Integration of Applications

MIS3502: Application Integration and Evaluation

Paul Weinberg

weinberg@temple.edu

Adapted from material by Arnold Kurtz, David Schuff, and Paul Weinberg

The Challenges of Legacy Systems

Most organizations (and business units) develop their own custom information systems

These systems need to be connected whenBusiness buy other businessesBusiness units mergeOrganizational structure changes

Legacy Systems Issues

Technical – How do we hook these things together?Different systems may have conflicting data

values and formats Personnel – How do we find people skilled

in older technologies (i.e., COBOL)? Documentation may be out of date or non-

existent

A Key Legacy Systems Challenge: Integration

Sal

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Acc

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Pro

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n Marketin

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Hu

man

Resou

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data data data data data

deci

sion

sd

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s

dec

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ecision

sdecisions

Strategy

Tactics

Operations

Processes and data

What are some key processes in each of these business units Sales Accounting/Finance Production Marketing Human Resources

What is the data captured by those processes? Is there common data across processes?

Types of integration

Within a department Within an organization

(across departments)

Within an industry (across organizations)

Within the supply chain (across industries)

Single view of data

Standard messaging

What’s the difference between

these two?

Single view of data

Scenario: The sales processThe process of selling a product involves

• Checking inventory• Delivering the goods• Creating an invoice

The process of accounting involves• Collecting payment• Updating accounts

Single view of data (continued)

“Two system” solution Sales and accounting keep separate databases Each customer has a record in each database What problems can arise?

“Single system” solution There is a single customer record That record is used for both the sales and accounting

functions What are the advantages of this? What are the problems that can arise?

AccountingDB

Levels of Integration

SalesDB

AccountingDB

Sales system

Accounting system

Sales and Accounting

System

SalesDB

Sales and Accounting

System

Sales andAccounting

DB

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

What happens when you share data across

companies?What are the issues

with a single database?

Single-View Example: Enterprise Resource Planning

“Ground up” integration of business processes

A single application ties together multiple business functionsAccounting, purchasing, HR

Applies “best practices” to these processes Examples: SAP, Peoplesoft (Oracle)

Things made easier by ERP

Allows for “perpetual accounting” (real-time)Instead of periodic accounting

Provides mechanisms for controlData validationRole assignmentProcess checks (big orders must be

approved by two people)

Enterprise Resource Planning

Architecturally…The ERP system contains the central

databaseBusiness units utilize the central systemAll must conform to the data and

procedural standards of the application Configuration is notoriously difficult Implementations are notoriously complex

Why would a company want to do this? Who might resist? Why?

Standard messaging

Scenario: The supply chainA large retailer (Wal-Mart) wants to

• Maintain optimal inventory levels• Order from multiple vendors• Dynamically adjust product mix

A vendor (Proctor and Gamble) wants to• Service multiple suppliers• Maintain service level

The Need for Standard Messaging

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Order informatio

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Order information

Order information

Widget Supplier(Widgets ‘R Us!)

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Each may have their data in a different format!Options:1) Conversion2) Standards3) Combination of both

Web Services – An Emerging Standard

o Promises a new level of interoperability

o A Web service is a software application identified by a URL, whose interfaces and bindings are capable of being defined, described, and discovered as XML artifacts. A Web service supports direct interactions with other software agents using XML based messages exchanged via internet-based protocols.

Source: World Wide Web Consortiumhttp://www.w3.org/TR/wsa-reqs

What’s a Web Service?

“Wrapping up” application functionality (as an object) and running it on a server

Allowing people to access that object by Sending information (inputs) Receiving information (outputs)

Big Idea: Anyone can write an application to communicate directly with a web service No intermediate application (i.e., web page) is

necessary

A Web Service is not a Web Site

UserGoogle.com

(the site)

Google Search Engine

(the service)

ApplicationGoogle Search

(the service)

Using a web site

Using a web service

inter

acts

with

inter

acts

with

interacts directly with

without human intervention

What’s different about Web Services?

They are based on open standards Application developers don’t need special expertise to

use a web service

Use “web protocols”HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

• Handle the transportation of data• Request web services like we request web pages

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

• Formatting of messages• Structuring data so that it adheres to a standard

format

What’s different about Web Services?

Instead of sending proprietary messages between clients and servers, it sends messages in a standard format Even EDI is more rigid than XML

Messages sent in plain (encrypted) text, making them easy to send to and receive from a web server Any business can communicate with any other

business For example, XML is an example of an open standard

Web Services and Distributed Objects

Web Services are implemented through distributed objects which communicate using standard messaging protocols

There are standards forSending and receiving dataLocating objects across the InternetDescribing a distributed object’s functionality

What if all don’t use the standard message?

Then they don’t! XML gives an easy way to define

messages, but it can’t make you comply Adhering to the standard is a business

issue, not a technology issueBusinesses can still choose to send and

receive nonstandard messages But if no one follows it, the standard is

pointless!

Traditional Approach versusStandard Messaging

Traditional/LegacySend nonstandard

messagesNonstandard metadata

Use non-Internet based technologies

Self-contained (designed to share information within systems)

Standard MessagingSend standard

messagesStandard metadata

Use “Internet-friendly” technologies

Designed to share information across systems