A well-known phenomenon in organizations is the number of older, legacy, applications which are still in daily use. Because they were never designed to share data, the result has often been confusion and huge amounts of redundant and conflicting data. To create some order out of this mess, the need EAI - Enterprise Application Integration was realized.
The process is referred to as an art, although there are, in fact standard rules which apply to the process. However, the situation on the ground often requires a great deal of flexibility in applying these rules. Which rule has priority often requires fine judgement rather than merely applying fixed rules.
A multitude of applications such as supply chain, human resources and so on, exist to support the functions of an enterprise. Unless they communicate effectively an untenable situation can quickly arise. Multiple versions of the same data often exist in many different systems, and capturing of such data needs to be systematized and centralized if conflicts in the details recorded are to be avoided successfully.
Apart from the practical considerations, there may also be legal implications to contend with. Implementing an integrated system, either a package or home-grown, may ultimately be the best solution to the problem. Unfortunately, this is not always easy, end determining the exact business rules implemented in a badly-documented application can be problematic. The cost may also be high, and difficult to justify.
With so many legacy systems around, it might be necessary to allow a mainframe system to communicate with more modern applications. There are often different operating systems, language, even data formats, which have to be dealt with. Just documenting the existing situation is a thankless job.
Because of this common situation, it is sometimes impossible to automate a process which crosses the boundaries between systems. Having to rely on manual intervention or capturing the same information in different systems runs the risk of part of the process being missed. A situation of uncertainty as to which information is actually correct could easily arise.
The primary objective of EAI - Enterprise Application Integration - is to enable quick and reliable communication and eliminate multiple capturing of data. In this way it is possible for a basic level of communication between applications to be set up, with adequate performance. Control over the integration process is essential to make sure the solutions do not increase the problem and provoke instability in the systems.
The process is referred to as an art, although there are, in fact standard rules which apply to the process. However, the situation on the ground often requires a great deal of flexibility in applying these rules. Which rule has priority often requires fine judgement rather than merely applying fixed rules.
A multitude of applications such as supply chain, human resources and so on, exist to support the functions of an enterprise. Unless they communicate effectively an untenable situation can quickly arise. Multiple versions of the same data often exist in many different systems, and capturing of such data needs to be systematized and centralized if conflicts in the details recorded are to be avoided successfully.
Apart from the practical considerations, there may also be legal implications to contend with. Implementing an integrated system, either a package or home-grown, may ultimately be the best solution to the problem. Unfortunately, this is not always easy, end determining the exact business rules implemented in a badly-documented application can be problematic. The cost may also be high, and difficult to justify.
With so many legacy systems around, it might be necessary to allow a mainframe system to communicate with more modern applications. There are often different operating systems, language, even data formats, which have to be dealt with. Just documenting the existing situation is a thankless job.
Because of this common situation, it is sometimes impossible to automate a process which crosses the boundaries between systems. Having to rely on manual intervention or capturing the same information in different systems runs the risk of part of the process being missed. A situation of uncertainty as to which information is actually correct could easily arise.
The primary objective of EAI - Enterprise Application Integration - is to enable quick and reliable communication and eliminate multiple capturing of data. In this way it is possible for a basic level of communication between applications to be set up, with adequate performance. Control over the integration process is essential to make sure the solutions do not increase the problem and provoke instability in the systems.
About the Author:
Peggie K. Lambert is an independent consultant working in the world of data integration. If you are looking to learn more about enterprise architecture application then she recommends you refer to www.liaison.com.
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