Application Integration Issues Deny Companies Maximum Benefit From Investments In IT
Getting different applications to talk to each other is a problem faced by many companies. Application integration is particularly troublesome when legacy systems are involved, and transferring data between old mainframe systems and more modern applications can be cumbersome and time-consuming. A good deal of time is spent on ensuring this happens, and software is often available to help with the process.
While middle ware exists to help overcome these issues, the permutations of languages, equipment, databases, and operating system are never ending, so it is impossible to cater for every eventuality. If proprietary tools are not available, the the solution is a home-grown procedure to do the job of communicating between systems. Here the skills shortage may affect the maintainability of such software bridges.
The advent of the concept of object orientation seemed to promise some relief. Unfortunately this did not address the problem. Only if there is only one occurrence of any data, with all applications accessing it directly would the problem be obviated. As long as there are Application specific databases, the problem will persist.
Because proprietary application packages are popular, it is still possible to have a variety of object-oriented databases used by different applications where entities common to several applications are duplicated. With this situation the problem simply continues in an up-to-date guise. Because these packages are common solutions to requirements, the situation really has not changed much.
The ideal would seem to be to have common data such as customers, suppliers and anything else residing in a central database with standard data maintenance and query modules associated with it. Any new applications or packages should link to this, while any data used only within an application could be kept separate or integrated, as preferred.
Unfortunately this scenario is very much one for the future. At the moment the world of application systems is very imperfect, as companies still struggle to come to terms with their model T applications. What is needed is the same sort of attitude as with machinery, where equipment that still works is quickly replaced by more efficient machines: an approach that drove America to the forefront among manufacturing nations.
A disproportionate amount of time and money is absorbed by application integration. Many smaller companies cannot deal with the complexities, and simply choose to live with the problem. In time it is possible that a move might be started towards rationalizing the whole approach to applications. Maybe one day everybody will look back and laugh at the current state of the art, after computers have fully emerged from the Dark Ages of systems development.
While middle ware exists to help overcome these issues, the permutations of languages, equipment, databases, and operating system are never ending, so it is impossible to cater for every eventuality. If proprietary tools are not available, the the solution is a home-grown procedure to do the job of communicating between systems. Here the skills shortage may affect the maintainability of such software bridges.
The advent of the concept of object orientation seemed to promise some relief. Unfortunately this did not address the problem. Only if there is only one occurrence of any data, with all applications accessing it directly would the problem be obviated. As long as there are Application specific databases, the problem will persist.
Because proprietary application packages are popular, it is still possible to have a variety of object-oriented databases used by different applications where entities common to several applications are duplicated. With this situation the problem simply continues in an up-to-date guise. Because these packages are common solutions to requirements, the situation really has not changed much.
The ideal would seem to be to have common data such as customers, suppliers and anything else residing in a central database with standard data maintenance and query modules associated with it. Any new applications or packages should link to this, while any data used only within an application could be kept separate or integrated, as preferred.
Unfortunately this scenario is very much one for the future. At the moment the world of application systems is very imperfect, as companies still struggle to come to terms with their model T applications. What is needed is the same sort of attitude as with machinery, where equipment that still works is quickly replaced by more efficient machines: an approach that drove America to the forefront among manufacturing nations.
A disproportionate amount of time and money is absorbed by application integration. Many smaller companies cannot deal with the complexities, and simply choose to live with the problem. In time it is possible that a move might be started towards rationalizing the whole approach to applications. Maybe one day everybody will look back and laugh at the current state of the art, after computers have fully emerged from the Dark Ages of systems development.
About the Author:
Peggie K. Lambert is an expert in data management and integration. Need to learn more about application to application integration? If so the author recommends you visit www.liaison.com.
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