A coordination protocol for user-customisable cloud policy monitoring

Cloud computing will see a increasing demand for end-user customisation and personalisation of multi-tenant cloud service offerings. Combined with an identified need to address QoS and governance aspects in cloud computing, a need to provide user-customised QoS and governance policy management and monitoring as part of an SLA management infrastructure for clouds arises. We propose a user-customisable policy definition solution that can be enforced in multi-tenant cloud offerings through an automated instrumentation and monitoring technique. We in particular allow service processes that are run by cloud and SaaS providers to be made policy-aware in a transparent way

Cloud service localisation

The essence of cloud computing is the provision of software and hardware services to a range of users in dierent locations. The aim of cloud service localisation is to facilitate the internationalisation and localisation of cloud services by allowing their adaption to dierent locales. We address the lingual localisation by providing service-level language translation techniques to adopt services to dierent languages and regulatory localisation by providing standards-based mappings to achieve regulatory compliance with regionally varying laws, standards and regulations. The aim is to support and enforce the explicit modelling of aspects particularly relevant to localisation and runtime support consisting of tools and middleware services to automating the deployment based on models of locales, driven by the two localisation dimensions. We focus here on an ontology-based conceptual information model that integrates locale specication in a coherent way

SOA Governance – Road into Maturity

There is a general consensus that SOA benefits could be reached but it is unclear how to achieve this. Research shows that the problems with SOA governance in practice are among the major reasons of SOA failures. Based on a literature review, this study first proposes a list of SOA aspects to be considered when implementing SOA governance. By adopting an interpretive research methodology based on interviews, this research paper makes two contributions: it addresses the practical matters that are major concerns for organisations to achieve a higher maturity level with their SOA, and it reveals the importance of the key SOA aspects in building strong governance and consequently reaching a higher maturity level. The expected result should deliver a theoretical contribution to SOA maturity in relation to SOA governance; it could provide organisations with new awareness in assessing their level of maturity and provide recommendations

Software service adaptation based on interface localisation

The aim of Web services is the provision of software services to a range of different users in different locations. Service localisation in this context can facilitate the internationalisation and localisation of services by allowing their adaption to different locales. The authors investigate three dimensions: (i) lingual localisation by providing service-level language translation techniques to adopt services to different languages, (ii) regulatory localisation by providing standards-based mappings to achieve regulatory compliance with regionally varying laws, standards and regulations, and (iii) social localisation by taking into account preferences and customs for individuals and the groups or communities in which they participate. The objective is to support and implement an explicit modelling of aspects that are relevant to localisation and runtime support consisting of tools and middleware services to automating the deployment based on models of locales, driven by the two localisation dimensions. The authors focus here on an ontology-based conceptual information model that integrates locale specification into service architectures in a coherent way

Generierung und Optimierung von Testzeitplänen im Rahmen des SOA Change Managements

Tester einer dienstorientieren Architektur stehen, anders als beim traditionellen Software-Testing, enormen Herausforderungen gegenüber. Heterogene Systemlandschaften, über Unternehmensgrenzen hinweg verteilte Akteure und die dynamische Natur einer solchen Architektur erfordern neue Ansätze beim Testing. Die Fehler-Ursachen-Analyse wird bei zusammengesetzten Services zum großen Problem, da bei der Integration von vielen Komponenten unklar ist, wo die Ursache eines Fehlers zu suchen ist. Das entwickelte Konzept nutzt im Rahmen der SOA Governance Abhängigkeiten aus, um einen geordneten Testzeitplan zu generieren. Seine Ausführung stellt sicher, dass während einer Testperiode nur eine ungetestete Service-Version beteiligt ist, was die möglichen Fehlerursachen stark einschränkt. Darüber hinaus wird die Nebenläufigkeit bei der Testausführung gefördert, indem die zuständigen Tester parallel an unterschiedlichen Testperioden arbeiten. Ein Prototyp des Konzepts wird als Teil eines SOA Governance Repositories implementiert. Er implementiert die Verwaltung von Releases, die Durchführung der Testzeitplan-Generierung und eine Testzeitplan-Visualisierung. Der Generierungsprozess selbst nutzt eine topologische Sortierung des umgekehrten Abhängigkeitsgraphen, um die Testperioden zu erstellen. Vier implementierte Optimierungen können den generierten Testzeitplan gezielt verbessern, um beispielsweise eine kurze Gesamt-Testdauer zu erzielen. Unter Verwendung der SOA-Daten eines großen Automobilherstellers wird die Implementierung unter realitätsnahen Bedingungen ausgeführt. Dabei zeigt die Fallstudie, dass das automatisierte Verfahren performant arbeitet und einen praxistauglichen Testzeitplan generiert

Contextual governance for service oriented architecture composition

Currently, business requirements for rapid operational efficiency, customer responsiveness as well as rapid adaptability are driving the need for ever increasing communication and integration capabilities ofthe software assets. Functional decomposition into re-usable software entities, loose coupling, and distribution of resources are all perceived benefits of the investment on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). This malleability can also bring about the risk of a more difficult oversight. The same service is ideally used in different applications and contexts. This situation forces a supporting infrastructure to allow and manage the adaptability to these different contexts of use. In this thesis, the author proposes to govern such variations in a cost efficient way by composing the core business function offered by a service with other services implementing infrastructure capabilities that fulfil varying non-functional requirements. However, as the number of services increases and their use in different contexts proliferates, it becomes necessary to automate policy enforcement and compliance monitoring. Furthermore, the composition of services into different business applications over a common infrastructure intensifies the need for end-to-end monitoring and analysis in order to assess the business performance impact. Managing the full life-cycle of service definition, deployment, exposure and operation requires management processes that take into account their composition with the infrastructure capabilities that take of non-functional requirements. In addition, policies may change during the life-time of a service. Policy updates may be the result of various reasons including business optimisation, of reaction to new business opportunities, of risk / threat mitigation, of operational emergencies, etc. It becomes therefore clear that a well-designed governance architecture is a prerequisite to implementing a SOA capable of dealing with a complex and dynamic environment.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Corporate governance of the football industry - the stakeholder approach towards the game’s marketisation and professionalisation in China

Sports governance has been given greater consideration over the course of the last 30 years due primarily to the global trend of the increasing levels of sports commercialisation, and professionalisation. Despite this, there are varieties of sport governing models existing in different countries built against the difficult backgrounds of their own historical, cultural and economical development. The stakeholder approach has become a trend for improving not only corporate governance standards in many industries but also in sports worldwide. The application of stakeholder theory to sports governance ensures sports are developed within a necessarily transparent system and a balanced power structure. More importantly, it ensures that decisions are made based on the interest of the majority of stakeholders and for the best interest of sports. When this approach is applied to sport management, it helps a sports organisation increase commercial awareness in terms of addressing the needs of different stakeholders and thus benefits the organisation’s overall goal development and its long-term success.Alongside the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, sports development in China has also gradually attracted interest from the West. With regard to Chinese football - the most popular sport in the country, and the first sport to go the professional route under the market economy, the Chinese football market has been seen as an untapped territory with big business potential. It is not only attracting domestic investors but also global firms. This thesis explores the impact of transitional changes within China’s football modernisation process and the governance structure, by looking at the Chinese response to the football development trend of professionalisation and commercialisation. It is a novel explorative study on Chinese football, employing the framework of stakeholder theory to illustrate the transitional process. The data collected from interviews with other sources available in both Chinese and English, was qualitatively analysed and the findings provide evidence of stakeholder relationships between the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and local football associations (FAs), between the CFA and clubs, and between clubs and fans, which identify modern conflicts, occurring within the current Chinese football industry during this development phase. The discussion, based on evidence, is also able to suggest appropriate governance responses for the Chinese game at different levels in order to face challenges ahead

Corporate governance of the football industry - the stakeholder approach towards the game’s marketisation and professionalisation in China

Sports governance has been given greater consideration over the course of the last 30 years due primarily to the global trend of the increasing levels of sports commercialisation, and professionalisation. Despite this, there are varieties of sport governing models existing in different countries built against the difficult backgrounds of their own historical, cultural and economical development. The stakeholder approach has become a trend for improving not only corporate governance standards in many industries but also in sports worldwide. The application of stakeholder theory to sports governance ensures sports are developed within a necessarily transparent system and a balanced power structure. More importantly, it ensures that decisions are made based on the interest of the majority of stakeholders and for the best interest of sports. When this approach is applied to sport management, it helps a sports organisation increase commercial awareness in terms of addressing the needs of different stakeholders and thus benefits the organisation’s overall goal development and its long-term success.Alongside the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, sports development in China has also gradually attracted interest from the West. With regard to Chinese football - the most popular sport in the country, and the first sport to go the professional route under the market economy, the Chinese football market has been seen as an untapped territory with big business potential. It is not only attracting domestic investors but also global firms. This thesis explores the impact of transitional changes within China’s football modernisation process and the governance structure, by looking at the Chinese response to the football development trend of professionalisation and commercialisation. It is a novel explorative study on Chinese football, employing the framework of stakeholder theory to illustrate the transitional process. The data collected from interviews with other sources available in both Chinese and English, was qualitatively analysed and the findings provide evidence of stakeholder relationships between the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and local football associations (FAs), between the CFA and clubs, and between clubs and fans, which identify modern conflicts, occurring within the current Chinese football industry during this development phase. The discussion, based on evidence, is also able to suggest appropriate governance responses for the Chinese game at different levels in order to face challenges ahead