Overview: Application Integration, Data Access, and Process Change November 16, 2005 Tom Board, NUIT

2 Thesis Service-Oriented Architecture will become an assumed infrastructure Web Services will be the near-term technology of choice for SOA deployment With planning, SOA will enable real-time processes, allow secure access to data elements, and support distributed development Success will depend upon skill with the technologies and central adoption of SOA

3 Agenda What are the Problems? Industry Trends in Application Integration What is NUIT Planning? How Should Application Administrators and Planners Prepare? Wrap-up

4 Agenda What are the Problems? Industry Trends in Application Integration What is NUIT Planning? How Should Application Administrators and Planners Prepare? Wrap-up

5 Problems Sluggish inter-office business processes Current costs to integrate applications and maintain linkages over software changes Meeting community expectations for processes –Paper to electronic –Daily to real-time

6 Today’s Point-to-Point Approach

7 Point-to-Point is Not Easy Definitions of data items must be reconciled between systems Methods of moving data must be agreed Data interchange representations must be agreed Software to move internal representations to/from interchange form must be written, tested and maintained Security/encryption must be agreed Linkage is often unique and not reused

8 Implications Scale Problem –Cost to establish linkages – custom coding –Cost to maintain custom linkages –Linkages are brittle due to object dependency –Testing all links when software is changed Data Definition Problem –ANY linkage requires common definitions –Push for real-time processes requires definitions across multiple linkages

9 Agenda What are the Problems? Industry Trends in Application Integration What is NUIT Planning? How Should Application Administrators and Planners Prepare? Wrap-up

10 Industry Finally “Gets It” Vendors are moving to: Eliminate custom linkages through reusable service interfaces Eliminate object representation dependencies through standard data types Design for heterogeneous, network-based application environment Settle upon and deploy standards! Are we approaching a “fax” breakthrough?

11 Service-Oriented Architecture Distributed functionality exposed as shared, reusable services Goal is to streamline deployment, reduce duplication of functions, and allow execution of business processes across diverse application platforms in a network

12 Network SOA

13 Why is SOA a Solution? Point-to-PointSOA Definitions of data items must be reconciled between systems Problem remains: data item definitions must be reconciled between systems Method of moving data must be agreedStandard set – http/https Data interchange representation must be agreed Standard set – XML/SOAP Software to move internal representations to/from interchange form must be written, tested and maintained Tools within vendor products are transparent (e.g..NET-to-SOAP, J2EE- to-SOAP, C++-to-SOAP, etc.) Security/encryption must be agreedStandard set – WS-Security Linkage is often unique and not reusedServices are designed for reuse

14 Service Example

15 Web Services for Implementing a Service-Oriented Architecture Document-oriented messaging scheme using http/https transport and security Documents are self-describing XML streams combining payload and control information Separates external interface (behaviors, logic) from internal objects, structures, and implementation (“Loose coupling”)

16 A Web Service … Has a URL Is described through a Web Service Definition Language (WDSL) “contract” for the benefit of potential consumers Uses SOAP messages over http/https Can be secured based upon polices in the WSDL description or external frameworks

17 Web Service Can … Be created through: –.NET (Visual Studio) –J2EE authoring environments (Eclipse) –C++ & Visual Basic 3 rd party wrappers –PeopleSoft Component Interfaces –PeopleSoft Integration Points

18 Web Services Require… New approaches to development –Services, not components –Flat documents, not structured data New infrastructure –WSDL – service “contracts” –UDDI – service governance and polices –Enterprise Service Bus – legacy interfaces and publish/subscribe platform

19 Web Services for SOA

20 Agenda What are the Problems? Industry Trends in Application Integration What is NUIT Planning? How Should Application Administrators and Planners Prepare? Wrap-up

21 Architectural Direction Business Drivers –Security –Mobility –Self-service –Real-time processes –Data availability –Rapid deployment Architecture –Central identity and authentication –Portal navigation –Web-Service integration –Distributed development –Abstraction or virtualization

22 System Architecture

23 Web Services Infrastructure

24 Timeline* * This timeline is for illustrative purposes only and should not be used in planning – please consult with an experienced professional. The views expressed are those of the author and not those of NUIT. No warranty expressed or implied. YMMV. All bets are off.

25 Abstraction or Virtualization Convert an application-specific service into a general infrastructure service —Storage management —Authentication —Authorization —Computing platform —Database

26 Abstraction of Business Processes The next step after SOA is composite applications and process orchestration –Once individual business functions are exposed as Web Services, then new “meta- process” coding can be built “above” them –Combined with workflows, this can substantially automate many functions –This will be addressed by Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) tools

27 Meta-Processes

28 Distributed Development Portal Web Service for data access Authored JSR 168 Or WSRP Portlet Web Services Infrastructure Authored Application Database

29 Agenda What are the Problems? Industry Trends in Application Integration What is NUIT Planning? How Should Application Administrators and Planners Prepare? Wrap-up

30 What Steps Should Planners and Developers Take Today? 1.Stop buying or creating applications with “silo” approaches – use central services 2.Stop copying data around the network 3.Work to reach community consensus on data definitions so that integration is possible 4.Start serious discussions with your users about what data access services they need and can justify 5.Determine your vendor’s plans for Web Service integration – and influence those plans 6.Train your staff on SOA and Web Services

31 Stop Copying Data Around the Network Problem: send from within an application to a set of users –Bad: Get all NetIDs and addresses from SES, HRIS, SNAP, etc. an include in local database –Poor: Get addresses for current users every day and include in local database –Correct: Get user’s address from directory service when needed, even in large numbers –Future? Invoke a Web Service to send messages based upon standard identity (NetID)

32 Agenda What are the Problems? Industry Trends in Application Integration What is NUIT Planning? How Should Application Administrators and Planners Prepare? Wrap-up

33 Wrap Up SOA and Web Services are the accepted future (example: Oracle Fusion Middleware) Real-time processes will improve all systems – assume it in all new designs Data definitions are vital for future integration – we must solve this aspect before it prevents desirable improvements Users and stewards together should begin designing the future now

34 Professional Development Topics SOA & Web Services XML, SOAP & WSDL OASIS and WS-* standards Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Authoring tools for Web Services Microsoft.NET versus J2EE solutions Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) SOA governance

35 Local Documents “University System Architecture for Integrated Enterprise Systems” msArchitecture.pdf msArchitecture.pdf “System Management for the e-University” university.pdf university.pdf

36 Questions? Q A &