2016, Semester 2; Week 9 Virtual Organisations Tutorial Sheet: Week 9 - OUTSOURCING AND WEB SERVICES Overview This week introduces you to the concept of outsourcing and, further, Web Services as a means of inter- and intra-organisation integration of business processes. In this module you will gain an appreciation for the potential of Web Services in the Virtual Organisation context, an understanding of the overall concept of Web Services and how they work, and a general understanding of the functions of the core elements in the Web Services stack. Objectives The objectives of this module are to: understand the main benefit of Web Services for virtualisation understand the potential and capabilities of Web Services understand the link between outsourcing and Web Services be able to define the core components of the Web Services stack 2016, Semester 2; Week 9 Evolution of distributed computing In the first phase, things were built and deployed typically in the form of a client and server model in which clients talked to a single server in order to achieve some goal (e.g. execute a program or access data or another service). The second phase, referred to as web-based computing, allows many clients to talk to many servers through the Internet. In this phase, communicating partners have to have a prearranged agreement in terms of what common object model they have to use or what common communication protocol they use, in order to be able to communicate. The third phase, the web services model, allows service users and service providers to be dynamically connected. Almost every computing device and application can participate as both a service user and a service provider. What is a Web Service? According to the W3C (http://www.w3.org/): \"A Web service is a software application identified by a URI, whose interfaces and binding are capable of being defined, described and discovered by XML artifacts and supports direct interactions with other software applications using XML based messages via internet-based protocols. Web Services require a number of XML-based technologies in order to provide the platform and language independent integration methods that they provide. The following are the core elements in the Web Services stack that are required for the provision of basic Web Services: SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol The Simple Object Access Protocol defines a messaging framework for exchanging XML data between clients and services. The provided framework is platform and language independent. The main components of SOAP are: o Envelope o Header o Body o Attachment WSDL - Web Services Description Language The Web Services Description Language provides a means for describing Web Services and their interfaces. It is a common way in which inputs, outputs and operations can be specified. UDDI - Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration is a central registry where Web Services are registered, indexed and can be discovered by potential clients. 2016, Semester 2; Week 9 Web Services and Virtual Organisations? While there are many potential uses for Web Services, the main uses in the context of virtual organisations are in terms of integration of cross-organisational business processes or outsourcing of a particular process (or part of). The central registry of service types and available web services can also serve as a good source for the identification of potential partners who may conduct work within the boundaries of a virtual organisation. Moreover, Web Services can also help various employees of a virtual organisation to access resources on different systems, without having to learn and get direct access to an unfamiliar system. Tutorial questions: 1. What is a Web Service? 2. What are the main characteristics of a Web Service? 4. What is outsourcing? What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing? 5. How are Web Services related to outsourcing? 6. What are the core elements in the Web Services stack? Name and describe each. 7. What kind of information can be contained in a business registration in a UDDI Registry? 8. Draw the Web Service Architecture and explain how Web Services work. 9. What benefits do Web Services have for virtualization? 2016, Semester 2; Virtual Organisations Tutorial Sheet: Week 8 - PROCESS ORIENTATION Overview This week concentrates on business processes and Business Process Management (BPM) in organisations. In this module you will gain an introduction to the goals of BPM, its principles, and also the associated activity of Business Process Modelling. Objectives The objectives of this module are: to define a business process and BPM to understand why BPM is performed in organizations to appreciate and understand principles of BPM Business Processes and BPM As you read through this module's required reading, please take note of the definitions of a business process and Business Process Management. While there are many different definitions of these two terms, two comprehensive ones are given below. Business Process: self contained, temporal and logical order (parallel and/or serial) of those activities, that are executed for the transformation of a business object with the goal of accomplishing a given task. Business Process Management (BPM): structured, coherent and consistent way of 2013, Semester 2; understanding, documenting, modelling, analysing, simulating, executing, measuring and continuously changing end-to-end business processes and all involved resources in light of their contribution to business improvement. Companies engage in BPM in order to improve the way they do things - the way in which they produce their product, be it information, knowledge, service, or something tangible. The importance of proper management of business processes, has given rise to various suggested methodologies and guidelines. For example, Roger Burlton's ten BPM principles (Burlton, 2001) are listed below. 10 Business Process Management Principles (Burlton, 2001). 1. Business change must be performance driven 2. Business change must be stakeholder based 3. Business change decisions must be traceable to the stakeholder criteria 4. The business must be segmented along business process lines to synchronise change 5. Business processes must be managed holistically 6. Process renewal initiatives must inspire shared insight 7. Process renewal initiatives must be conducted from the outside in 8. Process renewal initiatives must be conducted in an iterative, time-boxed approach 9. Business change is all about people 10. Business change is a journey, not a destination Tutorial questions: 1.Define a business process. 1.Name and describe all steps within the business process lifecycle. 2.What is the link between BPM and Virtual Organisations? 3.What are the benefits of simulation? 4.What is the difference between Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Business Process Management (BPM)? 5.What are the specific advantages of BPMN for virtual organisations? 6.How do you model participants and organisations in BPMN? 7.How do you model communication and work flow between separate organisational entities? 8.Draw a BPMN model of finding and borrowing a book from the UQ library