QoS based Web Service Selection and Multi-Criteria Decision Making Methods

With the continuing proliferation of web services offering similar efficacies, around the globe, it has become a challenge for a user to select the best web service. In literature, this challenge is exhibited as a 0-1 knapsack problem of multiple dimensions and multiple choices, known as an NP-hard problem. Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method is one of the ways which suits this problem and helps the users to select the best service based on his/her preferences. In this regard, this paper assists the researchers in two conducts: Firstly, to witness the performance of different MCDM methods for large number of alternatives and attributes. Secondly, to perceive the possible deviation in the ranking obtained from these methods. For carrying out the experimental evaluation, in this paper, five different well-known MCDM methods have been implemented and compared over two different scenarios of 50 as well as 100 web services, where their ranking is defined on an account of several Quality of Service (QoS) parameters. Additionally, a Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient has been calculated for different pairs of MCDM methods in order to provide a clear depiction of MCDM methods showing the least deviation in their ranking. The experimental results comfort web service users in conquering an appropriate decision on the selection of suitable service

Cloud Technology Selection: A structured framework for decision making

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementThis study aims to get organizations to improve their decision making during the selection of cloud technology process. As the technology evolves alongside an ever-increasing abundance in market offer, it may be challenging to choose the desirable service that encompasses several business approaches. For the purpose of this study to be attained, the reader must first comprehend the definition of Cloud Technology: it is the delivery of IT resources over the Internet, being applications, software, storage, among other services. Furthermore, understanding the current main technologies/architectures and their capabilities/limitations will play an important role in designing and developing the prospected solution. A thoroughly research will be produced to better define the criteria used in the process. Despite the fact that technology is able to be tailored up to a certain level for the organization needs, a higher level of participation will encourage vendors and architecture designers to develop a better knowledge on the companies’ desires, thus delivering more appropriate features to their unique needs

Cloud Computing and ERP: An Academic Literature Review (2010 - 2015)

The research history relating to Cloud ERP literature is investigated for the period of 2010 to 2015, with the aim of introducing an overview of academic research on the subject and to identify gaps in the literature in the stated period. Up to date literature in 37 research papers from various topics and sources has been discussed. Shortlisted publications are analysed and categorized into architecture, implementation, customization, mobility, benefits and disadvantages, and others. It appears that high attention has been paid by researchers to the benefits and disadvantages of Cloud ERP adoption as well as to its architecture and overarching plans for implementation. However, important issues such as integration of Cloud ERP with existing on-site legacy ERP systems and the quality of service given by respective cloud-based providers has been devoted limited attention by the authors reviewed

SMEs Adoption of SaaS Cloud Services:A Novel Ontological Framework(Nigeria as a case Study).

The future of Information Technology lies in cloud computing, whose primary objective is to reduce the cost of IT services while increasing production output, availability, reliability, flexibility as well as a decrease in processing time. Owing to few exploratory studies that explain the adoption of cloud services, this research tends to understand the factors affecting cloud service adoption decision by SMEs in Nigeria. Also, it proposes a solution based framework to tackle the identified factors in view of promoting cloud service adoption by Nigerian SMEs. In view of the above, this thesis investigates the reason for slow adoption of cloud services with specific emphasis on Nigeria SMEs. Firstly, the existing literature in cloud service adoption by SME is examined based on Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method. This helps to inform the research gap in relation to cloud service adoption technique. Secondly, the thesis uses a mixed method approach integrating quantitative and qualitative methods to gather data through four stages of data gathering approach. The primary data gathering is based on quantitative (survey) stage 1 and qualitative (Focus Group) stage 2, which involves the studies identifying the cloud service adoption challenges specific to Nigeria SMEs. Furthermore, a solution framework CLOUDSME which includes an ontologically developed Decision Support System(DSS) is proposed to tackle the challenge identified in Primary data gathering stage 1and 2. The proposed framework consists of four phases: The first phase deals with gathering information on how various cloud services address dynamic SME user requirements identified in the primary data gathering stage, this phase forms the building block through which the framework is built upon. The second phase which is the prioritisation phase Adopts Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) approach to deal with the issue of complex comparison, also the third stage of data gathering (quantitative) is performed whereby a group interview is carried-out to compare and assign weights to service provider offering in addressing user requirements using pairwise comparison scale. The Third phase addressing the issue of cloud service ranking. In this phase, the major contribution of this research is introduced, whereby a new formalism is proposed using rational relationships to tackle the issue of rank reversal associated with the traditional AHP approach. The fourth phase of the framework is the development of the ontological proposed DSS which comprises of the information gathered in phase 1, 2 and 3. The proposed DSS promotes cloud service Knowledge management, service recommendation and service ranking toward cloud service adoption decision making by SME managers. The final stage of the research is the validation phase which comprises of construct validation. As well as user opinion and expert opinion and researcher opinion validation based on a survey (Quantitative) which makes up the fourth stage of the data gathering stages. The findings from the user opinion evaluation and validation prove the CLOUDSME has the capability to tackle the slow adoption of cloud services by Nigeria SMEs

A framework for QoS driven user-side cloud service management

This thesis presents a comprehensive framework that assists the cloud service user in making cloud service management decisions, such as service selection and migration. The proposed framework utilizes the QoS history of the available services for QoS forecasting and multi-criteria decision making. It then integrates all the inherent necessary processes, such as QoS monitoring, forecasting, service comparison and ranking to recommend the best and optimal decision to the user

Cloud computing adoption decision modelling for SMEs: a conjoint analysis

Cloud computing is an emerging technology that promises competitive advantages, cost savings, enhanced business processes and services, and various other benefits to enterprises. Despite the rapid technological advancement, the adoption of cloud computing is still growing slowly among small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). This paper presents a model to support the decisionmaking process, using a multi-criteria decision method PAPRIKA for the socio-technical aspects influencing SMEs cloud adoption decision. Due to the multifaceted nature of the cloud computing adoption process, the evaluation of various cloud services and deployment models have become a major challenge. This paper presents a systematic approach to evaluating cloud computing services and deployment models. Subsequently, we have conducted conjoint analysis activities with five SMEs decision makers as part of the distribution process of this decision modelling based on predetermined criteria. With the help of the proposed model, cloud services and deployment models can be ranked and selected

Current trends on ICT technologies for enterprise information s²ystems

The proposed paper discusses the current trends on ICT technologies for Enterprise Information Systems. The paper starts by defining four big challenges of the next generation of information systems: (1) Data Value Chain Management; (2) Context Awareness; (3) Interaction and Visualization; and (4) Human Learning. The major contributions towards the next generation of information systems are elaborated based on the work and experience of the authors and their teams. This includes: (1) Ontology based solutions for semantic interoperability; (2) Context aware infrastructures; (3) Product Avatar based interactions; and (4) Human learning. Finally the current state of research is discussed highlighting the impact of these solutions on the economic and social landscape