Middleware

Assumptions

Company Demographics: · Name of the company is Boat Horizons · Company is a chain business who builds and sells boats · Mid-size manufacturing and sales company with ~6,000 employees

Company Needs: Boat Horizons has a few HR applications that do not communicate with other systems effectively. Systems need to be bridged together in order to cut costs and save time.

Employees who would be affected by this technology: IT and HRIS personnel

To HR Executive Team:

After conducting an analysis of your company needs, we have come to the conclusion that the HR applications are not communicating effectively with the underlying components (operating systems, hardware and networks). This lack of communication is costing your company time and money. Employees are not able to access the same central database at the same time because there is no “interpreter” between the systems in place. It is like two foreigners trying to communicate to each other in two different languages with no interpreter. Middleware acts as the “interpreter” between applications and underlying components. (Kavanaugh, 2009) This specialized system can be used to improve your company’s efficiency, saving both time and money.

In order to give you a clear picture of what middleware is and how it can benefit your company, we will be outlining the following in this report: · What middleware is and how it functions · Benefits and risks of implementing middleware · Two suggestive systems that can improve communication between the application system, recruiting system and payroll system · An example of a company who used middleware · How it will affect the end user and Boat Horizons as a whole

Middleware is a specialized software that assists with the cooperation of distributed applications by using a common set of services. Common and reusable middleware services consist of identification, authorization, directory, and security. A useful set of middleware services reduces the time it takes to create an application. The characteristics of this specialized software include transparency, portability, reliability, scalability, and interoperability. These characteristics are explained below: (Simco, 2001)
 * ** Middleware Characteristics ** ||
 * Transparency || Isolates the systems details from the user for easy viewing ||
 * Portability || Ability to move from one host to another easily ||
 * Reliability || Consistent results as long as it depends on the underlying system ||
 * Scalability || Provides a constant level of performance in an expanding environment ||
 * Interoperability || The ability of software and hardware on multiple machines from multiple vendors to communicate ||

The benefits of having middleware software installed in your systems include: ( Avila, 2005) · Bridges the communication gap between applications and underlying systems · Reduces the time it takes to develop another software or application · Provides runtime services for applications · Forces a separation between interface and implementation

The primary limitation of middleware is that it uses message queuing or remote procedure calls to link system A and system B. If anyone attempts to add additional applications it can create a complex tangle of middleware links. Keeping up with changes to these connections can be time consuming and costly. “Even a simple dual-application linking is financially daunting, running as high as $10 million,” according to the Aberdeen Group. (Vander Hey, 2001) This is why your company needs to look into Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) in addition to middleware; which acts as a “traffic controller” between software applications, and allows users and developers to easily understand the details of the applications that need to be integrated. Middleware is the underlying technology of EAI. (Kavanaugh, 2009)

Some of the different architectures in which middleware is used include: COBRA (**//C//**ommon **//O//**bject **//R//**equest **//B//**roker **//A//**rchitecture) and three-tier architecture. COBRA is used to manage distributed objects in a network. The three-tier architecture serves as database server and as application server(s). (Avila, 2005; Kavanaugh, 2009) We will assess and analyze both architectures to determine which one is most appropriate for your company.

COBRA Structure 

The COBRA structure does not fit within your organization because there is not a need to connect networks together. Your company needs to connect applications and servers in order to improve communication between the HR systems and payroll systems. This is where three-tier architecture would work best within your system structure.

Three-Tier Architecture

It allows employees to use the centralized database simultaneously, while middleware manages the data before it is saved in the database. We have identified two systems that would benefit from using middleware as a central connector, using the three-tier architecture:

1) Application Database (MS Access) --> Middleware --> External Recruiting Server (client) (The Information System encompasses the entire system) :



2) Payroll System (Database) --> Middleware with EAI --> Application Database (MS Access Application) (The information system encompassed the entire system)  Using these two systems will improve the data sharing between HR and payroll by expediting the process, eventually cutting labor costs. Applying middleware and EAI will simplify how the process is displayed to the developer or end user.

We would like to provide you a successful example of using middleware in order to support our suggestions and recommendations to use middleware within your systems. The Ship-Wide Area Network (SWAN) for the San Antonio class of U.S. Navy vessels used hundreds of computers and needed to be able to withstand any unforeseeable disturbance. The SWAN decided to use middleware to support the automatic discovery, redundant data sources, sinks, data paths and transports within their systems. Middleware provided the SWAN with reliable, timely, flexible, and deterministic capabilities. Before implementing middleware, the hardware and operating systems were able to transport 50,000 messages per second. After implementing middleware and batching up the application-levels into one system, they were able to increase messaging to 3,000,000 messages per second. (Schneider, 2008)

In conclusion, middleware will improve the company’s HR systems by connecting the HR applications to your payroll systems, potentially saving your company millions of dollars. EAI needs to be integrated with middleware in order to act as a communication hub between multiple applications; therefore preventing the complex tangling of middleware links, simplifying the details of the integration. The end user will have a simplified, easy to use system that will generate time and cost savings for your company.

Bibliography

Avila, Louise. “Adaptive Middleware For Real-Time.” 11/2/2005 < http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~lee/05cis700/slides_pdf/lec15-middleware.pdf> Beth Bacheldor “PeopleSoft Customers Adjust to Oracle (News).” 1/1/2006  Kavanaugh, M & Thite, M. (2009) Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, Sage. p. 53, 72, 73 “Middleware FAQ.” Internet 2  Middleware Technologies. 4/8/2003 < http://sunset.usc.edu/~neno/cs477_2003/April8.pdf> “Patchwork Applications in ERP Systems.” Polish News Bulletin; 5/20/2008 “Recovering from the Ills of PKI Integration.” 11/12/2007  Schneider, Stan. “Meeting real-time requirements in networked systems.” ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING TIMES; 4/28/2008. Simco, Greg. “The Internet 2 Middleware Initiative.” //Graduate School of Computer and// // Information Sciences, Nova Southeastern University // ; Received 24 July 2001. accepted 24 July 2001. Internet and Higher Education 4 (2001) 77–84. Vander Hey, Dan. “HR Systems Having It All.” 3/1/2000  Whiting, Rick. “Middleware.” VARBUSINESS ;10/27/2008. p. 56