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Systems Integration Approaches: Dr. Amor Lazzez

This document discusses different approaches to systems integration: 1) Information-oriented integration focuses on exchanging data between applications through connecting databases or moving data between source and target systems. 2) Business process integration aims to coordinate information flow and manage shared information through defined business processes across applications. 3) The document provides examples and comparisons of information-oriented approaches like data replication, data federation, and interface processing. It also discusses how business process integration automates tasks through a process integration model.

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Arsenia Duldulao
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
162 views15 pages

Systems Integration Approaches: Dr. Amor Lazzez

This document discusses different approaches to systems integration: 1) Information-oriented integration focuses on exchanging data between applications through connecting databases or moving data between source and target systems. 2) Business process integration aims to coordinate information flow and manage shared information through defined business processes across applications. 3) The document provides examples and comparisons of information-oriented approaches like data replication, data federation, and interface processing. It also discusses how business process integration automates tasks through a process integration model.

Uploaded by

Arsenia Duldulao
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 15

16/02/2015

Systems Integration Approaches

Dr. Amor Lazzez

Office location: Tarbia Campus (C/ 306)


Phone: 0549071465 (cell)
Email: [email protected]

502510-3/Systems-Integration
Week 3
Source: Chapters 1 to 5 from the Next Generation Application Integration textbook.

Systems Integration
• Binds information systems
– at information and service levels
• Supports information exchange
• Provides ability to do business in real-time
• Technical as well as strategic value
• Need integration solutions to support
– Electronic markets, supply chain enablement, web visibility, customer
relationship management (CRM)
• Success and value of application integration depends on
– how well you understand the problem domain
– the architecture you employ
– technology you leverage

1
16/02/2015

Systems Integration Approaches

• Software applications can be integrated using


different approaches
– Information-oriented
– Business process integration-oriented
– Service-oriented
– Portal-oriented

Information-Oriented
• Integration of two or more systems by allowing
simple exchanges of data between applications
– Connecting databases
– Deals with simple exchanges of data between two or more
applications
– Migrates data from source database to target database
• Disadvantage
– Designers need to know all integrated systems in detail

Dave Smith
xxx-xxxx
101 IST
Application B
Application A UNF
FL-32224

2
16/02/2015

Information-Oriented: Example

• Moving information between systems may


require changing both the content and
schema on the fly

Doe, Jane Jane Doe


8/10/1995 Female
F August 10, 1995
Application Integration Application
A Server B

Information-Oriented: Integration Concepts

• Coupling
– Bind applications together in such a way that they are dependent on
each other, sharing the same methods, interfaces, and perhaps data
– Needs extensive changes in applications
– If source or target system changes, corresponding changes required
in coupled systems as well
– Reusability
• Allows common business processes to be reused

• Cohesion
– “Act or state of sticking together” or “the logical agreement”
– Applications and databases are independent of each other
– Changes to source or target system should not affect others directly
– Provides flexibility to integration
• Allows addition, changes, and removal of systems without affecting
integrated system

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16/02/2015

Information Producers and Consumers


• Source and target systems are the entities that
produce and consume information
• Types of systems that produce and consume
information are
– Database (integration using SQL, JDBC)
– Application (API, adapters)
– User interface (screen scraping)
– Embedded devices (temperature sensors, call-counting
machines)
• These systems are point of integration
– since they are designed to produce and consume
information

Approaching Information Integration


• Steps to approach information integration
– Identify the data
– Catalog the data
– Build the enterprise metadata model
• This model will be used as master guide for integrating the various
information stores that exists within the enterprise
• A successful integration solution requires the
enterprise to define both how the information flows
through it and how it does business
• Different ways to connect
– Data Replication
– Data Federation
– Interface Processing

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16/02/2015

Information-Oriented: Data Replication

• Moving data between two or more databases


• Accomplished by placing a software between databases
– Extracts data from source database
– Places data in the target database
• Advantage
– Low cost and easy to integrate
• Disadvantage
– Not suitable for integrating functions in applications
• If methods are bound to data or shared along with data
– Requires changes in source and target applications

Dave Smith Dave Smith


xxx-xxxx xxx-xxxx
101 IST 101 IST
UNF UNF
FL-32224 FL-32224

Information-Oriented: Data Federation

• Integrating multiple
databases into a singe
virtual database DB2
• Application access virtual
databases
– Integration software
Informix
handles the collection and
distribution of the data to
the physical database
• Advantage Virtual
Database Oracle
– Can integrate different
types of databases
• Disadvantage
Sybase
– Interface between
application and database
need to be changed

5
16/02/2015

Information-Oriented: Interface Processing

• Integrating packaged and custom applications


– Example: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Adapters to connect custom and packaged applications
• Most popular integration approach
• Advantage
– Efficient integration for commercially available software products
• API solutions take into account for differences between schema, content, and
application semantics when translating information to move between systems
– Includes screen scrappers as points of integration
• Disadvantage
– Little regards to business logic

Information
and services Application
Packaged Integration
API
Application Engine

Business Process Integration-Oriented


• The goal of business process integration is to allow integration not only by
sharing information but also by managing the sharing of that information
with easy to use tools
– Focuses on coordinating or managing information flow between source and
target applications
– Focuses on process logic while separating application logic
• Defined as applying appropriate rules, in an agreed upon logical
sequence, in order to pass information between participating systems, as
well as visualize and share application-level processes
• It is the ability to define a common business process model that
addresses the sequence, hierarchy, events, execution logic and
information movement between systems
– Central management of processes that exist on top of an existing set of
processes and applications
– Mechanism to manage movement of data and invocation of processes in
order
– Support for management and execution of processes that exists between
applications

6
16/02/2015

Business Process Integration-Oriented

• Binds disparate processes and


Process Integration Model
create process-to-process
solutions
– Automates tasks performed by
humans
• Advantage
– Supports information and control
logic flow
– Automates tasks performed by
humans
• Disadvantage
– Focuses on process flow and
integration of processes only
• Not on user interface, updating
databases or executing a
transaction
Company A Company B Company C

Business Process Integration-Oriented


Application Integration
• It is the ability to define a common business process model that
addresses the sequence, hierarchy, events, execution logic and
information movement between systems
• Idea is to provide single logical model that spans many applications and
data stores
– Providing the notion of a common business process that controls how
systems and humans interact to fulfill a unique business requirement.
• Future of application integration
• Advantage
– Supports information and control logic flow
– Automates tasks performed by humans
• Disadvantage
– Focuses on process flow and integration of processes only
• Not on user interface, updating databases or executing a transaction

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16/02/2015

Objective

• Provides control mechanism of sorts that defines and


executes the movement of information and the invocation of
processes that span many systems

Common
business
process model

A B C D E

Company 1 Company 2

Technology Components
• Graphic modeling tool Graphic modeling tool
– Where business model is created and
defined
• Business process engine
– Controls the execution of the multi
step business process and maintains
state and the interactions with the
middleware
• Business process monitoring Engine BPM
interface Interface
Interface
BPM Engine
– Allows end users to monitor and Application
control execution of a business
process in real time and optimize
where needed
• Business process engine interface
Integration
– Allows other applications to access Technology
the business process engine
• Integration technology (middleware)
– Connects the source and target
systems

Applications

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16/02/2015

Technology Levels
• Three levels of technology
– Process modeling
• Information movement is defined here
• Components of models are
– The common process model
– Real entities, such as companies, organizations, or people
– The source and target systems
– Transformation, routing and rules
• Information movement and formatting occurs here
• Routing allows relevant information to be extracted from any
source application, target application, or data store
– Messaging service
• Responsible for moving information between all connected
applications

Service-Oriented Application Integration

• Provides mechanism to bind applications


together at service level
• The goal is to leverage power of Internet to
provide access to remote application services
through well-defined interface and directory
services
• Web services is the technology to realize
above goal
– Web services is the future of application
integration

9
16/02/2015

Service-oriented
• Integrates applications
by allow them to share
business logic and Application A

methods
– Example: Web services
• Advantage
– Allows reusability of Application B

applications Composite End

• Disadvantage Application Users

– Need to change Application C


application logic
– High cost for
implementation
Application D

The Basics

• Service-oriented application integration


provides infrastructure for enterprises to share
common application services as well as
information
– Infrastructure: Web services (distributed objects)
• A common set of applications services among
enterprise applications invites reusability and
as a result, significantly reduces the need for
redundant application services and/or
applications

10
16/02/2015

Application Service
• Application services
– Subroutines or methods in applications
• Something you invoke to make something happen
• Remote services that produces or consumes
information
• Application services are composed together to
provide composite applications made up of local and
remote application services
– Allows remote services to be invoked as if it is local
service Accounting

Composite Application
Sales
User or
Application Inventory

CRM

When to Leverage Service-Oriented


Integration
• When two or more companies need to share
common program logic
– Such as calculation of shipping costs from a common
supplier, which constantly changes
• When two or more companies want to share the
development costs and the value of a common
application
• When the problem domain is small and specialized,
and is able to collaborate on a common application
that all companies share
• Potential benefit of service-oriented integration is the
simple binding of two or more applications in order
to integrate both business processes and data

11
16/02/2015

Solutions Architecture
• Event-driven
– Refers to those architectures that deal more with information
movement that application service aggregation
– Data moves from system to system in support of a particular business
transaction, but there is also a requirement to access application
services
• Composite-applications
– Refers to those architectures that require application services to
aggregate into a single instance of an application
• Autonomous-distributed
– Refers to those architectures where web services are so tightly
coupled that they appear as a single application
– Binding applications together, inter and intra company, into a single,
unified whole

Portal-Oriented Application Integration

• Allows to view a multitude of systems (both internal and


external enterprise systems) through a single user interface
or application
– Most often using web browser
– Avoids back-end integration altogether
• Steps to create portal
– Design portal application including user interface and application
behavior
• Portal application must be able to control user interaction, capturing and
processing errors and controlling the transaction from the user interface
all the way to the back-end systems
• Application servers provide the interface development environment (IDE)
for designing the user interface, define application behavior and back-end
connector.
– Determine which information contained within the back-end systems
needs to be shared with portal application

12
16/02/2015

Portal-Oriented
• Integrates applications
through single user
interface or application
– Mostly, through web SAP
browser
– Externalizes information
from multiple applications
to a single application
• Advantage Applications Middleware DB2

– No back-end integration
Web Browser
– Ease of use (browser user Web Server
interface)
• Disadvantage Customer Sales
System

– Not real-time integration

Customer
Inventory System

Portal Power
• Primary advantage of using portals is there is no need to
integrate back-end systems directly between companies or
within enterprises
– Eliminates associated cost and risks
• Noninvasive approach allowing other organizations to interact
with a company’s internal systems through a controlled
interface accessible over the web
• Faster implementation than other integration approaches
• Disadvantages
– Information does not flow in real time, so requires human interaction
• Does not automatically react to business events
– Information must be abstracted through another application logic layer
(e.g..: application servers)
• This adds complexity
– Security is a significant concern when enterprise data is being
extended to users over the web

13
16/02/2015

Portal Categories
• Single-System Portals
– Single enterprises that have their user interfaces extended to the web
• Approaches: application servers, page servers, and technology for
translating simple screens to HTML
• Multiple-Enterprise-System Portals
– Extending single-system portal architecture to multiple enterprise
systems
– Application server architecture
• Users are able to extract information from these systems and update them
through a single web browser interface accessed over an extranet or over
the web
• Enterprise Portals
– Extending multiple-enterprise system portal to include systems that
exist within many companies
– Application servers are a good choice for enterprise, funneling
information from the connected back-end enterprise systems

Components of Portal Architecture


• Web clients
– PC or any device that runs a web browser and is capable of displaying HTML
and graphics
• Web servers
– Web servers, at their core, are file servers.
– They respond to requests from web clients, then send the requested file
– Double duty
• Serve file content to web clients
• Perform rudimentary application processing
• Database servers
– Respond to requests and return information
• Back-end applications
– Enterprise applications existing either within a single enterprise or across
many enterprises
– Example: ERP systems
• Application servers
– Provide middle layer between back-end applications, databases, and the web
server
– Communicates with both the web server and the resource server using
transaction-oriented application development

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16/02/2015

Next Generation
• Digital economy
– Business runs within and between computers
– Everything automated
– Customers expect instantaneous access to information
• Application Integration
– Competitive advantage
– Ability to do business faster
– Satisfy customer on demand
• Next generation integration
– Integrate all disparate systems with a minimum impact on the
applications and way of doing business
– Adjustable to business needs
– Quick deployment
– Handle most business events electronically and in real time

15

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