Integrating ebusiness applications with backoffice systems

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Integrating e-business applications with
back-office systems
Bill Bentley, AG Solutions Chris Hill, BEA Systems
24th April 2001

• Axis 2001 Spring Conference

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Agenda
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Introductions - AG Solutions

• Formed in 1995
• Joint venture between and
  
• Objectives
• preserve core systems development capability
• develop professional career paths for existing
  staff
• grow company through external business generation
• Very large BGT development and integration
  projects completed during 1995 - 1998
• Strategic re-alignment for accelerated growth in
  2001

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Introductions - BEA Systems

• BEA is the fastest software company in history to
  reach the 1-billion annual revenue run rate. 21
  straight quarters of record revenue
• BEA WebLogic Server is the world's 1 Java
  application server, according to market
  assessments by analyst firms Giga, IDC and
  Gartner.
• BEA has more than 9400 customers and over 1,500
  partners
• BEA is one of the ten highest valued software
  companies in the world.

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AG Solutions and BEA in Partnership

• AG Solutions and BEA Systems have recently signed
  a partnership agreement
• The partnership will develop e-solutions for
  customers
• It will leverage the strengths of BEAs product
  portfolio and AG Solutions integration
  expertise, especially in the VME marketplace
• AG Solutions continues to grow its team of BEA
  product experts

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Agenda
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Systems Integration Evolution
Back Office
Front Office
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Systems Integration Evolution
Extended Functions
Back Office
I N T E G R A T I O N
E X T E N S I O N
Front Office
E X T E N S I O N
Employees
Consumers
Trading Partners
Business Intelligence
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Agenda
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Some Common e-Business Issues

• Business imperatives have led to a mixture of
  often unconnected e-business implementations
• (only 7 of UK e-business solutions are fully
  integrated with back office systems - Cranfield
  ISRC, Q4 2000)
• Different interaction channels (e.g. telephony,
  internet, email) have been implemented
  independently
• Greatest benefits can only be realised through
  system and process integration
• Integration with legacy back office systems often
  seen as too slow and as difficult or impossible

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Traditional Integration Issues

• Numerous point-to-point interfaces created over
  time
• Interfaces to back office systems are often
  batch-based or are not robust
• Large percentage of IT staff time spent on
  maintenance of interfaces
• Integration framework projects difficult to cost
  justify and seen as taking too long
• Many vendors with plausible claims - who to trust
  ?
• How to handle uncertainty of demand for
  e-business

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Traditional Integration Issues

• Numerous point-to-point interfaces created over
  time
• Interfaces to back office systems are often
  batch-based or are not robust
• Large percentage of IT staff time spent on
  maintenance of interfaces
• Integration framework projects difficult to cost
  justify and seen as taking too long
• Many vendors with plausible claims - who to trust
  ?
• How to handle uncertainty of demand for
  e-business

How do you implement e-business integration
without creating the same issues?
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Agenda
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An AG Solutions Case Study

• British Gas Trading
• One of the largest VME/IDMSX databases
• 19 million accounts
• 10 billion data items
• 4 million transactions per day
• 7,000 users
• Needed to move from an account to a customer
  focus
• Business processes needed improving and
  automating
• Catering for e-Business

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Creating a Customer Focus
Back Office
Gas Supply Mgt.
Gas Billing
CIS
CIS
Electricity Billing
Electricity Supply Mgmt
Payment Processing
Metering
Output Management
Finance HR
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Direct integration of external processes
Back Office
Gas Supply Mgt.
Gas Billing
Electricity Billing
Electricity Supply Mgmt
Payment Processing
Metering
Output Management
Finance HR
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Issues created by system changes
Back Office
Gas Supply Mgt.
Gas Billing
Electricity Billing
Electricity Supply Mgmt
Payment Processing
Metering
Output Management
Finance HR
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Summary of initial implementation
Industrial Commercial
Extended Functions
Front Office
Back Office
Consumers
E X T E N S I O N
Gas Supply Mgt.
Customer Service
Gas Billing
Residential
Electricity Billing
Sales
Electricity Supply Mgmt
Payment Processing
Electricity Pool N/W
Marketing
Metering
Transco
BACS
Output Management
Debt Management
Banks
Trading Partners
Finance HR
Courts
Metering Agencies
Business Intelligence / Data Access Solution
Payment Agencies
Debt Recovery Agencies
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Improved integration and e-Utility
Industrial Commercial
Extended Functions
Front Office
Back Office
Consumers
E X T E N S I O N
Gas Supply Mgt.
Customer Service
Gas Billing
Gas Billing
Residential
Electricity Billing
Sales System
Sales
Electricity Supply Mgmt
Transaction Processing API (Tuxedo)
Payment Processing
Electricity Pool N/W
Marketing
Metering
Transco
BACS
Output Management
Debt Management
Banks
Trading Partners
Finance HR
Courts
Metering Agencies
Business Intelligence / Data Access Solution
Payment Agencies
Customer Information System
Customer Contact System (Oracle)
Debt Recovery Agencies
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Using Middleware to Effect Integration
Java on WLS I-Planet
Business Process Services
VME
Web Application
Web Site
Transport Layer
Unix
Other Calling Applications
Defined Data Objects
Tuxedo
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Agenda
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Agenda
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Services Route-Map
System Architecture Functional Design
Initial Evaluation
Build, Integrate, Test, Implement
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Initial Evaluation

• Initial Evaluation determines
• Back-end and front end physical technical
  architecture
• Functional and non functional considerations
• Possible technology options for middle layer

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System Architecture Functional Design

• System Architecture Functional Design determine
  
• The physical architecture for the interface
• The functional design for the required
  services.
• The proposed development approach and
  deliverable definitions.
• Detailed plans for the development

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Build, Integrate, Test Implement

• BITI delivers
• Installation configuration of interface
  software
• Development and testing of data / process
  services
• End to end testing
• Implementation

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Agenda
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System Diagram
Windows NT Server
Business Process
Tuxedo
Services
System A
System B
COM

LAYER
SCREEN OBJECTS
Tuxedo Client Object
Terminal
Session
Services
VME
TPMS
Comms
Monitor
7561
VME TP
system(s)