Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration: April 2005

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration
Version 7.8 April 2005
Siebel Systems, Inc., 2207 Bridgepointe Parkway, San Mateo, CA 94404 Copyright 2005 Siebel Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to photocopy, photographic, magnetic, or other record, without the prior agreement and written permission of Siebel Systems, Inc. Siebel, the Siebel logo, UAN, Universal Application Network, Siebel CRM OnDemand, TrickleSync, Universal Agent, and other Siebel names referenced herein are trademarks of Siebel Systems, Inc., and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Other product names, designations, logos, and symbols may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. PRODUCT MODULES AND OPTIONS. This guide contains descriptions of modules that are optional and for which you may not have purchased a license. Siebels Sample Database also includes data related to these optional modules. As a result, your software implementation may differ from descriptions in this guide. To find out more about the modules your organization has purchased, see your corporate purchasing agent or your Siebel sales representative. U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Programs, Ancillary Programs and Documentation, delivered subject to the Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, are commercial computer software as set forth in DFARS 227.7202, Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation, and as such, any use, duplication and disclosure of the Programs, Ancillary Programs and Documentation shall be subject to the restrictions contained in the applicable Siebel license agreement. All other use, duplication and disclosure of the Programs, Ancillary Programs and Documentation by the U.S. Government shall be subject to the applicable Siebel license agreement and the restrictions contained in subsection (c) of FAR 52.227-19, Commercial Computer Software Restricted Rights (June 1987), or FAR 52.227-14, Rights in DataGeneral, including Alternate III (June 1987), as applicable. Contractor/licensor is Siebel Systems, Inc., 2207 Bridgepointe Parkway, San Mateo, CA 94404.
Proprietary Information Siebel Systems, Inc. considers information included in this documentation and in Siebel Business Applications Online Help to be Confidential Information. Your access to and use of this Confidential Information are subject to the terms and conditions of: (1) the applicable Siebel Systems software license agreement, which has been executed and with which you agree to comply; and (2) the proprietary and restricted rights notices included in this documentation.
Contents
Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration 1
Chapter 1: Whats New in This Release Chapter 2: Siebel EAI Overview

About the Universal Application Network About Siebel EAI 8 8 9 7
About Siebel Application Services Interfaces About Unicode Support and Siebel EAI
Inbound and Outbound Unicode Scenarios for XML Messages 11 Using the Transcode Business Service for Non-XML Data 11
About Legacy Encapsulation
12 13 14 15 15
About Peer-to-Peer Integration
About Connecting Applications Using Integration Servers About Other Integration Strategies About the Components of Siebel EAI
XML and Siebel EAI 16 Siebel EAI Adapters and Connectors 16 Siebel Virtual Business Components 17 Siebel External Business Components 17 Siebel EAI and Java/J2EE 18
About Siebel EAI
20
Siebel EAI Message-Based Integration 20 Siebel Integration Object 22 Data Transformation 22 Cross-Application Process Integration and Workflow Control
22
About Preconfigured Integration Solutions

UAN Business Processes 23 Siebel EAI Prebuilt Connectors 23
22
About Application Services Interfaces About Web Services 25

About the Web UI DDK Solution 26 About Siebel Web Services and Security
23
26
Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8
Contents
Chapter 3: Understanding Integration Paradigms

About the Options for Your Integration About Usage Models 31 29 30 About Designing Your Application Integration Project
Using the Real-Time Model in Your Integration 32 Using the Batch Model in Your Integration 33
About Exchanging Data with Siebel Applications
33
Chapter 4: Siebel EAI Architecture

About the Siebel EAI Architecture 36 37 38 About Integration Requirements and Siebel EAI About Transport Mechanisms 39 39
About Business Process Coordination Using Workflows About High-Volume Data Exchange
Chapter 5: Custom Business Scenarios

Determining Your Integration Needs About Common Integration Scenarios About Data Access and Replication 43 41 42
Sending Contact Information to an External System 43 Providing Access to a Company Catalog 44 Accessing Data Using Siebel Java Beans 44 Accessing Customer History Information Without Replication
44
About Data Across the Enterprise

B2B Integration and Siebel EAI Integrating Legacy Data 46
45
45
About Performing Data Transformation
46
Index
Whats New in This Release
Whats New in Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration, Version 7.8

Table 1 lists changes described in this version of the documentation to support Release 7.8 of the software.
Table 1. Topic
New Product Features in Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration, Version 7.8 Description Chapter was removed from guide. Error messages are located on Siebel SupportWeb. EAI UI Data Adapter is a new business service that allows custom-built Web applications access to business components and business objects. The Web UI Dynamic Developers Kit (DDK) is a new solution based on Web services consisting of interfaces that allow access to Siebel data and a wizard for generating a quickstart kit. New security features are added to Siebel Web Services, including support for Siebel Authentication and Session Management SOAP headers and Web single sign-on. Data access control is also a security feature administered by associating responsibilities to business services and business service methods. The application is configured so that users have different levels of access when accessing a Siebel application from a custom-built Web application user interface.
Error Messages and Troubleshooting Tips Siebel EAI Adapters and Connectors on page 16 About the Web UI DDK Solution on page 26
About Siebel Web Services and Security on page 26
Whats New in This Release
Siebel EAI Overview
Organizations need to integrate business processes across a large number of disparate applications in order to drive revenue growth, increase productivity, and gain visibility into business performance. The velocity of business is accelerating and only by integrating and streamlining their business processes can organizations achieve the agility to respond to fast-changing customer and market demands in real time. The integration imperative is even more pressing as supply and demand chains have become increasingly interdependent, requiring organizations to integrate the extended enterprise to make sure the viability of their entire partner ecosystems. To meet these requirements, Siebel Systems has pioneered Universal Application Network. To integrate Siebel Business Applications into the Universal Application Network, Siebel Systems continues to enhance the integration tool set within Siebel applicationsSiebel Enterprise Application Integration (Siebel EAI). This chapter consists of the following topics: About the Universal Application Network on page 7 About Siebel EAI on page 8 About Unicode Support and Siebel EAI on page 9 About Legacy Encapsulation on page 12 About Peer-to-Peer Integration on page 13 About Connecting Applications Using Integration Servers on page 14 About Other Integration Strategies on page 15 About the Components of Siebel EAI on page 15 About Siebel EAI on page 20 About Preconfigured Integration Solutions on page 22 About Application Services Interfaces on page 23 About Web Services on page 25
About the Universal Application Network

Universal Application Network (UAN) is an integration solution that provides a library of prepackaged, industry-specific business processes that span multiple applications within and across the enterprise. These processes are primarily focused on customer interactions and reflect industry best practices. UAN is built based on open industry standards such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Web Services-enabling enterprises.
Siebel EAI Overview About Siebel EAI
About Siebel EAI

Siebel EAI provides components for integrating Siebel Business Applications with external applications and technologies within your company and is designed to work with third-party solutions such as those from IBM, TIBCO, WebMethods, and others. Siebel EAI provides bidirectional real-time and batch solutions for integrating Siebel applications with other applications as well as the tools for cross application integration through UAN. Siebel EAI is designed as a set of interfaces that interact with each other and with other components within Siebel application. These interfaces: Allow a flexible service-based architecture, built on top of configurable messages using XML and other formats. Are compatible with IBM MQSeries; Microsoft MSMQ, BizTalk, and OLE DB; Sun Microsystems Java and J2EE; XML, and HTTP, and many other standards. Expose internal Siebel Objects to external applications. Take advantage of prebuilt adapters and enterprise connectors, and are compatible with thirdparty adapters and connectors. Allow for data transformation. Integrate external data through Virtual Business Components (VBCs) and External Business Components (EBCs). Provide a graphical business process designer, programmatic interfaces, and a high-volume batch interface.
About Siebel Application Services Interfaces

Siebel Application Services Interfaces (ASIs) are prebuilt interfaces to Siebel business processes. These interfaces expose Siebel functionality as services to the application environment, as well as allow Siebel business processes to use services provided by external applications. Siebel ASIs are designed for ease of maintenance and can be configured by an administrator using Web Services Administration screens without requiring in depth knowledge of Siebel EAI. ASIs provide a release-independent integration interface. The integration interface to the Siebel application remains unchanged with each upgrade to new releases. ASIs are extensible and are accessible as Web Services or through any third-party Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) solution. These benefits mean easier integration between Siebel application and external systems with significant reduction in integration, maintenance, and upgrade costs.
Siebel EAI Overview About Unicode Support and Siebel EAI
About Unicode Support and Siebel EAI

Using Unicode, a global company, with divisions in different countries with different languages, can deploy a single instance of a Siebel application release. However, this provides unique integration challenges since the other systems in their global IT landscape may or may not be Unicode enabled. This issue is addressed by providing two Unicode deployment modes: Unicode Siebel Server with Unicode database. Unicode Siebel Server with traditional code page database.
For both of these deployment modes, integration of Siebel Business Applications with external applications may involve data replication or data sharing or both. If the code page database is used, then data replication should be allowed only if the code page of the external system matches that of the Siebel Database. When data is exchanged between applications using different code pages, each character's code point (numeric representation) must be converted from the standard used by the source code page into the equivalent used by the destination code page. This is true when characters are converted from: Unicode to a traditional code page, for example UTF-16 to Shift-JS. A traditional code page to Unicode, for example Shift-JS to UTF-8. One type of Unicode to another type of Unicode, for example UTF-8 to UCS-2.
When there is no equivalent character in the destination code page and the conversion cannot be performed, then a conversion error is generated. Depending on the configuration, the conversion errors may either terminate the current transaction or proceed with the transaction by substituting replacement characters as necessary and ignoring the conversion error. For details on conversion error handling, see Transports and Interfaces: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration. As illustrated in Figure 1, Siebel EAI supports different adapters such as COM and MQSeries to integrate with external applications. Each of these adapters has to have the ability to: Be able to work with the character encoding as specified in the picklist. Do conversion to or from the external encoding.
Handle conversion errors.
NOTE: COM and Java Bean are Unicode protocols. The sender and the recipient are responsible for conversion of the character sets. For example, Siebel application interfaces automatically take care of the conversion so these protocols do not need to do any conversion. Error handling is also handled differently by these protocols compared to the other adapters.
Figure 1.
Unicode Conversion
Siebel EAI components and adapters have been enhanced to support code page conversion and to allow you to specify how to handle the conversion errors. The Character Set Conversion for Text Data argument is available in a number of business services such as EAI MQSeries Server Transport, EAI DLL Transport, EAI File Transport, EAI HTTP Transport, EAI MSMQ Transport, EAI XML Converter, EAI JMS Business Service or Transcode. When these business services are invoked from a workflow process the valid set of encodings is controlled by a picklist, but if they are invoked through scripting or similar mechanisms, the character set name is supplied textually. For example, if the Siebel application is communicating with an external system through EAI MQSeries Server Transport, the invocation of the EAI MQSeries Server Transport business service to send or receive a message would also specify the character set the external system sends or expects to receive. Target character encoding choices are: None Unicode (UTF-8, UTF-16) Traditional Code page
NOTE: For more information on Unicode support and a list of Siebel Character Set Encoding Names, see Global Deployment Guide.
10
Inbound and Outbound Unicode Scenarios for XML Messages

Because the Siebel applications memory format is Unicode, when sending and receiving XML messages the message has to be converted to the Siebel format or the external system character set. This conversion only needs to be done once for each communication. The conversion can be done in one of the following ways: Using the EAI XML Converter business service in your workflow process. Using the mechanism in the transport business service. Using the Transcode business service when neither of the above is available.
NOTE: Do not convert your data more than once per communication. Double conversion corrupts your data. If you have an EAI XML Converter in your workflow process, make sure your transport business service is set to ignore conversion.
Using the Transcode Business Service for Non-XML Data

In addition to the improvements to the current Siebel EAI components and adapters, Siebel Business Applications offer the Transcode business service. When non-XML data is exchanged, you can use the Transcode business service in your workflow processes to validate or convert data from one encoding to another. You can do this for both inbound and outbound communication.
Using the Transcode Business Service for Outbound Communication

In an outbound communication between a Unicode Siebel application and a non-Unicode external system, using a Unicode communication channel such as XML, you can use the Validate method of the Transcode business service to take preemptive action to avoid character conversion failures on the external system. You can also use the Validate method to log character conversion errors that occur on the external system, or use the Convert method of the Transcode business service to use a substitute character to avoid errors on the external system.
11
Siebel EAI Overview About Legacy Encapsulation
Using the Transcode Business Service for Inbound Communication

In an inbound communication between a non-Unicode Siebel Database and a Unicode external system, using a Unicode communication channel such as XML, you can use the Validate method to check that the data being sent to the Siebel Database is stored without a character conversion error. If there are character conversion errors, use the Convert method to use substitute characters when appropriate. NOTE: For details on the Transcode business service and its methods, see the Global Deployment Guide.
About Legacy Encapsulation

In an encapsulated environment, multiple similar legacy applications are rationalized through the construction of high-level APIs that hide underlying complexity. As illustrated in Figure 2, messageoriented middleware such as IBM MQSeries Queue Manager and MQSeries Integrator or Enterprise Java Bean (EJB)-based custom development environments such as IBM WebSphere, help businesses perform transaction decomposition, data mapping, legacy sequencing, and result aggregation. With Siebel EAI, the Siebel Business platform generates and processes the high-level request and response messages expected by the encapsulated environment.
Figure 2.
Legacy Encapsulation
12
Siebel EAI Overview About Peer-to-Peer Integration
About Peer-to-Peer Integration

In peer-to-peer integration, as shown in Figure 3, multiple applications interact with each other through a central software bus. The software bus provides a uniform interface to each application, as well as a number of services. These services range from simple data transformation to publishand-subscribe schemes. The latter technology allows a set of applications to automatically receive copies of events of interest to them, keeping them in sync with the rest of the organization. Siebel EAI supports the services that the software bus expects from each participating application.
Figure 3.
Peer-to-Peer Integration
Many enterprises adopt a software bus strategy for application integration. Master data is partitioned across systems, and the software bus middleware implements a messaging architecture for application data exchange. The messaging functionality ranges from simple message routing, in batch or real time, to a publish-and-subscribe scheme. NOTE: Siebel EAI supports both batch and real-time integration. Batch integration optimizes interactions for high throughput and therefore uses computing resources more efficiently. By contrast, real-time integration optimizes response time.
13
Siebel EAI Overview About Connecting Applications Using Integration Servers
About Connecting Applications Using Integration Servers

Another approach to integration is to connect applications using integration servers, which provide an information bus or a hub-and-spoke architecture to tie disparate applications together. The benefit of using integration servers is that they reduce the number of physical connections required to Order N. As illustrated in Figure 4, each application only needs to connect once through an adapter to the integration server. The integration servers also provide a scalable and reliable integration infrastructure, which is successfully implemented in large and critical deployments.
Figure 4.
Integration Server
Siebel applications can integrate with an integration server using adapters provided by vendors such as IBM, TIBCO, and WebMethods. These adapters are validated by Siebel Systems.
To find a list of validated adapters for Siebel applications 1 2 3 4 5

Log in to http://www.siebel.com. Select Alliances. Select Find A Partner. Select Partner Directory. This opens up a page to search partners. Enter a partners name to search by and click Submit or search by making selections from the following partner categories:

Consulting Partners Software/Content Partners Platform Partners
This shows a list of partners who provide solutions in the area you selected in Step 5.
14
Siebel EAI Overview About Other Integration Strategies
Click on a partners name to find more details about that partner and its validated adapters.
About Other Integration Strategies

Other integration strategies are applicable as well. These include master data partitioning, data sharing, presentation layer integration (screen scraping), and others. Cross-Application Process Integration. Successful business demands business processes that span across multiple applicationsfor example, a quote to cash business process spans across credit check, inventory management, billing, shipping and many other application services. Siebel EAI facilitates such cross- application business processes. Master Data Partitioning. Master data refers to the set of data required by a community of applications. Master data is partitioned between applications; each piece of data is owned by one and only one application, but the community imposes rules for the creation and update of master data. Data Sharing. Siebel EAI allows Siebel Business Applications to access external data in real time without having to maintain a local duplicate copy. This is a common requirement in the financial services industry, where the customer information file typically resides on a mainframe. Presentation Layer Integration. Siebel EAI supports client-side integration in a Web client environment. Client-side integration consists of integrating applications at the user interface level, either by juxtaposing the screens within a portal and coordinating the content, or by screen scraping the content of one into the other. Data Mapping and Transformation. Data shared between applications might not be structured or encoded in the same way. To facilitate integration of nonidentical data structures, Siebel EAI specifies mapping and transformation rules, including filtering and structural changes. Centralized Application Administration. Siebel Business Applications participate in an application management framework, which facilitates overall administration of all applications. Upgradeable Integration. The Siebel Business platform is designed so that integration points can be migrated to a new release of Siebel Business Applications and adapted to new releases of external application packages. This capability means organizations can use prior investments in their integrations when upgrading to new versions of Siebel applications or third-party applications.
About the Components of Siebel EAI

Legacy applications that have been deployed for various purposesincluding purchasing, accounting, and ERPcontain critical information that needs to coexist and be integrated with Siebel applications. In addition, B2B (business-to-business) interaction necessitates the sharing of customer, order, and account information with partners across the firewall. Siebel EAI provides various components that can be used individually or together with an EAI vendors toolkit, including XML support in Siebel EAI adapters and connectors, VBCs, and Java Beans.
15
Siebel EAI Overview About the Components of Siebel EAI
XML and Siebel EAI

XML is increasingly the format of choice for data exchange between applications and partner organizations. The metadata definition for XML is in the form of XML Schema Definitions (XSD) or Document Types Definitions (DTDs). Siebel Integration objects can be represented as XSD or DTDs. This allows other applications to capture metadata from Siebel applications and understand how to format an XML document that needs to be sent to Siebel applications. Any data in Siebel applications can be represented as XML and sent over a standard protocol such as HTTP. Siebel EAI provides components that allow bidirectional exchange of XML documents over the firewall using the HTTP protocol. This exchange can be made secure at the transport layer by using the HTTPS protocol. Siebel EAI supports XML for outgoing and incoming messages. Siebel EAI can be configured to use externally specified XSD or DTDs for defining external integration objects. Siebel Tools includes an Integration Object Wizard for importing and processing external XSD or DTDs and generating these external integration objects that represent the XSD or the DTDs. All transport adapters, whether built by Siebel Systems or built by partners, can use this business service to dynamically look up the content in an XML document or other format documents and route the message based on this content to a workflow or other business services within a Siebel application.
Siebel EAI Adapters and Connectors

Siebel EAI provides adapters and connectors to help create integrations between Siebel applications and external applications. There are also additional connectors developed by Siebel Business Applications partners.
Siebel EAI Adapters

An adapter is a Siebel EAI component that provides the low-level interface mechanism to allow one application to talk to another. In Siebel EAI, there are three kinds of adapters: the EAI Siebel Adapter, the EAI UI Data Access Adapter, and the Transport Adapters. The EAI Siebel Adapter is specifically designed to interact with the Siebel business object layer. It is a business service in Siebel applications that can take as input an XML document or a property set that conforms to an integration object definition in the Siebel system. EAI Siebel Adapter can then query, insert or update, delete, or synchronize data with the Siebel business object layer. The EAI UI Data Adapter business service allows custom-built Web applications access to business components and business objects. This adapter publishes strongly-typed APIs to allow data centric object manager operations, such as insert, delete, update, query and execute. The EAI UI Data Adapter allows both queries by example and predefined queries. Transport adapters are business services within Siebel EAI that are designed to communicate with other protocols and technologies outside of Siebel applications to transport data from the Siebel system to another system. The HTTP transport in Siebel EAI allows Siebel applications to communicate over the HTTP protocol. The MQSeries adapter allows Siebel applications to communicate with the IBM MQSeries messaging system. The MSMQ adapter allows Siebel applications to communicate with the Microsoft MQ messaging system.
16
For more information on the EAI Siebel Adapter and the EAI UI Data Adapter, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration. For more information on transport adapters, see Transports and Interfaces: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
Siebel EAI Connectors

Siebel EAI connectors provide low-level connectivity to other back-office applications, such as SAP, but also include the business processes used for connecting to the external application. For example, Siebel Connector for SAP R/3 provides connectivity using BAPI and IDOC transport adapters, as well as predefined business processes. Using the connectors, you can exchange customer, order, and product information between Siebel applications and SAP.
Third-Party Connectors
Your organization may have a need to integrate multiple applications, such as Siebel applications, SAP, Oracle, I2, and so on, with one another. If so, you might need an EAI solution from one of the EAI vendors. These vendors work closely with Siebel Systems to develop adapters to Siebel applications using Siebel EAI. Siebel Systems has a validation program to make sure that these adapters work according to Siebel Systems standards.
Siebel Virtual Business Components

Virtual business components (VBCs) are mechanisms in Siebel EAI by which data from an external system can be viewed in Siebel applications without having to replicate that data within the Siebel Database. For example, your users could access detailed credit card information from a mainframe system for a given customer account and see it displayed in the Siebel application interface. In this case, the basic customer account data, such as account number, name, and so on, is stored in Siebel applications while the detailed transaction information on that customers credit card account is stored in an external database. The detailed transaction information for a given account can be retrieved from the external system on demand without replicating that information in the Siebel applications. VBCs are configured in Siebel Tools and use Business Services to access data from an external system. VBCs can use standard transports like MQSeries, HTTP, and MSMQ, along with the XML Gateway Service, to query, insert, and update data.
Siebel External Business Components

External Business Components (EBCs) provide a way to access and view relational data sources that reside in a non-Siebel table or view using a Siebel business component. Unlike VBCs that require a business service, EBCs can use Siebels database connectors to access data. EBCs are configured in Siebel Tools using a Table object definition in the Siebel Repository and a physical table that resides in the same Siebel database instance or subsystem that contains other Siebel tables.
17
Siebel EAI and Java/J2EE

Siebel Business Applications provide standards-based technologies that allow you to access J2EE components from Siebel applications and support the creation of Java/J2EE components to access Siebel objects.
Accessing Java/J2EE Components from Siebel Applications

Siebel Business Applications provide three mechanisms for invoking Java/J2EE components (JSP, Servlets, or EJBs): Web Services The Outbound HTTP adapter Java Business Service
When interacting with J2EE components published as a Web Service, Siebel applications can consume the WSDL (Web Service Description Language) document describing the service and operations, and generate a proxy Business Service allowing the Siebel Business Application to invoke the Web Services just like a local object. When the Business Service is invoked, the Object Manager detects that the Business Service is a proxy to a Web Service and generates the appropriate SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) message and dispatches the request using a configured transport such as HTTP. Additionally, Siebel EAI allows you to interact with J2EE components using the Outbound HTTP transport adapter. You can use this when including external content within the Siebel user interface, or when the component you need to interact with does not support a Web Service (SOAP or WSDL) interface. The Java Business Service allows the sending or receiving of messages though a JMS. The JMS Receiver server component, in fashion identical to the MQ Series Receiver component, allows the asynchronous receipt of messages, except you are using EAI JMS Business Service instead of EAI MQSeries Server Transport. The Java Business Service is a business service that allows custom business services to be written in Java and accessed from the Siebel code. The Java Business Service uses the Java Native Interface API provided by Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) and native code interaction. It is a widely used technology used for writing JDBC drivers.
18
Accessing Siebel Applications from a Java/J2EE Component

Java/J2EE components can request information from Siebel applications using a variety of methods including: Siebel Java Data Bean Siebel Resource Adapter Web Services Java Message Service
The Java Data Bean is a collection of Java classes that allow developers to interact with a variety of Siebel objects such as business objects, business components, and so on. Using this interface, you can develop Java/J2EE components that interact with Siebel applications. The Siebel Resource Adapter plays a central role in the integration and connectivity between Siebel applications and a Java application server. It serves as the point of contact between application components, application servers and enterprise information systems. A resource adapter, along with the other components, must communicate with each other based on well-defined contracts that are specified by the J2EE Connector Architecture. Web Services are emerging as an important technology for exposing application functionality independent of the underlying technology used to provide that functionality. Release 6.x introduced the notion of Business Services that could be invoked through XML over HTTP and MQSeries. This functionality is now the basis for supporting Web Services. Siebel Business Applications provide support for Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Web Services Definition Language (WSDL). These two standards provide the basis for Web Services and allow for interoperability between .NET, J2EE, and leading packaged applications such as Siebel Business Applications. Enterprise messaging is recognized as a tool for building enterprise applications. The Java Message Service (JMS) is a standard Java API for accessing enterprise messaging systems that allows Java applications to create, send, receive, and read messages using a messaging product. It is part of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). JMS allows for a loosely coupled interaction between J2EE applications and any other system capable of messaging. A JMS provider supplied by an enterprise messaging vendor is required to use JMS.
Object Interfaces and Siebel EAI

Siebel applications support several programmatic interfaces to facilitate communication between external applications and Siebel applications. These interfaces include: COM Data Control Java Data Bean Web Client Automation Server Mobile Web Client Automation Server COM Data Server
NOTE: For details on J2EE, see Transports and Interfaces: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration. For more information about object interfaces, see Siebel Object Interfaces Reference on the Siebel Bookshelf.
19
About Siebel EAI

The Siebel Business Platform includes a set of tools, technologies, and prebuilt functional integrations that facilitate application integration. This set of products is referred to as Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (Siebel EAI).
Siebel EAI Message-Based Integration

As shown in Figure 5 on page 21, Siebel EAI supports message-based integration with external applications where Siebel application is the initiator of the request or the receiver. The contents of the messages exchanged are called integration objects. Integration objects are defined in Siebel Tools. There are two types of integration objects: Siebel integration objects. Data to be loaded into or read from a Siebel Business Object. External integration objects. Data received from or sent to the external application.
20
A configuration engine provides configurable data transformation for matching the difference in entities representations, while integration objects represent the information exchanged.
Figure 5.
Configurable and Upgradeable Integration
Java Message Service

The Java Message Service (JMS) is a standard Java API for accessing enterprise messaging systems. JMS is part of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). JMS supports the ability to asynchronously send and receive business data and events. JMS defines a common enterprise messaging API that is designed to be easily and efficiently supported by a wide range of enterprise messaging products. JMS supports both message queueing and publish-subscribe styles of messaging. JMS is not a separate product. It is the specification of a common API for enterprise messaging. A JMS provider supplied by an enterprise messaging vendor is required to use it. Using the Java Business Service (JBS) feature, the JMS Transport is a feature that allows users to access third-party vendors' JMS providers. A JMS provider is a particular vendor's implementation of the JMS API. For example, IBM implements a JMS provider for their MQSeries product, and BEA implements a JMS provider for their Weblogic product. NOTE: For more details on the Java Message Service, see Transports and Interfaces: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
21
Siebel EAI Overview About Preconfigured Integration Solutions
Siebel Integration Object

A Siebel integration object is defined as a subset of a Siebel business object, and the map between an integration object and the business object is maintained in the Siebel Repository. A predefined business service called the EAI Siebel Adapter takes a Siebel integration as input and calls the appropriate business object APIs to operate on the object invoked. External integration objects are based on external metadata. This metadata can be in the form of XML Schema Definitions (XSD), Document Type Definitions (DTDs), External Data Representations (XDRs), SAP BAPIs and SAP IDOCs, as well as Oracle application metadata. Siebel Tools provides wizards to access this metadata from the external application and create external integration objects based on that metadata within the Siebel repository.
Data Transformation
Siebel EAI provides a declarative data mapper (Siebel Data Mapper) to transform the data expected by Siebel applications (the internal integration object) to the data expected from the external system (the external integration object). A run-time engine called the EAI Data Mapping Engine implements complex domain and structure mapping.
Cross-Application Process Integration and Workflow Control

To achieve process-level integration between Siebel applications and external applications, the Siebel Business platform supports workflow control. You define the integration process using the Siebel Business Process Designer, which is executed by the Siebel Workflow Engine. The Siebel Workflow Engine is an environment that allows you to define and manage complex integrations. A business service can be a prebuilt component, such as a transport adapter and the Siebel Data Transformation Engine, or can be custom-developed at design time or run time using one of the Siebel Scripting languages.
About Preconfigured Integration Solutions

Siebel Systems offers UAN business processors and prebuilt connectors to extend and customize your specific requirements.
22
Siebel EAI Overview About Application Services Interfaces
UAN Business Processes

Universal Application Network (UAN) business processes are architected to be application independent and allowing organizations to use their existing investments. Organizations have the flexibility to select from any vendor's offering and support their customers through best-in-class solutions. UAN solves the semantic problem through the use of common objects and prebuilt transformations to popular applications. UAN is built based on open industry standards, such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Web Services-enabling enterprises to avoid limiting your vendor choices and ensuring interoperability with other solutions. UAN also uses the infrastructure developed by integration server vendors.
Siebel EAI Prebuilt Connectors

Siebel Systems and its partners provide prebuilt, end-to-end, functional integration for major packaged applications. These connectors use data and cross-application process integration services provided by the Siebel Business platform (see About Siebel EAI on page 20). For each supported business process, the connectors include built-in data mapping between the exchanged entities, as well as sequencing and error handling.
Siebel Connector for SAP R/3

Siebel Connector for SAP R/3 allows integration between Siebel applications and SAP R/3. The Siebel Connector for SAP R/3 provides an infrastructure that allows Siebel Business Applications to interact with SAP R/3 through standard SAP R/3 technologies. It virtually eliminates the need to code components for transforming and routing data between Siebel applications and SAP R/3. The connector supports both SAPs Business APIs (BAPIs) for real-time interaction and Application Link Enabling (ALE/IDOC) for asynchronous integration.
About Application Services Interfaces

An Application Services Interface (ASI) is a release-independent interface published by Siebel Systems that allows you to integrate Siebel applications with external applications. ASIs are published in a standard metadata format, such as Extensible Markup Language Document Type Definitions (XML DTD) and Web Services Descriptive Language/XML Schemas (WSDL/XSD) and are built using the ASI Framework.
23
Siebel EAI Overview About Application Services Interfaces
There are two types of ASIs, Inbound ASIs and Outbound ASIs. Inbound ASI is used to accept data into Siebel applications from an external system using Siebel workflows, Siebel Business Services, and Siebel Data Synchronization services through the Siebel Object Manager as illustrated in Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Inbound ASIs
24
Siebel EAI Overview About Web Services
An Outbound ASI is used to send data out based on a UI event or a trigger in your Siebel workflow as illustrated in Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Outbound ASIs
NOTE: For details on ASIs, see Application Services Interface Reference.
About Web Services

A Web Service is programmable application logic that is accessible using standard Internet protocols. Web Services combine component-based development and the Internet and can be reused regardless of how the service is implemented. Web Services are accessed through information protocols (such as HTTP) and data formats (such as XML). Web Services are based on communication protocols that include HTTP, XML, Simple Object Application Protocol (SOAP), and Web Services Description Language (WSDL). A Web Service can be developed on any computer platform and in any development environment as long as it can communicate with other Web Services using these common protocols. Following are features for use with Web Services: WS-Security Support. The Web Services (WS) Security specification is a Web Services standard that supports, integrates, and unifies multiple security models and technologies, allowing a variety of systems to interoperate in a platform- and language-independent environment.
25
WS-I Compliance. By providing the ability to publish a Siebel Web Service as a DocumentLiteral or Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)-Literal bound Web Service, the Siebel application is conforming to the specification as defined by the Web Services Interoperability Organization's (WS-I) Basic Profile specification. Adherence to this specification makes sure that the Siebel application can interoperate with external Web Service providers. Web Services Cache Refresh. The Web Services cache is used to store all the global administration information that can be manipulated in the Inbound and Outbound Web Service administration screens. The information contained in these services may need refreshing in order to provide more current or correct functionality. Administrators can directly refresh the memory cache in real time, without stopping and restarting Siebel services.
NOTE: For more details on Web Services, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
About the Web UI DDK Solution

The Web UI Dynamic Developers Kit (DDK) solution is based on Web services and consists of interfaces that allow access to Siebel data and a wizard for generating a quick-start kit. The quickstart kit includes sample JavaServer pages that can be deployed in a Web application and that provide Web developers with sample code demonstrating common data manipulation operations and basic UI rendering. Web developers can modify the sample code instead of developing from scratch, giving them a jump-start on development work. Key features of the Web UI DDK solution are as follows: Web UI DDK Wizard. This wizard in Siebel Tools is used to generate the development kit that includes sample JavaServer pages and other J2EE artifacts. Sample JavaServer Pages. These are sample pages generated by the Web UI DDK Wizard and then deployed in a J2EE environment. Data Schema and Metadata Report. This is a report that Java developers use to understand the Siebel data model. UI Data Adapter. This Siebel business service exposes APIs for accessing Siebel data. For detailed information about the UI Data Adapter, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration. For more detailed information on the Web UI DDK and its features, see the Siebel Web UI Dynamic Developer Kit Guide
About Siebel Web Services and Security

The Siebel Web UI DDK supports Siebel Authentication and Session Management SOAP headers, including Web single-sign on authentication. These security features are part of the Siebel Web Services framework and are summarized below:
26
Siebel Authentication and Session Management SOAP Headers. Custom Web applications invoke Siebel sessions by sending Web service requests to the Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE). Requests include Siebel Authentication and Session Management SOAP headers that can include user credentials for logging in and session information for reconnecting to established sessions. Web Single Sign-On. Siebel Web Services support Web single sign-on deployment scenarios in which third-party applications handle authentication and then pass authentication information to the Siebel application. Once authenticated by the third-party application, users do not have to explicitly log in to the Siebel application.
For more detailed information about Siebel Web services and security, see Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration. For more information about general security topics, see Security Guide for Siebel Business Applications.
About Data Access Control

You can administer access control by associating responsibilities to business services and business service methods. The application is configured so that users, who access a Siebel application from a custom-built Web application user interface, have different levels of access to the Siebel database. For details about administering access control for business services, see Security Guide for Siebel Business Applications.
27
28
Understanding Integration Paradigms
Before you begin an integration project, identify your integration needs. Siebel Business Applications need to interact with external systems to provide an integrated view of your information. You may have data in a variety of applications, such as back-office solutions for order fulfillment, manufacturing, or accounting; e-commerce applications such as Web storefronts; and help desk applications. This chapter consists of the following topics: About the Options for Your Integration About Designing Your Application Integration Project About Usage Models on page 31 About Exchanging Data with Siebel Applications on page 33
About the Options for Your Integration

There are several ways you can approach your integration, depending on your needs. You can connect Siebel applications and your back office system or eCommerce applications using prebuilt Siebel EAI connectors. You can connect Siebel applications and an external application using Siebel EAI custom-built connectors. You can integrate Siebel applications with middleware solutions. Or you can integrate Siebel applications with external applications using a third-party EAI product. Siebel Business Applications provide solutions for each element of the EAI planning process. Programmatic interfaces, such as COM and Siebel Java Beans provide a tightly-coupled integration for real-time data exchange. Adapters, such as MQSeries and the HTTP adapters provide a loosely-coupled mechanism for real-time integration. This means that one system needs to be aware of implementation details for the other systems integration mechanisms. A message or a document is exchanged between these systems. For high-volume batch integrations, Siebel Business Applications provide you with Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM). EIM can replicate data between Siebel applications and other systems at the database layer and provides high performance for importing or exporting large volumes of data.
29
Understanding Integration Paradigms About Designing Your Application Integration Project
About Designing Your Application Integration Project

There are three questions you must answer as part of the planning phase for any application integration project: How do I need to share my organizations data? Which access mechanism makes the most sense for my situation? Which preexisting connector best applies to my situation?
It is important to identify your need before designing the integration. Your design choice could be based on the following categories: Data Transformation. Data transformation between two systems is an important part of any integration project. You may want to implement this data transformation using the Siebelprovided data transformation functions or, if your organization has already standardized on a data transformation tool, you might choose to model the integration flow so that it uses the external tool for data transformation. Data Sharing. If you need to view data from an external source within your Siebel applications and do not need or want to replicate the data, you might use a specific set of objects and tools designed explicitly for this purpose. For example, you might want to view credit card transaction details from within Siebel applications while credit card transaction details are stored on a mainframe system. Real-Time or Batch. You should consider the type of integration you need: real-time or batch mode. For example, you might want to publish new opportunities created in Siebel applications to an external system as soon as the opportunities occur. Or you may want to exchange information in batch mode when you want to aggregate product catalog information from your suppliers.
30
Understanding Integration Paradigms About Usage Models
Once you have designed your integration needs for each business process flow, you can apply the different components of Siebel EAI to implement a solution. Figure 8 illustrates the different types of applications that Siebel Business Applications can integrate with.
Figure 8.
Siebel Business Interfaces
About Usage Models

When looking at your requirements, you should understand how you intend to use Siebel EAIs integration capabilities. You need to determine how the integration will behave and under what circumstances. In other words, in what way are you planning to use this integration? This is referred to as the usage model. As shown in Figure 9, there are two basic usage models, real-time and batch. Batch mode has a single mode, and real-time has two modes, either tightly-coupled or loosely-coupled. To help you determine the appropriate usage model, ask yourself the following questions: How do I plan to integrate Siebel applications with other applications? Do I want to integrate in real-time or in batch mode?
31
Understanding Integration Paradigms About Usage Models
If I want to integrate in real-time, do I want the solution to be tightly-coupled or loosely-coupled?
Figure 9.
Integration Usage Model
Using the Real-Time Model in Your Integration

With a real-time model, you may choose to deploy Siebel applications as a client or as a service. As a client, Siebel applications access another program or initiate a transaction on an external system. As a service, Siebel applications are accessed by an external program to query, insert, update, or delete data without any initiation from the Siebel application. Typical scenarios involving Siebel application as a client include: Replicating data such as maintaining the SAP order number in the Siebel application, so users can relate Siebel orders to SAP orders. Accessing a mainframe system to retrieve customer account information in real time and display it within the Siebel applications interface. Sending sales opportunities to trading partners over your corporate firewall without compromising system security. Accessing an external systems function to check inventory and then displaying the results in a Siebel application.
Typical scenarios involving Siebel applications as a service include: An external Web application accessing a Siebel application to retrieve contact information. Call center software extracting service request information from a Siebel application.
32
Understanding Integration Paradigms About Exchanging Data with Siebel Applications
Using the Batch Model in Your Integration

Batch processing typically is used for periodic uploads or downloads of large amounts of information into the Siebel Database. Typical batch scenarios involving Siebel applications include: Uploading a batch of product catalog and item information into a Siebel application from an external system. Downloading a batch of opportunities from Siebel applications to another database.
About Exchanging Data with Siebel Applications

When your business problem is accessing other applications from Siebel applications or accessing Siebel applications from other applications, you need to ask: Exactly what kind of data exchange do I require? Data Sharing. You may need to share data that exists outside of the Siebel Business Application. For example, you may have several legacy mainframe systems that you need to access with Siebel Call Center in order to provide customers with information on their accounts. You might not want to replicate this information in Siebel Business Applications, but may want to dynamically share this mainframe data as needed and display it within a Siebel application. For data sharing, use Siebels Virtual Business Components (VBCs). Replication. Replication of data is often useful. For example, you might want to integrate data in SAP with data in Siebel applications, keeping order status information in both systems. For mass replication of the order status information in Siebel applications, use Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM). Presentation Layer (UI) Integration. Integration at the presentation layer is useful in cases where you only need to look at the other applications user interface (UI). The data itself does not need to be retrieved to the Siebel applications. In these cases, you would capture just the screen from the external system using ActiveX Data Controls (ADCs) and represent it natively within a Siebel application. This is the least expensive form of integrating two applications, but it is the least flexible as well.
33
Understanding Integration Paradigms About Exchanging Data with Siebel Applications
These Siebel solutions can be either real-time or batch. Figure 10 shows the various access mechanism options and where they fit into the integration process.
Figure 10. Siebel Solutions Table 2 reflects the Siebel integration tools that can be used in your integration strategy.
Table 2.
Siebel Integration Tools Description In real time, synchronize the data in one system with the data in another system. Siebel Integration Tools Integration Workflow Process EAI Connector EAI Dispatch Service Object Interface
Integration Strategy Data Replication: Real-time
Data Replication: Batch
At certain times, synchronize the data in one system with the data in another system. From System A, access and change System B data. Do not store the data in System A. From Application A, access screens from Application B.
Enterprise Integration Manager Integration Workflow Process Object Interface
Data Sharing
Virtual Business Component Object Interface ActiveX Controls Object Interface
Screen Scraping
34
Siebel EAI Architecture
This chapter will explain the Siebel EAI architecture. The following topics are included: About the Siebel EAI Architecture on page 36 About Integration Requirements and Siebel EAI on page 37 About Business Process Coordination Using Workflows on page 38 About Transport Mechanisms on page 39 About High-Volume Data Exchange on page 39
35
Siebel EAI Architecture About the Siebel EAI Architecture
About the Siebel EAI Architecture

As it is shown in Figure 11, Siebel EAI architecture consists of the EAI Siebel Adapter, the EAI Data Mapping Engine, and multiple transports that can facilitate data integration with different external systems.
Figure 11. Siebel EAI Architecture The abstraction of data management functions to an object layer allows for a declarative, as opposed to a procedural model. This improves and simplifies configuration tasks while lowering maintenance costs.
36
Siebel EAI Architecture About Integration Requirements and Siebel EAI
About Integration Requirements and Siebel EAI

Table 3 maps real-world data and application integration requirements with their corresponding Siebel EAI features.
Table 3.
Integration Requirements and How They Relate to Siebel EAI Features Siebel EAI Features or Components Integration objects based on Siebel business objects Integration objects based on external metadata Integration Object Wizard Notes In any integration project, you need a way to supply data about data, called metadata. Siebel applications provide XML as the common format for representing external application data. In addition, Siebel applications provide an object type in Siebel Tools called the Integration Object, as well as an Integration Object Wizard, which automates the task of creating integration objects. Siebel EAI allows you to define what type of data to be exchanged, and allows you to export an XSD or a DTD for a Siebel integration object.
Integration Requirements Metadata Definition XML Metadata External application metadata (from SAP applications, Oracle applications, and so on)
Data Transformation Declarative data transformation mapping High-performance transformation engine Business Process Coordination
Siebel Data Mapper
Siebel Business Process Designer Workflow Process Manager
See About Business Process Coordination Using Workflows on page 38. See About Transport Mechanisms on page 39.
Transport Mechanisms (for interfacing with other technologies)
Transport Adapters: IBM MQSeries Microsoft MSMQ HTTP Java Message Service
37
Siebel EAI Architecture About Business Process Coordination Using Workflows
Table 3.
Integration Requirements and How They Relate to Siebel EAI Features Siebel EAI Features or Components EIM (Enterprise Integration Manager) XML as a format for data exchange COM and Java-based programmatic interfaces HTTP as a transport protocol Notes See About High-Volume Data Exchange on page 39.
Integration Requirements High Volume Data Exchange Standards-based Integration Mechanisms
About Business Process Coordination Using Workflows

Business process coordination means that every system in an enterprise sees the same up-to-date information. For example, when you need to change a customer address, the change must be reflected in every system that stores the address. Siebel Business Process Designer have been developed to help you define your data integration business process flows. The application of Siebels Workflow architecture within Siebel EAI is an important component in the design and deployment of any effective data integration solution. Figure 12 shows how workflows respond to event triggers or time-based triggers to call transports, scripts, or object interfaces to communicate with external applications.
Figure 12. Siebel Workflow Architecture for Siebel EAI
38
Siebel EAI Architecture About Transport Mechanisms
About Transport Mechanisms

Many companies have standardized on transport solutions, such as MQSeries from IBM or MSMQ from Microsoft. These transports allow the transportation of messages between systems. Siebel Systems conforms to this standard by allowing you to plug Siebel applications into these environments through the Siebel EAI set of adapters, which include the MQSeries adapter, the MSMQ adapter, the HTTP adapter, and technologies which support BizTalk. Transport adapters developed by Siebel Systems and Siebel-certified partners allow diverse applications to communicate with Siebel applications across virtually any operating system, network, and database. Figure 13 shows the various available transports to and from Siebel applications as a new order is processed. Any one or any combination of these transports could be used in an integration solution, depending upon existing applications and other factors. These transports can also be configured as a Siebel Server Receiver to receive messages, as for example, the MQSeries Server Receiver. For more details on using these transports, see Transports and Interfaces: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
About High-Volume Data Exchange
Figure 13. Order Entry Cycle Showing Transport Adapters Most organizations require a mechanism to schedule high-volume integrations at a specific time, typically at night, to avoid network slowdowns or interference with other applications. Such integrations typically involve the updating of hundreds of millions of customer records. This type of activity requires a batch mechanism capable of processing such large amounts of data in a timely manner. Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM) allows you to schedule high-volume data exchanges between Siebel applications and other applications whenever needed, at whatever frequency required (twice a day, nightly, weekly, and so on).
39
Siebel EAI Architecture About High-Volume Data Exchange
About the Enterprise Integration Manager

EIM acts as a high-volume batch interface. With EIM, you can import and export data from the Siebel Database to other corporate databases. Figure 14 shows the EIM batch data process. EIM includes database profiling that improves performance by supporting index specialization in Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS).
Figure 14. Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager at Work for EAI
40
Custom Business Scenarios
This chapter discusses custom business scenarios for using Siebel EAI for data integration. It includes the following topics: Determining Your Integration Needs About Common Integration Scenarios About Data Access and Replication on page 43 About Data Across the Enterprise on page 45 About Performing Data Transformation on page 46
Determining Your Integration Needs

Sometimes the best way to determine your integration needs is to study examples of similar problems faced by other organizations. This chapter presents three scenario categories, each with a number of permutations. The categories are: About Data Access and Replication on page 43 About Data Across the Enterprise on page 45 About Performing Data Transformation on page 46
The first step in getting started on an integration project is to identify your integration needs. Siebel Business Applications provide solutions for a variety of business needs. They play a key role in the application environment, in which you might use other applications such as back-office solutions for order fulfillment, manufacturing, or accounting; e-commerce applications such as Web storefronts; help desk applications; and mainframe-based applications that store millions of customer transactions. As customer applications, Siebel Business Applications need to interact with these external systems to provide an integrated view of your information. Siebel EAI provides the tools as well as prebuilt components that you can use to create this integration. There are several ways in which you can approach integration, depending on your needs: You can connect Siebel applications and your back office or e-commerce system, using prebuilt EAI connectors. You can integrate Siebel applications with middleware solutions. You can integrate Siebel applications with external applications, using a third-party EAI product.
41
Custom Business Scenarios About Common Integration Scenarios
About Common Integration Scenarios

The common integration scenarios listed here apply to many of the integration requirements you face. Siebel EAI allows you to accomplish integrations within the scope of these scenarios but is not limited to the scenarios described here.
Outbound Message to a File

In this scenario, you create a Siebel workflow process to create a unique file every time a support representative closes a service request. The file is then sent to a central directory on a network server, where at midnight it is bundled automatically into an Adobe PDF file along with other closed service requests for that day.
Round-Trip Message from a File to Siebel Applications

In this scenario, you want service requests entered from your Web site to be entered as service requests in Siebel Service. You also want to pull an automatically-generated service request number from Siebel Service, add it to the service request, and generate a file that is attached to a confirmation email message to the service requestor's email address.
Round-Trip Message from an External Application

In this scenario, whenever your back-office Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system recognizes a reorder point on a popular inventory item, it sends a message to your Siebel application to notify salespeople that a popular item is about to be reordered. If the salespeople want to order from the remaining supply at the current price, they can respond to the message.
Round-Trip Message to an External Application with a Different Code Page

In this scenario, your salespeople want to be able to send an order from Siebel applications to your back-office ERP system that is using Japanese 932, while the code page used by the Siebel application is UTF-8. Your salespeople want to receive a confirmation with an order number generated by the ERP system.
Inbound Message from an External Application

In this scenario, whenever product information in your SAP R/3 system is updated, you want the system to send an updated IDOC to your Siebel system and have the product information updated in the Siebel Product business object.
Outbound Message to an External Application

In this scenario, you want to update account information in your SAP R/3 IDOC from Siebel Business Applications.
42
Custom Business Scenarios About Data Access and Replication
About Data Access and Replication

Often, it is not sufficient to just bring everything to the same screen. Many business processes require access to particular data in order to accomplish a given task. This section describes four examples: Sending Contact Information to an External System on page 43 Providing Access to a Company Catalog on page 44 Accessing Data Using Siebel Java Beans on page 44 Accessing Customer History Information Without Replication on page 44
Sending Contact Information to an External System

Consider a scenario in which you want to send changes to contact information in the Siebel Database to an external mainframe system through the IBM WebSphere MQ mechanism. Your first step is to define and configure the message that needs to be exchanged. In the Siebel Database, the Contact business object contains several business components, and each business component has several fields. You do not want to send all of this information to the external system. You want to choose only a subset of this information. Use Siebel Tools to define the integration object for the contact message you want to exchange. Siebel Tools provides an Integration Object Builder that walks you through the process of defining your integration object. Once you have defined the message, define what to do with this message. The contact message needs to be sent to the external system using EAI MQSeries Server Transport. You can use the Siebel Workflow Process Manager to model this integration message flow and to send the message. An integration message flow is a sequence of business services that are connected. Table 4 details the requirements for exporting contact information from Siebel applications to a mainframe system.
Table 4.
Customer Data Export Integration Requirements Technological Requirement Business service to query the integration object Siebel message-to-XML conversion technology IBM MQSeries compatibility Siebels EAI Solution EAI Siebel Adapter EAI XML Converter
Business Requirement To access the Siebel Database To convert an internal Siebel message format into XML To place the converted XML document in the destination queue
EAI MQSeries Server Transport
43
Custom Business Scenarios About Data Access and Replication
Providing Access to a Company Catalog

In this scenario, you need to provide your salespeople access to a product catalog while they are on the road. So, you need to import the catalog information into Siebel applications so that Siebel Remote can take care of the mobile replication. Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM) imports this information. Table 5 details the requirement for importing a companys catalog for mobile replication.
Table 5.
Company Catalog Replication Integration Requirement Technological Requirement High-volume batch replications Siebels EAI Solution Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM)
Business Requirement To import the companys product catalog
Accessing Data Using Siebel Java Beans

In this scenario, you have a customer service Web application written using JavaServer Pages (JSPs). To pass this data into Siebel applications so that account records can be updated, you invoke the Siebel Object Interface, Siebel Java Data Beans. Now, your Customer Service representatives can use the information from the Web application JSPs while serving the customer. Table 6 details the requirement for updating the Siebel Database using JSP technology.
Table 6.
Siebel Update Integration Requirement Technological Requirement Programmatic interaction Siebels EAI Solution Siebel J2EE Resource Adapter &
Business Requirement To update Siebel account data from a JSP-enabled application
Application Services
Accessing Customer History Information Without Replication

In this scenario, your company is part of the financial industry. Financial service institutions are typically cautious in the way they treat customer data, so they want to provide access to data while replicating as few times as possible, if at all. Your customer service agents need to know the transaction history of your customers in order to provide the best service. This information is typically stored in Customer Information files (CIFs) on mainframe computers.
44
Custom Business Scenarios About Data Across the Enterprise
Table 7 details the requirement for integrating customer transaction history information into Siebel applications.
Table 7.
Customer Data Access Integration Requirement Technological Requirement Access to non-Siebel data without replication Siebels EAI Solution Siebel Virtual Business Components (VBCs)
Business Requirement To provide access to the Customer Information Files (CIFs) stored on a mainframe and display this information in the customer portal
Siebel Virtual Business Components (VBCs) are built to handle this business need. VBCs abstract external data and present it to Siebel applications as part of the Siebel data model. Siebel business logic and user interface components process Virtual Business Components in the same way that they process Siebel applications regular business components.
About Data Across the Enterprise

Business processes often need to cross departmental or even enterprise boundaries. Because different organizations may be using different applications, you need a way to make sure one application can hand off the execution of a business process to the next application. This section describes two examples: B2B Integration and Siebel EAI and Integrating Legacy Data on page 46.
B2B Integration and Siebel EAI

Business-to-business integration allows partner companies to work together to satisfy customer demands. Since B2B is fundamentally about carrying out transactions over the Internet, the technology must work over the Internet infrastructure. To meet this demand, Siebel EAI provides the EAI HTTP adapter and the Siebel Workflow Process Manger (which is used to model and execute business processes) to handle the task. Table 8 details the requirement and the solution for a successful B2B integration.
Table 8.
B2B Integration Requirement Technological Requirement XML messaging over HTTP Siebels EAI Solution Siebel Workflow Process Manager EAI HTTP Transport adapter
Business Requirement To create a business-tobusiness integration to send an order directly to a partner over the Internet for fulfillment
45
Custom Business Scenarios About Performing Data Transformation
Integrating Legacy Data

Interfacing with a custom legacy application presents similar challenges to those faced in the B2B scenario. On the Internet, HTTP is the standard protocol for exchanging data. In a mainframe environment, IBM MQSeries is the most common application messaging transport. Therefore, you can replace the HTTP protocol in this solution with MQSeries and still carry out the transaction. Table 9 details the requirement and the solution for a successful integration of legacy data existing on a mainframe.
Table 9.
Legacy Data Integration Requirement Technological Requirement Cross-application business process management Siebels EAI Solution Siebel Workflow Process Manager EAI MQSeries Transport
Business Requirement To create an order against a mainframe system
About Performing Data Transformation

When performing data transformation within the Siebel environment, you use two types of integration objects: Internal integration objects mirror the data structure of a Siebel business object and contain a subset of business components and fields. External integration objects mirror the data structure of an external system.
You define integration objects of both types in Siebel Tools. The EAI Siebel Adapter performs the same function whether the data transformation is performed inside or outside the Siebel environment. The XML Converter and the transports also perform the same function, whether they are used within the Siebel environment or outside the Siebel environment. The only difference is that when used outside the Siebel environment, both of these business services perform operations on external integration object instances, as opposed to performing operations on internal integration object instances when used within the Siebel environment. You define data mapping and data transformation rules using business services. In the prebuilt external adapters, Siebel EAI has provided many mappings and transformation rules. NOTE: Business services provide a flexible scripting environment for mapping data from the Siebel data structure to an external data structure. Within a business service, Siebel applications provide a set of methods that allow you to perform operations on integration object instances.
46
Creating Orders to Pass to an External Application

In this scenario, an order is created in Siebel Business Applications and is then passed to an external application. The external application returns the order status and an order number. Table 10 details the requirements for data transformation integration.
Table 10.
Data Transformation Integration Requirements Technological Requirement Integration object tool or wizard Integration object tool or wizard Workflow technology Siebels EAI Solution Siebel Integration Object Wizard Siebel Integration Object Wizard Siebel Business Process Designer
Business Requirement To create a new internal Integration Object To create a new external Integration Object To create a new business flow
For this task, identify the Siebel business object that you would want to update. For that business object, identify the components and fields that you expect to update. Next, identify the object in the external system with which you want to integrate. Then, determine the mapping between the Siebel business object and the external object. In Siebel Tools, create a new internal integration object using the Integration Object Wizard. Select only the components and fields that you want to update. Then, in Siebel Tools, create a new external integration object. Then, either in Siebel Tools or in the Siebel client, define the data mapping and data transformation using business services. In the Siebel client, define an integration workflow process and add any exception handling to the integration workflow process. Test the integration workflow process using the process simulator. Finally, add a mechanism for invoking the integration workflow process from Siebel applications.
47
48
Index
A
adapters See also adapters, improving performance defined 16 list for Siebel applications, finding 14 Application Services Interface (ASIs) about 8 about and inbound ASIs (diagram) 23 outbound ASIs (diagram) 25 architecture layer diagram 36 Siebel Workflow architecture 38
B
batch integration high volume transaction processing 39 importing and exporting data 40 mode, about integration planning 30 processing usage model, about and scenarios 33 business processes coordination using workflows, about and diagram 38 Siebel EAI connectors, about 17
data mapping See data transformation data replication company catalog replication integration requirement scenario 44 data exchange requirement, about 33 data sharing business-to-business scenario 45 data exchange requirement, about 33 integration planning, about 30 integration strategy, about 15 legacy data integration, scenario 46 data transformation data mapping integration, about 15 integration objects, scenario 46 integration, planning 30 order integration, scenario 47 declarative model, about 36 design decisions application integration planning 30 Document Types Definitions (DTDs), metadata XML definition 16 double conversion, about corrupting data 11
C
catalog, data replication scenario 44 client-side integration, about 15 COM protocol, about 10 connectors Siebel Connector for SAP R/3 23 Siebel connectors, defined 17 third-party, about 17 conversion, double conversion and corrupting data 11 cross-application process integration, about 15 Customer Information Files (CIFs), about information stored in 44
E
EAI Siebel Adapter about and kinds of 16 EAI UI Data Access Adapter about and kinds of 16 exporting data contact information scenario 43 export integration requirements (table) 43
H
high volume transactions, about the EIM Manager batch interface 40 HTTP transport transport, about 16
D
data exchange accessing mechanisms, about 33 business-to-business scenario 45 legacy data integration, scenario 46 presentation layer 33
I
IBM MQSeries adapter See MQSeries inbound Unicode scenario, about integration data presentation level 33 11
49
Index J
design decisions 30 requirements and Siebel EAI (table) 37 scenarios 42 integration objects defining, scenario 43 integration scenarios business-to-business integration 45 customer history information 44 data transformation 46 exporting contact information 43 inbound message 42 J2EE Server Pages 44 legacy data integration 46 mainframe using MQSeries transport 43 mobile data replication 44 order integration 47 outbound message 42 outbound message to file 42 round trip message 42 integration servers, integration strategy 14 integration strategies application administration, about 15 cross-application process integration, about 15 data mapping, about 15 data sharing, about 15 integration servers, about and diagram 14 legacy encapsulation 12 master data partitioning, about 15 peer-to-peer 13 upgradeable integration, about 15 integration, planning access mechanism options (diagram) 34 access mechanisms, about and requirements 33 batch processing usage model, about and scenarios 33 real-time usage model, about and scenarios 32 usage models, types of 31 integration, prepackaged Siebel EAI connectors, list of 23 Universal Application Network (UAN), about 23
L
legacy encapsulation, about and diagram 12
M
master data partitioning, about 15 mobile replication, scenario 44 MQSeries integration scenario 43 transport adapters 16
O
Object Interface scenario 44 outbound Unicode scenario, about 11
P
peer-to-peer encapsulation, about and diagram 13 presentation layer integration, about 15 procedural model, about 36 protocols, role of transport adapters 16 publish-and-subscribe technology 13
R
real-time mode, about integration planning 30 usage model, about and scenarios 32 replication of data, about and data exchange requirement 33
S
SAP R/3, Siebel connector for 23 screen scraping, integration scenario 33 Siebel adapters See adapters Siebel Application Services Interface (ASIs). See Application Services Interface (ASIs) Siebel applications accessing mechanism options (diagram) 34 accessing mechanisms, about and requirements 33 Siebel connectors See connectors Siebel EAI about 8 connectors, list of 23 XML and Siebel EAI, about and support of 16 Siebel eAI adapters and connectors 16 architecture diagram 36 declarative data mapper, about using 22
J
Java Bean protocol, about 10 Java/J2EE accessing from Siebel applications 18 object interfaces, list of 19 Server Pages, scenario 44 Siebel applications, accessing from 19
50
Index T
inbound and outbound Unicode scenarios 11 Java/J2EE components, accessing 18 message-based integration, about and diagram 20 Siebel applications, accessing from Java/J2EE component 19 Siebel integration object, about and mapped using Siebel Repository 22 Transcode business service, outbound and inbound 11 Unicode conversion, about and diagram 9 virtual business components, about 17 workflow control, about using for integration between applications 22 Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM) batch interface, about acting as 40 Siebel virtual business components, about 17 software bus strategy, about adopting 13
Transcode business service, outbound and inbound 11 Unicode conversion, about and diagram 9 Universal Application Network (UAN) about 7 prepackage integration solution, about 23 upgradeable integration, about 15 usage models about and types of 31 batch processing usage model, about and scenarios 33 real-time usage model, about and scenarios 32
V
virtual business components (VBCs) about 17
W
Web client, client-side integration, about 15 Web Service, about and communication protocols based on 25 Web UI DDK about 26 key features 26 workflows business process coordination and workflow architecture 38
T
third-party connectors, about 17 transactions, high volume 39 Transcode business service, outbound and inbound communication 11 transport adapters about and diagram showing available transports 39 MQSeries 16
U
Unicode support inbound and outbound Unicode scenarios 11
X
XML data exchange, role in 16
51
Index X
52

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration: April 2005

Uploaded by

Document Informationclick to expand document information

Copyright:

Available Formats

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration: April 2005

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration: April 2005

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration

Version 7.8 April 2005

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration 1

Chapter 1: Whats New in This Release Chapter 2: Siebel EAI Overview

About Legacy Encapsulation

About Peer-to-Peer Integration

About Siebel EAI

About Preconfigured Integration Solutions

About Application Services Interfaces About Web Services 25

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Chapter 3: Understanding Integration Paradigms

About Exchanging Data with Siebel Applications

Chapter 4: Siebel EAI Architecture

Chapter 5: Custom Business Scenarios

About Data Across the Enterprise

About Performing Data Transformation

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Whats New in This Release

Whats New in Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration, Version 7.8

About Siebel Web Services and Security on page 26

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Whats New in This Release

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview

About the Universal Application Network

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About Siebel EAI

About Siebel EAI

About Siebel Application Services Interfaces

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About Unicode Support and Siebel EAI

About Unicode Support and Siebel EAI

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About Unicode Support and Siebel EAI

Handle conversion errors.

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About Unicode Support and Siebel EAI

Inbound and Outbound Unicode Scenarios for XML Messages

Using the Transcode Business Service for Non-XML Data

Using the Transcode Business Service for Outbound Communication

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About Legacy Encapsulation

Using the Transcode Business Service for Inbound Communication

About Legacy Encapsulation

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About Peer-to-Peer Integration

About Peer-to-Peer Integration

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About Connecting Applications Using Integration Servers

About Connecting Applications Using Integration Servers

To find a list of validated adapters for Siebel applications 1 2 3 4 5

Consulting Partners Software/Content Partners Platform Partners

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About Other Integration Strategies

About Other Integration Strategies

About the Components of Siebel EAI

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration Version 7.8

Siebel EAI Overview About the Components of Siebel EAI