Designing Information Systems for Micro Enterprises using Service Oriented Principles

Abstract: Information Technology is a vital part of any business today and requires a clear strategy to guide its use of resources in the best way to support the business. The use of Enterprise architecture can help organize a business while Service-Oriented architecture can be used to expose the EA’s functionalities. Despite the potential benefits there is a lack of research supporting micro enterprises applying Enterprise Architecture and Service-Oriented Architecture principles. The purpose of this study is to investigate if it is feasible to apply Enterprise Architecture and Service-oriented Architecture within the context of developing an information system for a micro enterprise. This thesis aims to answer the most important issues to consider during the analysis and planning of a new information system that utilises EA and SOA as well as how the analysis, design and modelling of the resulting IS would be modeled. A literature study has been performed for the information system strategy, micro enterprises, Enterprise and Service-oriented architecture as well as business information systems. The methods used were the TOGAF framework and the steps from the ADM method.
The results from this study were two proposed solutions introducing two new applications exposing functionality with the help of web services. Both solutions streamlined the business by automating manual business processes, providing flexible solutions and helping prepare the business for future development. The conclusions reached in this thesis proves that the use of combining EA and SOA principles was considered feasible for the micro enterprise. The applied methods used to establish EA and SOA principles should give similar benefits for other micro enterprises who are buying and selling products over the internet. Issues to be considered before undertaking such a project are the know-how and expertise needed to succeed. That as well as the related costs and knowledge of the benefits that the business can receive though using EA and SOA methodologies to build their applications.