Technology

THREE TIERED ARCHITECTURE

The system structure is based on a 3-tier architecture in which the following functional layers are defined:

Database layer:

User and business data are stored exclusively in the central relational database system (e.g.: Oracle RDBMS or PostgreSQL RDMBS). During development, in selecting the supported database management system components the priority is decided based on the following main aspects:

• it has to be platform independent, that is it should work under different operating systems,
• it has to be widely available, accepted in operating and IT audit circles,
• it has to be robust and easily scalable
• it has to provide the possibility of 7*24 operation with online backup procedures, remote location replication.

The development methodology applied by Online Business Technologies makes it possible that operation on different database platforms is supported solely through changes in the technological layer without modifying the business logic. Therefore the technological roadmap contains plans to develop support for further database management software (e.g. DB2, MS-SQL).

Business application layer:

All business logic runs on the application server. A web server keeps the connection with the client.

Access / display layer (client):

The applied JAVA client provides a graphical user interface, it has been designed following the thin client principle. This means that the client application does not store data on the client workstation and does not contain preinstalled software components. Only data entry and display procedures, and screen handling elements are managed. The JAVA client program can be started from a browser or a shortcut icon placed on the desktop, possible update functionality is handled automatically by the Java WebStart technology. Communication with the server is encrypted and is based on the SSL protocol.