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Changing our integration mindset

Over the last few weeks, we've been working with some consultants to assess our approach to integrating business processes that involve multiple IT systems.  We have an ambition to replace many old point-to-point data transfers with more modern integration technology, enabling a more responsive user experience.  As we are consolidating many of our existing applications and gradually moving to more cloud-based services, we will need to replace many of our existing integrations and this provides an opportunity to transform our approach.

We're planning to support three types of integration:
  • Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) for message-based, inter-system processes
  • API Management for enabling portals and innovative user-facing apps
  • Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) for where we still need to move large amounts of data
On the technical front, the consultants recommend that we adopt one of a small number of cloud-based integration platforms.  The next step is to plan and execute the evaluation of candidate software, using short-term test licences of the cloud-based systems.

The more interesting challenges are the non-technical ones.  We are aiming to change the way people think about service integration.  We will explain why we’re changing things and what this will mean for the people concerned, including business colleagues and IT staff.  We need to establish governance to encourage re-use of components and to discourage ad-hoc solutions.  We may establish a new integration service.  None of this is straightforward, least of all in a University environment!

I found a useful article on the EDUCAUSE website in which a couple of American Universities summarise their experience of implementing such a change.  It make interesting reading and I recommend it.

Tying it All Together - Integration PaaS in the Next Generation Enterprise

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