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Integration Requirements and Scenarios

business, especially since its existing customers may also buy products through

the online store. Adventure builder enterprise also wants to leverage its customer

service department and have these same specialists service both types of custom 

ers: store front as well as online. Adventure builder enterprise expects to include

additional databases relevant for the Web site only.

This scenario illustrates an application and data integration problem. The

enterprise's existing databases store information needed by the e store, which may

need to update these databases. The databases have existing security settings, plus

protocols for transactions. The vendor for the CRM system may have provided a

J2EE connector that could be used to plug the CRM system into the enterprise's

J2EE application server. However, the order processing system, since it is home 

grown, may have no such support. 

Figure 6.1 illustrates the scenario of this application with respect to the EISs

that it uses. This example scenario touches upon many of the integration require 

ments that pertain to all enterprises. Because it is open to anyone on the Internet,

the adventure builder Web site may potentially have a large number of users,

making scalability and performance important issues. Security is an important

consideration, since adventure builder's Web site handles customer data that it

must keep private. The enterprise has the further challenge of ensuring that its

legacy systems are not stretched beyond their capabilities and that heterogeneous

platforms may host the EIS systems. 

The enterprise relies on an order fulfillment center to process orders placed

through the e store Web site. A separate department owns the order fulfillment

center, and it uses its own set of databases separate from the e store's Web site. To

keep the two data models decoupled, orders flowing between the e store and the

order fulfillment center are kept in XML format. Communication is also asyn 

chronous, allowing clients to continue their own work while an order is processed.

In essence, the order fulfillment center initiates a business process whenever it

receives an order. The business process, following a set of automated rules, inter 

acts with several systems in a workflow to complete or fulfill the order with no

human intervention. Part of the workflow includes sending confirming e mails to

customers and keeping records for administrative reports.