White Papers

Service Oriented Architecture in the Airline Industry
Responding directly to economic and competitive pressures, companies in the air services sector are working to closely manage costs while at the same time improving operational performance and overall customer service.
Application consolidation and modernization are now seen as a key requirement for air carriers seeking to transform themselves into more agile and competitive enterprises. For this reason, a growing number of air services firms are evaluating the requirements, capabilities and benefits of an service-oriented architecture (SOA).

Software + Services in the Microsoft World: A Technology Overview for IT Decision Makers (.doc, 927kb)
One of the most important changes in the technology world today is the shift within enterprises from relying solely on local software to a world of software plus services (S+S). This overview describes S+S, focusing on what Microsoft is doing in this area. While not everyone uses the same terms, the entire industry has embraced the idea of S+S under various headings and while the move to S+S certainly affects consumers, this description focuses on S+S for business users. S+S isn’t a futuristic idea; it’s a reality today. Yet the full impact of this transition is still years away. Understanding what that impact will look like requires thinking about the effect on applications—packages as well as custom software—and on the platforms those applications depend on. This overview describes both.

Real World SOA through the Microsoft Platform (.doc, 375kb)
The ability to readily change and optimize business processes is the key to organizational competitiveness and growth. This paper explores both the business rationale for SOA, as well as the Microsoft "real world" approach. Learn how the Microsoft SOA platform can provide developers, architects, and IT professionals with the tools, technologies, and guidance for building and maintaining SOA solutions that can help optimize business processes, increase productivity, lower costs, and promote organizational agility.

Enable Real-World SOA using Microsoft Dynamics (.doc, 999kb)
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that automate and streamline financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes. Read these success stories for real-world examples of SOA projects that Microsoft Dynamics customers are using to support their business vision.

Service Orientation and Its Role in Your Connected Systems Strategy
(MSDN Library) Service orientation is a means for building distributed systems. At its most abstract, service orientation views everything—from the mainframe application to the printer to the shipping dock clerk to the overnight delivery company—as a service provider. With its emphasis on a common model for invoking capabilities, service orientation is at the core of an effective connected-systems strategy.

A Business-Oriented Foundation for Service Orientation
(MSDN Library) Automate business activities effectively and efficiently by using service-orientation with Web services.

Software as a Service (Saas): An Enterprise Perspective
(MSDN Library) Software as a Service (SaaS) has the potential to transform the way information-technology (IT) departments relate to and even think about their role as providers of computing services to the rest of the enterprise. The emergence of SaaS as an effective software-delivery mechanism creates an opportunity for IT departments to change their focus from deploying and supporting applications to managing the services that those applications provide.

Building Better Business Applications Using the 2007 Microsoft Office System
(MSDN Library) The 2007 Microsoft Office system provides a set of servers, clients, and tools to make it easier for enterprises and software vendors to build and deploy Office Business Applications to connect current line-of-business systems with the people who use them through the familiar Microsoft Office user interface.

Enabling "People-Ready Processes" through Business Process Management (BPM)—A Business Overview (.doc, 965kb)
In today’s global and hyper-competitive economy, the business results of any organization rely upon its people and their ability to drive business change through innovation in business processes. The ability of a company’s people to rapidly and continuously design, develop, and adapt their business processes in an agile fashion is a huge business advantage—what Microsoft calls "People-Ready Processes". This paper discusses the key tools and services of Microsoft’s Business Process Management (BPM) products and solutions, and how those components can be used to supports organizations in their goal of enhancing day to day and strategic business process efficiencies, reducing costs and promoting organizational agility and growth.

Microsoft and Business Process Management: A Technology Overview (.doc, 2.1MB)
Microsoft has a range of offerings that fall under the umbrella of BPM technology—and what Microsoft calls "people-ready processes". For end users, these technologies can provide direct solutions to process problems. For independent software vendors (ISVs), Microsoft’s BPM technologies act as a platform for building more specialized functions. This paper presents a big-picture view of the area, looking at both Microsoft offerings and complementary partner products. The goal is to provide a technology overview of business process management in the Microsoft world.

Business Intelligence Meets Business Process Management (PDF, 87kb)
BPM is about improving processes and implementing systems that enable the improvement. BI delivers information that, when linked with BPM, gives people the input they require to improve those business processes. To benefit from improved process management and decision-making, however, companies first must bring these two business enablers together.