Integration platform

Overview

• Data integration: Ensure that they are using the same datasets and can share information. Data management with metadata information and versioning ensures the data is kept consistent.
• Integrate many kinds of applications so they can be bound together in workflows and processes to work in conjunction. The different interfaces are hidden by the usage of a uniform interface in the integration platform.
• Collaborate between distributed and scattered applications and engineers over the network.
• Interoperability between different operating systems and programming languages by the use of similar interfaces.
• Take security considerations into account so that, for example, data is shared only with the right resources.
• Visual guidance by interactive user interfaces and a common facade for all integrated applications.

  Common components of integration platform

• Message bus for enabling reliable messaging between enterprise applications.
• Adapters to transform messages from and to application's proprietary protocol. Adapters often offer connectivity via common standards, like FTP, SFTP or format support, like EDI.
• Transformation engine and visualized data mapping to transform messages or files from one format to another.
• Metadata repository for storing information separated from processes, like business party.
• Process Orchestration Engine for orchestration design and execution. In this context orchestration is a technical workflow that represents a business process or part of it.
• Technical dashboard for tracking messages in a message bus and viewing execution history of orchestrations.
• Scheduler for scheduling orchestrations
• Batch engine for controlling large file transfers, batch jobs, execution of external scripts and other non-messaging based tasks.

  Differentiation