Technology of information systems Course Technology of Information Systems Architecture of Information Systems Group Department of Computer Science K.M.van Hee G.J. Houben P. Thiran

Technology of information systems Content of the course 1. Architecture of Information Systems (Van Hee) 2. Web based technology (Houben) 3. Data integration and conversion (Thiran) 4,5. Enterprise packages (B.Smulders, Deloitte) 6,7. Workflow management with Flower ( P.Berens, Pallas Athena) 8,9. Component coordination with BizTalk (E. van den Boom, MicroSoft)

Technology of information systems Examination Students do a project and a oral examination In the oral examination the students are questioned about the material of the classes (ca 15 min) and about their project (ca 30 min). Examples of projects: –A study of the literature about one or more component types –A comparison or classification of existing commercial components –Experimentation with one or two commercial components –Analysis of system development methods for the component-based world

Technology of information systems Agenda Functions of information systems The component-based world Software architecture Enterprise systems

Technology of information systems Functions of information systems What? monitoring of business processes planning of business processes execution of business processes How? registration of states of objects and events generation of management information generating or evaluating decisions facilitating the cooperation between people processing of transactions

Technology of information systems Info systems vs embedded systems information systems support business processes inside an organisation, or between two or more organisations (so called: inter- organisational i.s.) embedded systems (e.s.) support a physical device e.s. have more simple data structures e.s. have stronger time and resource constraints despite the differences, most methods apply to both type of systems

Technology of information systems Agenda Introduction to information systems The component-based world Software architecture Enterprise systems

Technology of information systems Component-based world (1) systems are networks of communicating components (both hardware and software) components may reside anywhere each component has in principle four interfaces: –configuration interface with parameters sets –transaction interface to other components –user interface, a special kind of transaction interface –monitor interface to see how the component operates

Technology of information systems Component-based world (2) components are specified and recognized by their function and their interface: interface= protocol + datatypes software interface component monitor interface configuration interface user interface

Technology of information systems Commercial components e.g.: a telco operator is built of ca 20 COTS components Numetrix

Technology of information systems Component-based world(3) distinguish two kinds components: small and large ones small ones are found in public libraries, often freeware; they fulfil some specific, small task, like sorting a file. large components have a vendor and they support a complex business process, like bookkeeping webservices is focusing on small components software packages and ASP services can be considered as large components

Technology of information systems Component-based world (4) Different types of components: application components contain business logic generic components support application components and have no business logic types of components predefined components programmable components application components (with business logic) e.g. accounting: SAP, PeopleSoft e.g. business intelligence tool: Business Objects generic components (without business logic) e.g. middleware: WebMethods e.g. dbms:Oracle; wfms: Staffware

Technology of information systems Component-based world (5) Parameters of predefined components: parameters are options, selected from a list or input as simple data (often a tree of option lists) limited flexibility, but easy to use little ICT knowledge but much application knowledge required

Technology of information systems Component-based world (6) Parameters of programmable components: parameters are models, like datamodels and processmodels the model defines the function of the component special languages to make models (often diagrams) very flexible, but advanced ICT knowledge required

Technology of information systems Component-based world (7) Component based development is different: 1.requirements are determined 2.an architecture is designed 3.components are specified 4.now components are selected form vendors or constructed from scratch 5.programming= configuring+integration 6.configuring components=parameter setting 7.integration is connecting components interfaces, often via middleware

Technology of information systems Component-based world (8) component-based systems will behave in an ‘organic way’: –periodically components will be replaced by better ones –new functionality will be realised by new components vendors will compete with the best functionality of their individual components

Technology of information systems Component-based world (9) prepacked solutions will be offered by third parties: –combinations of components with parameters that can be used as a new predefined component –prepacked solutions can be made by ‘third parties’ ‘prepackers’ will compete with vendors of packages components may be outsourced to an ASP

Technology of information systems Agenda Functions of information systems The component-based world Software architecture Enterprise systems

Technology of information systems Software architecture (1) System development requires orchestration, the architecture is the musical composition. Architecture is used: 1.to divide and conquer 2.to define and select components 3.to test and integrate components 4.to manage a system when it is operational

Technology of information systems Software architecture (2) Definitions: Architecture of a system is: a consistent set of views and rules of the system Each view (model) consists of: –the set of components the system is made of –the external properties of the components –the relationships between the components A rule is a constraint on a view or on a combination of views

Technology of information systems business architecture process model information model software architecture: logical model…………..... physical model infrastructure Software architecture (3)

Technology of information systems Software architecture (4) two types of relationships between components in one view: –interaction relations e.g.: “uses”, control flow, dataflow –structural relations e.g.: is-part-of, is- specialization-of many types of relationships between views and between components of different views, e.g. is-realized-by, is- implemented-on

Technology of information systems Software architecture (5) Architecture is more than views and rules: architecture languages: modeling languages to described the views architecture patterns: standard solutions for generic problems architecture principles: in fact standard structural rules (to be adopted or modified in a specific architecture)

Technology of information systems Features of IS to be componentized –Data management –User interaction –Business process –Business logic –Component coordination –Security control Software architecture (6)

Technology of information systems Generic components and some vendors 1.Database man. system 2.Document man. system 3.Datawarehouse / Dataminer 4.Content man. system 5.Webserver 6.Application server 7.Rule engine 8.Workflow man. system 9.Coordination engine 1.Oracle, Sybase 2.OpenIMS, Worldox 3.Business objects, Cognos 4.Tridion, Tekfuse CMS 5.Apache, IIS 6.WebLogic (BeaSys), Borland Enterprise Server 7.FairIsaac, ILOG 8.Staffware, Cosa 9.BizTalk, Tibco Software architecture (7)

Technology of information systems Software architecture (8) Web Server Coordination Engine Workflow Engine Application Server Database Manager Document Manager Content Manager Rule Engine Application Document Manager

Technology of information systems Challenges for software architects 1.To discover functionality in a generic component Clear, generic functionality required Business plan needed: market analysis, who is the vendor, do the benefits cover the cost? 2.To deal with overlapping functionality: Which one to use? If both have to be used, how do we synchronize them? 3.Reshuffling of functionality Software architecture (9)

Technology of information systems Agenda Functions of information systems The component-based world Role of architecture Enterprise systems

Technology of information systems Predefined application components Purchase and Inventory control PRODUCTION PLANNING Detailed Production plan Master production plan Production control Purchase Materials Intake Distribution Customer Sales Capacity plan Sales forecast Supplier Sales and distribution ERP systems(1)

Technology of information systems ERP functions Puchase and supplier management Sales and distribution planning (invoicing, transport planning) Inventory control Quality control Production planning (material planning, capacity planning) Means of production planning (equipment, maintenance) Human resource planning (payroll, timesheets, personnel and organisation chart) Financial management (general ledger, debtors, creditors, asset management, treasury management) Supporting functions: –Workflow management –Dataware housing Industry specific functions (telco, health care etc) ERP systems(2)

Technology of information systems Evolution of functions It started with the financial administration Then inventory control appeared Three phases: 1.Islands of automation 2.Internally integrated 3.Externally integrated: Supply chain management E-Procurement Customer relationship management E-commerce ERP systems(3)

Technology of information systems Components of a ERP system Hardware infra structure eBusiness Financial management HRM Production means control. Production planning Purchase & inventory control Functional Applications Data warehousing Meta Data Query- en reporting OLAP EIS Data collectie Externe databases Interne databases DMS Software infra structure (OS, middleware, …) Knowledge management Data cleansing Data mining Statistical analysis Rule engine ERP systems(4)

Technology of information systems ERP processes as supported by development tools ERP systems(5)