"For SOA governance, we've never codified or documented [best practices] in this way before," Oberg said.

New software being unveiled includes the SOA Governance plug-in for IBM Rational Method Composer. With the plug-in, governance practices are packaged as a reusable asset and delivered via Rational Method Composer, which features processes and tools for IT lifecycle management.

Also part of the effort is IBM Rational Data Architect, software announced on Tuesday. It is for enforcing corporate and industry standards on data models and helping to govern SOA-compliant information architectures. IBM Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database, meanwhile, is a new tool for discovering and managing information about a client's IT environment.

IBM's SOA program also includes the previously announced Workplace Business Strategy Execution, an online portal to help executives manage strategy milestones. It is based on the concept of a Balanced Scorecard. The IBM WebSphere Service Registry and Repository product announced last week plays a role in IBM's SOA effort as well, allowing for management of services for incorporation into composite applications.

Rational Data Architect is available now while the governance plug-in availability is yet to be determined. The Tivoli database offering is due next quarter. Consulting services are available now.