Reference Business Processes-Based Method for Multi-Tenant SaaS Architecture Deployment and Adaptation

Abstract

The implementation of multi-tenant SaaS architecture is still new for the market and causes Business and IT misalignment and, as a result, lower business value realization and project complexity. The usage of reference business processes allows reducing project duration for on-premise architecture implementation. However, reference business processes' role significantly changes in SaaS architecture because of its lesser system functionality flexibility. It has become essential not only for fit-gap workshops during deployment but also for constant SaaS architecture adaptation. For these reasons, the functional requirements realization models and methods that were designed for on-premise cannot be applied in the case of SaaS. This article introduces the functional requirements realization model for implementation and adaptation of multi-tenant SaaS architecture based on reference business process models. System analysis and general control theory techniques have been applied to formalize the problem. The decision support method, based on reference business processes, has been developed to maximize the business value of SaaS implementation. Value management has been applied to justify the economic feasibility of the applied method. The suggested method has been validated based on SAP platform-based SaaS solution implementation projects for procurement business process management in the Russian Federation.

Keywords

• the business value of cloud computing
• multi-tenant saas architecture
• best practices business processes
• typical business processes
• references business processes
• control theory
• decision support system