Information Systems

The rapid advances in information technology (IT) have a number of effects on global business. One of these effects is that a large amount and variety of measurement data is produced at great speed. The availability of such “Big Data” creates a number of new opportunities for business but also entails numerous entirely new challenges.

How do very diverse organizations collaborate in a cluster network? Which demands exist in industry regarding emergent software? What is necessary for emergent software to be successful on the market? How can emergent software become a megatrend?

Fujitsu EST is an innovation-centered software product subsidiary of the Fujitsu group based in Munich. As an international subsidiary of Fujitsu’s technology organization, Fujitsu EST undertakes core software product management and development activities, forming an important bridge between the company’s technology groups and its international customers and partners.

Mobile business applications (apps) are ubiquitous in our daily lives today. In our private lives, we use apps in online banking, at airports and train stations when we travel, when we explore our current environment, or when we enjoy multimedia entertainment.

Requirements on the Cloud, such as high levels of availability, resilience, and IT security, are indispensable for the use of Cloud technologies in the area of critical infrastructures, as is the guarantee that these will actually be delivered. However, the guaranteed implementation of these requirements continues to present a challenge.

BASF SE - with revenues of more than 70 billion euros and over 110,000 employees wordwide - is the largest chemical company in the world. Software and IT services are an integral part of the support of internal and external business processes at BASF.  

For our customer Cosmos, we analyzed the IT infrastructure and developed a sustainable target IT infrastructure – combining requirements from both business and IT – integrated into one big picture.

For our customer ECOPETROL S.A. in Colombia, we aligned the company’s strategy and business goals with IT- and software-related activities using our proven GQM+Strategies® method. This led to increased transparency of goals, strategies, and measurement data across the organization, clarification of the value contributed by IT and software development in terms of the organization’s business goals, more objective decision-making, and other benefits.

For our customer FinanzInformatik, we conducted a series of usability tests and thereby enabling them to make a decision about which screen representation and graphical user interface design is best suited with regard to efficiency, effectiveness, and correctness of information in a bank clerk’s daily work with customers.

For our customer Giesecke & Devreient, we optimized the internal code review method in the core development of card chips. This was mainly done by tightening review criteria based on various role-based perspectives on the code.

Since 2006, Fraunhofer IESE and Fujitsu Labs have been collaborating in joint research and technology transfer projects. This collaboration started in the area of requirements engineering, especially in the area of requirements specifications, non-functional requirements, requirements reviews, and traceability of requirements.

We supported our customer Lufthansa AG in selecting a new technology for one of their operative systems based on our competence in architecture-centric engineering.

We supported our customer Lufthansa Systems AG in preparing a standardized development of mobile apps as a supplement to existing products. Based on an example mobile app, a process was defined and tested from a feature to an executable prototype. In the prototype development, the UI and the interaction design as well as the architecture design were primarily created by Fraunhofer IESE experts.

Major catastrophic events or actual catastrophes often lead to extreme stress for the responsible emergency response and security forces. The research project “Service-oriented architectures for supporting networks in the context of public security”, SoKNOS, shall provide a service platform for supporting public security based on currently available distributed infrastructures, data, and processes.

In order to ensure that maintenance costs will remain moderate, Tekla performed an architecture evaluation together with Fraunhofer IESE and in cooperation with R&D Ware Oy, a Finnish software engineering consulting company. The architecture evaluation results allow Tekla to make improvement efforts in a very dedicated and focused manner. Moreover, Fraunhofer IESE has supported Tekla in aligning its architecture practices and its agile development process.