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Application service providers network

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The ASP-NET (Application Service Providers NETwork) Service Provision and Management Platform shall collect and process usage data and prepare accurate accounting information for provisioning, billing, performance and fault management. The management platform creates business information with the raw usage data collected from the Application Services and can be used to run management reports, monitor quality of service levels and feed business information into other systems such as decision support systems. In Service Provision and Management Platform there are four main modules: User Management, Service Management, Billing, and Performance Monitoring & Fault Management. User Management has four sub-modules, which are AAA, Enrolment, Subscription and Service Delivery & Provisioning. Service Management has two modules, which are Service Configuration & Reporting. Billing module has two sub-modules which are Rating and Pricing. Performance Monitoring & Fault Management module has three sub-modules, which are Performance Monitoring, Fault Management and Log Mechanism.
The Project Management PS SYSTEM (PM PSS) and Remote Access is based around existing installation of LOGOSYSTEM for workforce automation within various sectors being healthcare, logistics, and transportation. In order to allow integration with other PSS we had to redesign our existing Project Management application. The Web Services permits our existing applications to expose some methods of project management system and allows other applications to invoke them remotely. In the frame of the ASP-NET Project, our goal is to demonstrate a PM built on a service-based approach. This will let the users to connect directly to the web-based service using a common terminal with only thin client capabilities. The PM software will reside entirely on the ASP server. Users will be allowed to use standard Internet connected PCs and/or wireless terminals. This last possibility will give an even more flexibility to the system, allowing an easy access to the service also in particular situations as in extensive industrial plants and/or yards. Our approach will also take benefit from the several applications developed by Logosystem in the last few years using wireless communications and centralized databases. Project Management PS exposes some web-services to be consumed by the Human Resources PS and by the portal. The Human Resources PS invokes the service specifying the following parameters: - Resource (code); - Time interval (start date – end date). The service response provides the following data: - List of projects in which the resource has been involved during the specified time interval. - List of jobs in which the resource has been involved. - For each job a list of tasks with start date and end date in which the resource has been involved. The portal invokes the login web service in order to get a user id to open Project Management and the loadUser web service, to manage PM users. Project Management consumes some web-services exposed by other applications. With Meta4 we use their Human Resources PSS to get resources for projects handled by Project Management PSS. With Pcsystems we use their e-messaging services to notify resources allocation, to resources itself and to project managers. With Gantek we use billing services. Furthermore the remote access component of the project will allow for maximum adaptability of the end user device independent of device standard characteristics. There are a tremendous number of mobile devices available to consumers, and manufacturers are releasing new devices all the time. Each time you develop a mobile Web application, you face the following challenges as a result of this wide variety of devices: - Different markup languages, including HTML, compact HTML (cHTML) for Japanese i-mode phones, and WML for wireless application protocol (WAP) phones. - Different form factors, including varying screen size, screen orientation (horizontal or vertical), and color, grayscale, or black and white screens. These variables affect content pagination and the type of graphics you must generate. - Different device capabilities, including whether the device can display images, initiate a phone call, or receive notification messages. The owner of ASP Remote Access will be allowed to: - View entire project scheduling, except related costs and quality scores inserted by higher access level users. - Perform project tracking and costs estimation, limited to wps/tasks/activities under their direct control; - Update wps/tasks/activities progress; - Insert notes and comments specific to their wp/tasks/activities. These notes/comments may be private (and therefore not accessible to other users) or public.
Within work package 1, SFC has developed a European ASP database and conducted a qualitative survey on strategies and critical success factors of ASPs. These research results have been further exploited for the development of ASP business models and roadmaps for application service providers. In addition, SFC has performed continuous market monitoring under work package 6 which enhanced its state of the art knowledge of the sector. This monitoring included a second study carried out with ASP industry experts in summer 2003. The ASP-NET project and the cooperation with the partners have also improved SFC’s understanding of technical issues concerning application, security and platforms. The research results have been disseminated to raise the profile of SFC as an ASP industry consultant. At the same time industry associations have been won for cooperation with the aim to organise a large conference on software services. The conference took place in October 2003 helped to further enhance visibility of SFC with mayor industry players, industry representatives and the European Commission. The goal of the conference was to establish a European Association of Software Service Providers. The cooperation has continued after the event, resulting in a small survey carried out on behalf of the ASP industry and other supportive activities for the foundation of the Eruopean association. SFC aims to establish a long-term relationship, providing different kinds of services (Management consulting, market research, event management etc.) to the new association and its future members. When conducting its surveys, SFC has established numerous personal contacts with large and small industry players, who are to be re-contacted with the aim to sell management consulting services. There is still a risk that the ASP-sector does not develop as forecasted by large market research companies (IDC, Gartner). If the provision of application services over the Internet does not gain sufficient market share, the demand for consulting services will be very low. In this case ASP will be unattractive as a target market for SFC. In spring 2004, however, the signs are positive that ASP will have a good commercial year. Still, in order to mitigate this potential risk, SFC has been monitoring the IT outsourcing market as a whole (ASP is just a part of it) and maintains its relations to this larger target group. With some additional research effort, SFC’s results from the ASP-NET project could be extended to the needs of this target group.
The ASP-NET (Application Service Providers NETwork) integration and interoperability platform constitutes the operational and management infrastructure that enables the integration and interoperability of separate online applications. The integration platform promotes interoperability through extensive use of XML-based standards and adoption of the Web services concept for the development of PSS. Important provisions of the integration platform also include: security, management and adaptation. Web services can be described as software applications identified by a URL, whose interfaces and bindings are capable of being defined, described, and discovered as XML artefacts. A Web service supports direct interactions with other software applications using XML based messages exchanged via Internet-based protocols (e.g. HTTP). Web Services applications constitute loosely coupled Web components that encapsulate other software components and can bind to each other dynamically. Therefore they are characterised by support for just-in-time integration, dynamic service discovery and invocation and they promote encapsulation thus facilitating application development and reusing of existing infrastructure. Applications integration and interoperability have a variety of definitions and as many solutions that address aspects of the problem. These solutions could be grouped in the following four broad categories, based on: - File transfer, - Shared database, - Remote procedure call and - Messaging bus. The ASP-NET platform utilises a combination of the three last integration patterns named above. With the exception of the typical file exchange approach, the other three approaches have been used in various parts of the project architecture. The project developments utilise the shared database and remote procedure call, based on Web services, to achieve the basic integration between the applications. The shared database approach is used as a method to solve semantic integration issues (i.e. shared identity management between applications) and as a means to avoid replication of information common in all three ASP-NET applications. An LDAP server assumes the role of the shared database, which is the standard repository for directory information (i.e. users, organisations, etc.). The remote procedure call approach is based on the utilisation of Web services technology for the description of the shared (public) interfaces of the applications (using the WSDL standard), and the SOAP (over HTTP) standard is used for the exchange of information and the remote interface invocation. The ASP-NET platform also contains a portal component. The portal services provide the aggregation and integration of the ASP-NET application services at the presentation layer (e.g., HTML) and constitute the central access point for their utilisation. Moreover, it is the site where the end-user is provided with the appropriate user interface for the personalisation of the services (e.g., selection of the applications, configuration of applications, configuration of delivery parameters, etc.). The portal initiates the interaction between end-user and the application services according to the user’s personalisation parameters, and relays the handling of the service requests to the application services. During the handling of these transactions, the portal interacts with the security and the systems management components as well as with the application services involved. The portal has been built with the Java programming language. The selected architecture ensures that the requirements imposed for the transparent integration of applications up to the presentation level are met. The constraints imposed to the application services by the integration, security and systems management infrastructure have been minimised, in order to provide a solution as open as possible. The developed platform facilitates the formation of networks of providers (ASP networks) to deliver and support software products and relevant services in the market.
The know-how gained in the project can be used for the provision of consulting (technical and non-technical) and professional services, such as support services, educational services, managed services and a broad range of custom services like: product installation and integration to customer business, development services, study of customer’s business processes, etc. More specifically, through the groundwork research conducted at the outset of the project, all the consortium partners attained significant amounts of information in the field of ASPs (Application Service Providers) and particularly information regarding the ASP market structure and the user requirements for outsourcing to an ASP. The partners also developed a best practice guide model that contained ASP and traditional services coupled with their associated costs. This knowledge can be used for the provision of consultancy services to prospective entrants to the ASP market as well as to companies that are thinking to outsource some of their business applications to ASPs. In addition, the partners have gained significant technical know-how through the development of the ASP demonstrator system for the project. The three software vendors have gained expertise on the development of web services for the integration of their applications and the other development partners have gained significant expertise through the development of the integration and interoperability platform. This technical know-how can be used for the provision of consultancy and other professional services of a technical nature.
The scope is to implement and integrate the E-Messaging application with the other two applications (Project Management and Human Resource Management) through the ASP-NET (Application Service Providers NETwork) platform, using Web Services as the main integration technique. E-messaging is based on PC SYSTEMS Mail Server commercial solution. It satisfies the needs for the development of the functions that will lead to the final product. EM supports and offers the appropriate services in the appropriate form for integration with the other two applications. The E-Messaging System (EM) provides to ASP-Net systems the following web services: Login/Logout, Manage Address Book, Manage Groups and Notifications Service. It should be mentioned that the E-Messaging application exports the Web Services described above, while there is not any special need to invoke any service from the other applications. Authentication, Accounting and Security issues are implemented consuming the web services exposed by GANTEK and UNIS.
The Human Resources Management PS System is based on an existing software product, already commercialised by Meta4 (namely PeopleNet). The Meta4 HR system manages a wide variety of information and processes on the employees in a company. This information, and the processes that act on it, will be shared over the Web with different applications that could require them at any given time. To do so, the Web services will be public to the rest of the applications (project Management and E-Message), so that they may be invoked remotely. Based on the documentation released in the ASPNET project, it was defined a series of Web services, that will be accessible to the e-messaging and Project Management systems. During the project, Meta4 has developed the following webservices that it exports and makes available to the other systems: Connection Services: These offer Login and Logout methods that cover the different needs that have come up, such as Web browsing in a SOAP session established from the portal and the simple SOAP connection that facilitates invocation for the rest of the services offered. Person Information: With Person Search, Person Data Extraction, Person Allocation and Person Un-allocation methods. Organisation Information: Which makes it possible to extract data related to Job, Job Family, Extended Knowledge, Work Unit and Team. Application User Management: Provides HR application user Creation and Delete methods. Meta4 also makes calls to the following webservices offered by the other partners: Logosystem: Person Project and Task Information PCSystems: Send an E-Mail, Add a new address and Delete an address. Gantek: Accounting and record service usage. Therefore, the webservices required for integration with the portal and for the calls to the accounting system have been added to the initial list of webservices offered by HR. Likewise, the security layer has been integrated, which required minor adaptations to the code in the clients that invoke webservices that return complex types. The end result is a prototype that demonstrates that Meta4 PeopleNet is able to carry out this communication through the different webservices, and the possibility of integrating the product in an ASP platform.
The Security system for ASP-NET is based on Web Services Security, which is security extensions to SOAP messages and uses XML Digital signatures, XML encryption as well as SSL (https). The security system is made up of web services (authentication web service) for the ASP-NET system as well as between the ASP-NET applications). In addition, there are modules such as XML digital signatures and XML encryption, providing security services such as authentication, integrity and confidentiality. Also Public key infrastructure (PKI) is used for the whole ASP-NET system. This security system has been implemented and integrated into the ASP-NET portal, HR, EM and management/accounting applications. The system has been tested and verified successfully.

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