Business transactions (a.k.a., business conversations) are series of message exchanges that occur between software applications coordinating to achieve a business objective. Web service has been proven to be a promising technology in supporting business transactions. Business transaction can either be long-running or short-lived. A transaction whether in a database or web service paradigm consists of an “all-or-nothing” property. A transaction could either succeed or fail. Web Service Atomic Transactions (WS-AT) is a specification that currently supports Two-Phase Commit (2PC) protocol in a short-lived transaction. WS-AT is developed by OASIS–a standards development organization. However, not all business process scenarios require a 2PC, in that case, just a One-Phase Commit (1PC) would be sufficient. But unfortunately, WS-AT currently does not support 1PC optimization. The ideal scenario where 1PC can be used instead of 2PC is when there is only a single participant. Short-lived transactions involving only one participant can commit without requiring initial “prepare” phase. Thus, there is no overhead to check whether the participant is prepared to either commit or rollback. This research focuses on designing a mechanism that can add 1PC support in WS-AT. The technical implementation of this mechanism is developed by using JBoss Transaction API. As a part of this thesis, 1PC mechanism for a single participant scenario was implemented. This mechanism optimizes the web service transaction process in terms of overhead and performance in terms of execution time. The technical implementation solution for 1PC mechanism was evaluated using three different business process scenarios in a controlled experiment as a presence or absence test. Evaluation results show that 1PC mechanism has a lower mean for execution time and performed significantly better than 2PC mechanism. Based on the contributions made by this thesis, we recommend OASIS to consider including 1PC mechanism as a part of the WS-AT specification.

In this project a collaboration multimedia toolkit, JSCMT (Java Synchronized Collaborative Multimedia Toolkit) was developed which is intended to connect a group of people located in different geographical locations who are working on the same project.

Enterprise Architecture endeavours to resolve the complexity of increasingly distributed systems by aligning business vision with IT strategy, which in turn should reduce the overall costs of IT in the business and provide simpler, better and faster solutions to business problems. There are many Enterprise Architecture frameworks. The main purpose of most of these frameworks is to assist with the challenges of managing the increased complexity of distributed systems, aligning business vision with IT strategy and reducing IT costs. Many of the studies which produced the results stating Enterprise Architecture aligns business vision and reduces IT costs, were based on Zachman’s work, and most of the published Enterprise Architecture success stories focus on the benefits provided to the company with regards to IT. In contrast very little documentation could be found that addresses the impact of Enterprise Architecture implementations on the individuals and systems within a company. If the individuals as the main implementers of any strategy are impacted negatively by Enterprise Architecture management decisions, there would be a negative impact on the return on investment of the company. Enterprise Architecture allows the use of overlapping departments’ processes and data, which translates into less development time as system components would already exist. Changes that are made to the Enterprise Architecture result in several additional changes that had to be implemented by the software developers. These changes influenced the workload, roles and responsibilities of the developers in such a way that the development team became negative about the additional work. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Enterprise Architecture management decisions on the responsibilities, work experience and attitude towards Enterprise Architecture of the software developers in a company that develops software by exploring and describing the nature of software development. Based on the findings of this study, a list of impact of Enterprise Architecture decisions on the responsibilities of software developers in companies that develop software were identified. In this respect, the study identified impacts of Enterprise Architecture management decisions as well as possible solutions to these impacts. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

Abstracts in English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Arabic / The Middle East has a rising demand for public relations (PR) professionals because many of the oil-producing countries in the region are implementing radical transformational strategies to develop their non-oil sectors to safeguard future generations. PR professionals in the region are challenged by volatile environments in which there are on-going conflicts and wars. However, PR in the Middle East is key to engagement in its complex social, economic and political climate. Information and communication technology has captured the attention of organisations in the Middle East, by contributing to the evolution of PR practices from monologue to dialogue and from control to engagement. Against this background, the study explored critical PR and PR activism in the Middle East. Critical PR radically changes the traditional approach of PR, from asking how it can assist organisations to be more efficient, to asking what its role is in society? It advocates that the PR professional act as the facilitator of debate, dialogue and even dissent, and to encourage public input, thereby influencing public policies to develop long-term, transformational programmes that benefit society. This study explored the theoretical characteristics of critical PR elements and the principles of online organisation–public relationships. These characteristics and principles were further explored and measured by a quantitative self-administered web-based survey and one-on-one interviews with PR professionals in the Middle East Public Relations Association and from leading listed Middle Eastern organisations. / Die Midde-Ooste het 'n toenemende behoefte aan professionele persone in die gebied van openbare betrekkinge en PR. Baie van die olieproduserende lande in die streek implementeer radikale transformasiestrategieë om hul nie-oliesektore te ontwikkel en om so toekomstige geslagte te beveilig. Professionele PR-personeel in die streek het groot uitdagings in die vorm van vlugtige veranderinge in die verskillende gebiede waarin konflikte en oorloë alomteenwoordig is. Openbare betrekkinge in die Midde-Ooste is egter die sleutel om die verskillende partye te kan bereik en betrek, weens die komplekse sosiale, ekonomiese en politieke klimaat. Inligting- en kommunikasietegnologie het die aandag van organisasies in die Midde-Ooste gevang weens hulle bydrae tot die evolusie van PR-praktyke, van monoloog tot dialoog, en van beheer tot betrokkenheid. Dit is teen hierdie agtergrond dat die studie kritiese openbare betrekkinge en openbare betrekkings aktivisme in die Midde-Ooste ondersoek. Kritieke openbare betrekkinge verander die tradisionele benadering van openbare betrekkinge radikaal. Dit stel vrae: hoe kan dit organisasies help om meer doeltreffend te wees, en watter rol kan dit in die samelewing speel? Dit bepleit dat die professionele PR-praktisyn as fasiliteerder vir debat, dialoog en selfs verdeeldheid kan optree, sowel as openbare bydrag aan te moedig. Sodoende kan hy of sy openbare beleid beïnvloed om langtermyn transformasieprogramme, wat die samelewing bevoordeel, te ontwikkel. Hierdie studie het die teoretiese eienskappe van kritiese openbarebetrekkingselemente en die beginsels van aanlyn-organisasies se openbare betrekkingspraktyk ondersoek. Hierdie eienskappe en beginsels is verder ondersoek en gemeet aan die hand van 'n kwantitatiewe, self-geadministreerde web-gebaseerde opname en deur persoonlike onderhoude met professionele PR-persone in die Middle East Public Relations Association en toonaangewende en genoteerde Midde-Oosterse organisasies. / IMpumalanga Ephakathi inesidingo esikhulayo sochwepheshe bezobudlelwano bomphakathi ngoba amazwe amaningi akhiqiza uwoyela esifundeni asebenzisa amasu amakhulu ezinguquko ukuze athuthukise imikhakha yawo engenawo uwoyela ukuvikela izizukulwane ezizayo. Ochwepheshe bezobudlelwano bomphakathi esifundeni babhekene nenselele yezimo eziguquguqukayo lapho kukhona izingxabano nezimpi eziqhubekayo. Nokho, ubudlelwano bomphakathi eMpumalanga Ephakathi buyinto esemqoka ekubhekanani nesimo sawo senhlalo esiyinkimbinkimbi, nasesimweni sezomnotho nesezombusazwe. Ubuchwepheshe bolwazi nobezokuxhumana buye badonsa ukunaka kwezinhlangano eziseMpumalanga Ephakathi, ngokufaka isandla ekuguqukeni kwemikhuba ye-PR isuke ekubeni imiyalelo iye ekubeni ingxoxo nasekulawuleni iye ekubambisaneni. Ngokumelene nalesi sizinda, ucwaningo luhlole ubudlelwane obubucayi bomphakathi kanye nentshisekelo yobudlelwano bomphakathi eMpumalanga Ephakathi. Ubudlelwano bomphakathi obucayi buguqula kakhulu indlela yokwenza yendabuko yobudlelwano bomphakathi, kusukela ekubuzeni ukuthi bungazisiza kanjani izinhlangano ukuba zisebenze kahle, kuya ekubuzeni ukuthi iyiphi indima yabo emphakathini. Igcizelela ukuthi ochwepheshe bezobudlelwano bomphakathi basebenze njengomxazululi wempikiswano, izingxoxo ngisho nokungavumelani, futhi bakhuthaze nomphakathi ukuba ubambe iqhaza, ngaleyo ndlela bathonye izinqubomgomo zomphakathi zokuthuthukisa izinhlelo zesikhathi eside, zezinguquko ezizuzisa umphakathi. Lolu cwaningo luhlole izici zemibono yezinto ezibucayi zobudlelwano bomphakathi kanye nemigomo yenhlangano eku-inthanethi-ubudlelwano bomphakathi. Lezi zimpawu kanye nemigomo yahlolisiswa kakhudlwana futhi yalinganiswa ngenhlolovo esuselwa kuwebhu esebenza ngobuningi kanye nokuxoxisana nomuntu ngamunye nochwepheshe bezobudlelwano nomphakathi Enhlanganweni Yobudlelwano Bomphakathi YaseMpumalanga Ephakathi kanye nasezinhlanganweni ezihamba phambili ezisohlwini lwaseMpumalanga Emaphakathi. / Communication Science / M. Communication Sc. (Organisational Communication)