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
• 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 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 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 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 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 Should be approximately 250 words.
7. Recommendation: make specific and actionable recommendations to Whiteboard to help their transitioning into microservices Should be approximately 200 words.
8. Reference list. Not included in the word count.
9. Appendices if Not included in the word count.

General Assessment Requirement

Incomprehensible submissions. Assessments provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to achieve the required standard. To do this, assessment responses need to be both clear and easy to understand. If not, the University cannot determine that students have demonstrated their knowledge and skills. Assessments will, therefore, be marked accordingly including the potential for 0 (zero) marks where relevant.

Case study. Assessment response must focus on the case study scenario given in the Task Instructions. Any assessment items that do not address the case study scenario may be awarded 0 (zero) marks.

Track changes. If you use Track Changes when writing your assessment, you must ensure that the submitted document is the final and correct version of the document. That is, if your submitted report contains Track Changes or Comments or any other editing marks it may be awarded 0 (zero) marks. It is your responsibility to submit the final and correct version of your report.

Check with marking criteria. Before submitting your assessment, you should check it against the assessment criteria and the marking rubric included in this specification to ensure that you have satisfactorily addressed all the criteria that will be used to mark your submission.

Academic language. All submissions should be thoroughly proof-read for spelling, typographical or grammatical errors before being submitted. Do not reply on the ‘spell-check’ function in your word processing program. If, for example, ‘affect’ is substituted for ‘effect’, your program may not detect the error.

Referencing

It is essential that you use appropriate APA style for citing and referencing research. Please see more information on referencing here http://library.laureate.net.au/research_skills/referencing

Submission Instructions:

Means of submission. ALL students must submit ONE MSWord document (.doc or .docx) via the Assessment link in the main navigation menu in MIS603: Microservices Architecture. Physical copies/Email submissions are not accepted.

No Zipped files. Students must NOT zip the MSWord document and submit it as one single zip/compressed file.

Complete and correct submission. Assessment, once submitted, are FINAL and therefore cannot be modified. You bear all the onus to ensure that your submissions are final, correct (correct files in correct format) and complete before submitting to Blackboard.

You are expected to begin this assessment when you begin the trimester, especially as you relate the learning activities (formative assessment) in the modules to this and the other (summative) assessments. Be sure to keep several drafts of your work as well as your notes and any sources you used to draw on in preparing your report.

Extensions will be considered only in extenuating circumstances where the student has applied before the due date. At that point, students are required to provide the latest draft, in case the extension is not granted and to demonstrate they have earnestly done everything to avoid lateness.

Students are responsible for keeping appropriate back-ups and drafts of their assignments and to submit the correct version.

Torrens University Australia policies apply to the preparation and submission of this assignment.