Optimizing information systems by realizing the autonomy around business

With ever increasing complexity of software systems, it is now more evident than ever that a fundamental change in software engineering practices is required. In this paper we discuss the nature of change and its implications. The notion of passive autonomy is introduced as a reference to the relative autonomy of business entities, and we claim that realizing the passive autonomy in information systems would results in systems far more adaptable and aligned with business´ needs. In order to realize this autonomy, theuse of autonomous agents as representing real world autonomous entities is suggested. After pointing out the shortcomings of current agent based architectures, a new architecture is proposed, based on indirect, multilateral negotiation. The suitability of this architecture is demonstrated in a simple case of beer game and it is shown that the bullwhip effect is remedied to some extent using this new architectural approach.