A Model-Based Monitoring Architecture for Heterogeneous Enterprise Services and Information Systems

Runtime management of distributed information systems is a complex and costly activity. One of the main challenges that must be addressed is obtaining a complete and updated view of all the managed runtime resources. This article presents a monitoring architecture for heterogeneous and distributed information systems. It is composed of two elements: an information model and an agent infrastructure. The model negates the complexity and variability of these systems and enables the abstraction over non-relevant details. The infrastructure uses this information model to monitor and manage the modeled environment, performing and detecting changes in execution time. The agents infrastructure is further detailed and its components and the relationships between them are explained. Moreover, the proposal is validated through a set of agents that instrument the JEE Glassfish application server, paying special attention to support distributed configuration scenarios.

Exploiting Structured Linked Data in Enterprise Knowledge Management Systems: An Idea Management Case Study

In parallel to the effort of creating Open Linked Data for the World Wide Web there is a number of projects aimed for developing the same technologies but in the context of their usage in closed environments such as private enterprises. In the paper, we present results of research on interlinking structured data for use in Idea Management Systems - a still rare breed of knowledge management systems dedicated to innovation management. In our study, we show the process of extending an ontology that initially covers only the Idea Management System structure towards the concept of linking with distributed enterprise data and public data using Semantic Web technologies. Furthermore we point out how the established links can help to solve the key problems of contemporary Idea Management Systems

A Metadirectory of Web Components for Mashup Composition

Because of the growing availability of third-party APIs, services, widgets and any other reusable web component, mashup developers now face a vast amount of candidate components for their developments. Moreover, these components quite often are scattered in many different repositories and web sites, which makes difficult their selection or discovery. In this paper, we discuss the problem of component selection in Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) and Mashup-Driven Development, and introduce the Linked Mashups Ontology (LiMOn), a model that allows describing mashups and their components for integrating and sharing mashup information such as categorization or dependencies. The model has allowed the building of an integrated, centralized metadirectory of web components for query and selection, which has served to evaluate the model. The metadirectory allows accessing various heterogeneous repositories of mashups and web components while using external information from the Linked Data cloud, helping mashup development.

A Coreference Service for Enterprise Application Integration using Linked Data

The use of semantic and Linked Data technologies for Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is increasing in recent years. Linked Data and Semantic Web technologies such as the Resource Description Framework (RDF) data model provide several key advantages over the current de-facto Web Service and XML based integration approaches. The flexibility provided by representing the data in a more versatile RDF model using ontologies enables avoiding complex schema transformations and makes data more accessible using Web standards, preventing the formation of data silos. These three benefits represent an edge for Linked Data-based EAI. However, work still has to be performed so that these technologies can cope with the particularities of the EAI scenarios in different terms, such as data control, ownership, consistency, or accuracy. The first part of the paper provides an introduction to Enterprise Application Integration using Linked Data and the requirements imposed by EAI to Linked Data technologies focusing on one of the problems that arise in this scenario, the coreference problem, and presents a coreference service that supports the use of Linked Data in EAI systems. The proposed solution introduces the use of a context that aggregates a set of related identities and mappings from the identities to different resources that reside in distinct applications and provide different views or aspects of the same entity. A detailed architecture of the Coreference Service is presented explaining how it can be used to manage the contexts, identities, resources, and applications which they relate to. The paper shows how the proposed service can be utilized in an EAI scenario using an example involving a dashboard that integrates data from different systems and the proposed workflow for registering and resolving identities. As most enterprise applications are driven by business processes and involve legacy data, the proposed approach can be easily incorporated into enterprise applications.

Desarrollo de una solución SaaS para una Enterprise Store

En el marco del proyecto europeo FI-WARE, en el CoNWet Lab (laboratorio de la ETSI Informáticos de la UPM) se ha implementado la plataforma Web Wstore que es una implementación de referencia del Store Generic Enabler perteneciente a dicho proyecto. El objetivo de FI-WARE es crear la plataforma núcleo del Internet del Futuro (IoF) con la intención de incrementar la competitividad global europea en el mundo de las TI. El proyecto introduce una infraestructura innovadora para la creación y distribución de servicios digitales en internet. WStore ofrece a los proveedores de servicios la plataforma donde publicar sus ofertas y desde la cual los clientes podrán acceder ellas. Estos proveedores ofrecen servicios Web, aplicaciones, widgets y data sets del mismo modo que Google ofrece aplicaciones en la tienda online Google Play o Apple en el App Store. WStore está implementada actualmente como una plataforma Web, por lo que una organización que desee ofrecer el servicio de la store necesita instalar el software en un servidor propio y disponer de un dominio para ofrecer sus productos. El objetivo de este trabajo es migrar WStore a un entorno de computación en la nube de manera que con una única instancia se ofrezca el servicio a las organizaciones que deseen disponer de su propia plataforma, de la cual tendrán total control como si se encontrase en su propia infraestructura. Para esto se implementa una versión de WStore que será desplegada en una infraestructura cloud y ofrecida como Software as a Service. La implementación incluye una serie de módulos de código que se podrán añadir opcionalmente en el proceso de instalación si se desea que la instancia instalada sea Multitenant. Además, en este trabajo se estudian y prueban las herramientas que ofrece MongoDB para desplegar la plataforma Wstore Multitenant en una infraestructura cloud. Estas herramientas son replica sets y sharding que permiten desplegar una base de datos escalable y de alta disponibilidad. ---ABSTRACT---In the context of the European project FI-WARE, the CoNWeT Lab (IT Lab from ETSIINF UPM university) has been implemented the web platform WStore. WStore is a reference implementation of the Generic Enabler Store from FI-WARE project. The FI-WARE goal is to create the core platform of the Future Internet (IoF) with the intention of enhancing Europe's global competitiveness in IT technologies. FI-WARE introduces an innovative infrastructure for the creation and distribution of digital services over the Internet. WStore offers to service providers a platform to publicate offerings and where customers can access them. The providers offer web services, applications, widgets and data sets in the same way that Google offers online applications on Google Play or Apple on App Store plataforms. WStore is currently implemented as a web platform, so if an organization wants to offer the store service, it need to install the software on it’s own serves and have a domain to offer their products. The objective of this paper is to migrate WStore to a cloud computing environment where a single instance of the WStore is offered as a web service to organizations who want their own store. Customers (tenants) of the WStore web service will have total control over the software and WStore administration. The implementation includes several code modules that can be optionally added in the installation process to build a Multitenant instance. In addition, this paper review the tools that MongoDB provide for scalability and high availability (replica sets and sharding) with the purpose of deploying multi-tenant WStore on a cloud infrastructure.

Desarrollo sistemático de elementos composicionales para Mashup de aplicaciones

Este Trabajo fin de grado ha tomado como punto de partida el escenario y los casos de uso que han sido seleccionados para el demostrador ("live demo") del proyecto europeo de I+D+I FI-WARE para, a través del diseño y de la implementación del conjunto de widgets y operadores que forman parte de dicho demostrador, deducir los principios subyacentes al Desarrollo sistemático de los elementos composicionales que conforman un mashup de aplicaciones Web 2.0. En concreto, con el escenario escogido se quiere demostrar, en un contexto de Smart Cities, como puede monitorizarse el estado y la geolocalización de un conjunto de máquinas de vending y de los técnicos y reponedores que les dan soporte. Este trabajo fin de grado se ocupa, en concreto, de crear todos los componentes de interfaz necesarios para poder ofrecer un mashup de aplicación que ofrezca un cuadro de mando personalizable para llevar a cabo la monitorización y el control de máquinas de vending, técnicos y reponedores. Teniendo en cuenta el documento de casos de uso para ese escenario, se hizo una revisión de los diferentes widgets y operadores que había que diseñar y desarrollar. El conjunto inicial de widgets se mantuvo invariable, ya que las vistas que hay que mostrar deben ser las que se especifican en el documento anteriormente citado. No obstante, los operadores necesarios para el mashup han ido cambiando a lo largo del desarrollo como consecuencia de las necesidades de los tipos de datos tratados y de las características propias de la plataforma utilizada. El diseño del mashup se ha dividido en dos tipos de diseños distintos: Diseño de vistas: Es un disño de alto nivel donde se pueden observar las distintas vistas que vería el usuario en cada uno de los widgets (los operadores no tienen vista). Diseño de interacciones: Es un diseño de alto nivel donde se representa esquemáticamente el ujo de datos entre los elementos composicionales del mashup (tanto widgets como operadores). Al mismo tiempo que se planteaba el diseño del mashup, y como consecuencia de la experiencia ganada, se han podido ir realizando trabajos como la creación de la "Guía de desarrollo de widgets y operadores" y la "Guía de estilo para el desarrollo de widgets y operadores".Estos documentos, por su importancia, dan pie al título del presente trabajo ya que suponen una ayuda metodológica al desarrollo sistemático de elementos composicionales para mashup de aplicaciones. Durante ese periódo, simultaneamente, se pudieron encontrar y consultar diferentes fuentes de información que completan el "Estado del arte" y el documento de "Principios de diseño de aplicaciones composicionales orientadas a mashups" y se realizaron varias herramientas que facilitan la tarea del programador de crear un nuevo widget u operador desde cero. Entre estas últimas, destacan: una herramienta para crear y mantener la estructura de directorios y archivos de un widget y de un operador; y una herramienta que empaqueta todos los ficheros del widget u operador en un solo fichero WGT, dejándolo preparado para ser desplegado en la plataforma. La mayor parte del trabajo ha consistido en la implementación de los widgets y operadores. Los widgets implementados son los siguientes: Map Viewer. Issues List. Technicians List. Technicians Info. Los operadores implementados son los siguientes: Poi2Issue Issue2Poi Poi2vCard Vcard2Poi TechnicianSource IssuesSource También se han realizado tres tipos de tests: unitarios, de integracion y de sistema. Además se ha creado documentación de cada elemento composicional para el usuario. En dicha documentación se explica cuales son las funcionalidades de cada uno de los elementos composicionales y cuales son las capacidades de conexión con otros elementos. El resultado de mi trabajo puede observarse en: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8 Vv ehJSw

Editor web de conexiones para la creación visual de aplicaciones composicionales mediante mashup

A lo largo de este documento se describe el trabajo llevado a cabo para el logro de todos objetivos de este Trabajo Fin de Grado, el cual tiene como objetivo principal la mejora de la herramienta de edición de las conexiones internas de un mashup proporcionada actualmente por la plataforma web WireCloud. WireCloud es una plataforma web centrada en la construcción visual de mashups de aplicaciones a partir de la interconexión de pequeñas aplicaciones web denominadas widgets. Los principales inconvenientes presentes en el actual editor de conexiones que incluye esta plataforma afectan principalmente a sus usuarios con poca experiencia en diseño web. Estos usuarios tienen dificultades a la hora de interpretar el esquema de conexiones de un mashup ajeno y también, de crear el esquema de conexiones de un mashup propio. La mejora realizada supone un cambio en la metáfora utilizada para la creación de las conexiones, que ahora se organiza en torno a unidades conceptuales denominadas comportamientos que representan subconjuntos cohesionados de conexiones con significado (representando por si mismos comportamientos relevantes del mashup). Con este cambio se logra solventar los inconvenientes que presenta el actual sistema, principalmente la necesidad de crear (y visualizar) simultáneamente todas las conexiones requeridas por el mashup, lo cual supone que: a) es difícil identificar con qué propósito se ha creado cada conexión y qué relación guardan unas conexiones con otras. b) existe un riesgo de olvidar alguna conexión, fundamentalmente por ser difícil la interpretación del propósito de cada conexión y por la imposibilidad de identificar y nombrar conjuntos de conexiones que tienen un propósito determinado. Antes de implementar el código fuente se realizó un estudio pormenorizado de las tecnologías que actualmente utiliza WireCloud, además de un estudio en profundidad de la situación del anterior editor y de las nuevas características y ventajas buscadas en este nuevo editor. Con este último propósito se definieron varios casos de estudio que ayudaron a concretar qué se ha de entender por un comportamiento en el diseño de las conexiones de un mashup y también, ayudaron a definir la mejor organización visual del nuevo editor en torno al concepto de comportamiento. El resto del trabajo consistió en la implementación del nuevo editor y en la elaboración de toda la documentación relacionada: principalmente el manual de uso del nuevo editor que estará disponible como parte de la documentación online de WireCloud.---ABSTRACT---This document describes the work carried out for the achievement of all targets of this Final Project, which has as its main objective the improvement of the edition tool of the mashup’s internal connections that is currently provided by WireCloud. WireCloud is a web platform focused on building visual of web mashups from the interconnection of web applications called web widgets. The main drawbacks present in the current web editor of connections, includes on this platform, mainly affect to users with little experience in web design. These users have difficulties for interpreting the wiring diagram of any web mashup and also, creating the wiring diagram of an own web mashup. The improvement made a change in the metaphor used for creating connections, now managing a conceptual units called behaviors that represent subsets of meaningful connections. This change overcomes the drawbacks of the current system, mainly the need to create and display simultaneously all connections required by the web mashup, which means that: a) Difficultly identify what purpose is created each connection and how they relate to each other connections. b) There is the risk of forgetting some connection, mainly for being difficult to interpret the purpose of each connection and the inability to identify and name sets of connections that have a specific purpose. Before deploying the source code, the study of the technologies currently used WireCloud was performed, plus the study of the situation of the previous editor and new features and advantages searched for this new editor was performed too. For the latter purpose was defined several case studies that helped to specify what understood by behavior in the design of the connections of a web mashup and also that helped to define the best visual organization of the new behavior-oriented wiring editor. The rest of the work involved in implementing the new wiring web editor and in the preparation of all documentation related: mainly user manual for using the new wiring web editor that will be available as part of the WireCloud online documentation.

Evolving a core Banking enterprise architecture: leveraging business events exploitation

Business information has become a critical asset for companies and it has even more value when obtained and exploited in real time. This paper analyses how to integrate this information into an existing banking Enterprise Architecture, following an event-driven approach, and entails the study of three main issues: the definition of business events, the specification of a reference architecture, which identifies the specific integration points, and the description of a governance approach to manage the new elements. All the proposed solutions have been validated with a proof-of-concept test bed in an open source environment. It is based on a case study of the banking sector that allows an operational validation to be carried out, as well as ensuring compliance with non-functional requirements. We have focused these requirements on performance.

The impact of institutional environment and cultural context in the four different approaches to social enterprise

This article analyzes the characteristics of four different social enterprise schools of though (social economy, earned-income school in developed countries, earned-income in emerging countries, and social innovation) and the influence of the contextual elements (cultural, political, economic and social) on their configuration. This article draws on the qualitative discussions of social enterprise in different regions of the world. This paper is intended to contribute to the field of social enterprise by broadening the understanding of the influence of environment and institutions on the emergence of social enterprise.

Quality and productivity analysis in a very small enterprise using TSPi

This article shows the benefits of developing a software project using TSPi in a "Very Small Enterprise" based in quality and productivity measures. An adapted process from the current process based on the TSPi was defined and the team was trained in it. The pilot project had schedule and budget constraints. The workaround began by gathering historical data from previous projects in order to get a measurement repository, and then the project metrics were collected. Finally, the process, product and quality improvements were verified

Understanding social enterprise country models: Spain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical institutional context of Spain in the past 40 years and to analyze the influence of institutional factors in the current model of social enterprise existing in the country. Design/methodology/approach – This study draws on the theory of historical institutionalism, national-level empirical data and Kerlin conceptual framework (2013) that informs models of social enterprise. Findings – This paper describe some traits of Spain’s social enterprise that can be explained by the evolution of its institutional context in the past 40 years. It helps to validate, from a historical institutionalistic perspective, aspects of the Kerlin framework for social enterprise models. It also begins to show that the analysis of regional differences in the context should be taken into consideration when examining a country’s social enterprise space. Research limitations/implications – This discussion paper encourages academics to analyze regional differences in the emergence of social enterprise within a country. The main limitation of the paper is the lack of an “official” definition of social enterprise in Spain. Originality/value – This paper applies a valuable framework to a country with a unique political and economic history in the past 40 years. It contributes to enrich the research on the emergence and development of social enterprises in a variety of contexts and advances understanding of how regional differences inside a country influence the development of social enterprises.