The Essential Project Forum

Hi

I have just started a pilot project using Essential for modelling our enterprise architecture and have started using a deep and narrow approach. So far I have captured 2 systems some off their application services, functions and capabilities from a business through to the technical layer.

The challenge for today is how to model the (middleware) integration layer. eg.

App.crm interfaces via Int.1 to App.billing to request account information

App.billing then responds via Int.2 to provide the account information to app.crm

App.crm responds some time later to App. billing via Int.3 to ammend the account status.

We have about 50 integrations between perhaps 20 core systems.

The complexity of the integrations vary from simply file transfer to complex transformations and calculations. I would like to be able to capture the integrations as opposed to a direct link between the applications. I am not sure if I should be modelling integrations as a Software_component of an application_providor with with providor being "Middleware/integration layer".

Any hints or advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks Jason

Hi

You might read this thread which appears to touch on a similar theme:

http://www.enterprise-architecture.org/ ... ?f=8&t=115

Sorry I can't provide any more direct insight, we haven't modeled these types of detailed integrations yet.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin. Definitely worth having a look through that thread.

In summary, after some serious thought and review of our extensive experience with integration solutions and their architectures, we see integrations as a class of applications and so capture them as Application Providers. In this way, the behaviour of the integration (i.e. what a particular integration solution does) is captured as an Application Provider, the supporting integration middleware technology is captured in the technology architecture for that application and so on.

The application part of the integration is typically the specific configuration of the technology for an integration, e.g. the 'project' that you build and deploy in your integration middleware platform.

Jonathan