228-4 enterprise systems - lecture 5

8/12/2019 228-4 Enterprise Systems - Lecture 5

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Enterprise Systems



Anatomy of enterprise

applications

Enterprise Applications keep track of information related

to the operations of the enterprise

e.g. Inventory, sales ledger

And execute the core processes that create and

manipulate this information

Process from order to cash received



Enterprise data

Data in the organisation is captured in a number of data

models

Data models describe the way data is defined in databases orexchanged between applications

3

Purchases

Shipments

Inventory

Orders Customers

Service

Billing

Accounting HR

Marketing

Planning

AssetsProject

management



4

An example of a business process:

Purchase-to-Pay

1. Determine requirements,

complete purchase

requisition.

Automatically generate the purchase requisition based

on quantity on-hand,

quantity-on-order, and

expected demand.

© L. Gray, CNU



6

Purchase-to-Pay

3. Receive and record

goods.

Compare quantity

ordered to quantity

received.

Routes goods to the

function that requested

them or directs them the

warehouse for

immediate sale. It alsorecords vendor

performance data.



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Purchase-to-Pay

4. Receive vendor

invoice, match with PO

and receiving report;

record payable.

If the three-way match

fails, the enterprise

system notifies the

proper personnel to

ensure timely

reconciliation of

differences.



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Purchase-to-Pay

5. Prepare and record

cash disbursement and

update accounts.

Uses vendor and APdata to schedule

payments in accordance

with vendor terms and

to receive discounts.



Enterprise process models

Each process model captures the series of steps and

interactions required to complete a specific business

process

The execution of the process will impact on the

enterprise data across one or more applications

A process may be executed within a single application ormore often through collaboration between several

applications

9



Mapped to functional systems

Originally, the process and data models were implemented in a wide variety

of functional system (related to organisational departments)

Each system consisting of a database, application logic and user interface 10

Purchases

Shipments

Inventory

Orders Customers

Service

Billing

AccountingHR

Marketing

Planning

Assets Project

managementFinance

dept

Warehouse

Logistics

Sales Marketing

HR

Call centre



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Recall: Problems with function

based application

Sharing of data between systems

Data duplication

Data inconsistency

Applications that don‟t talk to one

another Limited or lack of integrated information

Isolated decisions lead to overall

inefficiencies

Increased expenses

Therefore, there is a general

requirement for integration to support

organisational system capabilities

For instance Customer Relationship

Management – tracking all information about

a customer across the enterprise

Stovepipe systems

HR Sales

Manufacturing

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/imgPart/stove-pipe-s_0.jpg






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Enterprise integration requirement

Unrestricted sharing of data and business processesacross an organization

Extend to customers, suppliers and regulators

The linking of data, business processes and applications toautomate business processes

While ensuring that there are consistent qualities of service(security, reliability etc)

Reduce the on-going cost of maintenance and reduce the cost ofrolling out new systems.



Two architectural solutions

Integration Leave existing applications in place

Minimises risk of disruption and change in data models/process models

Link existing applications with integration systems which map

between existing data and process models and add „missing‟

process models where required

Effective when most of the functionality is already implemented insystems and the integration is primarily creating linkages and

processes between these applications

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Two architectural solutions

Consolidation Replace existing applications

Redesign data and process models to best solve the complete set

of requirements and then implement these models in a new system

Results in consistent data and process models across enterprise

Effective when significant additional functionality is required beyond

what is already in the applications, there is a requirement forbusiness process improvement or integration between the

applications is too complex/expensive

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In most cases both consolidation and

integration occurs within an organisation



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Internet

Diverse systems and channels

Example of a banking environment



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Purchased Application

Package(s) –

ERP etc.

New Web-

based

application(s)

Legacy

Application

System(s)

Program Program

Program

Program Program

Program

Program Program

Program

IT reality – Islands of Computing

Enterprise IT reflects the structure and history of each

enterprise not the business processes required today Departments have their own IT systems

Legacy systems are left in place and new systems builtseparately.



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Program Program

Program

Program Program

Program

Program Program

Program

Load Program

Extract Program

Extract Program

Load Program

Extract Program Load

Program Screen Scrape

Database Replicator

Down load File

Down load File

Trans action File

Message Queue

Down load File

Trans action File

Message Queue

Application

System B

Application

System A

Application

System C

Tactical approach to integrating

the Business

Each requirement is addressed with a point to point solution

Typically consisting of a data transfer mechanism and aformat converter.

Increasing levels of supplier/client integration points further

complicates the situation.



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Strengths Focused on getting the job done

Each individual solution can be created quickly

Technical Weaknesses

Numerous Point-to-Point Interfaces

Inconsistent Business Processes

Inconsistent Qualities of Service

Business Weaknesses Cost of maintenance

Requirement to retain knowledge of the solution in-house. Potential security or loss of service/process failure due to

inconsistencies.

Strengths and weaknesses of tactical

approach



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Enterprise integration requirement

Unrestricted sharing of data and business processesthroughout the networked applications or data sources inan organization

Extend to customers, suppliers and regulators

The Linking of Data, Business Processes, Applications toautomate business processes

While ensuring that there are consistent qualities of service(security, reliability etc)

Reduce the on-going cost of maintenance and reduce the cost ofrolling out new systems.



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Layers of an EAI Stack

EAI

Data Transformation

Business Activity

Monitoring

Message Storage &

Routing

Business Process

Orchestration

AdapterAdapter

Provides real-time and historical data on performanceof processes and assists in making decisions.

Manages and tracks business transactions that might

span multiple systems and last minutes to days.

Ensures the data is the correct format for delivery toThe next system.

Provides “open” connectivity into data sources while

allowing filtering and transformations of data.

Ensures the reliability of data delivery across the

Enterprise or between systems.



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Adapters

EAI

Data Transformation

Message Storage &

Routing

Business Process

Orchestration

Also known as “Connectors”, “Translators”,“Wrappers” or “Bridges”

Provide seamless connectivity to theunderlying application or data

Convert information and events into datathat can be utilized by the infrastructure

Two way translation between the proprietaryformat and the common format

Many adapters available off the shelf

From EAI Software vendors such as Tibco,or application software vendors such asSAP.

JEE architecture provides JCA

AdapterAdapter

Business Activity

Monitoring



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Reliable messaging

Products that connect applications runningon different systems by sending andreceiving application data as messages

JEE architecture provides JMS interface

Message storage

Central repository for temporary storage oftransactions until they can be delivered

Also called “Message Warehousing”

Message queuing and routing Asynchronous communications style /

Publish Subscribe

Set of tools that route messages betweensources and consumers based on pre-defined business rules

Message storage and routing

EAI

Data Transformation

Business Process

Orchestration

AdapterAdapter

Message Storage &

Routing

Business Activity

Monitoring



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Data Transformation Transformation to and from formats used by

Different Systems

Handling simple or complex data structures

Typically representing data using XML

standards such as XQuery and XSLT

GUI Configuration tools to help define thetransformations

Data Transformation

EAI

Data Transformation

Business Process

Orchestration

AdapterAdapter

Message Storage &

Routing

Business Activity

Monitoring



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Data Transformation

EAI typically converts the source data into an intermediateformat and then convert it into the target format

Intermediate format is called the canonical format.

Source Target

F. name: Ronan

L. name: Bradley

Affiliation: DIT, Dublin,

Ireland

Name: Ronan Bradley

Company: DIT

City: Dublin

Country: Ireland

Intermediate or

canonical

format



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Issues in data transformation

Challenge 1: Coping with software from different vendors

A mostly solved problem (Oracle vs. DB2 vs. SQL Server)

Challenge 2: Coping with different formats

A solved problem: Relational vs. XML vs. ISAM

Challenge 3: Coping with different data models Solvable for the smaller scale cases

one person understands all the schemas

As the complexity and scale of the data models increasesbecomes harder and harder

Theoretically possible but lots of practical problems

Challenge 4: Coping with data from new sources such as newsystems, suppliers, customers

Lots of unsolved problems



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EAI: Building a canonical data model

Create a common data model including a set of terms for theconcepts in the domain of the data sources being integrated

e.g., Employee, Customer, Patient, weight, height,bodyTemperature, …

EAI solutions do this within their own domain (canonical format) XML Ontologies attempt to do it for any domain required in a self-

contained way but are very hard to build

Mappings relate data items in data sources to terms in datamodel

Background knowledge about terms essential fortransformations

e.g., Employee subClassOf Person, 2 people with the same lastname, first name and street address are likely to be the same,



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Mapping the formats

Using the canonicaldata model, eachmessage format can bemapped into and out of

that format. Requires many

potentially complexmapping definitions.



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Process Modeling Often GUI based

Describing the flow of information in thecontext of business processes

Using the input/output of processes as the

Integration points between diverse businessprocesses

Process Brokering

Execution of discrete steps within abusiness process

Ability to recover from failed steps Workflow engine

Process Management

Monitor business processes

Correlate metrics to specific business

process steps

Business Process Orchestration

EAI

Data Transformation

Business Process

Orchestration

AdapterAdapter

Message Storage &

Routing

Business Activity

Monitoring



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Business Activity Monitoring

EAI

Data Transformation

Business Process

Orchestration

AdapterAdapter

Message Storage &

Routing

Business Activity Monitoring is using yourdata assets to make better decisions

BAM is used to gather information aboutwhat is occurring in the EAI deployment

Status of current processes

Identification of problem areas E.g. Spotting applications that are not

responding

Monitoring of unusual activity

E.g. Unusually large orders

The collected information is displayedfor operators or managers to diagnoseand determine the solution

Business Activity

Monitoring



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Potential EAI benefits

Lower development costs

Overtime, each additional integration requirement can moreeasily be addressed

Lower opportunity costs Integration is done more quickly

corresponding cost savings reachieved sooner

Lower maintenance effort

adapters extract the interaction with external systems

significant advantage from the software engineering point of view



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Potential EAI Challenges

Hub and spoke architecture concentrates all of the processing into asingle server/cluster. Often became hard to maintain and evolve efficiently

Hard to extend to integrate 3rd parties on other technology platforms

The canonical data model introduces an intermediary step Added complexity and additional processing effort

EAI products typified by Heavy customisation required to implement the solution

Lock-In: Often built using proprietary technology and required specialistskills

Lack of flexibility: Hard to extend or to integrate with other EAI products!

Requires organisation to be EAI ready



What is EAI readiness?

Much of the challenge associated with adopting EAI is not

related to the technology. EAI readiness is a state of business maturity in which its

systems, processes, employees, structure, and culture areprepared for the successful introduction of both EAItechnology and the business disciplines that drive itsintroduction.

All five of these factors must be properly situated andaligned before an EAI implementation can succeed.

Processes

Technology Employees

Culture

Structure

©2001, IT Catalysts,

Inc.



Process readiness Business strategic goals for project (i.e. process efficiency,

customer satisfaction, supply-chain optimization) clearlydefined and agreed upon by company executiveleadership.

Company makes use of mature methodologies that design

integrated business change.

Desired business processes designed, documented, andvaluated.

Gap between current and desired business processes wellunderstood.



Employee readiness

Staff accustomed to using information technology in

performance of day-to-day work.

Staff accustomed to adaptation of new roles,responsibilities, processes, and knowledge … to businesschange.

Staff have broad understanding of the business and theircontribution to it.

Executives understand the role of business sponsorship,

and the nature of investing time, staff and budget into thebusiness infrastructure in order to reap future returns.



Technology readiness No systems to be integrated using EAI tools have critical

business logic not in the application itself This can happen if the logic required is in a batch programs or

reports which are not part of the actual application and hence cannotbe integrated with.

No systems to be integrated using EAI tools will be retired/

decommissioning soon. There is no point integrating with a system which will soon be

removed

Most of the business functionality required in process designsexists in one or more legacy systems.

Applications portfolio has been evaluated for semanticcompatibility.

Check it is possible to transform from 1 data model to the other

Implementation of EAI not defined as the purpose of the effort.

The project should be about the business objective, not about thetechnology



Structural readiness

Keep it simple by ensuring that the EAI system involves asfew departments/organisations as possible.

Each organisation involved adds to the complexity of theproject as more people have to be engaged with and there arepotentially greater variety of technologies and architectures.

Stakeholder analysis performed to determine overallpotential for business resistance to the planned change.

EAI projects change the way that eachdepartment/organisation works. Therefore, EAI projects needthe cooperation of each department/organisation.

Business sponsor established and ready to provideleadership to the business change.



Cultural readiness

Corporate culture embraces the importance of well-definedbusiness processes.

Staff accustomed to adaptation of new roles,responsibilities, processes, and knowledge … to businesschange.

Individuals and departments willing to change the way theapplications and data is defined.

228-4 enterprise systems - lecture 5

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