GSA Developing New “eCommon” Platform for Shared Real Property Applications

The General Services Administration (GSA) is developing a package of software tools to help manage the federal buildings and property under its control. GSA's Public Buildings Service’s so-called “eCommon” framework is intended to automate many building, leasing, and office space maintenance functions. The framework is to be based on service-oriented architecture (SOA).

SOA is a departure from the Public Building Service’s previous stovepiped approach to tool development. Instead of allowing different offices to develop their own software solutions for similar tasks, SOA programs are set up as "services" for accomplishing such similar tasks across the entire organization.

SOA has been touted as a means to improve organizational collaboration in software development, reducing expenses by eliminating needless duplication of applications.

GSA’s eCommon will look across the enterprise for the best tool to address a standard function and enable it to be used throughout the organization. The applications will be maintained in a centralized repository for easy access and be combined with other services as new functional requirements emerge. Eventually, the eCommon program will be used across all of GSA.

By simplifying the software development process in this way, GSA hopes to improve the organization’s ability to design, build and maintain its facilities. Leasing and property maintenance documents might eventually be made available as Web services and current software applications will be modified for improved use across all of the Public Buildings Service.

A key benefit of this SOA approach to software development will also be a common data structure across all of GSA. In the previous stovepiped approach, if data from one operation were to be used in another office’s application, many times the data would have to be reformatted to work with that application.

The first functions to be addressed under the Public Building Service’s eCommon platform will be basic, such as attaching files to emails, searching database directories and accessing data; the first Web services should be available in eighteen (18) months. Eventually, transactions and business rules will also be incorporated.

Just how much value SOA can provide is still unclear. Large companies have begun to deploy SOA but have yet to demonstrate its value because this type of architecture achieves economies of scale after years of adoption.

David Baker, VISTA’s National Director of Asset Management Solutions, applauded the application reuse potential of SOA, but cautioned, “there is no magic to connecting Web services. It still requires planning, rules of engagement, and potentially data transformation between the various Web services.

“Many times the Web services might have different data formats and the sending and receiving services must have some knowledge of the data to avoid error conditions,” Baker added. In addition, Web services might not be the appropriate mechanism for every application or data transfer need. For example, bulk data transfers and conversions are not appropriate for Web services.

Baker also cautioned that any platform such as eCommon must be developed to include a Quality of Service (QOS) indicator. “How does the system know that a Web service message to invoke another Web service was delivered to its intended destination? Monitoring of QOS and service logs is a vital part of managing a SOA or Web services environment” he advised.

In addition to GSA, other federal agencies employing SOA include the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The FBI uses the architecture in its Sentinel case management system; the IRS uses SOA for directory services in its business and tax registration program.

A comprehensive article on the GSA’s program appears by Gautham Nagesh in a recent edition of Government Executive. Click here for more information.