I.T. MANAGEMENT

I.T. MANAGEMENT

Data Architecture

Butterwick Software, a software development company wants to adopt Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). According to Kodali (2005), SOA architecture refers to a collection of services which communicate with each other. It is a software design methodology whose basis is structured collections of software modules, which are popularly referred to as services. Figure 1 below illustrates the conceptual data model showing entities, attributes and relationships that are required to manage Butterwick’s business process in the information system to support service-oriented development within the company.

Figure 1: Conceptual data model

4.1 Scope and Timescales

4.1a. As a group, identify and provide an overview of the key work packages that are required to deliver the change project.

Work packages in this project are subsets of the project which could be assigned to a particular part to be executed. Work packages are not separate functions or data objects on the project system. For this company, the work package will be created according to the needs of the company. The following work packages (WPs) will be essential for this project:

WP1: In-depth investigation of the strategic impact of adopting SOA in Butterwick Software. The company wishes to adopt SOA in order to be able to cope with growth in its business and become more competitive. The company believes strongly that having SOA will change the way the it would develop new information systems for its customers. Investigating the impact that SOA will most likely have on the company is very essential in the sense that it will help the company’s management to make intelligent decisions with regard to adopting SOA (Kodali, 2005).

WP2: Analysis of the results: Results from WP1 will be documented and carefully analyzed for the purpose of making appropriate decisions regarding the best SOA for the company.

WP3: Assessment of the company’s SOA needs: The Company’s present needs of having an SOA will be extensively assessed in order to gain a proper understanding of its operations and the significance of adopting SOA.

WP4: Designing the business and data architectures that will support and manage the company’s new service oriented software development process. This work package will be carried out with the primary aim of understanding what should be taken into account when developing the SOA that will meet the specific needs of this company.

WP5: Developing the architectures: After the needs have been identified, the architectures will then be developed by the relevant developer.

WP6: Deployment: The following process of deployment will be observed:

Indentifying and understanding the deployment audience: The three distinct groups to be considered are: end users of the service/architecture; the operations staff who will have the responsibility of running the service/application once it is in production; and the support staff who will have the responsibility to aid users with the SOA application.
Installation testing: The installation scripts should be tested prior to the deployment. A proper way of doing this is to develop the installation scripts when the architecture is being developed.
Start planning early: Deploying SOA could be a complex undertaking particularly when there are many system configurations. As such, starting to plan early in the project lifecycle will be essential in ensuring success of the deployment.
Take an agile approach to planning: This entails keeping the plans high-level and focusing on the key dependencies. The people who do the work have to carefully plan the details.
Testing the SOA architecture: Generally, a well-tested SOA/architecture is easy to deploy. Testing will be performed using object-oriented testing. Testing should be done early and as often as possible.
Announce the deployment: The expected schedule of deployment should be announced and this needs to include both the installation dates and expected training.
Holding release meetings regularly: Regular meetings should be held with major stakeholders who are involved in the SOA deployment.
Training: This is essential for the deployment and each stakeholder has to be trained beyond that of learning how to work with the SOA. This training is vital because some people might not be aware of the architectures and how to work with them.
Develop supporting documentation: Developing operations, support, as well as user documentation in an agile manner.

4.1b

High level plan for implementing the business process

Activity Number	Activity	Duration in weeks	Depends on Activity No.
1	Investigating the impact of adopting SOA	4	–
2	Analyzing results of the investigation	1	1
3	Assessing the need to adopt SOA	2	2
4	Designing the SOA to suit the company’s needs	3	3
5	Design schedule for training	1	4
6	Write training manual	1	5
7	Train workers on how to use the architectures	1	5, 6
8	Deployment of SOA	1	7
9	Test the architectures	1	8