Transcript Technology Details - Northwestern University

Overview:
Application Integration, Data
Access, and Process Change
November 16, 2005
Tom Board, NUIT
2
Thesis
• Service-Oriented Architecture will become an
assumed infrastructure
• Web Services will be the near-term technology
of choice for SOA deployment
• With planning, SOA will enable real-time
processes, allow secure access to data
elements, and support distributed development
• Success will depend upon skill with the
technologies and central adoption of SOA
3
Agenda
• What are the Problems?
• Industry Trends in Application Integration
• What is NUIT Planning?
• How Should Application Administrators
and Planners Prepare?
• Wrap-up
4
Agenda
• What are the Problems?
• Industry Trends in Application Integration
• What is NUIT Planning?
• How Should Application Administrators
and Planners Prepare?
• Wrap-up
5
Problems
• Sluggish inter-office business processes
• Current costs to integrate applications and
maintain linkages over software changes
• Meeting community expectations for
processes
– Paper to electronic
– Daily to real-time
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Today’s Point-to-Point Approach
?
GRANITE
RDIA
ISIS
Blackboard
Data
Warehouse
?
Parking
Effort
Reporting
eIRB
Pre-award
Human
Resources
CTEC
Time
Entry
Student
Systems
Wildcard
Resource
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SNAP
Housing
Financial
Alumni
Voyager
Telecom
Student
Loans
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Point-to-Point is Not Easy
• Definitions of data items must be reconciled
between systems
• Methods of moving data must be agreed
• Data interchange representations must be
agreed
• Software to move internal representations
to/from interchange form must be written, tested
and maintained
• Security/encryption must be agreed
• Linkage is often unique and not reused
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Implications
• Scale Problem
– Cost to establish linkages – custom coding
– Cost to maintain custom linkages
– Linkages are brittle due to object dependency
– Testing all links when software is changed
• Data Definition Problem
– ANY linkage requires common definitions
– Push for real-time processes requires
definitions across multiple linkages
9
Agenda
• What are the Problems?
• Industry Trends in Application Integration
• What is NUIT Planning?
• How Should Application Administrators
and Planners Prepare?
• Wrap-up
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Industry Finally “Gets It”
Vendors are moving to:
• Eliminate custom linkages through reusable
service interfaces
• Eliminate object representation dependencies
through standard data types
• Design for heterogeneous, network-based
application environment
• Settle upon and deploy standards!
Are we approaching a “fax” breakthrough?
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Service-Oriented Architecture
• Distributed functionality exposed as
shared, reusable services
• Goal is to streamline deployment, reduce
duplication of functions, and allow
execution of business processes across
diverse application platforms in a network
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Network SOA
University Network
Central Business Functions
Application A
Application B
School
Application
External Partner
X
Communication Infrastructure
Application C
Application D
Division
Application
External Partner
Y
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Why is SOA a Solution?
Point-to-Point
SOA
• Definitions of data items must be
reconciled between systems
• Problem remains: data item definitions
must be reconciled between systems
• Method of moving data must be agreed
• Standard set – http/https
• Data interchange representation must be • Standard set – XML/SOAP
agreed
• Software to move internal
representations to/from interchange form
must be written, tested and maintained
• Tools within vendor products are
transparent (e.g. .NET-to-SOAP, J2EEto-SOAP, C++-to-SOAP, etc.)
• Security/encryption must be agreed
• Standard set – WS-Security
• Linkage is often unique and not reused
• Services are designed for reuse
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Service Example
Human Resources System
Hiring Event
Enterprise Service
Bus
Queue to
Business Unit
Provision
application
Provision
ETES
Notify
supervisor
Encumber salary
and benefits
Notify unit
funds mgr
Provision
NetID
Schedule
training
Subscribe to
email lists
Notify
supervisor
Enable
Access
Provision
Wildcard
Provision
school services
Provision
calendar
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Web Services for Implementing a
Service-Oriented Architecture
• Document-oriented messaging scheme
using http/https transport and security
• Documents are self-describing XML
streams combining payload and control
information
• Separates external interface (behaviors,
logic) from internal objects, structures, and
implementation (“Loose coupling”)
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A Web Service …
• Has a URL
• Is described through a Web Service
Definition Language (WDSL) “contract” for
the benefit of potential consumers
• Uses SOAP messages over http/https
• Can be secured based upon polices in the
WSDL description or external frameworks
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Web Service Can …
• Be created through:
– .NET (Visual Studio)
– J2EE authoring environments (Eclipse)
– C++ & Visual Basic 3rd party wrappers
– PeopleSoft Component Interfaces
– PeopleSoft Integration Points
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Web Services Require…
• New approaches to development
– Services, not components
– Flat documents, not structured data
• New infrastructure
– WSDL – service “contracts”
– UDDI – service governance and polices
– Enterprise Service Bus – legacy interfaces and
publish/subscribe platform
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Web Services for SOA
University Network
Central Business Functions
UDDI
Service
Application A
Enterprise
Service Bus
WSDL
Service
Application B
School
Application
External Partner
X
Transport over http/https
Application C
Application D
Division
Application
External Partner
Y
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Agenda
• What are the Problems?
• Industry Trends in Application Integration
• What is NUIT Planning?
• How Should Application Administrators
and Planners Prepare?
• Wrap-up
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Architectural Direction
• Business Drivers
–
–
–
–
–
–
Security
Mobility
Self-service
Real-time processes
Data availability
Rapid deployment
• Architecture
– Central identity and
authentication
– Portal navigation
– Web-Service
integration
– Distributed
development
– Abstraction or
virtualization
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System Architecture
School/Department/Division Applications
Business
Business logic,
composite
applications,
service
providers and
consumers,
reporting
Specialized Enterprise Applications
Core Enterprise Systems
Virtual data
services
Data Management
Application
Servers
Processing Capacity
IP, VoIP, http,
wireless, cellular
Network
User Devices
Systems
Management
Identity
Security
Platforms
Integration
Framework
Service bus,
federation
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Web Services Infrastructure
Extract/
Download
Source systems
Real-time
messages
Downstream
Application
Monitoring &
policy enforcement
Upload
lish
Pu b
UDDI Registry
WSDL Repository
Policy Repository
Subscribe
Direct
invoca
Enterprise Service
Bus / Integration Broker
Downstream Applications
Data Transformation
tion
Management
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Timeline*
Task
Jan-Mar
2006
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
Jan-Mar
2007
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Phase 1
Sign contracts
HRIS 8.9 Implementation
Implement WAM
Deploy WAM
Experimentation with p-to-p
Deploy WSDL and UDDI
Explore SOA mgmt options
Deploy SOA mgmt
Create IdM Web Services
Cutover to IdM
SES 8.9 Implementation
Financial System Implemntation
* This timeline is for illustrative purposes only and should not be used in planning – please consult with an experienced professional. The views expressed are those of the
author and not those of NUIT. No warranty expressed or implied. YMMV. All bets are off.
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Abstraction or Virtualization
• Convert an application-specific service into
a general infrastructure service
IT
Responsibilities
Storage management
Authentication
Functional
Authorization
Unit
Responsibilities
Computing platform
Database
IT
Responsibilities
—
—
—
—
—
Unified Identity Management
and Authentication
Users
Role-Based Business Rules
Application
Business Rules
Application
Business Rules
Enterprise Service Bus
Processing
Databases
Application
Business Rules
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Abstraction of Business Processes
• The next step after SOA is composite
applications and process orchestration
– Once individual business functions are
exposed as Web Services, then new “metaprocess” coding can be built “above” them
– Combined with workflows, this can
substantially automate many functions
– This will be addressed by Business Process
Execution Language (BPEL) tools
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Meta-Processes
In
vo
ca
tio
Application A
n
Application C
Application B
Processing
Databases
Storage
Application D
External Partner
X
External Partner
Y
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Distributed Development
Portal
Database
Web Services
Infrastructure
Web Service for
data access
Authored
JSR 168
Or WSRP
Portlet
Authored
Application
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Agenda
• What are the Problems?
• Industry Trends in Application Integration
• What is NUIT Planning?
• How Should Application Administrators
and Planners Prepare?
• Wrap-up
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What Steps Should Planners and
Developers Take Today?
1. Stop buying or creating applications with “silo”
approaches – use central services
2. Stop copying data around the network
3. Work to reach community consensus on data
definitions so that integration is possible
4. Start serious discussions with your users about
what data access services they need and can
justify
5. Determine your vendor’s plans for Web Service
integration – and influence those plans
6. Train your staff on SOA and Web Services
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Stop Copying Data Around the
Network
• Problem: send e-mail from within an application
to a set of users
– Bad: Get all NetIDs and e-mail addresses from SES,
HRIS, SNAP, etc. an include in local database
– Poor: Get e-mail addresses for current users every
day and include in local database
– Correct: Get user’s e-mail address from directory
service when needed, even in large numbers
– Future? Invoke a Web Service to send e-mail
messages based upon standard identity (NetID)
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Agenda
• What are the Problems?
• Industry Trends in Application Integration
• What is NUIT Planning?
• How Should Application Administrators
and Planners Prepare?
• Wrap-up
33
Wrap Up
• SOA and Web Services are the accepted future
(example: Oracle Fusion Middleware)
• Real-time processes will improve all systems –
assume it in all new designs
• Data definitions are vital for future integration –
we must solve this aspect before it prevents
desirable improvements
• Users and stewards together should begin
designing the future now
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Professional Development Topics
• SOA & Web Services
• XML, SOAP & WSDL
• OASIS and WS-*
standards
• Enterprise Service
Bus (ESB)
• Universal Description,
Discovery, and
Integration (UDDI)
• Authoring tools for
Web Services
• Microsoft .NET versus
J2EE solutions
• Business Process
Execution Language
(BPEL)
• SOA governance
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Local Documents
“University System Architecture for Integrated Enterprise
Systems”
http://www.it.northwestern.edu/bin/docs/UniversitySyste
msArchitecture.pdf
“System Management for the e-University”
http://www.it.northwestern.edu/bin/docs/systemmgmtfore
university.pdf
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Questions?
Q&
A