A Practical Experience in Analysis and Design of Distributed Information Systems

The presence of distributed systems is increasing nowadays, being a part of our daily life. The development of this type of systems entai ls a higher complexity due to the existence of various locations, the need of dividing software into modules and allocating them to identified locations, so that the system works optimally as a whole. However, one of the most obvious lacks in this field is the absence of an approach which guides their development.This paper presents a practical analysis and design of an object oriented system for a company which distributes pharmaceutical products. The system has been approached from the application of a pr ocess which takes distribution explicitly into account. A careful study of the business, together with the collaboration and distribution of objects, has led to obtaining important benefits in the business model, both financial and those related to the qua lity of service. The key lies in trying to harmonize the centralization or distribution of certain aspects at the right stage, both at the organizational and information system level.