Mavericks8020

RFID in Healthcare

2009-11-29T15:11:00.006-05:00

These days Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is being increasingly used in a number of industries as a tool for integration. One of the fields where this technology is proving to be very useful is the Healthcare industry. RFIDs can be used to monitor the movement of the patient, administering the right medicines to the patients, also to monitor if the right patient is being operated upon or not. It helps track the supplies of medicines/blood samples before and after administering the dosage. Using RFID enables the hospital to track which materials have been used and whether the disposables have been discarded or not. This kind of tracking is possible for every single patient in the hospital.

Here is a video on the use of RFID in Healthcare:

Reference:

Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClWo57oCpMM

Human Systems Integration

2009-11-24T15:38:00.005-05:00

I happen to come across this article on Human Systems Integration (HSI). It seemed pretty interesting to me so I thought of exploring the topic a little further.

Human Systems Integration (HSI) is a multidisciplinary field of study composed of several basic areas:

Human Factors Engineering
Systems Safety
Health Hazards
Personal Survivability
Manpower
Training
Habitability

HSI emphasizes Human considerations as the top priority in systems design to reduce life cycle costs and optimize system performance.

Human Systems Integration is gaining importance in the defense forces (the Air Force, the Navy and the Army). A lot of research is being conducted in these areas and also at NASA, as HSI is believed to provide a number of benefits such as minimizing the cost of ownership throughout a systems life cycle, provide human centered approach to acquisition, etc.

References:

http://www.nps.edu/or/hsi/

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090115-062.pdf

http://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/awards_pubs/hf101.php

Cloud Computing for B2B Integration

2009-11-19T21:16:00.006-05:00

Here is a continuation to our presentation on B2B integration. This video shows how cloud computing can be used for B2B integration and It introduces the architecture 'Multi-tenancy' used while implementing cloud computing.

References:

http://home.messagexchange.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=90

Presentation 2: B2B integration

2009-11-17T16:02:00.014-05:00

Hi All,

We will be presenting our second presentation on tuesday (Nov 17).

As mentioned in the earlier post, we will start with an introduction on B2B integration and its basics. We will study the evolution of B2B integration and the need to have this idea around. We will analyze the data integration challanges in the retail industry and propose a solution for that. We will discuss few other attributes and technologies associated with B2B integration. We will discuss by analyzing the challaenges in the implementation of B2B integration and its relevance in the real world. Finally, we will take up a case of retail gian TESCO and see how it has used B2B to streamline its IT operations.

Here is our presentation:

Suggested Reading:

http://www.b2bintegration.co.uk/Getting_Started/b2bi_basics.htm

B2B Integration: A Practical Guide To Collaborative E-Commerce, Gunjan Satmani [BOOK]

http://it.toolbox.com/wiki/index.php/B2B_Integration

http://www-07.ibm.com/in/events/swu08/pdf/day2/keynote/xsw_preso_pete_murchison_keynote4.pdf

http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/b2b-integration.aspx

http://www.soberit.hut.fi/T-86/T-86.161/2005/B2Bi-final.pdf

J. Jung, H. Kim and S. Kang, Standards-based approaches to B2B workflow integration, Computers and Industrial Engineering 51 (2006)

http://knowledgeweb.semanticweb.org/o2i/scenarii/Service%20Industry/ServiceIndustryBusinessCase4.pdf

https://doc.novay.nl/dsweb/Get/File-21651/D1.3.5v1.3%20B2B%20integration%20the%20playing%20field.ppt

http://www.sti-innsbruck.at/fileadmin/documents/teaching_archive/b2b05/B2B-IntroductionToB2B.pdf

http://www.cedar.com.tw/pdf/BlueStar%20Integration%20Server%202008.pdf

B2B Integration

2009-11-16T23:07:00.008-05:00

Our Presentation on 17th November is on B2B Integration. The topics that would be covered are:

1. B2B Basics

2. B2B Evolution

3. Components of B2B

4. B2B in Retail Industry – Challenges & Solution

5. Styles of B2B integration

6. Benefits of B2B

7. Where is B2B implemented?

8. B2B Standards

9. B2B Technologies

10. B2B Security

11. Case Study - Tesco

References:

http://www.b2bintegration.co.uk/Getting_Started/b2bi_basics.htm

http://it.toolbox.com/wiki/index.php/B2B_Integration
http://www-07.ibm.com/in/events/swu08/pdf/day2/keynote/xsw_preso_pete_murchison_keynote4.pdf
http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/b2b-integration.aspx
http://www.soberit.hut.fi/T-86/T-86.161/2005/B2Bi-final.pdf
http://knowledgeweb.semanticweb.org/o2i/scenarii/Service%20Industry/ServiceIndustryBusinessCase4.pdf
https://doc.novay.nl/dsweb/Get/File-21651/D1.3.5v1.3%20B2B%20integration%20the%20playing%20field.ppt
http://www.sti-innsbruck.at/fileadmin/documents/teaching_archive/b2b05/B2B-IntroductionToB2B.pdf
http://www.cedar.com.tw/pdf/BlueStar%20Integration%20Server%202008.pdf

ActiveVOS - Business Process Management System (BPMS)

2009-11-02T15:49:00.007-05:00

We had few interesting presentations in class which touched upon Business Process Management. I found an interesting tool that allows individuals to create integrations and workflows where various system elements are combined to support well-defined processes.

Basics:

ActiveVOS is a Visual Orchestration System which uses BPEL 2.0 as the bedrock execution platform for the Visual Orchestration System, and includes support BPELforPeople and WS-Human Task for integrating humans into automated business processes. Orchestration tools allow individuals to create integrations and workflows where various system elements can be combined to support well-defined processes.

Target Users:

Development teams -- business analysts, developers and enterprise architects -- folks who need a Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) that delivers process applications quickly, easily and affordably.

Sample working screen:

Real world example:

Case study - Synovus Financial Corp

Synovus Financial Corp. is a diversified financial services holding company with more than $30 billion in assets, based in Columbus, Georgia. Synovus provides integrated financial services including banking, financial management, insurance, mortgage, and leasing through 35 banks, 440 ATMs and other Synovus offices in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. Long-term financial growth has placed Synovus in the top level of the high performers in the financial services industry for three decades. Synovus has grown from a $147 million one-bank holding company in 1972 to today's $30 billion diversified multi-state financial servicesprovider.

With such rapid and expansive growth, Synovus faced many integration challenges. The company is now using the leading visual orchestration system, ActiveVOS™, to integrate and manage multiple mission-critical applications as part of its servicesoriented architecture (SOA) implementation. The benefits so far? Reduced
integration costs through the reuse of architecture and services, a scalable platform, faster time to market and a higher degree of customer satisfaction.
FULL document : http://www.activevos.com/doc/aug2008-synovus-casestudy.pdf

References:

http://www.vosibilities.com/

http://www.activevos.com/index.php

http://www.activevos.com/bpm-bpms-bpmn-bpel-examples.php

http://bpel.xml.org/service/active-endpoints-visual-orchestration-system-for-execution-of-bpel-20

The Overlapping Worlds of SaaS and SOA

2009-10-27T10:54:00.012-04:00

How SaaS and SOA will enable "IT as a Service"

As we get into more details of SOA, it would be interesting to know some of its functionality that overlaps with those of Software as a Service. Here's an interesting article by Vinay Singla which briefs us about these two concepts:

Software as a Service (SaaS) is getting a lot of attention these days. The concept of SaaS is not new and has existed for a while. It has been referred to by other names such as Application Service Provider (ASP), Managed service provider (MSP), on-demand services, cloud computing, utility computing etc. SaaS involves exposing applications over the network on a subscription basis with the pay-as-you-go model. This model was earlier popular with only small businesses who didn't want to invest heavily in their own IT departments, but slowly, this model is making its way into medium and large enterprises. SaaS offerings from companies such as SalesForce.com and Cisco WebEx have made this move up the chain possible. SaaS value proposition is now pretty clear to companies of all sizes and SaaS has become a crucial component of IT strategy for all companies.

Similarly, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is getting a lot of attention these days. Again, the basic concept behind SOA is not new and has existed for a long time. SOA basically involves exposing functionality from distributed systems in the form of stateless functions; this is similar to other distributed system architectures such as CORBA and DCOM. What is making SOA much more popular and prevalent than CORBA or DCOM ever did is the web services standards such as SOAP, WSDL, UDDI etc. Similar standards existed with CORBA and DCOM as well but were not open enough and led to vendor or technology lock-in. With web services, all the major vendors are behind the same set of standards, so there is a higher chance of interoperability between various systems and hence a higher potential ROI for SOA.

SaaS deployments are revenue generating businesses targeted directly at end users, whereas SOA deployments are usually created within IT environments and the services are exposed to other applications as opposed to end users. This way SaaS and SOA are very complementary in nature. In fact, they can't exist without each other.

What are the key elements of a SaaS platform? Every SaaS platform has to have a few core things in place, these are: multi-tenancy, ordering and provisioning, user authentication and authorization, service catalog and pricing, service monitoring, SLA management, usage metering, billing, invoicing and payments. Besides these core components, a SaaS platform also needs to support the usual business functions such as marketing, lead tracking, sales, customer support, revenue and financial management, partner settlement, business intelligence etc.

Now, let's take a look at the key elements of a SOA platform. A typical SOA platform deployment consists of service producers and consumers from across the enterprise. Service producers publish services via the SOA platform, which get consumed by multiple service consumers. There has been a lot of focus on the technical aspects of a SOA platform e.g. service bus, communication protocols (e.g. SOAP), service interface definitions (e.g. WSDL), service discovery (e.g. UDDI) etc. The importance of service monitoring, management and governance is also well understood, but this is not enough. In a typical large enterprise, the service producers and consumers could be applications or systems belonging to different departments, organizations or even subsidiaries within the enterprise. In such environments, services cannot be produced and consumed informally without proper service management in place since there is a cost associated to hosting and exposing a service by the service producer. In order to derive this cost, the total cost of operations or ownership (TCO) needs to be taken into account besides the cost to create the service. Also, there are security concerns around publishing the services openly. This leads to the need for service catalog management, provisioning, authentication, authorization, usage metering and cross-department charging. As highlighted before, these are also the core elements of a SaaS platform. So as an enterprise SOA deployment matures, it is suddenly in need of the core functions of a SaaS platform.

Let's take a look at the flip side of this. Every SaaS platform needs to support the ability to add new service offerings and modify existing offerings in the service catalog with minimal changes to the core platform components. These additions or modifications should not lead to creation of a whole new SaaS platform for every service. Instead, all the basic functionalities of the SaaS platform such as ordering and provisioning, authentication and authorization, service catalog and pricing, metering, billing and invoicing, payments etc should be reused for multiple service offerings. Such reuse necessitates the need for a SOA platform. Further, use of a SOA platform enables other advantages such as a more flexible and plug-n-play architecture leading to lower overall cost of ownership.

It is probably quite intuitive that most complex architectures including SaaS architecture will benefit from SOA capabilities, but a SOA platform needing SaaS capabilities is not that intuitive. There has been a lot of hype around SOA for a while but most SOA deployments in large enterprises have either not been successful or have not provided the expected ROI because the SaaS elements are missing in these deployments. In order to realize the full benefits of large-scale SOA deployments, it is essential to have a SaaS like service management functionality in place. This is where SOA and SaaS together can enable the concept of "IT as a service" and help take IT to the next natural step in its evolution.

References:
http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/

http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/?q=node/1047073

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service#SaaS_and_SOA.5B10.5D

Business Scenario: Human Workflow using IBM Websphere

2009-10-27T10:22:00.009-04:00

Human workflows
Using WebSphere Business Modeler, IBM WebSphere Integration Developer, and IBM WebSphere Process Server, you can model a business solution, compose and assemble the solution, implement it, deploy it to a runtime server, and the administer it as part of your solution. You can continue to refine the model and the implementation iteratively. This scenario will help you plan the steps in this end-to-end process. It will also direct you to documentation that describes core tasks and helps you make good decisions along the way.

Description:
People play an important role in many of the different implementations of BPM systems. These human interactions can vary from a simple task-assignment process to a very complex business-process notification and task reassignments. Using IBM WebSphere Business Modeler, WebSphere Integration Developer, and WebSphere Process Server, you can model a human workflow, compose and assemble the solution, implement it, deploy it to a runtime server, and then administer the components of the workflow. This end-to-end scenario directs you to the documentation that describes the core tasks that are involved.

Business challenge:
Many enterprises are looking at ways to automate their business processes. However, total automation of business processes, while desirable, in practice is unachievable. This is because certain activities that require human judgment or human expertise, such as the manual handling of exceptional situations or the approval of requests, are always performed by people. Therefore, it is common for business processes to consist of a combination of automated steps and steps with human interaction. Often the human involvement in a business process is an area that is not maximized, and usually gains can be made quickly in improving productivity, reducing costs, and better utilization of knowledge.

Solution:
This scenario begins when a business analyst models a process, including the human tasks, in WebSphere Business Modeler. The business analyst can export the business process model directly into WebSphere Integration Developer. This direct transfer of information simplifies application development by shortening the time required to create a process application and ensuring the accurate communication of the business requirements for the application. While an integration developer works with the application in WebSphere Integration Developer, the business analyst can continue to develop and refine the model using WebSphere Business Modeler. The integration developer can accept changes completely or selectively. The development team uses WebSphere Integration Developer to implement the process. In addition, a Web developer can adapt the client user interface to meet the needs of the business users that work with the human tasks. They use both WebSphere Process Server and Business Process Choreographer Explorer to test and deploy the application.

Implementation highlights:

Specify what to model.
Use a business modeler to define the process model, including the human tasks.
Use a publisher server to publish reviewed and approved versions of processes to which the wider enterprise can refer.
Simulate the process to verify performance.
Use an integration developer to integrate artifacts with the model.
Use a process server to deploy the process.

Products:

WebSphere Integration Developer, Version 6.2
WebSphere Business Modeler, Version 6.2
WebSphere Process Server, Version 6.2

References:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/integration/wps/library/

IBM® WebSphere® Process Server, Business Modeler

2009-10-25T14:52:00.007-04:00

In my last post, I gave a brief overview on the IBM WebSphere Integration Developer. In this post, I am introducing the products IBM® WebSphere® Process Server and IBM WebSphere Business Modeler. These products together deliver a rich process integration platform for enterprise services based on SOA.

IBM® WebSphere® Process Server is a high-performance business process automation engine to help form processes that meet your business goals.
One of the biggest challenges for businesses is to have the agility to respond on demand to business processes. Unlike traditional integration methodologies, WebSphere Process Server allows you to respond dynamically to business demands and adapt to business conditions. This is accomplished with rich features like business rules, business state machines, and interface mapping. Its open standards-based services architecture allows clients to change underlying IT assets, with minimal impact on business processes. This orchestration of your business assets into highly optimized and effective processes will meet your business goals, whether you need to automate processes in the factory, process claims and financial payments, execute an efficient supply chain, or ensure compliance with the latest industry regulations.

Built on open standards, it deploys and executes processes that orchestrate services (people, information, systems, and trading partners) within your service-oriented architecture (SOA) or non-SOA infrastructure.

Helps increase efficiency and productivity by automating complicated processes that span people, partners, and systems.

Helps cut costs by enabling flexible business processes with reusable assets, reducing the need to hard-code changes across multiple applications.

Extends value of core applications by centralizing business processes and sharing them across the enterprise to maximize resources and increase ROI.

Strong support for human workflow and enables rapid process changes, providing the business agility required to compete in emerging markets by leveraging resources efficiently.

Accelerates time to value by enabling rapid change and reconfiguring of existing IT assets without redeployment.

IBM WebSphere Business Modeler and WebSphere Business Compass

Business process modeling with IBM WebSphere Business Modeler enables you to visualize, document, model, and analyze business processes for understanding and process execution. IBM WebSphere Business Compass enables users to collaborate with stakeholders via a Web browser to translate business intent into process execution through strategy maps, capability maps, process models, and other BPM assets.
IBM® WebSphere Business Modeler is IBM's premier business process modeling and analysis tool for business users.

It offers process modeling, simulation, and analysis capabilities to help business users understand, document, and deploy business processes for continuous improvement.

Enables business users to design, model, and deploy vital business processes

Allows users to make informed decisions before deployment through advanced simulation capabilities based on modeled and actual data

Provides integrated industry content to help business users jumpstart solution development

Accelerates process optimization by allowing users to visualize and identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in processes

Provides enhanced integration through role-based business spaces, a unified end user interface that integrates BPM content for a holistic management of business processes

Enables subject matter experts to share models and collaborate to translate business intent into process models using a Web browser with WebSphere Business Compass

References:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/integration/wps/

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/integration/wbimodeler/

CIS 8020 Assignment 2 AS Google Charts

2009-10-24T16:50:00.089-04:00

Business Scenario: Copsi Co. Strategy review

Beverage giant Copsi is having an organization wide strategy review with its stakeholders. Senior managers decide to perform a quick analysis on the organization's current market standing. Copsi’s board decides to perform sales studies based on geography. They have to find out the states where Copsi is the number one selling beverage. Then they have to find out the states where they have maximum sales so that they can focus on market retention.

Finally they plan to do some retrospective performance measurement on the maximum revenue contributing States (this data needs to be inferred for previous states). Looking at the complex nature of the problem they plan to hire Mavericks8020 consulting firm to perform this strategy review.

This requirement can be handled effectively wit the help of Google Chart API. As per our requirements we can take up sales data and provide it as an parameter to build up our required URL.

Google Charts API

The Google Chart API helps us in dynamically generating charts and graphs, and easily including these images in our webpage. Several types of image can be generated — line, bar, and pie charts for example.For each image type you can specify attributes such as size, colors, and labels. Including a Chart API image in any blog or website page can be done simply by embedding a URL within an img tag, in the same way you would place any image that’s hosted on the internet. When the webpage is displayed in a browser, the Chart API renders the chart or graph as a PNG-format image within the web page.

Google Charts Vs Other Charts

Our business scenario requires us to study the sales data on a geographical scale. We require that our data must be dynamic in nature so that we can perform further analysis on it. For building charts we could have used other visual editor tools such as MS Visio, Adobe dreamweaver and other graphic editors. Few points that make Google charts a clear winner are its dynamic capabilities and less programming overhead.

The advantages of Google Charts are:

No additional software to install
Ease of data import
Cross-browser compatible
Works on any platform that supports HTTP
Google can serve our charts OR we can download and serve them ourselves

Fig 1: States where Copsi stands as the business leader

Fig 2: Copsi's Top contributing states:

Fig 3: Copsi's business volume for the years - 2006 /2009

References

http://code.google.com/apis/chart/types.html#maps

http://code.google.com/apis/chart/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chart_API

CIS 8020 Assignment 2 LM Google Map

2009-10-24T15:20:00.003-04:00

Introduction on Google Maps for Global Positioning Systems

What is a Google Map?
Google Maps (for a time named Google Local) is a basic web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free (for non-commercial use), that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API.

Map Generator

Global Positioning System?
The Global Positioning System, or GPS, can show you your exact position on Earth any time, anywhere, in any weather. The system consists of a constellation of 24 satellites (with about 6 "spares") that orbit 11,000 nautical miles above Earth’s surface and continuously send signals to ground stations that monitor and control GPS operations.
Global positioning system applications generally fall into 5 major categories:
1. Location - determining a position

2. Navigation - getting from one location to another

3. Tracking - monitoring object or personal movement

4. Mapping - creating maps of the world

5. Timing - bringing precise timing to the world

As part of the assignment, I would be covering the use of GPS in the U.S. military .

The GPS system has proved to be a valuable aid to U.S. military forces. Picture the desert, with its wide, featureless expanses of sand. The terrain looks much the same for miles. Without a reliable navigation system, U.S. forces could not have performed the maneuvers of Operation Desert Storm. With GPS the soldiers were able to go places and maneuver in sandstorms or at night when even the Iraqi troops who lived there couldn’t. More than 1,000 portable commercial receivers were initially purchased for their use. The demand was so great that before the end of the conflict, more than 9,000 commercial receivers were in use in the Gulf region. They were carried by soldiers on the ground and were attached to vehicles, helicopters, and aircraft instrument panels. GPS receivers were used in several aircraft, including F-16 fighters, KC-135 aerial tankers, and B-52 bombers. Navy ships used them for rendezvous, minesweeping, and aircraft operations.
GPS has become important for nearly all military operations and weapons systems. It is also used on satellites to obtain highly accurate orbit data and to control spacecraft orientation.

Other Google Map Applications

Google Maps for mobile

On November 28, 2007, Google Maps for Mobile 2.0 was released. It introduced a GPS-like location service that does not require a GPS receiver. The "my location" feature works by utilizing the GPS location of the mobile device, if it is available. This information is supplemented by the software determining the nearest cell site. The software then looks up the location of the cell site using a database of known cell sites. The software plots the streets in blue that are available with a yellow icon and a green circle around the estimated range of the cell site based on the transmitter's rated power (among other variables). The estimate is refined using the strength of the cell phone signal to estimate how close to the cell site the mobile device is.

Google Maps in Google Latitude:

Google Latitude is a feature from Google that lets users share their physical locations with other people. This service is based on Google Maps, specifically on mobile devices. There's an iGoogle widget for Desktops and Laptops as well. Some concerns have been expressed about the privacy issues raised by the use of the service.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWNa5b9lMRY&feature=player_embedded
http://www.aero.org/education/primers/gps/whatisgps.html

CIS 8020 Assignment 2 AM Google Maps

2009-10-24T13:53:00.011-04:00

A Graduate student has recently joined the Master’s in Computer Information Systems Program being offered at the Robinson College of Business. On his first day working as a Graduate Research Assistant for the department he is faced with a situation on where to have lunch. As he is new to the city he does not have too many friends and is unaware of any restaurants close to the college that he can try out.

Lucky for him, he came across this post, by Mavericks8020, on the use of APIs in locating restaurants in a given location. Google Maps API is an ideal solution to this kind of a problem. It generates a dynamic map which can be integrated on a web page allowing users to interact with it.

Prototype is as shown below:

View Larger Map

Its various views such as satellite, map, hybrid, etc. give the user an almost exact picture of the world out there. Google Maps APIs are easy to use, setup and customize. It saves the time and effort required in coding the same.

References:
http://maps.google.com/
http://docs.google.com/
http://home.olemiss.edu/~jcchurch/mapapi.html

WebSphere Integration Developer (WID)

2009-10-23T15:38:00.019-04:00

Integration developers have to learn only one set of skills, using one tool for many uses. WebSphere Integration Developer is the Eclipse-based tool for building SOA-based BPM and integration solutions across WebSphere Process Server, IBM WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus and IBM WebSphere Adapters. As a result, WebSphere Integration Developer simplifies integration with rich features that accelerate the adoption of SOA by rendering existing IT assets as service components that encourage reuse and efficiency. It enables rapid assembly of business solutions by wiring reusable service components that can be discovered from multiple locations such as the WebSphere Service Registry and Repository. It also provides a component architecture that simplifies component interfaces and plug-and-play solutions.

WebSphere Integration Developer targets integration specialists. These users are not Java, WSDL, or XSD experts. They focus on integrating applications and addressing the types of problems discussed above -- and of course they want to do it as easily as possible. Figure below illustrates the relationship between the skill set of the integration specialist and other user roles.

New features in WebSphere Integration Developer V7.0

1. Accelerates time to value

New guided task flows: get started quicker with the new guided task flows that provide simple multi-step instructions embedded in the tool that guide the user through the process of creating new services, mediations and other common activities.
Develop solutions faster and more completely with support for additional patterns.
Support for parallel approval human workflow: provides capabilities to easily create complex parallel approval processes that can be dynamically changed.

2. Enhancements for iterative development with WebSphere Business Modeler:

Makes changes more quickly with the new visual compare and merge function.
Detects more changes in maps, and other elements.
Preserves and prevents overwriting of Forms, maps, and other elements created and maintained within WebSphere Business Modeler.
Preserves annotations embedded within the process diagram as sticky notes.

3. Simplifies the tooling experience and accelerates solution development:

Test your solution before you have completed it by leveraging the integrated test client to test partially completed modules with scaffolded services.
Enhanced mapping capabilities.
Improves sticky note support.
Support for Lotus Forms Server: leverage Web-based Forms rendered from the Lotus Forms Server in addition to the existing Lotus Forms Client for rendering capabilities.
Improves productivity: faster builds, faster deployment, smaller technology footprint, and improved problem determination.
Improved installation with enhancements to the Launchpad and installs to provide more user control over what is installed that will help optimize memory footprint:
Integrated WebSphere Business Monitor toolkit and WebSphere Business Monitor test environment.
Integrated Lotus Forms Designer V3.5.1 and Lotus Forms Server V3.5.1 for development and testing of Forms with your process flows

References:
http://www.crosschecknet.com/soa_testing_tool_ibm_WebSphere.php
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/integration/wid/

ARCO Case Study : Warehouse and Logistics Integration

2009-10-22T11:47:00.015-04:00

About Arco:

Arco is UK’s leading supplier of Safety clothing, workwear, safety boots and safety equipment. It has 100,000 customers in the UK. It has seen a significant growth in recent years with a revenue of £200 million per year. Arco processes 50,000 garments per week which includes garment decoration. This needed good managing and that’s when SAP Warehouse Management (WM) cames into the picture.

Problems / Challenges: -

- No legacy system; updating data was costly

- Implementation was a tensed time. Only 48 hours to roll out the solution, which meant the old system was to be swapped out, and the new solution was to be loaded on time.

Solution Specification:

- A solution that not only provides standard warehouse functionality but also accommodates all the needs for garment decoration and warehouse packing function.

Arco's Warehouse Management solution:

Utilize and benefit from the SAP product suite (SAP Business Suite).
Track products from receipt right through until dispatch using RF devices to trace every movement.
Real Time Data Capture was the essential element of the solution.
Arco’s previous solution provided integration of RF devices. In WM, the same RF devices were used and integrated into SAP using SAP concepts.
Design of the RF transactions was critical to the success of the project. A great deal of time was spent with the key warehouse users working with the ergonomics of these transactions.
Arco’s major supplies were integrated in the Warehouse Management system via EDI. It supplied advanced shipping notification which helped make goods receipt as simple as scanning the bar code and automatically populating the information inside the WM system.

Performance of the warehouse:

Key performance indicators of the warehouse was the internet based reporting system. Using this the branches were able to:

Monitor the status of their orders
Monitor the throughput of their distribution center.

Solution summary:

-> Integrated solution easing maintenance

-> Lower total cost of ownership

-> Supported growth in throughput

-> Provides foundation for future business growth

-> Delivered in 20 weeks on-time, in budget

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3vaSLDU4os&feature=player_embedded

An Interesting Case study on : Databases & Information System Integration

2009-10-20T14:36:00.024-04:00

I came across an interesting case study on Database and Information system integration. Here they have highlighted the importance of integration between existing heterogeneous applications and Databases. This article also compares the Enterprise Application Integration process to the traditional integration process.

ABSTRACT

Effective, accurate and timely application integration is fundamental to the successful operation of today’s organizations. The success of every business initiative relies heavily on the integration between existing heterogeneous applications and databases. For this reason, when companies look to improve productivity, reduce overall costs, or streamline business processes, integration should be at the heart of their plans. Integration improves exposure and, by extension, the value and quality of information to facilitate workflow and reduce business risk. It is an important element of the way that the organization’s business process operates. Data integration technology is the key to pulling organization data together and delivering an information infrastructure that will meet strategic business intelligence initiatives. This information infrastructure consists of data warehouses, interfaces, workflows and data access tools. Integration solutions should utilize metadata to move or display disparate information, facilitate ongoing updates and reduced maintenance, provide access to a wide variety of data sources, and provide design and debugging options. In this paper we will discuss integration and a case study on Hybrid Enterprise Integration within a large University using the Calopus system.

Full Document: http://www.calopus.com/Calopus_DI_ICEIS06.pdf

Schema Mapping Presentation

2009-10-13T16:11:00.020-04:00

For downloading this presentation:

1. Click on Menu -> Download or Share (this will take you to Acrobat.com)

2. Click the Download button on Top-Right hand side of the screen

SCHEMA MAPPING

2009-10-13T12:17:00.005-04:00

Our presentation for this evening (13 October) is on Schema Mapping.
Here are the topics that would be covered as a part of our presentation:

Discuss the scenario in the handout
Introduction to Schema and Schema Mapping
Need for Schema Mapping. Its significance and applications
Heterogeneous Databases
* Challenges faced - Syntactic Heterogeneity, Structural Heterogeneity, Semantic Heterogeneity
Schema matching approaches and classification - Schema based, Linguistic based, Instance based
Schema Mapping tools

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_matching
http://www.deg.byu.edu/presentations/SpResConf04/SpResConf04.yihong.ppt
http://www.cs.toronto.edu/km/mapping/index.html
http://www.cse.uconn.edu/neds/slides/jan-23-04.ppt
https://wiki.nci.nih.gov/display/caCORE/Solutions+for+caBIG+Interoperability+using+Semantic+Annotations+for+WSDL
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/alon/files/acmq.pdf
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/techarticle/dm-0407saracco/fig2.gif

(Papers)

Ontology Based Integration of Information – A Survey of Existing Approaches by H.Wache, T. V¨ogele, U. Visser, H. Stuckenschmidt, G. Schuster, H. Neumann and S. H¨ubner
Changing Focus on Interoperability in Information Systems: From System, Syntax, Structure to Semantics by Amit P. Sheth
Semantic-Integration Research in the Database Community – A Brief Survey by AnHai Doan and Alon Y. Halevy
A survey of approaches to automatic schema matching by Erhard Rahm and Philip A. Bernstein
Automatic Direct and Indirect Schema Mapping: Experiences and Lessons Learned by David W. Embley, Li Xu, Yihong Ding
Data Integration: Schema Mapping by Jan Chomicki
Grid Data Integration based on Schema-mapping by Carmela Comito and Domenico Talia
Semantic Integration: A Survey Of Ontology-Based Approaches by Natalya F. Noy
Schema Mapping and Data Integration with Clio by Barbara Eckman, Mauricio Hernández, Howard Ho, Felix Naumann, Lucian Popa

NetWeaver Video: Customer Testimonial

2009-10-06T10:53:00.007-04:00

Here's a customer testimonial from the Ericsson team with their take on the SAP NetWeaver Technology.

More customer experiences available at:

http://www.sap.com/platform/netweaver/customers/videos/index.epx

References:

http://www.sap.com/platform/netweaver/customers/videos/index.epx

SAP NetWeaver Components : Integration Layers

2009-10-05T17:46:00.020-04:00

In my last post, I gave a brief introduction on SAP NetWeaver which is the enterprise portal / integration platform for SAP. In this post, I would provide a foundation for the various components that are part of the SAP NetWeaver. This would form a basis for my upcoming posts on how the integration actually takes place in each of these components.

[Quick Reference]: SAP NetWeaver helps in integrating business processes, business applications and databases from a number of sources using web based services.

What makes SAP NetWeaver unique?
It is the first fully interoperable web based cross application platform that can be used to develop not only SAP applications but others as well. So with NetWeaver, a developer can integrate information and processes from various platforms or technologies such as Java technologies, IBM Websphere, and Microsoft’s .NET etc.

Components:
SAP NetWeaver consists of three integration layers and an application platform. The integration layers include, people integration, information integration and process integration.

People Integration – This layer ensures that users have information at hand and are able to process it quickly. This layer mainly consists of SAP Enterprise Portal and SAP Mobile Infrastructure.

Information Integration – Information Integration provides access to all structured and unstructured information in an enterprise. Information integration consists of SAP Business Information Warehouse, knowledge management, a component of the SAP Enterprise Portal, and Master Data Management.

Process Integration – Process Integration is used to streamline business processes across the company using the systems available. Process integration used XML data packages and workflow scenarios. However, the mian component used in process integration is SAP Exchange Infrastructure (XI).

Application platform - This is the SAP Web Application Server, which supports both the J2EE and ABAP runtime environments. Web applications and web services can be developed easily with the help of the application platform.

References:
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-xi
http://sapdocs.info/sap/netweaver/sap-netweaver-basics-and-components/
http://www.oies.es/oies/images/svc_sapnetweaver2.gif

Data Integration ...

2009-10-02T14:48:00.017-04:00

Data integration involves combining data residing in different sources and providing users with a unified view of these data. This process becomes significant in a variety of situations both commercial (when two similar companies need to merge their databases) and scientific (combining research results from different bioinformatics repositories, for example). Data integration appears with increasing frequency as the volume and the need to share existing data explodes. It has become the focus of extensive theoretical work, and numerous open problems remain unsolved. In management circles, people frequently refer to data integration as "Enterprise Information Integration" (EII). Data Integration is fundamental to data warehousing and is a vital process for a rich and robust data resource to deliver business intelligence solutions. Integration includes all of the activities necessary to acquire data from sources, and to transform and cleanse the data.

One approach to solve the data integration problem would be to extract the data out various database systems to one queriable schema. Architecturally, this offers a tightly coupled approach because the data reside together in a single repository at query-time.

References:

http://communication.howstuffworks.com/data-integration.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_integration

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/data-integration.html

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms978572.aspx

http://www.tdwi.org/Certification/CBIP/display.aspx?id=7153

SAP NetWeaver Portal : Enterprise Portal for Integration

2009-10-01T11:13:00.010-04:00

An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal (EIP) or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface and is designed to aggregate and personalize information through application-specific portlets. One hallmark of enterprise portals is the de-centralized content contribution and content management, which keeps the information always updated.

The enterprise portal for SAP is known as the SAP NetWeaver portal. Before we get to that, it’s important to know what exactly is the SAP NetWeaver 7.0.

SAP NetWeaver is SAP’s integrated technology platform and is the technical foundation for all SAP applications after the SAP Business Suite. Features of it are as under:

It has been marketed as a service–oriented application and integration platform that includes both application and technology. Industry analysts refer to this type of integrated platform offering as an "applistructure" (applications + infrastructure).
It provides the development and runtime environment for SAP applications and can be used for custom development and integration with other applications and systems. It, thus, helps in creating flexible enterprise architecture.
The SAP NetWeaver has been built on open standards to ensure future interoperability and broad integration.

SAP NetWeaver is part of SAP's plan to transition to a more open, service-oriented architecture and to deliver the technical foundation of its applications on a single, integrated platform and common release cycle.

The portal that is used for building up the SAP NetWeaver is called as the SAP NetWeaver Portal. With only a Web Browser, users can begin work once they have been authenticated in the portal which offers a single point of access to SAP and non-SAP information sources, enterprise applications, information repositories, databases and services - all integrated into a single user portal experience.
The NetWeaver Portal also provides the tools to manage this knowledge, to analyze and interrelate it, and to share and collaborate. With its coherent interface, role-based content, and personalization features, the portal enables you to focus exclusively on data relevant to your daily decision-making processes.

References:
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-portalandcollaboration;jsessionid=(J2EE3417700)ID0883249250DB00297482944431434420End

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.uniorg.de/image/sap_beratung/sap_netweaver_portal.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.uniorg.de/page/sap_netweaver_portal&usg=__bAAhEwmt_5wuOAqVHFGmIQdEMeA=&h=458&w=801&sz=65&hl=en&start=5&sig2=x6kWKFKgyl05j_CBfpaw-A&tbnid=y291txW9FTe_UM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsap%2Bnetweaver%2Bportal%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den&ei=c83ESovDNszDtwelnIC5AQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_portal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_NetWeaver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_NetWeaver_Portal

Nice Video on Data Integration Challenges

2009-09-29T11:10:00.005-04:00

Alan Nash

ABSTRACT
I will discuss two fundamental problems in information integration:

(1) how to answer a query over a public interface which combines data from several sources and (2) how to create a single database conforming to the public interface which combines data from several sources.

I consider the case where the sources are relational databases, where the public interface is a public schema (a specification of the format of a database), and where the sources are related to the public schema by a mapping that is specified by constraints.

SI Challenges faced by the Healthcare Industry

2009-09-29T00:14:00.004-04:00

An article by Jane Grimson, William Grimson and Wilhelm Hasselbring highlights the Systems Integration (SI) Challenges faced by the Healthcare industry.

These days, one of the major concerns of organizations in the Healthcare system is their inability to share information with other organizations. The need to be able to share data is required for the progress towards efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The authors of the article talk about ways in which SI can and is being used in the Healthcare industry today. The article talks about achieving Federated Healthcare in order to provide greater accessibility to patient information. A couple of examples of middleware components that provide interconnection of distributed systems are also discussed.

In order to have confidence in the use of IT in the Healthcare industry, Security and Confidentiality of sensitive patient data are required. The article lays emphasis on these characteristics and the challenges encountered by them.

The article can be found at:
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=999418

SAP Implementation - SI Perspective

2009-09-07T00:26:00.021-04:00

I have worked as an SAP ABAP Consultant and have had an opportunity to work on SAP Modules like Material Management, Finance / Controlling and Production Planning. The projects executed during this period range from sectors like IS-AUTO, Communication, Public, Banking and Utilities. Here, I would like to discuss few experiences that I had while working in one SAP integration implementation for a major US based entertainment firm.

The integration was to take place for the supply chain operations of the firm which included functions like front-of-house order-to-cash, plan-to-manufacture, procure-to-pay, and finance-control. The need for the new integrated SAP system was to position the company with globally scalable processes and systems, enable an efficient, effective and nimble operating model and to address visibility gaps and collaboration issues.

Some of the Project Challenges faced here included:

- Master Data Challenges: Hundreds of new products every week. These needed to be added to the master database.

- Product Lifecycle: Customer specific products have less than 4 weeks lifecycle

- Volume of SKU’s (Stock-Keeping Units)

- Specific Field values: Hundreds of additional non-standard fields

- Number of orders: Thousands of orders are received daily

- Outsourced Manufacturing: Production and Distribution is handled by vendors

- Accounts receivables: Millions of claims have to be handled every year for thousands of customers

- System Integration: Move from many customized and highly specialized systems to an integrated system

- A very aggressive timeline: Blueprinting and Realization to be completed within a time period of 10 months.

The project followed the Global delivery model which had an onsite team working closely with the client and multiple offshore team locations consisting of ABAP Developers (Application programming), Functional Consultants ( Certified consultants on SAP Modules like Material Management, Sales and Distribution, Finance and Controlling, Production Planning, Human Resources, etc.) and BASIS consultants (Administrative access to the SAP system).

Architecture Components:

The core SAP financial system is guarded by authentication and access controls. The SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) enables you to implement cross-system processes. It enables you to connect systems from different vendors (non-SAP and SAP) in different versions and implemented in different programming languages (Java, ABAP, and so on) to each other. The activities involved during the design and execution of this project are as under:

Blueprinting: Hierarchy Workshops, Process Decomposition, Functional Validation ; Duration: 5 months
Realization: Configuration, RICEF Mapping, Development, Unit Testing, Test Preparation; Duration : 5 months
Final Preparation: Conversion cycles, Integration test, Training Preparation; Duration : 3 months
Go-live and Support: After the user training, the system went live in the production system and support was offered by the offshore teams ; Duration: 1 month

References:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/14/80243b4a66ae0ce10000000a11402f/frameset.htm Inputs incorporated from the material that was circulated by the client.

A brief introduction of the group members

2009-08-31T01:07:00.010-04:00

Welcome to the blog by MAVERICKS8020…

Avik Mittra
Hi! I hail from the country of Snake charmers, Elephants, Chicken Curry and Outsourcing, India. I have three years of work experience in the IT industry working for Infosys Technologies Limited.
My hobbies include listening to music, playing soccer and spending time with friends.
Keeping it short. I am really looking forward to interacting with you all throughout the course of this semester.
PS: For those of you who are fond of spicy Indian Cuisines, now you know whom to contact.

Avinash Saraswat
Hey! I am Avinash and I am from India. Prior to joining Georgia State I have tried my hand on technology where I was working as a Software engineer and IT analyst for 3 years. I am here to learn and to make new friends. I hope that my experience in Georgia State is enriching.
PS: Regarding the Indian Cuisines, contact Avik only if you have health insurance in place.

Lubna Memon
I come from the city of dreams known for its fast life, great people, spicy food and an amazing social life – Mumbai. Having completed my Under Graduation from Mumbai University (India), I worked for 3 years as a SAP Consultant at IBM GBS. I am now looking forward to honing my skill set in the functional domain of IT consulting through a great classroom experience.
PS: So much for the unity of our group.