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IT-Integration
IT integration enables the necessary networking to address software or hardware issues that arise over time. As a result, you improve your business processes, operational performance and reduce your operating costs. IT integration provides the essential foundation for agile responses to changing business requirements.
IT integration is the process of linking and connecting subsystems into a holistic system. Integration is the layer of a platform. If we refer to the software systems of a company, the aim here is to connect the various systems, such as CRM, ERP etc., and to enable the mutual exchange of data. Microservices are combined parts of an application on which the integration layer is based.
These integration solutions offer a wide variety of use cases. They enable simple queries from a wide range of web sites, as well as the receipt of information from various core systems, such as CRM, ERP, merchandise information system, or even time recording. The synchronization of master data from different systems in a single MDM system is another example. The possibilities are virtually unlimited.
It makes no difference whether it is strictly software systems that are communicating with one another or whether hardware components such as sensors are also integrated. This means IoT and edge components can also be integrated seamlessly.
The communication channels are as diverse as the use cases. The simplest is the synchronous path, such as a query of a website. Asynchronous communication is also used, enabling time-specific and event-dependent communication, to name just the two most important cases.
Last but not least, integration makes it possible to process or combine individual data over every transmission channel. In other words, source data can be formatted, combined, or transformed for the target system. Likewise, data can also be recorded from multiple systems and aggregated before it is transferred to a target system.
The integration approach with Scheer PAS involves the tried and tested combination of microservices and a classic service-oriented architecture.
Microservices enable the modularization of software in a variety of versions. They are becoming increasingly important in heterogeneous IT landscapes. Large projects can be divided into smaller units and services and remain maintainable.
The deployment is a key factor here: A clever division of the deployment into dockers, for example, makes it possible for individual microservices to address different systems through different interfaces.
This is also where the SOA comes in, ensuring a decentralized, independent infrastructure and avoiding monolithic systems that are difficult to maintain.
The ideal foundation
Problems with individual services cannot have any impact on other services, which makes Scheer PAS solutions very stable. Services can be commissioned independently of each other or can be replaced by new versions without downtime. The deployment of a service only takes a few seconds, depending on its scope. It is an ideal foundation for an iterative approach to complex solutions.
Scheer PAS starts with a process-based model. The service is implemented as a synchronous or asynchronous service, depending on the need. From this process, Scheer PAS generates a functionally equivalent xUML state machine with persistent states. This is a very powerful function since the generated service can be packaged and deployed immediately, with recording of the entire process. It writes log entries during every state transition, creating a fully transparent service.
You can also add individual steps to the model incrementally, but still have an executable service from the very first minute.
Scheer PAS integration is not a monolithic container; the services do not run “in” the Scheer PAS integration, but rather as independent processes directly in the operating system.
Solutions can be scaled nearly linearly, in line with your resource requirements. Small solutions in particular are quite frugal and have no significant overhead.
Even more importantly, the only limit to scaling Scheer PAS integration is the amount of system resources provided, not due to software or license constraints.
Summary of the advantages of microservices in integration:
- Decoupling and modularization of applications
- Detailed logging and monitoring through asynchronous communication
- Agility through fast and uncomplicated adaptation or replacement of individual microservices
- Better functional separation during development due to modularity
- Robustness through independence and protection of the services
- Better scalability through extension of individual microservices
- Simplified maintenance through focusing on individual services
The challenge
The intelligent, flexible integration of IT landscapes is a prerequisite for the implementation of digitalization strategies. Without it, companies cannot make efficient use of new possibilities in IoT; integration of customers, partners, and suppliers; or the potential of e-commerce and artificial intelligence.
The pace of digitalization is increasing, driven by hype, trends, and suspected potential for efficiency gains. New systems supplement existing IT architectures as landscapes go hybrid: There are systems both in the cloud and on premise, and in many cases legacy systems that companies continue to rely on. Nevertheless, companies want to digitize quickly and integrate flexibly and securely – independently and flexibly.
Scheer PAS integration thus not only features a classic ESB, but also a microservices-based integration layer that can be implemented and managed through modular, flexible, and agile methods.
The process-based approach in the services renders all steps transparent for logging, tracing, and analysis.
