ENTERPRISE APPLICATION INTEGRATION TECHNIQUES
The development of technology over the years has led to most systems within an organization
existing in heterogeneous environments. That is to say, different applications were developed with
varying languages, operate on different hardware and available on numerous platforms. The
problems lay in the fact that when implementing systems, decisions on the technology employed
differed from department to department and also had some dependence on the latest trends. What
emerges is that these systems serve only the departmental needs. Information and process sharing
across an organization is not accommodated for. These types of systems are known as ‘stovepipes’.
Each of these stovepipe systems held independent data; it was recognized that customer
information and the sharing of this information across departments was extremely valuable to an
enterprise. Allowing the disparate systems to interoperate became increasingly important and
necessary. As organizations grew, so too did the desire to integrate key systems with clients and
vendors.
What is new are the approach and the ideas that Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
encompasses and the techniques it uses. In order for it to be a success and a realistic solution,
applying EAI requires involvement of the entire enterprise: business processes, applications, data,
standards and platforms.
EAI Requirements
i. Business Process Integration (BPI): It is fundamentally important for a corporation to specify
the processes involved in the exchange of enterprise information. “This allows organizations
to streamline operations, reduce costs and improve responsiveness to customer demands.” This
can include process management, process modelling, and workflow. Here, we involve the
combination of tasks, procedures, organizations, required input and output information, and
tools needed for each step in a business process.
ii. Application Integration: Here, the goal is to “bring data or a function from one application together with that of another application that together provide near real-time integration.” This
can include, business-to-business integration, customer relationship management (CRM)
systems which can be integrated with a company’s backend applications, web integration, and
building web sites that interact with multiple business systems.
iii. Data Integration: If we want the above two integrations to succeed, we must also integrate the
data involved. Its location must be identified, recorded, and a metadata model must be built (a
master guide for various data stores). Now, data can be shared or distributed across database
systems, providing it is in a standard format such as COM+/DCOM, CORBA, EDI, JavaRMI,
and XML.
iv. Platform Integration: Finally, the separate needs of the heterogeneous network must be
integrated. Platform Integration deals with the processes and tools that are required to allow
these systems to communicate, both optimally and securely, so data can be passed through
different applications without difficulty. For example, finding how an Apple can pass data to
a wireless palmtop is part of the entire corporate system integration. These activities, as we
have said, are essential if EAI is to replace the unsatisfactory integration techniques that we
have arrived at through time.
EAI INTEGRATION ARCHITECTURES
Within EAI, there exist two types of integration architecture:
1. Direct point-to-point (PTP)
2. Middleware-based
Point-to-Point
This is the basic, more traditional approach. It is used because it is easy and quick, certainly viable
for situations where we have few systems to integrate. For example, a new web site may need to
interface with an existing sales order system and point-to-point integration may appear suitable.
