Application of web service technologies on a b2b communication platform by means of a pattern and UML based software development process

Diplomarbeit , 2003 , 285 Seiten , Note: 1,0 (A)

Informatik - Software

There are about 230.000 establishments in the Spanish hotel, restaurant and
catering industry accounting for a turnover of about 15.6 thousand million
euros. All of them sell food to private consumers. On the other hand suppliers
and traders supply the catering trade with food and beverage products. Usually
the different players in this food distribution network trade products by means
of orders which are placed manually. This is a process which can be enhanced
through the application of computer and Internet technology.
A project lately also supported by the Spanish government is supposed to fill
this gap. This project is called “Catanet” and has been established three years
ago.
Actually the Catanet platform is used by more than 100 customers, amongst
them very important industry players like Lauren Films, Pepsi, Unilever and
Nestle. Some of them will carry out a significant part of their overall food
orders by the Catanet platform, which corresponds to a turnover volume of
many million euros.
In the former version of the Catanet platform clients had to apply a web page
based interface in order to use the Catanet services. As this approach
prohibited the full exploitation of the benefits the use of computer assistance
provides (e.g. human participation still constitutes an inevitable and crucial part
of the transaction, the interaction is completely asynchronous) an additional
level is being added to the Catanet platform eliminating these shortcomings.
During the time of this work the number of Catanet customers has grown
explosively increasing also the diversity of the customer’s computer systems.
Additionally new subprojects could be launched due to the acquisition of a
government grant. These encompassed among others new value added
services demanded by the customers like an instant messaging module and a
module for the automatic update of the local product catalog. The characteristics of the IT infrastructure of the new customers which will
carry out transactions with a serious turnover via the Catanet platform and the
necessity to integrate the new subprojects required an adaptation of the design
of the platform prototype which had been developed by this time and which is
described in this work. [...]

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Abstract
• 1 Introduction
• 1.1 The Business Problem
• 1.2 The Catanet Project and its Evolution
• 1.3 This Diploma Thesis
• 2 Overview of Existing Technologies
• 2.1 Web Services: A Brief Overview
• 2.2 Web Services Architectures
• 2.3 Security in Web Services
• 2.4 Service Discovery and the UDDI
• 2.5 Web Services and the Semantic Web
• 2.6 Web Services and CORBA
• 2.7 Existing Solutions and Tools
• 3 Requirements
• 3.1 Overall Requirements
• 3.2 User Requirements
• 3.3 System Requirements
• 3.4 Technical Requirements
• 3.4.1 Security Requirements
• 3.4.2 Performance Requirements
• 3.4.3 Compatibility Requirements
• 3.5 Functional Requirements
• 3.6 Implementation Requirements
• 3.7 Non-functional Requirements
• 4 Analysis and Design
• 4.1 General Considerations
• 4.2 Logical System Design
• 4.2.1 The Catanet System Architecture
• 4.2.2 The Customer Interface Module
• 4.2.3 The Catanet Central System
• 4.2.4 The Partner Interface Module
• 4.3 Physical Design
• 4.3.1 Physical System Architecture
• 4.3.2 Data Model
• 4.4 Architectural Patterns for Web Services
• 4.4.1 Broker Pattern
• 4.4.2 Pipes and Filters Pattern
• 4.4.3 Model-View-Controller Pattern
• 4.5 Designing for Reliability and Scalability
• 5 Implementation and Testing
• 5.1 The Implementation Process
• 5.2 Implementation Tools
• 5.3 The Catanet System
• 5.3.1 The Catanet System Architecture
• 5.3.2 The Catanet System Interface
• 5.4 Testing the System
• 5.5 Documentation
• 6 Evaluation
• 6.1 Evaluation Objectives
• 6.2 Evaluation Methodology
• 6.3 The Evaluation Results
• 7 Discussion
• 7.1 Achievements of this Work
• 7.2 Limitations
• 7.3 Further Work
• 8 Conclusion

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This diploma thesis aims to develop a new version of the Catanet platform, a B2B communication platform for the Spanish hotel, restaurant, and catering industry, by integrating Web Service technologies. The goal is to enhance the platform by allowing direct integration with customer ERP systems, thereby improving the efficiency and automation of business processes. The project also focuses on addressing the technical challenges related to using Web Services in a commercial environment, including security, reliability, and compatibility issues.

• Application of Web Service technologies in a B2B communication platform.
• Integration of customer ERP systems into the Catanet platform.
• Addressing security, reliability, and compatibility issues related to Web Services in a commercial setting.
• Selection and application of appropriate architectural patterns for Web Services development.
• Implementation of a Java-based prototype system and evaluation of its performance and reliability.

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

• Chapter 1: Introduction: This chapter introduces the business problem addressed by the Catanet project and discusses the evolution of the Catanet platform. It also outlines the objectives and scope of this diploma thesis.
• Chapter 2: Overview of Existing Technologies: This chapter provides an overview of Web Service technologies, including their architectures, security mechanisms, discovery services, and relationship to other technologies like CORBA and the Semantic Web. It also examines existing solutions and tools for Web Services development.
• Chapter 3: Requirements: This chapter defines the requirements for the new version of the Catanet platform, including overall, user, system, technical, functional, implementation, and non-functional requirements.
• Chapter 4: Analysis and Design: This chapter presents the logical and physical design of the new Catanet platform. It explores the system architecture, data model, and the application of architectural patterns for Web Services development. The chapter also discusses design considerations for reliability and scalability.
• Chapter 5: Implementation and Testing: This chapter describes the implementation process of the new Catanet platform, including the tools and technologies used. It outlines the system architecture and interface, and discusses the testing methodologies and documentation process.
• Chapter 6: Evaluation: This chapter evaluates the implemented system based on defined objectives and methodologies, presenting the results of the evaluation.
• Chapter 7: Discussion: This chapter reflects on the achievements, limitations, and potential for further work related to the new Catanet platform.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

This diploma thesis focuses on the application of Web Service technologies in a B2B communication platform for the hotel, restaurant, and catering industry. It explores the integration of customer ERP systems, addresses security and reliability issues related to Web Services, and examines the use of architectural patterns for Web Services development. The work includes the implementation of a Java-based prototype system and evaluation of its performance and reliability.

• Hochschule: Technische Universität Berlin (Computer Science (Open Communication Systems))
• Note: 1,0 (A)
• Autor: Arnd Schnieders (Autor:in)
• Erscheinungsjahr: 2003
• Seiten: 285
• Katalognummer: V17570
• ISBN (eBook): 9783638221177
• Sprache: Englisch
• Schlagworte: Application