Using BEA WebLogic Application Integration

 

BEA WebLogic Application Integration provides a WebLogic-based integration solution that supports existing and forthcoming standards for connecting applications.

This guide provides information for the following subjects:

• Scenarios for Using BEA WebLogic Application Integration

• Roadmap for Using BEA WebLogic Application Integration

 

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Scenarios for Using BEA WebLogic Application Integration

This section provides two scenarios for integrating applications with BEA WebLogic Application Integration. The first scenario demonstrates the benefits of Application Integration when integrating internal enterprise applications. The second scenario demonstrates the benefits of the end-to-end WebLogic integration solution for B2C selling and B2B collaboration on the Web.

This section provides information on the following topics:

• Setting the Stage for the Integration Scenarios

• Integration Within An Enterprise

• e-Commerce Integration

Setting the Stage for the Integration Scenarios

CrankItUp.com is a fictitious company that provides a vast product catalog of mountain bike components on the Web. CrankItUp.com is a customer-centric business that handles product orders for several distributors that do not have a strong Web presence. Its strategy is to provide a highly personalized portal system in which partners and customers can efficiently carry out a variety of integrated services online, such as purchasing products, checking order status, and obtaining return authorizations.

CrankItUp.com adopts a best-of-breed approach to its information processing needs. It uses a customer relationship management system (CRM) to manage the primary information about a customer. For enterprise resource planning (ERP), they use an application that leverages the logistics and financial modules of a well known ERP system.

Integration Within An Enterprise

Customer records are created by CrankItUp.com's CRM application, but the order processing application requires knowledge of these customers in order to fulfill sales order requests (for example, to verify product availability, credit, and shipping information). Because CrankItUp.com has chosen to use a particular CRM application as the primary repository for customer information, they need to propagate customer information from their CRM system to their order processing system, thus integrating these two systems.

The Problem

CrankItUp.com's integration problem is twofold: First, the CRM application and the order processing application were not designed to communicate with each other. Second, each application uses a different format to represent a customer. To integrate the two applications, they need a middleware solution that can solve both dimensions of the integration problem.

The Solution with BEA WebLogic Application Integration: As a Component of BEA WebLogic Integration

To enable the integration solution, CrankItUp.com employs several BEA WebLogic Integration software components:

• BEA WebLogic Server to provide the platform on which the integration solution will run.

• BEA WebLogic Application Integration to enable the use of the CRM and ERP as end points of an integration solution.

• BEA WebLogic Process Integrator to allow the endpoints of the integration to be tied together into a working business process.

• Adapters developed with the Application Integration Adapter Development Kit for both the CRM system and the order processing system. The software components plug in to Application Integration and allow clients of Application Integration to communicate with an otherwise incompatible system.

Figure 3-1 illustrates how the CRM and order processing application are integrated using these components:

Figure 3-1 Solution with BEA WebLogic Server

 

1

A customer is created within the CRM system. The CRM adapter generates an event object that contains information (in XML format) about the customer that was just created.

2

An application view within BEA WebLogic Application Integration receives the "New Customer" event and passes the event object on to BEA WebLogic Process Integrator for processing. For detailed information about application views, see Application View.

3

BEA WebLogic Process Integrator hosts a business process that is started upon receipt of a "New Customer" event. The business process is configured to push the new customer data out to the order processing application by calling a "CreateCustomer" service on an application view. For detailed information about application views, see Application View.

4

The "CreateCustomer" service represents the "CreateCustomer" functionality within the order processing application. As input, this service takes XML data representing a customer and returns a response in XML indicating the success or failure of the operation. Process Integrator passes the XML data received from the "New Customer" event to the service. The service then uses the order processing application adapter to invoke the correct functionality within that application.

5

The order processing application adapter communicates with the order processing application to create a new customer and returns an XML document indicating the results.

Understanding the Integration Solution Design

This first solution was designed using tools provided with Application Integration and Process Integrator. If CrankItUp.com's business requirements change in the future, the designers can change this integration solution using BEA WebLogic Integration tools without modifying source code.

BEA WebLogic Integration stores the configuration of an integration solution within its repository, thus allowing this information to be retrieved at runtime. The configuration information controls the execution of the integration solution within the BEA WebLogic Integration environment.

A business analyst uses the BEA WebLogic Integration design environment to design the integration solution:

1. Define the endpoints of the integration solution related to the CRM application.

   Because the CRM system is the source system in this scenario, the endpoint is defined in terms of events. The business analyst defines the events of interest within the CRM system. The event data is defined in terms of XML schema.

2. Define the endpoints of the integration solution related to the order processing application.

   Because the order processing application is the target system in this scenario, this end point is defined in terms of services. The business analyst defines the services that will handle order-related requests to the order processing system. Each service's request and response data is defined in terms of XML schema.

3. Define the Process Integrator business process to tie together the CRM and order processing endpoints.

   The business process makes use of the XML schemas that define the events and the request/response data for services to ensure that data from incoming events is properly mapped to the request data for services.

e-Commerce Integration

To build customer loyalty, CrankItUp.com focuses on providing excellent customer service and improving its Web site. As a result, CrankItUp.com cannot store large inventories of their products. Instead, they must optimize their supply-chain through collaborative supply chain-planning activities with their business partners to reduce their inventory and operating costs.

The Problem

CrankItUp.com's problem is that it must maintain visibility into the supply chain and assurance of fulfillment and delivery. First, systems that enable business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce transactions must support varying levels of traffic and throughput. They must be 100% reliable and must ensure the integrity and security of all interactions. Second, the collaboration systems must be flexible to support changing processes, changing partnerships, and changing business models. Integration with business partners' systems requires a solution built on open industry standards such as XML, Java, and HTTP.

The End-to-End Solution with BEA WebLogic Integration (and Application Integration)

To enable the integration solution, CrankItUp.com employs several BEA WebLogic Integration software components:

• BEA WebLogic Server to provide the platform on which the integration solution will run.

• BEA WebLogic Application Integration to enable the use of the CRM and ERP as end points of an integration solution.

• BEA WebLogic Process Integrator to allow the end points of the integration to be tied together into a working business process.

• BEA WebLogic Collaborate to allow the use of remote collaboration partners as end points of an integration solution.

• Adapters developed with the Application Integration Adapter Development Kit for both the CRM system and the order processing system. The software components plug in to Application Integration and allow clients of Application Integration to communicate with an otherwise incompatible system.

Note: Adapters written without the help of the BEA WebLogic Application Integration ADK can still be used with BEA WebLogic Application Integration as long as they meet certain requirements (XCCI interface).

Figure 3-2 illustrates how the end-to-end solution enables full integration with business partners for the Internet:

Figure 3-2 The End-to-End Solution

 

1

A customer requests to purchase a new crank set from the CrankItUp.com Web site. The request is sent to the order processing application.

2

The sales order is processed by the order processing application. CrankItUp.com has an optimized supply chain, and the product is available for immediate shipping.

3

The order processing application analyzes the current inventory for this product and finds only 60 crank sets left. Based on historical demand statistics, the current inventory will last five more days. This initiates a "Restock Product" event in the order processing application. This "Restock Product Event" contains detailed information on the product, number of units required, and the date for which the units are required.

4

The order processing adapter generates an event object that contains information (as XML) about the "Restock Product" event that just occurred.

5

An application view within Application Integration receives the "Restock Product" event and passes the event object on to Process Integrator for processing.

6

Process Integrator has been configured to respond to "Restock Product" events. When a "Restock Product" event occurs, Process Integrator initiates a new business process.

7

The first step in the business process is to transform the "Restock Product" event information from the order processing application XML format to the standard XML vocabulary (for example: RosettaNet, BizTalk) established between CrankItUp.com and its suppliers. Process Integrator leverages a standard eXtensible Style Language Transformation (XSLT) engine to perform the transformation.

8

When the event data transformation is complete, Process Integrator sends the transformed XML document to WebLogic Collaborate.

9

WebLogic Collaborate sends the "Restock Product" information securely over the Internet to all subscribers of the CrankItUp.com collaboration space. WebLogic Collaborate coordinates responses from suppliers and returns them to Process Integrator.

10

As Process Integrator receives responses from suppliers via WebLogic Collaborate, it evaluates the responses and chooses the optimal response. In this case, the optimal response is a function of the supplier's ability to deliver within five days and the lowest price per unit.

11

Once Process Integrator determines the optimal response, it calls Application Integration to invoke an application view implemented for order processing.

12

The order processing application view now invokes a service called "AvailableToSupply."

Understanding the End-to-End Integration Solution Design

These steps provide information about the design of the end-to-end solution:

1. Define the endpoint for Order Processing application (OP).

   You must notify the system of the supply chain "restock" events so an event is configured on the application view to represent "Restock" events in OP. You must also allow for updating OP to indicate parts have been ordered so no new restock event happens until needed again. As a result, a service is defined on the application view to make this capability available.

2. Define the B2B conversations as the supply chain endpoint.

   To interact with the supply chain, you must define a B2B conversation that allows interactions with suppliers. Using a conversation definition, you can ask for a supplier to give you quotes on availability and process. You can also use a conversation to buy the parts from a supplier.

3. Define the process to tie these endpoints together using BEA WebLogic Process Integrator.

 

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Roadmap for Using BEA WebLogic Application Integration

The steps outlined in Figure 3-3 provide you with a high-level guideline to all of the tasks and processes that you must perform to install, configure, and work with BEA WebLogic Application Integration. Think of these steps as a roadmap to guide you through the process and to point you to the resources available to help you.

Figure 3-3 Roadmap for Using BEA WebLogic Application Integration

 

1. Read the Release Notes.

   Read the BEA WebLogic Application Integration Release Notes to ensure that you have up-to-date information about this product release. The Release Notes are provided in printed form in the product package and are also available from the BEA customer support web site.

2. Read the Product Overview.

   Read the BEA WebLogic Application Integration Product Overview for information about how Application Integration works and how to use its components. This document is available on the BEA WebLogic Integration documentation CD that is provided in the product box, and it is available at http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/index.html.

3. Install and set up BEA WebLogic Application Integration.

   Read the BEA WebLogic Application Integration Installation and Setup Guide for information about preparing your system to install BEA WebLogic Application Integration, installing the application, and performing post-installation setup and setup configuration tasks. The Installation and Setup Guide is provided in printed form in the product package and are also available in PDF format at http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/index.html.

4. Develop an adapter or obtain an adapter.

   You must have an adapter installed in the BEA WebLogic Application Integration environment before you can begin creating application views. You may either obtain an existing third-party adapter, or if an adapter that meets your needs has not been developed, you will need to develop it (or have it developed).

   Read the BEA WebLogic Application Integration Development Guide for complete information on developing J2EE-compliant adapters. The Development Guide contains instructions for developing service adapters, event adapters, and a design-time GUI for the adapters as well appendices for the sample DBMS adapter and the sample email adapter.

   The Development Guide is available on the BEA WebLogic Integration documentation CD in PDF format and HTML format and at http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/index.html.

5. Create application views for your business process using an existing adapter.

   Read the BEA WebLogic Application Integration User Guide to get an overview of the integration framework component of BEA WebLogic Application Integration and complete instructions for creating application views. The user guide is available on the BEA WebLogic Integration documentation CD in PDF format and HTML format and at http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/index.html.

6. Read the BEA WebLogic Application Integration User Guide for instructions on defining application views, using defined and deployed application views, services and events in workflows and within WebLogic Process Integrator.

   Read the BEA WebLogic Application Integration User Guide for instructions on custom Java code to represent the business process into which you will use a deployed application view.

   Read the BEA WebLogic Application Integration User Guide for an overview of the BEA WebLogic Application Integration design-time GUI and instructions for managing application views using the BEA WebLogic Application Integration design-time GUI.

   The BEA WebLogic Application Integration User Guide is available on the BEA WebLogic Integration documentation CD in PDF format and in HTML format and at http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/index.html.