EA-MDA Model to Resolve is Characteristic Problems in Educational Institutions

Mardiana, Keijiro Araki
2013 International Journal of Software Engineering & Applications  
Higher education institutions require a proper standard and model that can be implemented to enhance alignment between business strategy and existing information technologies. Developing the required model is a complex task. A combination of the EA, MDA and SOA concepts can be one of the solutions to overcome the complexity of building a specific information technology architecture for higher education institutions. EA allows for a comprehensive understanding of the institution's main business
more » ... rocess while defining the information system that will assist in optimizing the business process. EA essentially focuses on strategy and integration. MDA relies on models as its main element and places focuses on efficiency and quality. SOA on the other hand uses services as its principal element and focuses on flexibility and reuse. This paper seeks to formulate an information technology architecture that can provide clear guidelines on inputs and outputs for EA development activities within a given higher education institution. This proposed model specifically emphasises on WIS development in order to ensure that WIS in higher education institutions has a coherent planning, implementation and control process in place consistent with the enterprise's business strategy. The model will then be applied to support WIS development and implementation at University of Lampung (Unila) as the case study. 2 architecture (EA) approach within the institution. Through the optimal performance of business processes, EA can facilitate strategic planning, align business and IT resources, and regulate the lifecycle of an information system (IS) development process [1] . IS development is an aspect that should be part of an institution in order to support business activities and provide services to stakeholders, mainly in relation to data, information, technology and application. IS development should be well planned, centralized or distributed in related working units, and integrated into other existing systems. IS has helped automate many phases in the business process previously done manually in an educational institution. In line with shifts in user needs, changes to the business process are unavoidable. If an information system fails to accommodate these changing trends, its utilization will therefore be less than optimal. Hence, such changes need to be taken into account when developing an IS. Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) helps accommodate changing business needs by providing flexibility for more efficient and effective use of IT resources. Through SOA, substantial and complex business processes are broken down into smaller and simpler services that allow for easier and faster changes to business processes [2] . SOA is equally useful for dealing with issues related to the integration of various existing systems, maintenance and improving application and systems performance. SOA however requires platform-independent services, including services that can translate all business service needs into different implementations of information technology. Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) is capable of addressing SOA weaknesses. MDA helps create an model that IS developers can make use of, which ranges from goals and requirements specification to implementation through several abstraction levels [3] . Applying the EA, MDA and SOA models together is the key element for optimizing the business processes of an enterprise. EA provides a comprehensive understanding of the core business process of an educational institution and defines the IS that contributes to the optimizing of the business process. EA essentially focuses on strategy and integration. MDA makes use of models as its main element while focusing on efficiency and quality. SOA on the other hand, depends on service as its key element while concentrating on flexibility and reuse.
doi:10.5121/ijsea.2013.4301 fatcat:myffb5euj5ex5fvww6vrgc6iim