either standard could be utilized within any banking infrastructure and set the stage to provide many benefits of standardization.

The underlying assumption for this proof of concept is that a bank with a desire to implement solutions based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) must do so within the context of existing IT systems, business procedures and technology governance. Of necessity, then, adoption of SOA solutions is likely to be incremental and evolutionary. In order to be successful, the SOA solution(s) must not disrupt existing systems and must be flexible enough to adapt to the bank’s environment while at the same time moving the systems forward with respect to standardization and value-added functionality. Otherwise, the benefits of such implementations will be questionable if not completely negated.

In this report we will demonstrate that the BIAN and IFX standards can be mapped effectively to the bank’s current IT landscape when necessary, and that they can be used together to achieve breakthrough efficiencies in the software development lifecycle.

Looked at from the view of the BIAN standard, we will demonstrate that BIAN service domains can be aligned with existing business capabilities and implemented using the bank’s current SOA technology.

Viewed from the perspective of IFX messaging, we will demonstrate that the standard can be adapted to implement services as defined within the bank’s own view of service definitions.

Most importantly, though, we show that banks can achieve much greater value using both standards as points of reference. Banks can begin to optimize their business capabilities both strategically and tactically in such a way as to:

a) accelerate the development lifecycle for new offerings from concept to implemented capability by utilizing the standards;
b) clearly define the scope of services offered to, or provided by, external partners;
c) isolate legacy systems from external changes by defining them as services within the overall services landscape.

IFX Forum, Inc. and BIAN, separate and jointly, make no warranties whatsoever with respect to the contents of this report. Without limitation, the IFX Forum and BIAN make no warranty (i) that the information contained in the report is accurate, error-free or describes a practically realizable product or service, or (ii) that the product or service described in the report can be produced or provided without infringing third-party rights or violating applicable laws or regulations.