Building quality into web information systems

Software quality is a multi-faceted concept defined using different attributes and models. From all various quality attributes, the quality of adaptiveness, composed of understandability, maintainability and scalability, is by far most critical. Building adaptiveness quality into a system is an undertaking in complexity management, which in turn is a task in determination and minimization of dependencies between software elements. This paper explains a layered meta-architecture for achieving adaptive solutions. It then uses the Design Structure Matrix (DSM) method to explain the process of measuring complexity/adaptiveness of solutions. Finally, the paper discusses the pros and cons of Semantic Web Services (SWS) in the context of building quality into Web Information Systems. The discussion is conducted against the background of the holonic approach to science (as a middle ground between holism and reductionism).