MIS603 Microservices Architecture Written Assessment

Context: 

Now that you have reviewed the history of computing and demonstrated an understanding of the  concept of software architecture and the various types of software architecture in Assessment 1, you  are now tasked to examine a case and advise a company in the transition to microservice architecture.  

Instructions: 

Having read your report on the history of computing and a survey of software architecture, the Chief  Technology Officer of Whiteboard (the ‘Company’) decided to overhaul its technology strategy and  the management of its IT delivery teams to ensure they provide reliable student and learning  management systems to over 600 universities and institutions across the world. Whiteboard is a  leading student and learning management system provider, supporting over 10 million students  worldwide.  

Flexibility and agility are critical to the Company so that they can incorporate new code and new  technologies that facilitate teaching and learning as frequently as they can and measure the effort of that. Continuous and frequent delivery lies at the core of the Company’s IT strategy and offers a great  competitive edge to the Company over its competitors. 

The System they provide comprehensively manage the entire lifecycle of a student, from student  recruitment, student enrolment, tuition fee payment, learning content management, to student  academic record management, graduation and the issuance of qualification and certificate.  

The Company is considering a restructure. “We are nowhere close to a continuous and frequent delivery module, as it requires a shift to a more microservice-based approach to the monolithic  system”, said the Chief Technology Officer. “What we are looking to do is to break the System up  architecturally into microservices so that we can release code that does not have any dependencies  across the other components of the System.” 

The Company is satisfied with the credentials you established in the previous report and have engaged  you to write a report to further advise them on the transition to microservice architecture. Your report  should address the following tasks: 

∙ A definition and introduction to microservice architecture; 

∙ Examples of successful implementation of microservice architecture for at least three  companies in different industries. You should include the benefit microservice architecture brought to them. There is no architecture free lunch, therefore you should also discuss the  challenges they faced in the implementation of microservice architecture; 

∙ Discuss the principles of service modelling and technologies available for integration, e.g.  SOAP, XML-RPC, REST.  

∙ Discuss the challenges in splitting the backend monolithic system that represent substantial amount of the behaviour of the Company’s system.  

∙ Discuss any ethical, legal and security issues in the transitioning to microservice architecture.  Your report should include the following 

1. Title page: Subject code and name, assessment number, report title, assessment due date, word  count (actual), student names, student IDs, Torrens email address, campus learning facilitator, and  Subject coordinator. Not included in the word count. 
2. Executive summary: should include the purpose of the report, the problem including key issues  considered and how they were investigated, your findings and recommendations. This part should be  approximately three quarters of an A4 page but must not be longer than one (1) A4 page. Not included  in the word count. 
3. Table of Contents (ToC): should list the report topics using decimal notation. Need to include the  main headings and subheadings with corresponding page numbers, using a format that makes the  hierarchy of topics clear. Because you are including a ToC the report pages should be numbered in the  footer as follows: title page has no page number; and main text to have Arabic numerals commencing  at 1. Create the ToC using MS Word’s ToC auto-generator rather than manually typing out the ToC.  Instructions can be found here https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Create- a-table-of-contents or-update-a-table-of-contents-eb275189-b93e-4559-8dd9-c279457bfd72#__create_a_table. Not  included in the word count. 
4. Introduction: provide a brief description of the company as given in the case scenario including any  assumptions, a concise overview of the problem you have been asked to research, the main aims/purpose of the report, the objectives to be achieved by writing the report (include the tasks  outlined in the case study) and how you investigated the problem. Provide an outline of the sections  of the report. Should be approximately 250 words. 

5. Body of the report (use appropriate headings in the body of the report.): Ensure that you address  the tasks listed in the case study scenario. Do NOT use generic words such as ‘Body, Body of the  Report, Tasks’ as section headings. Create meaningful headings and subheadings that reflect the topic  and content of your report. Should be approximately 1800 words. 
6. Conclusion: restate the purpose of the report and key issues investigated and the related findings  based on your research and analysis. Explain the significance of your findings for addressing the  problem stated in the case scenario and any limitations. State how your report has achieved its  objectives and any future work to be considered. Should be approximately 250 words. 
7. Recommendation: make specific and actionable recommendations to Whiteboard to help their  transitioning into microservices architecture. Should be approximately 200 words. 
8. Reference list. Not included in the word count. 
9. Appendices if necessary. Not included in the word count.