ENTERPRISE APPLICATION INTEGRATION

By:Prakash Karamchandani 7th Sem I.T.

Introduction
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is defined as the use of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications. It is an integration framework composed of a collection of technologies and services which form a middleware to enable integration of systems and applications across the enterprise.

Problem with the enterprise

Supply Chain Management(SCM) applications, Customer Relationship Management(CRM) applications, and other types of applications typically cannot communicate with one another in order to share data or business rules. For this reason, such applications are sometimes referred to as islands of automation. This lack of communication leads to inefficiencies, wherein identical data are stored in multiple locations, or straightforward processes are unable to be automated.

Solution
Enterprise application integration (EAI) is the process of linking such applications within a single organization together in order to simplify and automate business processes to the greatest extent possible, while at the same time avoiding having to make sweeping changes to the existing applications or data structures. In the words EAI is the unrestricted sharing of data and business processes among any connected application or data sources in the enterprise.

Purpose of EAI
1) Data integration: Ensures that information in multiple

systems is kept consistent. This is also known as Enterprise Information Integration (EII). 2) Vendor independence: Extracts business policies or rules from applications and implements them in the EAI system, so that even if one of the business applications is replaced with a different vendor's application, the business rules do not have to be re-implemented.
3) Common facade: An EAI system can front-end

a cluster of applications, providing a single consistent access interface to these applications and shielding users from having to learn to use different software packages.

Patterns Implemented
1)Mediation (intra-communication):
- Here, the EAI system acts as the go-between or broker between multiple applications. - Whenever an interesting event occurs in an application (for instance, new information is created or a new transaction completed) an integration module in the EAI system is notified. -The module then propagates the changes to other relevant applications.

Patterns Implemented (cont..)

2) Federation (inter-communication) :
-In this case, the EAI system acts as the overarching facade across multiple applications. - All event calls from the 'outside world' to any of the applications are front-ended by the EAI system. - The EAI system is configured to expose only the relevant information and interfaces of the underlying applications to the outside world, and performs all interactions with the underlying applications on behalf of the requester.

Implementation Pitfalls
Constant change: The very nature of EAI is dynamic
and requires dynamic project managers to manage their implementation. Shortage of EAI experts: EAI requires knowledge of many issues and technical aspects. Competing standards: Within the EAI field, the paradox is that EAI standards themselves are not universal. EAI is a tool paradigm: EAI is not a tool, but rather a system and should be implemented as such.

Implementation Pitfalls(cont..)
Building interfaces is an art: Engineering the
solution is not sufficient. Solutions need to be negotiated with user departments to reach a common consensus on the final outcome. Loss of detail: Information that seemed unimportant at an earlier stage may become crucial later. Accountability: Since so many departments have many conflicting requirements, there should be clear accountability for the system's final structure.

Advantages
Advantages

1) Real time information access among systems

2) Streamlines business processes and helps raise organizational efficiency 3) Maintains information integrity across multiple systems 4) Ease of development and maintenance

Disadvantages
Disadvantages
1) High initial development costs, especially for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) 2) Require a fair amount of up front business design, which many managers are not able to envision or not willing to invest in. 3) Most EAI projects usually start off as point-to-point efforts, quickly becoming unmanageable as the number of applications increase.

THANK YOU