Information system evolution management: a complex evaluation

Abstract

In our previous papers we have focused on problems of model and/or information system evolution. We have dealt with popular technologies and languages for data storage and data management, such as XML, SQL, XPath, REST, BPMN, etc. In this paper we sum up our contributions and present a complex example of evolution process of an information system. We model complex situations that, starting from a single point, influence the whole system. Our solution, however, brings benefits not only for a typical system with the well-known architecture "presentation layer -- business layer -- database layer", but also for the micro-service architecture that becomes more and more popular these days. In this paradigm every service is specialized, it manages a specific logical part of the system, and it communicates with other services mainly via HTTP or (web) sockets. This architecture brings many advantages especially to system scalability, performance, and resource management. On the other hand, separation of the system to micro-services brings drawbacks, such as more demanding change management and version compatibility. For example, a change of the message structure in one part of the system can influence all related services, integration tests are more complex and must detect more edge cases that in case of monolithic systems, etc. A mechanism that can analyze the changes, propagate them, and/or at least inform the developer about possible inconsistency can reduce time needed for updates and troubleshooting.