Systems Integration approaches

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

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
Information-Oriented: Example

• Moving information between systems may require changing both the content and
schema on the fly

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

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

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

Information-Oriented: Data Federation

• Integrating multiple databases into a singe virtual database
• Application access virtual databases
– Integration software handles the collection and distribution of the data to the physical
database
• Advantage
– Can integrate different types of databases
• Disadvantage
– Interface between application and database need to be changed
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
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
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
– 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
• Binds disparate processes and 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

Objective
Provides control mechanism of sorts that defines and executes the movement of information
and the invocation of processes that span many systems

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

Service-oriented
Integrates applications by allow them to share business logic and methods
– Example: Web services
• Advantage
– Allows reusability of applications
• Disadvantage
– Need to change application logic
– High cost for implementation
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

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
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

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

Portal-Oriented
• Integrates applications through single user interface or application
– Mostly, through web browser
– Externalizes information from multiple applications to a single application
• Advantage
– No back-end integration
– Ease of use (browser user interface)
• Disadvantage
– Not real-time integration
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
 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

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

SI Methods

Determining an appropriate systems integration solution is not a simple task by any means. You
must select the correct subsystems, the correct locations, and the correct nature of the
relationship. For this it is very important that you as a company understand exactly what
processes are involved, how they interact with all the stakeholders as well as the business
objectives. If you are clear about why and where the business requires harmony in operations,
the systems integration will go smoothly. Thus, you must also determine which system
integration method can handle their specific data management. Typically, there are four main
strategies. These are:

(1) Point-to-Point Integration. A point-to-point integration system consists of simple connections

between two subsystems rather than a complex network. The simplicity of this method makes it
ideal for businesses that focus on enhancing one function instead of implementing an entire
database

(2) Star Integration. A star integration, also known as spaghetti integration, is a collection of
point-to-point connections in a star polyhedron sequence. This structure is not only able to
connect software but also makes interconnections between other subsystems. However,
because of its complex mechanism, if a developer were to make a physical model of star
integration, it would look like a plate of spaghetti, hence its nickname, it requires more
maintenance.
(3) Horizontal Integration. This integration establishes a subsystem that acts as the centralized
database that all other software connects to. This reduces the number of connections needed to
integrate all processes by eliminating interconnections. Thus, minimizing links saves time,
capital, and effort required to build and maintain the solution.

(4) Vertical Integration. This integration method forms individual silo structures based on the
subsystems' functions. In other words, this strategy groups similar software together without
making interconnections to systems handling other operations, e.g., a silo would be created for
linking a point-of-sale (POS) processor with inventory management and ordering software
because they handle similar functions.