cloud integration: best practices for it executives
DESCRIPTION
As Cloud and SaaS applications become mission-critical to organizations, IT executives are being asked to integrate these new applications with existing on-premise applications and business processes. Successful cloud integration projects require collaboration between both IT and business users, to fully understand the business process requirements and technological challenges.TRANSCRIPT
Cloud Integration Best Practices for Executives
Rick Nucci
CTO, Dell Boomi
Pradip Sitaram
SVP, CIO, Enterprise BP
www.DellintheClouds.com
www.Dell.com/Cloud
@Boomi
Agenda
• Introduction: The Cloud Era of Integration
• Best Practices for SaaS Integration
• Success Story: Enterprise BP
Introduction
Our Goal — Avoid This
4
Concerns about Cloud Infrastructure
Source Saugatuck Technology, Inc. 2009 Global User Study, n=670
5
How Cloud Impacts Traditional Integration
• Traditional Integration built with on-premise mindset
– My data is in my “4 walls”
• Cloud introduces decentralized enterprise architecture
• Cloud + IT = Agility
• What are current themes of integration today?
6
The Data Imperative
• Data transcends boundaries
• End-to-end visibility is top priority
• Data compliance is key
IDE & Ops Centralization
• Applications are de-centralized
• Ops centralization now gets spotlight
• Audits and compliance key drivers
• Centralized development critical for scale
The Role of Traditional Middleware
• Augment vs. “Rip & Replace”
In line with SaaS strategy, in general
• Inefficiencies will become apparent, with
greater SaaS adoption
Best Practices for SaaS Integration
Business Best Practices
• Start with designing your business process
– What and Why vs. How
• Ensure business case/ROI is obvious and defensible
• Involve IT– Design review at a minimum
– Collaborate vs. Avoid
• Determine key stakeholders
– Who will build/maintain? IT, system analyst, SI?
– Who will provide operations support?
– Who will provide infrastructure (for on-premise integration)?
11
Technical Best Practices
• Convert design into integration requirements
– This is the “how”
– What fields map where between my applications?
– How do I connect to the applications I need to integrate?
– How time sensitive can the information gap be between my applications?
– How do I want to handle errors/failures?
• Leverage custom objects for fast retrieval of data and analytics
12
Technical Best Practices (cont.)
• Treat Data Migration independent from Integration – Requirements will be different such as volume, frequency, validation
• Establish and agree on risk tolerance for failure – Is a failover architecture required?
• Estimate volume projections up front – Is a parallel processing architecture required?
13
Enterprise BP
Cloud Integration:
Best Practices for IT
Executives Pradip Sitaram
CIO
16
Agenda
Who is Enterprise, What do we do?
What was the initial problem?
What is our strategic direction, and how will Boomi play a role?
Why Boomi? What else did we consider?
Lessons learned and best practices
What our developers are saying about Boomi
17
Who is Enterprise?
National nonprofit
Founded 30 years ago
In all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico
Built/preserved over 280,000 homes
Housing for 1,000,000+ people
Invested $11B+ in communities
Give low-income people greater access to stable affordable housing in strong communities
Every 55 minutes
someone moves into an
Enterprise home.
18
Our initial problem
Monthly, Quarterly and Annual reports
Reports are submitted every day:
initial, revised and final submissions.
Data
Consolidator
OSS
Database
(Legacy)
PeopleSoft
Formatted Output
Ove
r 1
60
0 P
rop
ert
ies
Larg
ely
Un
str
uctu
red
an
d U
nfo
rmatt
ed
In
pu
t
Microsoft-based solution option:
• Timeframe: 4 – 6 months (Phase 1)
• Cost exposure (risk): $100sK +
19
Current Implementation
Data
Consolidator
Financial Statements
Tax Returns
Occupancy
Tax returns for
processing
Logging
Monitoring
Management
Integration Updates
PeopleSoft File Server SMT Tax Analysis &
Forecasting
Boomi solution:
• Timeframe: 4 Weeks
• Cost exposure (risk): $1.5K
20
The bigger problem
Partners Investments
Capacity Building
Grants Mgmt
NMTC
Asset
Management
New Markets Tax
Credit (―MNTC‖)
Tracking
Contracts Tracking
Green Grant
Application -
Web Application
Green Grant
Application
Tracking
LMS
Loan Fund Loan
Servicing
FICS
Multifamily
Mortgage Loan
Servicing
MFM Originations
Consultant
Registry
Business Plan/
Goal Tracking
Raiser‘s Edge
Fundraising
RDG Inbound
Grant Tracking
Public PolicyLoan Fund
Originations
Legal – Loan Due
Diligence
Goldmine
Contact Mgt
(Phasing Out)
Corporate Systems & Starta
Co
ntr
ac
t/C
os
t (m
an
ua
l)
Gra
nt/
Aw
ard
(m
an
ua
l)
Starta
Journal Entries (manual)
Projects to be Asset
Managed (manual)
Ne
w lo
an
s (
ma
nu
al)
Funds In
(auto)
Ne
w lo
an
s (
ma
nu
al)
LIHTC project/cost/
investment (auto)
Jo
urn
al E
ntr
ies
(m
an
ua
l)
PeopleSoft
Financials
Web App
PeopleSoft
Web Browser
Access
Check Printers
- Corporate,
- Dallas
- LA
PeopleSoft
Human Resources
Time & Labor
Web App
ADP Journal Entries
(manual)
PeopleSoft
Retire
(Emjay)
Enroll
(EBIS)
COBRA/Flex
(Hirsch)
Dental
(Delta Dental)
Prescription
(Express Scripts)
BenefitMall
(Medical, Vision,
Life Insurance,
Disability
Insurance, EAP)
Benefits Administration
Applicant Tracking
(Cyber Recruiter)
Performance
Management
(Halogen)
Human Resources
Partner ADP
PC / Payroll
HR Perspective
Investment ADP
PC / Payroll
ADP Journal Entries
(manual)
ADP Journal Entries
(manual)
Internal Audit
Activity Records
Manual Data Entry
Enterprise Homes Customer Service
Experience Records
Manual Data Entry
Investment
Finance FAS
Depreciation
Records
Manual Data Entry
Stand Alone Corporate Systems
Data Warehouse
SMT Data
· Asset Management (37)
· Fund (0)
· Investment Management (13)
· Underwriting (6)
· Restricted (21)
· Quarterly Estimates (7)
· Project Performance (3)
FICS MMF Database
LMS Loan Fund Database
Acquisitions
Management
Report
Fund Analysis
Report
ADP IPay
Employee Access
Customer
Relationship
Management &
Investor/Funder
PS Fin DB PS HR DB
Business
Intelligence
Integratec
Syndication Management Tool (SMT)
Reports
iManage
· Project Initiation & Due Diligence
· Fund Allocation
· Pre-Closing
· Fund Management and Financing
· Project Closing
· Construction Monitoring and Lease-Up
· Operational Property Monitoring and Risk Assessment
· Post-Closing
· Fund Management and Financing
· Post-Closing
· Fund Management and Financing
· Project Adjuster Determination / Application
· Project Stabilization Determination / Application
· Project Disposition
SMT: Pre-Close
SMT: Post-Close
SMT: Disposition
Manually copied reports
and tax returns
SMT and related
applications could
potentially break with
any modifications to
the SMT database.
Changes to one part of
the SMT application
can potentially break
other parts of the
application.
SMT
Applications to be Replaced
Future Application
LIHTC Broken
LIHTC Moderately Broken
Manual Integration
Starta DB
Payment Variance
Report
Goldmine Raiser‘s Edge
HR/Payroll DBHR/Payroll DB
Gift Tracking
Enterprise Application Architecture as of August 26, 2010 Local Office
Access to
Customized
Views
Offices with Customized Views
· Atlanta
· Baltimore
· Cleveland
· District of Columbia
· Denver
· Los Angeles
· New York
· Portland
· Sante Fe
· Upstate New York
NAHT
Access
Access to a copy of the
SMT Application and a
customized version of the
SMT Data Base
Investor
Extranet
HTCPro Upload
Fund Model
Replacement
Reserve Form
Operations
Reserve & Cash
Flow Model
SMT Tool
LIHTC Financial
Reporting System
HTCPro Model
Payment Variance/
Import process
(VB6 app) EMPP
ECP and ECI
Partner Payroll
Update Capability Investment Payroll
Update Capability
HR Profile
HR MIS Capability
via ReportWriterHR MIS Capability
via ReportSmith
HR Update
Capability
ECI/ECP Payroll
MIS Capability via
ReportWriter
ECI/ECP
Pay Employees
ECP Budget
Preparation Sheet
Positive Pay
File
ACH File
Equity
Payments
Construction
Risk Rating
Dashboard
Stabilized
Risk Rating
Dashboard
Data Quality
Dashboard
Stand Alone On-Line Services Systems
Banks
Survey
Request
Submitted via
OLS Mailbox
or eMail
Survey
Monkey
Hosted Site
Questionnare Created / Results
Tabulated
Questionnare
eMailed to
Distribution
Audience
Completed
Questionnare
Returned to
Survey Monkey
Survey Monkey
edicy Hosted
Collaborative
A.C.T.I.O.N.
Site
A.C.T.I.O.N. Member Inquiry
Policy Initiated
Campaign Topics
and Collaboration
Participation
LIHTC ACTION Campaign
A.C.T.I.O.N.
Correspondence
to Representatives
Member Inquiry
CQ Roll Call
Group Hosted
Policy Alert
Site
(Capwiz)
National Policy Alerts
National Policy
Content
Enterprise
Community
Partners
Home Page
Donor Inquiry
Network for Good Hosted ECP Home Page Site(Ground
spring.org)
Policy Alert to
Members
Donate Now
Enterprise
Donation Process
Green Discussion Forum
Member Inquiry
Enterprise Green
Communities On-Line
Forum Site(WordPress / BuddyPress)
Enterprise Green
Team Establishes
Forum
RegOnLine
Hosted
Enterprise
Event Site
Attendee Inquiry
Registration On-Line
Enterprise Event Planner
Event Information
to Attendees
Hotel Reports
Caterer ReportsVendor Reports
Payment
Processing
Marketing &
Communications
Video
Marketing &
Communications
Publications
Manual Upload
Intranet (Enterprise)Public Websites
(Enterprise)Sharepoint Sites
· Media Library (Web App)
· Green Communities
· External Affairs
· IT Project Coordination
· PeopleSoft Project Management
· LIHTC Project Management
· ~ 10 sites that should be
decommissionedMedia Library
(COTS)
Bank
Transactions
Credit Card
Transactions
Questionnaire
Results Export to
Excel
Audit Tracking Access Database
Enterprise Homes Customer Svc
Tracking Access Database
Investment
Finance FAS
Depreciation
(COTS)
Borrower / Investor Inquiry
FICS
Loan Stat
Web Access
Loan Status
Reports
Subscriber Inquiry
Email Now
Network for Good Hosted ECP Email Now Page
Site(Emma)
Enterprise Campaign Planner
Documents
Uploaded
(.xls, .doc, .pdf, etc)
Email Campaign Msgs / Surveys to
Subscribers
Campaign
Response
Reporting
Donation
Committment
$$
Enterprise Green
Communities Tools
(WordPress / BuddyPress)
Green TA Providers Database
Member Inquiry
Green TA Providers
Database
Too many systems!
Too many databases!
Too many silos!
Too Complicated!
Un-documented!
• Consolidate
• Simplify
• Integrate
• Streamline
Our Goals
21
Business Intelligence
Conceptual Architecture
Business
Operations
Finance
DB
HRIS
DB
ODS & Data
Warehouse
HRIS Apps
Finance &
Accounting
Apps
GIS &
Mappings Reports Analytics Dashboards
Business Tools
Data
Manipulation Analytics
Business
Modeling
Business
Operations Apps
22
With what did we compare Boomi?
Easy to
Use
Easy to
Learn
Fast
Implementation
Pre-built
Connectors Flexibility
Low
Cost
SFDC
Integration
Boomi
Adeptia Somewhat Somewhat Somewhat
Cast Iron Somewhat
Somewhat
(via separate
component)
Pervasive Somewhat Somewhat Somewhat
BizTalk Somewhat
23
Lessons Learned
Do the analysis — don‘t ignore this phase
Sound SDLC practices still apply — requirements, design, and testing are critical and
should not be compromised
The advantage will be seen during implementation — speed and duration of delivery;
prototyping cycle time
Test, test, test – integrating end-points that are outside your immediate control bring
their own sets of challenges; configuration management is key!
Strong technical leadership will be required to not allow for complacency brought
about by the ability to make changes quickly
Early decision on the integration platform is key – to successfully implement your
Cloud strategy
24
What our developers are saying
―It‘s one of the few products I‘ve worked with that actually
works as it claims!‖
Patrick Gates – senior developer
―In the past IT has been a bottleneck during integration
projects. Now we can quickly accommodate changing
requirements. It feels good to say, ‗We are all done and
waiting on you guys.‘ I‘m a hero. Boomi AtomSphere is
one of the best products I‘ve used in my 24 years of IT.
Boomi‘s awesome!‖
Vince Moore – software development manager
Questions?
Thank you.
28
Rick Nucci
CTO
Dell Boomi
801 Cassatt Rd. Suite 120
Berwyn, PA 19312
West Coast Office
473 Jackson St. 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
Tel: 800-732-3602
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @boomi