7. Lecture: integration of information systems of the enterprise

004 7 Лекция English Интеграция информационных систем предприятия.doc

The given lecture is devoted to questions of integration of the information systems of the enterprise. The special attention is given service - oriented to the information systems architecture .

The contentsInterrelation of information subsystems of the enterpriseService - oriented IS architectureControl questions and tasks

7.1. Interrelation of information subsystems of the enterprise

How the information systems inside the enterprise are connected? A usual way for the Russian company of the average sizes is to begin introduction of information technologies from automation of work of accounts department, staff department and document circulation. The data of these systems are most formalized, the processes are easily automated. The widely widespread packages " 1C: accounts department ", " the Boss: HR ", "LanDocs", "LanStaff", "Salary" etc. allow to increase itself by any applications and, thus, to integrate them in general information system of the enterprise.

The module TPS (Transaction Processing Systems ) serves the basic industrial and auxiliary processes, and usually it is the main source for other information modules. ESS (Executive Support System ) is main receiver of the data from the internal systems and from external environment.

Transaction Processing SystemsAs the name implies, Transaction Processing Systems ("TPS") are designed to process routine transactions efficiently and accurately. A business will have several (sometimes many) TPS; for example:1. Billing systems to send invoices to customers2. Systems to calculate the weekly and monthly payroll and tax payments3. Production and purchasing systems to calculate raw material requirements4.Stock control systems to process all movements into, within and out of the business

Executive Support SystemsAn Executive Support System ("ESS") is designed to help senior management make strategic decisions. It gathers, analyses and summarises the key internal and external information used in the business. A good way to think about an ESS is to imagine the senior management team in an aircraft cockpit - with the instrument panel showing them the status of all the key business activities. ESS typically involve lots of data analysis and modelling tools such as "what-if" analysis to help strategic decision-making.

Management Information SystemsA management information system ("MIS") is mainly concerned with internal sources of information. MIS usually takes data from the transaction processing systems (see below) and summarises it into a series of management reports.MIS reports tend to be used by middle management and operational supervisors.

Decision-Support Systems ("DSS") are specifically designed to help management make decisions in situations where there is uncertainty about the possible outcomes of those decisions. DSS comprises tools and techniques to help gather relevant information and analyses the options and alternatives. DSS often involves use of complex spreadsheet and databases to create "what-if" models.

Knowledge Management Systems ("KMS") exist to help businesses create and share information. These are typically used in a business where employees create new knowledge and expertise - which can then be shared by other people in the organisation to create further commercial opportunities. Good examples include firms of lawyers, accountants and management consultants.

KMS are built around systems which allow efficient categorisation and distribution of knowledge. For example, the knowledge itself might be contained in word processing documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations. internet pages or whatever. To share the knowledge, a KMS would use group collaboration systems such as an intranet.

Office Automation Systems are systems that try to improve the productivity of employees who need to process data and information. Perhaps the best example is the wide range of software systems that exist to improve the productivity of employees working in an office (e.g. Microsoft Office XP) or systems that allow employees to work from home or whilst on the move.

Other systems also exchange the data. Here again there is one of the most difficult questions for the chief to search of an optimum degree of integration. The large temptation is to have the absolutely integrated system, but such integration is extremely labour-consuming and costs of considerable money.

And it is better to not speak at all, in what the support of such system manages. Therefore it is necessary to weigh needs for the integrated systems, having compare needs against difficulties and dearness large-scale IS. There is no standard level of integration or centralization and each chief owes independently (or with the help of the consulting firm) to solve this uneasy problem.

Other systems also exchange the data

7.2. Connection between DSS and set TPS, KWS, MIS

The connection between DSS and set TPS, KWS, MIS are intentionally shown uncertain. Sometimes DSS is closely connected to other subsystems. But it only in the event that the enterprise differs by a high degree of automation of all processes. Usually subsystem DSS is isolated from the basic industrial information systems and uses their data and information flows for work of the analytical systems.

There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems - TPS, office systems - AOS, decision support systems - DSS, knowledge management systems - KMS, database management systems - DBMS, and office information systems OIS.

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There are no recipes on all cases - all depends on organization-functional structure of the concrete enterprise, structure of its business, real investment opportunities and policy of development.

004 5 3 10 What is Management Information Systems.doc MIS

004 3 8 12 Definition of Knowledge Management KMS

7.3. Service - oriented IS

architecture

Integration of the diverse and distributed data is not capable to solve all questions of operation of business. According to process approach the greatest value is represented not in themselves with the data, and use of the information in those or other business - processes of the company.

In advanced IS it is accepted to consider as "atomic" unit not the data in a "pure" kind, but some service appropriate to any elementary the process business . In particular, such service can simply give out any data, being by analogue of "atomic" unit classical IS.

004 5 3 5 Information systems

Now at formation of an information infrastructure of the enterprise, at designing and realization ERP the service - guided architecture (Service-Oriented Architecture - SOA) is even more often applied. Such architecture is IS, in which the system is under construction a set of the heterogeneous weak connected services . SOA is understood as the organization paradigm and use of the the distributed functions set, which can be supervised by the various owners. Base concepts of such architecture are " information service " and " composite application".

7.3.1. The information service is an atomic applied function of the automated system

The information service is an atomic applied function of the automated system, which is suitable for use by development of the application, realizing the automated processes applied logic as in the system, and also for use in the application of other automated systems.

7.3.2. The service is usually characterized by the following properties

The service is usually characterized by the following properties:

1. Opportunity of the repeated application;2. The service can be determined by one or several technologically independent interfaces;3. The allocated services are poorly connected among themselves, and each of them can be caused by means of the communication protocols, ensuring an opportunity of interaction of services among themselves.

7.4. Composite application

Composite application is program decision for a concrete applied problem, which connects applied logic of process to sources of the data and information services stored on heterogeneous set of base information systems.

Usually the composite application are associated with processes of activity and can unite various stages of processes, representing their user through the uniform interface.

Use of such approach at construction of architecture of the complex integrated information systems allows:

1. To create system corporate composite application, based on system of corporate Web-services;

2. To organize integration of the application, business - processes, with automation of business - processes, switching Human Workflow;

3. To use the various transport protocols and standards of formatting of the messages, means of a safety, reliable and duly delivery of the messages;

4. It is essential to increase speed of development of the applied application and to lower expenses for these purposes.

7.Due to use of the simple protocols the labor expenditures to support of the development are considerably reduced.

5.Due to simplification of the management environment and interaction the need for coding the new programs is reduced;

6. The reuse of services reduces expenses of the development time ; the rationalization of the inherited processes helps to reduce common number of processes, requiring exclusive methods of management;

7.5. Use of a uniform infrastructure of the description of services

Obligatory condition of construction and introduction of architecture of system on a basis SOA is use of a uniform infrastructure of the description of services (repository of services), solved protocols of access and exchange of the messages, formats of the messages.

The mentioned infrastructure forms so-called integraton trunk (ESB) (Enterprise Service Bus - ESB), being one of the central components of system. ESB establishes uniform rules of the publication of services, management and information interaction between the application of the various systems, which are included in structure of integrated system. It simplifies management of the application and their support, and also reduces risk fragmentation of the application and processes.

Each of services cooperates not with other services directly, but only with the trunk. ESB forms homogeneous environment of information interaction and is the base to integration of information systems functioning in various establishments and departments. ESB determines, who, where, how and in what order should process inquiries.

If the service (information resource) does not support these rules, it is necessary to create the intermediate module - adapter, which gives system the necessary interface and provides interaction with a resource.

On the data Gartner Group (" Predicts 2007: SOA Advances ", November 17, 2006): " By 2008 SOA ( Service Oriented Architecture) becomes prevailing architecture of construction of IT-systems, that will result in ending 40-year's era of domination of architecture of the monolithic applications ".

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

7.6. Change and perfection of business - processes

Change and the perfection of business - processes in the companies occupies years. On the data Gartner Group, 80 % of the IT-budgets are the charges on support of systems, from them 35 % - expense for integration of the appendices, 60 % of costs of introduction corporate IS make the charges on integration, 50 % of the IT-budget is spent for maintenance of interfaces of systems.

Use of SOA ( Service Oriented Architecture) allows effectively to organize operative adaptation of IT-systems under the requirements of business, that gives strategic advantage of the companies consisting in:

1. Increase of speed of adaptation of business to the quickly varying requirements of the market ;

2. Expansion of interaction of heterogeneous corporate information systems at preservation of the investments, made in them;

3. Reduction of the charges on IT-systems on the basis of a reuse of their functional components;

4. Increase of productivity of work of the clients, partners and employees (on the basis of architecture Web 2.0).

From the point of view of business SOA ( Service Oriented Architecture) it is possible to present as a set of flexible services and processes, which the business offers to the customers, partners or inside own organization. In the given context the same services it is possible differently to combine and to equip, supporting changes or development of the business - requirements and models with current of time.

7.7. Business - purpose of the SOA introduction

The basic business - purposes of introduction of the SOA-decisions consist in liquidation:

1. Fragmentation and duplication of the data;2. Duplication of realizations of business - functions, procedures, processes;3.Nonflexible architecture.

The SOA standing and the development occured on the basis of the practical requirements of business, consisting, first of all, in reasonable economy of program and technological means and expenses for realization and support of an information infrastructure:

1. To provide continuity of the investments in IT, preservation of existing information systems and their joint effective utilization for increase ROI from IT-investments;

2. To provide realization of various types of integration:

2.3. Integration of processes (Process Integration) - integration of processes according to business - logic of activity of the enterprise;

2.4. Information integration (Information Integration) - integration with the purpose of maintenance of availability of the information and data;

2.1. User integration (User Integration) - maintenance of interaction of information system with the concrete user;

2.2. Integration of the Applications (Application Connectivity) - maintenance of interaction of the Applications;

2.5. Integration of the new applications (Build to Integrate) - integration of the new applications and services in existing information systems.

3. To provide step-by-step of introduction of the information systems, again created, and migration of existing information systems;

The today's level of development SOA allows to assert, that all specified requirements, in this or that measure, are carried out.

4. To have the standard technological security of realization and toolkit of development as a group, giving best opportunities of a reuse of the applications, introduction new and migration of existing information systems;

5. To allow realization of various models of construction of information systems, in particular, such as the portal decisions, grid-system and on-demand-системы.

7.8. Growth of the market of products for the SOA-decisions

Growth of the market of products for the SOA-decisions - 100 % per one year. In 2007 SOA will be used as a basis of creation 50 % of the new applications, critical for business and business - processes; by 2010 this parameter вырастет up to 80 %. More than 80 % of the applications entered into industrial use in 2006, will be partially or are completely reconstructed by 2010 to be used in construction of the composite applications in SOA- to architecture.

By 2010 more than 80 % of all program infrastructural products will include the corporate trunk of services or to require its use. Among the executive directors of the companies 54 % count , that in the period till 2010 among the main strategic advantages of the companies the new models of business have the greater meaning, than release of new products and services. On the data Forrester (" The State of SOA in Financial Services ", January 2006), " the Overwhelming majority of the financial companies will use SOA by the end of 2008. In general, 50 % of the European financial companies or already use SOA or are at last stage of its introduction ".

Service Oriented Architecture

7.8. Control questions and tasks

In what the essence of integration of information resources of the enterprise consists?What such IS service - oriented architecture?How the information service is formed?On the basis of what elements are realized the corporate composite applications?

What such plays Web-service and what role such service in an information infrastructure of the company?

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