Application Architecture (Case Study Sample)

Case Study 2: Application ArchitectureStudent nameInstitution affiliation
The definition of Software application architecture is the procedure of defining a structured solution that meets the needs of all the technical and operational necessities. At the same time, it should maintain the quality characteristics such as security, manageability, and performance.
Since it is a complex structure, the software architecture has to be built on a rigid foundation. The application can be put at risk when there is failing to consider critical scenarios. Some of the circumstances that should be considered are the design of the common problems and appreciation of the long-term consequences of the primary decisions. Even though the modern tools can simplify the duty of building the application, careful design of the application, which should be based on specific circumstances and requirements, should not be kept aside. A poorly-built application is likely to face many drawbacks such as instability, unable to support the current or future needs of the business or will be difficult to deploy or manage in the environment of production.
A proper system should put in consideration three major factors. It should consider the user, the system itself or the IT infrastructure and the goals of the business. Each of these areas should have an outline of the critical scenarios and point out the essential attributes and the key areas of satisfaction.
Payroll systems that will be used across a wide geographical area have some challenges and will, therefore, require many inputs for it to be suitable for the task. It has been known that Wide Area Networks (WANs) often cover a large physical area such as cities, states or regions. The company will be utilizing the WAN, with a centralized large data center. All the offices of the company will be connected through the WAN. Some of the requirements of the architecture will be area network diagrams, information technology, and system documentation so that a visual representation of the complete network structure is presented.
The Wide Area Network is very advantageous when used as a mode of data transfer. First, it is quick in sending a message to anyone on the network. Also, the messages can be integrated with pictures, sounds, and other attachments. There is also the advantage of sharing of expensive assets such as printers. These peripheral devices can be connected such that the users can utilize the same machine. In the long run, the cost of purchasing a different peripheral device for each computer.
Data is updated simultaneously in all the computers since everyone on the network can use the same data. The problems of some users having up-to-date information whereas others are using old data will, therefore, be reduced. Besides, information can be shared over a large area.
The payroll system will be working with the following procedure. First, the time sheets of all the employee will be collected and put in the architecture system. The sheets will be saved on the computers so that they can be processed. A special software will then be used to calculate the hours money with the total working hour. Moreover, the software will calculate the tax and total salary for the year. Since there will be a wide area network, the payroll will be sent over the network so that the others computers within the network can view the salary. The employees can then be able to watch their payroll within the system. After that, the security system will then be used to check that everything is right.
The payroll program in this case study requires the proper architecture so that the scenario at hand can be adequately be solved. Some of the consideration would be the physical location of the payroll program and the location equipment. For the network to be efficient, it should combine the elements into an architecture that is flexible, technically sound, cost-effective and able to support the information needs of the business. Other physical requirements of the payroll system would be hardware, software, network support, and processing methods.
There are some Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) that would be established so that the strategies for utilizing IT resources in the new payroll application can be determined. Besides, there will be the utilization of Supply Chain Management (SCM), initial Cost (IO) and Total Cost Ownership (TCO). SCM, IO, and TCO will come in effect during the final design, and individual decisions would be made which will have an effect on the initial cost and total cost ownership for the payroll system. Moreover, the cost estimates should not be left behind for it wi...