Historically, services in the government institutions were developed indifferent hardware and software platforms. In these conditions, emerges forintegration of these platforms is crucial for creating possibility to provide servicesfor citizens and businesses based on the web (web services) in all government institutions without knowing government hierarchy. There are a lot of studies whichtends to solve these kind of issues. The purpose of this study, based on analysis done in existing hardware and software systems, is to propose platform based on SOA which will support these web services. After final analysis of these web services we would recommend integrated platform which will enable government institutions to 'talk' to each other. This obviously will increase the efficiency between government institutions also will increase the citizens sanctification andefficiency. Web services based on this integration will allow quantitative and qualitative services, which will decrease the cost of the services provided intraditional way from the government institutions. These kind of services can be usedfor G2G, G2B, B2G services. Hardware and software platforms independence offers huge advantages for others systems which would like to be part of this integrated and interconnect platform

Ajri Shej

Betim Cico

Epoka University

“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA83Integration of Applications Based on SOA in GovernmentInstitutionsAjri Shej1, Betim Çiço21SEEU Tetovo, MacedoniaEmail:ajri.shej@gmail.com2Computer Engineering Department, Polytechnic University of TiranaEmail:bcico@icc-al.orgABSTRACTHistorically, services in the government institutions were developed indifferent hardware and software platforms. In these conditions, emerges forintegration of these platforms is crucial for creating possibility to provide servicesfor citizens and businesses based on the web (web services) in all governmentinstitutions without knowing government hierarchy. There are a lot of studies whichtends to solve these kind of issues. The purpose of this study, based on analysisdone in existing hardware and software systems, is to propose platform based onSOA which will support these web services. After final analysis of these webservices we would recommend integrated platform which will enable governmentinstitutions to 'talk' to each other. This obviously will increase the efficiencybetween government institutions also will increase the citizens sanctification andefficiency. Web services based on this integration will allow quantitative andqualitative services, which will decrease the cost of the services provided intraditional way from the government institutions. These kind of services can be usedfor G2G, G2B, B2G services. Hardware and software platforms independenceoffers huge advantages for others systems which would like to be part of thisintegrated and interconnect platform.Keywords: SOA, Web Services, government, integration systems..INTRODUCTIONIt’s bad enough being between a rock and a hard place. But many governmentagencies are being squeezed by three rocks: Budget cutbacks, mandates to delivernew services and ongoing dependence on legacy applications and platforms. Addingto the pressure are the growing demands on agencies to collaborate with otheragencies and deliver their services across multiple channels. To confront thesechallenges, public-sector IT executives have become increasingly focused on thebenefits of adopting a “Service-Orientation.” Service orientation provides a widerange of benefits that are particularly applicable to the challenges faced bygovernment agencies today, not the least of which is cost savings. By makingexisting IT functionality available to other applications via standardized interfaces,“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA84SOA enables agencies to build new capabilities without starting from scratch. This“building block” approach can really help stretch budgets that are constrained byaggressive tax cuts and under constant scrutiny.  Service orientation makes itpossible for individual citizens and employees to interact online with a host ofservices. It also it less expensive for governments to link their business processes tothose of their suppliers, vendors and other business partners. And if that weren’tenough, the benefits of service orientation provides extraordinary flexibility bytreating elements of business processes as components to be reused and combinedin different ways to address changing needs and priorities. In more casesgovernment agencies are gathering date which are not updated and synchronizedwith other agencies in the government hierarchy [1]. Heterogeneous environment ofsystems and application costs high level of unstructured and duplicated date indifferent levels of IT infrastructure which increase maintenance cost of such kid ofIT systems. It is more then evident that heterogeneous system in governmentagencies has to 'talk' to each other in order to able to increase efficiency ofgovernment agencies, to improve services quality for businesses and citizens and tocut costs.2.0 APPLICATION INTEGRATIONIntegrating applications is a term that relates to the plans, methods and toolsaimed at modernizing, consolidating and coordinating the computer applications ina corporate for the purpose of increasing efficiency and meeting the needs ofbusiness [2]. Usually, a corporation has applications and databases that do notcommunicate among themselves. A tendency of companies is to continue to usethese systems while adding or migrate to new technology [3].Integration of applications is the separation and sharing, safely andorchestrated the data and processes between different applications of acompany [4].3.0 TYPES OF INTEGRATIONIntegration architecture is usually built systematically in several layers.Integration usually start building architecture at the lowest layer and climbgradually. Omitting a layer is a short-term solution to speed up the process, but wewill almost certainly have to pay back this time later. The most important types ofintegration are [5]:1. Data-level integration2. Application integration3. Business process integration4. Presentation integration5. B2B integration“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA854.0 SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE (SOA)SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is a concept for software architectureswith a focus on business processes. The underlying principle behind the concept ofan SOA is the idea that IT systems, software, devices and services will be integratedand “talk” to each other—even if they were never specifically designed for that. Wepropose that architecture which will support INTEROPERABILITY from logicalaspect should be centralised, while its physical setting should be distributed. Theproposed architecture will help the governemt to extend the value of theapplications and business processes which  currently running in the governemtninstitutions. Proposed arichtecure is fully modular and interoperable, these featureswill allow government to select components on a build-as-you-go basis by addingcomponents as new requirements need to be addressed[6]. SOA should bescalability, which allows the government to start small and grow as fast as thebusiness requires. Proposed architecture provides extensive support for business andIT standards to facilitate greater interoperability and portability betweenapplications. Web service is defined as being network-accessible via SOAP andrepresented by a service description, the first three layers of this stack are requiredto provide or use any Web service [10]. The simplest stack would consist of HTTPfor the network layer, the SOAP protocol for the XML messaging layer and WSDLfor the service description layer. This is the interoperable base stack that all inter-government, or public, Web Services should support. Simple Object AccessProtocol (SOAP) is a specification for the exchange of structured information in adecentralized, distributed environment [9]. Figure1  shows a conceptualized SOAPrequest message based on a scenario of a personal text message recorder, similar toa recording phone answering machine, where the user can listen to the recordedmessages.Figure 1. Example of a conceptualized SOAP message(Source:WebSphere Application Server Version 6.1 and WebSphere ApplicationServer Toolkit Version 6.1, IBM (2006))“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA86XML documents are often used as a means for passing information betweenthe service provider and service consumer. A sample portion of a simple XMLdocument is shown in Listing 1, [9].Basic XML document structure1 <address country="USA">2 <name>John Smith</name>3 <street>43 Walcut St</street>4 <city>Dublin</city>5 <state>Ohio</state>6 <postal-code>45561</postal-code>7 </address>SOA for the government interoperability should be built using web servicestandards, which already enjoy great popularity and are accepted in the industry.Above standards provide higher interoperability and adequate protection from‘locked’ software, typical for vendors. Web services as self-describing componentswill enable their own services through specific Internet protocols[7]. Thecommunication via Internet protocol means openness and availability of thoseservices. Users of the system can access the registered web services from anycomputer connected via an Internet Network. The only that  needs to be known ishow to find the service we are looking for, i.e it is necessary to know how todiscover it. Such discovering of web services may be performed with the help ofUDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration) registers. Figure 2presents the proposed logical architecture of the system which will supportgovernment interoperability.“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA87Figure 2. Logical architecture of the interoperability systemProposed architecture uses a layered model and consist of the following layers(levels):1. User level2. Manner of access level3. Process level4. Service level5. Level of service providers“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA88The user level in the proposed architures provides access through the use ofadequate presentation logics to the SYSTEM for all types of functional and systemusers.In line with the safety policies these users have different access manner to theSystem. The manner of access is defined in the level of access manner. It can be viathe public and open Internet network (e-mail, publicly available web portals of theSYSTEM), a private intranet network (via web sites, e-mail as well as integrationwith the existing information systems in institutions). The access level, in line withthe defined policies of types of users, also defines the access manner of each of theusers.5.0 SYSTEM ARCHITECTUREDue to the complexity of the system, proposed architecture should be realizedas a layered architecture model. At the lowest level we propose to have a distributedsystem of heterogeneous databases which have no mutual bases managementsystem, and consequently, as such they are not of direct interest to the SYSTEM.Aberration from this statement is the database which is supposed to record the useof services provided by the SYSTEM. Access to the separate databases we proposedto be performed with the application logics of the modules which belong to theinternal information systems of the institutions included in the interoperabilityprocess. Application level should provide interfaces to the level of integrationlogics. The general SYSTEM architecture is presented in Figure 3.“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA89Figure 3. System architectureThe level of integration logics is of key importance for SYSTEM realization.This level is to provide the creating of services through media tools for work flowtracking which will be connected to the existing modules of the internal informationsystem and their transformation into web services. The integration level should alsopublish the obtained web services in corresponding registers of web servicesdepending on the access privileges. This level also manages the access privileges, aswell as the exchange and modification of messages from diverse sources, in casethere is a need for their converting into a comparable format. Finally, this level is incharge of management of the services offered by the SYSTEM in the shape oftransactions if the need arises. In one sentence, this level provides the functionalityof the services in the SYSTEM. Those services have to be available to various usercategories. For the needs of SYSTEM protection, we propose a firewall to beinstalled behind this level after which the level of presentation logics follows. Thislevel will be realized in the shape of a portal offering: list of web services throughaccess to service registers, integration of the web services by e-mail or directly as a“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA90remote procedural call of application (RCP) in a standardized format (XML), butalso as an ordinary HTML text for a certain set of services, i.e users. In order to beable to have high level of security and achieving maximum protection fromunwanted incursion into the system, we propose the external users of the system tobe separated by another additional protective firewall.6.0 NON FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE INTEROPERABILITYSYSTEMThe non-functional requests of the system present criteria which point to theoperative attributes of the system. Those are availability, confidentiality,interoperability, security and robustness of the system.6.1  AvailabilityAvailability is defined as time in which a certain service is accessible to itsusers (citizen, legal entity or public administration).The availability of the functionsof the interoperability system can be presented with the availability of the serviceswhich at a certain moment are used by the participants in the system.According to the interoperability design, the availability of each of theservices depends on:1. The consistence (hardware operability, the operative system andinterfaces) of the service registers;2. The quality of services of the network infrastructure3. Information systems of the service providersThe detailed action plan should be elaborate to implement the followingevents (exceptions) in the specific solution:1. Activation of the procedure for disaster recovery in case of failure ofthe service register or failure of a process of a service provider2. Providing a notification to the user in case of ban to further use of theexisting service (due to a change in the legal regulations)3. Providing of an alternative service, or automatic recommendation forrequest of a new service, in case of inavailability of a certain service4. The pervious events should also function in case of complex services(provided by several service providers)6.2 ConfidentialityConfidentiality presents a measure of authenticity of the information. Thedesign of the interoperability system architecture provides the application of safetymeasures and policies which increase the confidentially of information. The overallcommunication between the interoperability system and the existing national systemshould be confidential and protected. That is why the traffic has to be“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA91cryptographically protected, so that it would be impossible to correctly interpret themessages even if they are discovered. For this purpose mechanisms must beimplemented such as application for cryptographic protection SSL or TLS-basedproducts (e.g. RSA, PGP).  Protection mechanisms are also to be provided for theprotection of the communication between the interoperability system and theexternal users. Regarding the fact the interoperability system infrastructure willinclude Internet as manner of access to services, the safety of the communicationmust be guaranteed through appropriate security mechanisms.6.3 InteroperabilityInteroperability is a system characteristic which points to the possibility ofconnecting different systems with the purpose of information exchange and use ofthat information.The interoperability of functions in such a system can be represented with theindependence of services through which the users exchange data from variousexisting systems and they are used by the participants in the system.The service oriented architecture itself, envisages interoperability as a basicconcept in the functioning of the system.6.4 SecuritySecurity must be factored from the beginning of an SOA, from model,assemble, deploy, and manage. This is a very important point and one aspect thatare easily overlooked in a SOA. SOA security requirements should be includedthrough all of the SOA implementation layers. Beginning at the service consumers,through the business processes, service definitions, service components, and finallyservice implementation, security needs to be considered.SOA security includes:[8]6. Identity7. Authentication8. Authorization9. Auditing10. Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability11. Administration and Policy Management6.5 RobustnessRobustness is a system characteristic presenting the ability of the system torespond to changes, obstacles in the operability or other abnormal behaviours whichcould cause halt in the operation of the system.“1st International Symposium on Computing in Informatics and Mathematics (ISCIM 2011)”in Collabaration between EPOKA University and “Aleksandër Moisiu” University of Durrëson June  2-4 2011, Tirana-Durres, ALBANIA927.0 CONCLUSION SOA proves that is in line with service delivering task within and outof the government institutions. Using such kind of system,government institutions, citizens and businesses will have securelyaccess of all the registers and databases in the state institutions viasingle connection, using predefined, regulated procedures, schemesand protocols. SOA can operate on independent platform and location, theseadvantages enables development of systems which will be able toserve all government institutions. SOA will eliminate data andbusiness process redundancy across state institutions. We conclude that SOA meet the requirements needed to have crossinstitutions interoperability and is big step further of effective way ofgovernment administration in technical and business point of view.REFERENCES[1] An analysis of Service Oriented Architecture -Rajiv Ramaratnam, MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (2007)[2] Web services and Enterprise Application Integration - Chris Wong[3] Elements of a Successful Enterprise Application Integration (Artikull Syntel)[4] Guidelines for Application Integration (Patterns & Practices) - Microsoft Press 2003Microsoft Corporation Version 1[5] SOA Approach to Integration: XML, Web Services, ESB, and BPEL in Real-World SOA Projects-Matjaz, B. Juric (2007)[6] Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design - Thomas ErlPretence (2005)[7] Web Services Analyst Perspectives (2006).[8] Understanding SOA Security Design and Implementation, IBM 2007.[9] SOA-Based Enterprise Integration: A Step-by-Step Guide to Services-BasedApplication Integration by Waseem Roshen McGraw-Hill/Osborne 2009.[10] Web Services Conceptual Architecture, IBM 2001

Integration of Applications Based on SOA in Government Institutions

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Integration of Applications Based on SOA in Government Institutions

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