E-Business Architecture | Management Optional Notes for UPSC PDF Download

Introduction

• E-business has significantly transformed the global business landscape, and its architecture can be comprehensively understood through various forms, including logical views, scenarios, physical views, and deployment views. Each of these perspectives offers specific information within the diagram and caters to distinct audiences, such as web architects, data architects, application architects, and end users. A well-designed and consistent e-business architecture serves as a foundational platform for future e-business applications. It is crucial to ensure the development and utilization of core components across multiple applications.
• The creation of an effective e-business architecture requires a thorough analysis of the organization's business processes. It should be implemented thoughtfully to guarantee success. The existing business framework must be considered during the design phase, taking into account the desired structure for a new business. This approach allows the development of an architecture that propels the business to a higher level of organization and management.
• E-business architecture embraces Internet technologies and innovative business processes to create applications that transcend traditional constraints such as time, space, departmental, organizational, and territorial boundaries. These solutions offer value by reducing bottom-line costs, improving efficiency, lowering transaction costs, and enhancing overall processes. Additionally, they facilitate rapid development, enabling companies to move quickly, explore new markets, discover alternative distribution channels, and foster creativity within their organizations. Although e-business applications share similarities with distributed client-server systems, they also exhibit distinct differences.

E-business Architecture Design

• E-business architectures leverage web technologies to implement mission-critical e-business applications. These architectures make use of small-footprint clients to access services, which are provided by resource managers accessible across a robust and cohesive system. These clients can take the form of browsers running on personal computers, network devices, personal digital assistants, cell phones, and other pervasive computing devices. The e-business architecture represents advanced technology that surpasses the scope of existing online technologies and products.
• This architecture encompasses various architectural models and plans, presenting a proposal that addresses the present and future requirements of a diverse client population. It is designed to adapt to evolving business and technology needs.

The key elements that assist influence an e-business architecture include:

• Organization's E-business Strategy: The overarching strategy that guides the organization's approach to e-business.
• Business Drivers: Factors like time to market, customer service enhancement, and other business priorities that shape the architecture.
• Current IT Environment: The existing technological infrastructure and systems in place within the organization.
• IT Vision, Objectives, and Strategies: The long-term vision and goals of the IT department, along with the strategies devised to achieve them.
• Organizational Constraints: Limitations such as budgetary constraints, staffing availability, risk tolerance, and other organizational considerations.
• New and Emerging Technologies: Consideration of cutting-edge technologies that may impact or enhance the e-business architecture.

E-business architectures need to meet operational requirements such as scalability to support multiple users, the ability to handle varying volume loads, acceptable transaction response times, a secure computing environment, and continuous system availability.
To develop a well-organized and engineered architecture, professionals should begin with a clear understanding of the current environment and a vision for the future. They must create an effective plan considering available resources and understanding the constraints under which the architectures must be developed.

Guiding Principles for E-business Architects:

• Open Standards and Technologies: Develop architectures based on open standards and technologies to facilitate flexibility in shifting applications to different platforms.
• Segmented Architecture: Segment the application architecture into different layers, ensuring tight internal coupling and loose coupling to other layers for flexibility.
• Proven and Stable Technologies: Use technologies that are proven and stable for reliability and consistency.
• Leverage Existing Systems: Capitalize on investments in existing systems by integrating them into new e-business processes rather than reinventing them.
• Expertise in a Rigid Labor Market: Acknowledge the challenges in finding experts in a competitive and potentially expensive labor market.
• Services and Layered Application Model: Implement a services model and layered-application model as a supportive framework for executing these guiding principles.

Logical-Services Model

The logical-services model provides an outline of the foundational architectural components necessary to deliver the services essential for supporting e-business applications. These services are designed to meet both the functional and operational requirements of the applications, outlining the high-level interactions among them.

Layered-Application Model

• In the layered-application model, experts engage in the analysis and design of specific e-business applications. They meticulously create business domains and produce corresponding design documents that articulate detailed software component models. These models operate in alignment with the overarching high-level models, ensuring a comprehensive understanding and structured approach to the development of e-business applications.
• When devising an end-to-end e-business architecture, it is advisable to focus on various crucial components, including the user interface, application layer, middleware, database design, tools, and deployment strategy. This comprehensive approach aids in facilitating the analytical functions required to respond to user queries effectively. The true significance of an end-to-end e-business architecture is manifested in its capacity to seamlessly integrate with back-end systems and databases.
• The Oracle E-Business Suite Architecture is structured as a multi-tiered, distributed computing framework that encompasses various Oracle E-Business Suite products. In this representation, servers or services are distributed across three distinct levels or tiers.
  
• The e-business architectural model comprises supply and customer partnerships or interfaces. Supply alliances involve business processes, information technology, and data necessary for operations. Customer collaborations encompass business processes, rules, data, and information technology required for sales, marketing, customer service, customer support, and business collaborators. Interactions in both collaboration types can occur via telephone, internet, or face-to-face. The interfaces within the e-business architectural model guide the applications a company employs, ensuring cost-effective business solutions. These solutions help meet the enterprise's consistency, performance, and scalability requirements, enabling adaptive responses in a volatile market.
• Enterprise Level: At the enterprise level, the e-business architectural model is associated with the strategic direction of an organization. This level influences business behaviors, as well as supply and customer collaborations. Supplier-facing processes at the enterprise level facilitate the creation of supply chains, integrated product development, and functional procurement. On the customer side, collaborations encompass sales, customer relations, customer contracts, and marketing.
• Functional Level: The functional level of the e-business architectural model is connected to the elements of a value chain and determines the key process-to-process relationships. These relationships include those related to customer collaborations, corporate functions, supply collaboration, and value chains. This level relies on real-time reporting for competitive analysis, the ability to integrate new technologies, and unified data storage. Consistency in business processes is crucial throughout the functional level of e-business.
• Operational Level: The operational level of the e-business architectural model focuses on detailing and certifying integrations and process definitions within different value chains and process areas. This level describes implementation activities, process roles, control points, supporting applications, and process roles to ensure reliability and integration. It utilizes the same web services, operating systems, and a theoretical view of communication within the architectural model, rather than a physical view.

E-business Issues and Conflict

Developing the architecture of an e-business system presents several challenges for the working group. These challenges include:

• Impact of Market Changes: Understanding how changes in the market can affect both the organization and the goals of the e-business.
• Historical Inactivity: Overcoming the inertia resulting from businesses operating independently, each with its own information management policies, architectures, and legacy systems.
• Variable Requirements: Dealing with evolving requirements and objectives for e-business development influenced by dynamic markets, changing organizational structures, and differing perspectives in various business units.
• Rising Conflicts: Addressing conflicts and issues that arise due to changes in the market and organization, historical inertia, and shifting objectives.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, the goal of E-Business Architecture is to provide a flexible framework for electronic business that supports a technology-neutral perspective where applicable. E-business architecture is not solely focused on technology; instead, it leverages Internet technologies and innovative business processes to create applications that transcend traditional constraints, leading to cost reductions, improved efficiencies, lower operational costs, and process enhancements. Additionally, these solutions contribute to business growth by enabling companies to expand, explore new markets, identify fresh distribution channels, and foster creativity within their organizations.