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Integration of Applications

Integration of Applications. MIS3502: Application Integration and Evaluation David Schuff David.Schuff@temple.edu Adapted from material by Arnold Kurtz, David Schuff, and Paul Weinberg. The Challenges of Legacy Systems.

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Integration of Applications

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  1. Integration of Applications MIS3502: Application Integration and Evaluation David SchuffDavid.Schuff@temple.eduAdapted from material by Arnold Kurtz, David Schuff, and Paul Weinberg

  2. The Challenges of Legacy Systems • Most organizations (and business units) develop their own custom information systems • These systems need to be connected when • Business buy other businesses • Business units merge • Organizational structure changes

  3. 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 • Documentation may be out of date or non-existent

  4. A Key Legacy Systems Challenge: Integration Strategy decisions decisions decisions decisions decisions Tactics Accounting Production Sales Human Resources Marketing Operations data data data data data

  5. 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?

  6. 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 What’s the difference between these two? Standard messaging

  7. Single view of data • Scenario: The sales process • The process of selling a product involves • Checking inventory • Delivering the goods • Creating an invoice • The process of accounting involves • Collecting payment • Updating accounts

  8. 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?

  9. Levels of Integration Scenario 1 SalesDB Scenario 3 Sales system Sales andAccountingDB AccountingDB Accounting system Sales and Accounting System Scenario 2 SalesDB What happens when you share data across companies? What are the issues with a single database? Sales and Accounting System AccountingDB

  10. Single-View Example: Enterprise Resource Planning • “Ground up” integration of business processes • A single application ties together multiple business functions • Accounting, purchasing, HR • Applies “best practices” to these processes • Examples: SAP, Peoplesoft (Oracle)

  11. Things made easier by ERP • Allows for “perpetual accounting” (real-time) • Instead of periodic accounting • Provides mechanisms for control • Data validation • Role assignment • Process checks (big orders must be approved by two people)

  12. Architecturally… The ERP system contains the central database Business units utilize the central system All 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? Enterprise Resource Planning

  13. Standard messaging • Scenario: The supply chain • A 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

  14. The Need for Standard Messaging Each may have their data in a different format! Options: 1) Conversion2) Standards3) Combination of both Widget Supplier (Widgets ‘R Us!) Order information Order information Order information Philadelphia Pittsburgh San Francisco Division 3 Division 1 Division 2

  15. Web Services – An Emerging Standard • Promises a new level of interoperability • 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 Consortium http://www.w3.org/TR/wsa-reqs

  16. 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

  17. A Web Service is not a Web Site Using a web site interacts with interacts with User Google.com(the site) Google Search Engine(the service) Using a web service Application Google Search (the service) interacts directly with without human intervention

  18. 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

  19. 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

  20. Web Services and Distributed Objects • Web Services are implemented through distributed objects which communicate using standard messaging protocols • There are standards for • Sending and receiving data • Locating objects across the Internet • Describing a distributed object’s functionality

  21. 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 issue • Businesses can still choose to send and receive nonstandard messages • But if no one follows it, the standard is pointless!

  22. Traditional/Legacy Send nonstandard messagesNonstandard metadata Use non-Internet based technologies Self-contained (designed to share information within systems) Standard Messaging Send standard messagesStandard metadata Use “Internet-friendly” technologies Designed to share information across systems Traditional Approach versusStandard Messaging

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