Systems Integration Made Friendly
SYSTEMS INTEGRATION MADE FRIENDLY
AN OVERVIEW FOR IT MANAGERS AND DEVELOPERS
A valuable resource for IT Managers and Developers who would like an
overview of Systems Integration but don't need (or want) to get into
specifics. Covering :
* WEB SERVICES
* ENTERPRISE SERVICE BUS (ESB)
* SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE (SOA)
* BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT (BPM)
* BUSINESS ACTIVITY MONITORING (BAM)
* ENTERPRISE PORTAL
* BUSINESS TO BUSINESS (B2B)
* ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP)
Systems Integration Made Friendly will help you understand the
architectural landscape within which your integration solutions are
developed. Finally, you will be able to grasp the latest approaches
for controlling integration projects and feel prepared with the
necessary tools to prevent those projects from becoming financial
black holes and management nightmares.
Armed with just a few of the basics, you will at last be able to see
clearly what you, your development teams, and your organization can
realistically expect from Systems Integration.
FROM: Russell O'Brien
June 7, 2007
Dear IT Manager / Developer,
This book was born out of frustration. A client asked me to
recommend a beginner's guide to integration and, after much research,
I found such a guide didn't exist. Most books on integration are
written for technicians and contain a bewildering array of
information, the majority of which is at a much greater level of
detail than is required by managers and newbie developers.
IF ONLY I\'D COME ACROSS A BOOK LIKE THIS WHEN I FIRST STARTED OUT!
It took me a long time to get my head around Systems Integration.
And I had a whole team of people working for me! It's a complex
subject and one made all the more difficult by constant changes in
technology and the growth of the Internet. With this book, I'm
attempting to put things right. No more confusion! No more pulling the
wool over the business's eyes!
Here's a sample from the book. I decided that lots of illustrations
and a "Question & Answer" style would work best. I hope you agree.
_FIGURE 8 BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT (BPM)_
Until the mid 1990s, most businesses automated processes on a
departmental basis only. Phone calls, paper-based messages and emails
were generally used to request the next step if communication with
another area of the business was required. Occasionally however, where
the need was great and the development cost could be justified, an
organization would go the extra mile and extend the automation across
departments. They achieved this by including Point-to-Point and/or
Message-based connections as described earlier.
_WHAT ARE THE DEFICIENCIES WITH POINT-TO-POINT AND MESSAGE-BASED
SOLUTIONS?_
Point-to-Point and Message-based techniques are adequate where the
workflow involved is straightforward. However, as a process becomes
more complex, it becomes increasingly more difficult to create and
maintain the logic of the workflow.
Because the process logic is scattered throughout the applications
themselves, there is a real need to maintain detailed documentation
for these processes. However computer programmers are not renowned for
their documentation skills so this important task is rarely completed
or kept up to date. It then becomes difficult to keep track of the
process's overall progress and pinpoint errors as they occur.
_ENTER BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT OR "BPM"._
With Business Process Management, the decision making and
navigation requirements of a process are defined separately and
removed from the software applications. This allows easier definition,
maintenance and documentation of processes. BPM acts as a strong
reference point for monitoring business processes and pinpointing
errors and inefficiencies across the system.
_HOW DOES BPM WORK?_
Let's return to our advertising example in _FIGURE 8_. The
processing of financial data for a new advertisement includes customer
credit checking and the creation of account transaction records as per
the earlier messaging example. This time however, a separate business
process called "New Advert" has been defined. The "New Advert" process
runs within a "Business Process Manager".
_PROCESS STEPS:_
1. The Advertising application publishes a "New Advert" message.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Russell O
