pia and web services[1]

7/31/2019 Pia and Web Services[1]

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The PeopleSoft InternetArchitecture and Web Services

A Technology Overview

PeopleSoft Technology Whitepaper March 2002


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PeopleSoft Proprietary and Confidential Page 2

2002 by PeopleSoft, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Printed on recycled paper.

Restricted Rights

Printed in the United States of America.

The information contained in this document is proprietary and confidential to

PeopleSoft, Inc.

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for

any purpose without the express written permission of PeopleSoft, Inc.

This document is subject to change without notice, and PeopleSoft does not

warrant that the material contained in this document is error-free. If you find any

problems with this document, please report them to PeopleSoft in writing.

This document contains or may contain statements of future direction

concerning possible functionality for PeopleSofts software products and

technology. All functionality and software products will be available for license

and shipment from PeopleSoft only if and when generally commercially

available. PeopleSoft disclaims any express or implied commitment to deliver

functionality or software unless or until actual shipment of the functionality or

software occurs. The statements of possible future direction are for information

purposes only and PeopleSoft makes no express or implied commitments or

representations concerning the timing and content of any future functionality or

releases.


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The PeopleSoft InternetArchitecture and Web Services

Overview

When designing the PeopleSoft Internet Architecture (PIA), PeopleSoft

engineers focused on two main goals:

1. Pure Internet Access: Any end usershould be able to access PeopleSoft

applications using standard internet protocols. HTML over HTTP was key

to this.

2. Pure Internet Integration: Anysystem should be able to access

PeopleSoft components and integrate seamlessly with PeopleSoft systems

using standard internet protocols. XML over HTTP was key to this.

Both pure internet access and integration have taken off since the design and

development of PIA. Pure internet access received much of the initial attention

in the market place. Now with the emergence of web services, pure internet

integration is beginning to receive equal billing.

This white paper provides an overview of web services technology, the

PeopleSoft technologies that deliver web services, and where PeopleSoft

believes web services are going in the future.

It is intended for both technical and non technical readers and contains the

following sections:

Overview ...................................................................................................... 3

Web Service Defined ................................................................................ 4

PeopleSoft Web Services Technology.......................................................... 6

PeopleSoft Enterprise Integration Points and Web Services ...................... 12

The Future of Web Services Technology ................................................... 13

eopleSoft

engineers focused

on pure internet

access and

integration when

designing PIA.


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Web Service Defined

Web Service is an extremely generic term and is quite often defined using a

long list of technical jargon. The PeopleSoft definition of a web service is ratherstraightforward. A web service is simply an application component that is

accessed programmatically over the internet using XML over HTTP.

Any discrete component of application functionality can be exposed as a web

service. Examples include product inventory, employee address, and customer

profile. Any of these application components can be published and accessed

over the internet as web services.

Loose Coupling

Why are web services becoming so popular? A big reason is loose coupling.

Previous attempts at distributed computing such as CORBA, DCOM, and

Distributed Smalltalk are not appropriate for low overhead, ubiquitous B2B

Internet processing because they require tight coupling between systems. These

tightly coupled integration technologies require that the developer thoroughly

understands and has control over both ends of the connection. The problems

with tightly coupled integration are not unique to internet-based integration but

also apply in many instances to intranet-based integration.

Web services are loosely coupled. They have well defined, published interfaces

and can be easily accessed from remote systems over the internet. They require

a much simpler level of coordination between systems and the underlying

technology behind the web service can be changed and replaced without

impacting the systems that invoke it.

This loose coupling nature of web services simplifies the integration process,

lowering the cost of integration and making it easier to integrate applications

than techniques used in the past.

Internet Accessible

Another issue with past integration technologies is that they were not designed

to work securely over the internet. Web services make use of the existing,

ubiquitous transport protocol of the internet: HTTP. This is the same transport

protocol that is used to deliver content over the web. Piggybacking on HTTP,web services leverage existing infrastructure and can comply with corporate

firewall policies.

Web Services Technology Stack

Web services consist primarily of the following technologies:

Web service are

application

components

accessed

rogrammatically

over the internet

using XML over

HTTP.


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HTTP

XML

SOAP

WSDL

UDDI

HTTP and XML are widely known internet standards. HTTP is the standard

internet transport protocol. XML is the widely accepted format for exchanging

data over the internet. XML is also the fundamental building block for SOAP,

WSDL, and UDDI.

XML and HTTP are critical for web services as a result of their ubiquity. They

are the most basic requirements for a web service. If an application exposes its

functionality using XML over HTTP, it is a web service. SOAP, WSDL, and

UDDI are not requirements for web services, but they make cataloging,

discovering, and implementing web services easier.

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

SOAP is the primary web services protocol. It uses XML over HTTP for

messaging and RPC-style communications.

A SOAP Message is an ordinary XML document that consists of three sections:

1. A SOAP Envelope The top element of the XML document representing

the message and defines the content of the message. It defines the

framework of what is in a message, how to process it, who should deal with

it and whether it is optional or mandatory.

2. A SOAP Header This section is optional. It contains header informationand attributes that can be set to encode and further identify the type of

processing and additional features of the message.

3. A SOAP Body This section contains the call and response information

intended for the recipient of the message. This is the message payload.

HTTP Header

SOAP Envelope

SOAP Header(optional)

SOAP Body

XML Document:

SOAP Sections in an XML document

ML is the

undamental

building block forSOAP, WSDL, and

UDDI.

ML and HTTP are

critical for web

services as a result

of their ubiquity.


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SOAP is not a requirement for exposing a web service, but should be used when

appropriate when implementing a web service. Many web services today

expose functionality over XML/HTTP without using SOAP.

Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

The shape and contents of the SOAP XML will not be the same for each

transaction. One transaction might require several input parameters, while

another might require many. The structure and contents of the request XML

must be communicated to other parties who want to invoke a given web service.

Likewise, the structure and contents of the response XML that is sent back with

the results of the transaction need to be communicated as well.

WSDL is an XML-based description of how to connect to a web service. It

references a schema which describes the inputs and outputs of a web service and

the URL to post requests to in order to invoke the web service.

WSDL is not a requirement for a web service. It simply makes it easier for theprogrammer who wants to invoke the web service to understand it.

Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)

UDDI represents a set of protocols and public/private directories for the

registration and discovery of web services.

UDDI can be used both inside and outside the firewall. It is an emerging

standard that companies can use to catalog and publish the numerous integration

points within their business processes. The internet public directories have

received much of the early attention around UDDI, but intranet deployment

behind the firewall is where UDDI will most commonly be used.

Being registered in a public or private UDDI-based directory is not a

requirement for a web service. UDDI simply makes it easier to catalog and

locate web services.

PeopleSoft Web Services Technology

The heart of the PeopleSoft web services technology is the PeopleSoft

Integration Broker (PIB). The Integration Broker is an XML messaging hubwhich publishes and subscribes both synchronous and asynchronous XML

messages between multiple systems and provides XSLT support for message

transformation. PeopleSoft Application Messaging is the primary PeopleTools

technology used within the Integration Broker for this messaging functionality.

For additional information on the Integration Broker and Application

Messaging, see theIntegration Technology of PeopleSoft 8 white paper.

eopleSoft

applications can b

both web service

clients and web

service servers

eopleSoft

application can

invoke a web

service or a

eopleSoft

application can a

as a web service.

WSDL is an XML-

based description o

how to connect to aweb service. It

describes the input

and outputs of the

web service and the

web service URL.


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PeopleSoft Integration Broker & Web Services

The Integration Broker transports messages to and from the systems it is

integrating using XML over HTTP. It also has native SOAP support for sending

and receiving messages with other systems that communicate using SOAP.

Using the Integration Broker technologies, PeopleSoft applications can be bothweb service clients and web service servers a PeopleSoft application can

invoke a web service or a PeopleSoft application can act as a web service.

The following are several examples that explain where web services-based

messaging takes place with the Integration Broker.

Synchronous Web Services Support

All PeopleSoft components can invoke or can be invoked as web services using

Integration Broker. The following explains how this works.

The following diagram summarizes the message flow of PeopleSoft SCM

invoking a Customer Profile web service in PeopleSoft CRM.

PeopleSoft

SCM

Integration

Broker

PeopleSoft

CRM

XML

XML

1.) Publishes Customer

Profile Request Message

2.) Transforms and routes

message to PS CRM

3.) Subscribes to message,

invokes Customer Profile

Component, formats message,

sends reply


message back to PS SCM

5.) Recieves Customer

Profile Request reply

message and continues on.

PeopleSoft SCM Invoking a Customer Profile Web Service in PeopleSoft CRM

PeopleSoft SCM fetches a Customer Profile from PeopleSoft CRM using the

following steps:


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1. PS SCM publishes a synchronous Customer Profile Request message which

contains the customer key data. This message is transported to the

Integration Broker over XML/HTTPS.

2. The Integration Broker receives the XML message, does any message

transformation that is necessary, and routes the request to PS CRM over

XML/HTTPS.

3. PS CRM subscribes to the message, invokes the Customer Profile

component using the customer key data that is passed in the XML message,

updates the message structure with the Customer Profile data, and replies to

the XML request from the Integration Broker.

4. The Integration Broker then replies back to the original PS SCM XML

request, passing it the Customer Profile data.

5. PS SCM receives the Customer Profile Request reply and continues on with

its processing, using the Customer data fetched from PS CRM.

It should be noted that in the above example, either PeopleSoft systems could be

replaced by non-PeopleSoft systems that communicate with the Integration

Broker using SOAP or XML/HTTP. Integration Broker was specifically

designed to integrate both PeopleSoft and non-PeopleSoft systems.

Asynchronous Web Services Support

Most discussions around web services are based on synchronous, RPC-style

integration. But sometimes the calling program does not want to incur the

overhead of synchronous calls to remote systems or deal with the scenario of the

remote system being down. Using PeopleSoft Application Messaging, webservices can be invoked asynchronously.

The following example is an asynchronous web service of PS CRM publishing a

new order to PS SCM. The example is asynchronous since PS CRM does not

need any information back from PS SCM.

Using PeopleSoftApplication

Messaging, web

services can be

invoked

synchronously or

asynchronously.


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PeopleSoft

CRM

Integration

Broker

PeopleSoft

SCM

1.) Publishes "New

Order" Message


message to PS SCM

3.) Subscribes to message, and

invokes the New Order

Component and processes the

New Order data

XML

XML

PeopleSoft CRM Asynchronously Invoking the New Order Web Service in

PeopleSoft SCM

PS CRM asynchronously invokes the New Order component in PS SCM using

the following steps:

1. PS CRM records a new order. An asynchronous New Order message ispublished and delivered to the Integration Broker over XML/HTTPS.

2. The Integration Broker receives the XML message, queues the message,

and replies back to PS CRM that the message has been successfully

received. It then does any message transformation that is necessary and

routes the request to PS SCM over XML/HTTPS.

3. PS SCM subscribes to the message and invokes the New Order component

to process the message.

Customers can integrate with any PeopleSoft component asynchronously using

PeopleSoft Application Messaging.

PeopleSoft to Mainframe Web Services Integration

Many PeopleSoft customers, especially CRM customers, store much of their

critical data in home grown mainframe systems. Using the PeopleSoft

Integration Broker, PeopleSoft applications can invoke mainframe services as

web services.


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PeopleSoft

CRM

Integration

Broker

Mainframe

XML

MQS

eries

1.) Publishes Customer

Profile Request Message

2.) Transforms message.

Invokes MQ Series , passing

the XML message over MQ

Series

4.) The Customer Proifile

component executes and the

Customer data is passed back to

MQ Series


message back to PS CRM

6.) Recieves Customer

Profile Request reply

message and continues on. 3.) MQ Series then invokes the

Customer Profile component on

the mainframe

PeopleSoft CRM Invoking a Mainframe Service as a Web Service

PeopleSoft CRM fetches a Customer Profile from the mainframe service using

the following steps:

1. PS CRM publishes a synchronous Customer Profile Request message which

contains the customer key data. This message is transported to the

Integration Broker over XML/HTTPS.

2. The Integration Broker receives the XML message and does any message

transformation that is necessary. It then invokes an MQ Series service,

passing it the XML message.

3. MQ Series then invokes the Customer Profile service on the mainframe,

passing it the customer key data.

4. The mainframe system invokes the Customer Profile component using the

customer key data that is passed in from MQ Series, updates the message

structure with the Customer Profile data, and replies to the MQ Series

request.

5. The Integration Broker then replies back to the original PS CRM XML

request, passing it the Customer Profile data.

6. PS CRM receives the Customer Profile Request reply and continues on with

its processing, using the Customer data fetched from PS CRM.

Using PeopleSoft

ntegration Broker,

eopleSoft

applications can

invoke mainframe

services as web

services.


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Mobile Agent Synchronization and Web Services

The PeopleSoft Mobile Agent is new with PeopleTools 8.4. It is device resident

application that mobile users access to view and update PeopleSoft data when

not connected to a network. PeopleSoft Mobile Sales and Field Service are two

applications based on the Mobile Agent.

Periodically, the Mobile Agent synchronizes its data with the PeopleSoft server.

The Mobile Agent uses web services technology to do this synchronization. It

communicates with the Mobile Synch Server using XML over HTTPS to pass

data to and from the server. Using web services technologies, the Mobile Agent

can synch from anywhere in the world to the corporate server securely across a

firewall.

Mobile Synch

Server

PeopleSoft

Component

Interfaces

Mobile

Agent

Mobile

Agent

Mobile

AgentMobile

Agent

XMLXML

XML

XML

Mobile

Agents Communicate to the Mobile Synch Server over XML/HTTP

Native WSDL Support

Using PeopleTools 8.4, developers can generate the XML Schema for a

PeopleSoft Enterprise Integration Point (EIP). W3C, DTD, and BizTalk format

schemas are supported. This XML Schema, along with their Integration Broker

configuration information, can be used to generate WSDL for an EIP.

In futures releases of PeopleTools, full WSDL import and export will be

supported.

Using web services

technologies, the

eopleSoft Mobile

Agent can synch

rom anywhere in

the world to the

corporate server

securely over a

irewall.


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Native UDDI Support

Since all UDDI transactions are implemented using SOAP, developers can just

use the XML Messaging in the Integration Broker to query UDDI repositories.

PeopleSoft Trading Partner Management can search for web services in a UDDI

repository and then create a new trading partner corresponding to theinformation located in the UDDI repository.

Based on the information found in the UDDI repository, the application

developer can invoke the SOAP services using PeopleTools 8.4.

PeopleSoft Enterprise Integration Points andWeb Services

PeopleSoft delivers hundreds of Enterprise Integration Points (EIP) withPeopleSoft 8. All of these EIPs can be accessed as web services in PeopleTools

8.4 through the Integration Broker.

And if a customer needs to change an EIP or develop an EIP that has not been

delivered, this can be done using Integration Broker integration tools such as

Application Messaging and Component Interfaces.

To get a complete list of EIPs, visit the Open Integration Framework web site:

http://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/products/technology/oif/index.asp

PeopleSoft B2B Web Services Partners

The following is a list of partners that PeopleSoft has worked with to deliver

web services based integration with PeopleSoft 8. All of these partners are

either exposing web services that PeopleSoft applications invoke to access

content and data, or invoking PeopleSoft web services to access content and data

in PeopleSoft applications

Authoria H&R Block Sabre/GetThere

BeyondWork Ceridian Dell Computers

EbenX ProBusiness Acxiom

GeoAccess Inlumen Embark

TALX Moreover IPrint
http://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/products/technology/oif/index.asphttp://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/products/technology/oif/index.asp


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Intuit Factiva Boise Cascade

RecruitUSA CustomerSat HireRight

AIRS JustTalk HP

PeopleSoft B2B Web Services Partners

PeopleSoft expects this list of partners to grow over time as web services

become more prevalent.

The Future of Web Services Technology

PeopleSoft is quite confident that web services technology will become more

prevalent over the next several years. The following summarizes what

PeopleSoft expects to occur in the web services space by 2004:

The intranet is where web services technology will be used the most over

the next several years. XML / HTTP is already a common approach for

intranet integration. Hundreds of live PeopleSoft 8 customers are using our

web services-based integration technologies for intranet-based integration

today.

SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI will become more prevalent. UDDI servers will

act as corporate catalogs for integration points within their business

processes. These UDDI / WSDL servers will play a key role in driving

collaboration between systems within the corporate firewall.

Private trading exchanges will fully embrace SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI in

order to lower the cost of integrating new trading participants.

The jury is still out on whether or not public UDDI repositories will really

take off.

Once comfortable with intranet use of web services technology, companies

will deploy and access more web services over the internet, resulting in true

internet-based business processes.

Tools and applications vendors will continue to invest heavily in web

services technologies.

PeopleSoft will continue to innovate and lead in the in the web services

space.

eopleSoft will

continue to

innovate and lead

in the web services

space.

pia and web services[1]

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