The current dissertation was composed as part of the MSc program in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Systems at the International Hellenic University. A crucial challenge in software engineering for cloud computing technology is the interoperability issues. From cloud computing aspect, interoperability goes beyond from the simple communication between different systems as it happens in other technical fields, it aims to the creation of more dynamic, complex and heterogeneous applications that take advantage of best characteristics from different vendors and services simultaneously. Interoperability in cloud software is the biggest challenge that must be overtaken in the future in order the software to achieve greater levels of flexibility and useableness. Intercommunication between cloud-based applications is mostly accomplished using web service Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), also referred to RESTful APIs.
APIs have many advantages comparing to other means of communication, such as shared data or message queuing, as they contribute to the creation of more loosely-coupled systems. Nowadays, between organizations there is an increasing trend of adopting cloud ERP solutions. ERP software is a centralized source of truth for a company, providing an analytical snapshot of available resources, resource utilization and planning. So, ERP system’s interoperability with the various third-party applications in an organization’s IT ecosystem is crucial as resource data does not come exclusively from internal sources. Using RESTful web services, a company can exchange data with various applications via Internet in a human and machine-readable form. REST API is very important because it streamlines the whole process, as data is connected directly from the source to the ERP platform and back. This study aims to develop a Web API, or RESTful API, which will contribute to the interoperability and data exchange between specific Dolibarr ERP system modules, that is Product Management and Vendor Relationship Management, and third-party cloud software applications. Our findings, identify the challenges that arise in RESTful APIs adoption and the value they create which can be summarized in the increased efficiency and productivity they offer due to the integration of multiple systems.
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