Decision support model for choosing a cloud solution
Summary
The thesis deals with a process of cloud service selection aiming at presenting a process of rigor systematic selection of possible options starting from a business level perspective and ending with specific implementation tactics. We believe that if choosing a cloud service only gathering requirements such as Quality of Service, in many cases severe architectural problems arise. This is caused by not paying due attention to high-level properties of business processes. Many companies adopt cloud solutions nowadays, and the reasoning behind those decisions is real but not yet formalized in a good level of details. The aim of this work is to demystify this reasoning and structure all the knowledge from academia together with business practices in a single guideline which supports cloud selection process. Current research presents a systematic process of choosing best-fit solution using which less requirements may be missed. The Thesis presents five steps following each other needed to take to formulate all requirements needed for a Request for Proposal to a cloud vendor. Emerging from a rigor literature review, presented model is the best of breed from existing business, Enterprise Architecture and Cloud technologies requirements taxonomies, includes up to date technologies and while being formal keeps place for upcoming technologies and solutions. In the second part of the thesis it is shown how to build a Decision Support System based on the theoretical model proposed, and the possible usefulness of this tool is validated in a series of expert interviews.