Integration of different applications and solutions is a key area in today’s systems. A variety of specialized applications deployed on disparate platforms and using different infrastructure need to be able to communicate and integrate seamlessly with Oracle FLEXCUBE in order to exchange data. The Oracle FLEXCUBE Integration Gateway (referred to as ‘Gateway’ in the rest of the document) will cater to these integration needs.
The integration needs supported by the Gateway can be broadly categorized from the perspective of the Gateway as follows:
Oracle FLEXCUBE Inbound Application Gateway provides XML based interfaces thus enhancing the need to communicate and integrate with the external systems. The data exchanged between Oracle FLEXCUBE and the external systems will be in the form of XML messages. These XML messages are defined in FCUBS in the form of XML Schema Documents (XSD) and are referred to as ‘FCUBS formats’
For more information on FCUBS formats refer the Message Formats chapter in this User Manual.
FCUBS Inbound Application Integration Gateway uses the Synchronous and Asynchronous Deployment Pattern for addressing the integration needs.
The Synchronous Deployment Pattern is classified into the following:
Asynchronous Deployment Pattern is:
The Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) deployment pattern will be used in integration scenarios where the external system connecting to Oracle FLEXCUBE is ‘EJB literate’, i.e., the external system is capable of interacting with Oracle FLEXCUBE based upon the EJB interface. In this deployment pattern, the external system will use the RMI/IIOP protocol to communicate with the Oracle FLEXCUBE EJB.
In this deployment pattern the EJB displayed by Oracle FLEXCUBE will be a stateless session bean. The actual request will be in the form of an XML message. After the necessary processing is done in Oracle FLEXCUBE based on the request, the response is returned to the external system as an XML message. The transaction control for the processing will stay with the Oracle FLEXCUBE EJB.
The web services deployment pattern will be used in integration scenarios where the external system connecting to Oracle FLEXCUBE wants to connect using standards-based, inter-operable web services.
This deployment pattern is especially applicable to systems which meet the following broad guidelines:
In this deployment pattern, the external system will use the SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) messages to communicate to the Oracle FLEXCUBE web services.
The services displayed by Oracle FLEXCUBE are of a ‘message based’ style, i.e., the actual request will be in the form of an XML message, but the request will be a ‘payload’ within the SOAP message. After the necessary processing is done in Oracle FLEXCUBE based on the request, the response is returned to the external system as an XML message which will be a ‘payload’ within the response SOAP message. The transaction control for the processing will stay with the Oracle FLEXCUBE.
The HTTP servlet deployment pattern will be used in integration scenarios where the external system connecting to Oracle FLEXCUBE wants to connect to Oracle FLEXCUBE using simple HTTP messages.
This is especially applicable to systems such as the following:
In this deployment pattern, the external system will make an HTTP request to the Oracle FLEXCUBE servlet.
For this deployment pattern, Oracle FLEXCUBE will display a single servlet. The actual request will be in the form of an XML message. This XML message is embedded into the body of the HTTP request sent to the Oracle FLEXCUBE servlet. After the necessary processing is done in Oracle FLEXCUBE based on the request, the response is returned to the external system as an XML message which is once again embedded within the body of the response HTTP message. The transaction control for the processing will stay with the Oracle FLEXCUBE.
The MDB deployment pattern is used in integration scenarios where the external system connecting to Oracle FLEXCUBE wants to connect to Oracle FLEXCUBE using JMS queues.
This is especially applicable to systems such as the following:
Here external system sends messages in XML format to request queue on which an MDB is listening. When a message arrives on the queue, it is picked up for processing. After the necessary processing is done in Oracle FLEXCUBE, based on the request, the response is sent to the response queue as an XML message
The Outbound Application Integration is also called the Oracle FLEXCUBE Notify Application Integration layer. This application layer sends out notification messages to the external system whenever events occur in Oracle FLEXCUBE.
The notification messages generated by FCUBS on the occurrence of these events will be XML messages. These XML messages are defined in FCUBS in the form of XML Schema Documents (XSD) and are referred to as ‘FCUBS formats’
For more information on FCUBS formats refer the Message Formats chapter in this module.
The primary responsibilities of Oracle FLEXCUBE Integration Gateway include the following:
Message communication - incoming or outgoing from/to an external system in Oracle FLEXCUBE will happen only through an Oracle FLEXCUBE Integration Gateway. Hence, it becomes the first point of contact or last point of contact with the database in message flow. The Oracle FLEXCUBE Integration Gateway can be deployed to support both the distributed and single schema deployments of Oracle FLEXCUBE:
Business Integration Needs |
Nature of Integration |
Oracle FLEXCUBE Deployment Pattern |
Remarks |
Inbound Transactions into Oracle FLEXCUBE |
Synchronous |
FLEXCUBE UBS EJB |
Recommended |
FLEXCUBE UBS HTTP Servlet |
This can be used if the external system cannot communicate to Oracle FLEXCUBE using EJB. |
||
FLEXCUBE UBS Web Services |
This can be used if the external system chooses to communicate only through Web Services. |
||
Asynchronous |
FLEXCUBE UBS MDB |
This can be used if the external system chooses to communicate only through JMS queues |
|
Inbound Queries into Oracle FLEXCUBE |
Synchronous |
FLEXCUBE UBS EJB |
Recommended |
FLEXCUBE UBS In Servlet |
This can be used if the external system cannot communicate to Oracle FLEXCUBE using EJB. |
||
FLEXCUBE UBS Web Services |
This can be used if the external system chooses to communicate only through Web Services. |
||
Asynchronous |
FLEXCUBE UBS MDB |
This can be used if the external system chooses to communicate only through JMS queues |
|
Handoffs from Oracle FLEXCUBE |
Asynchronous |
FLEXCUBE UBS Notify |
Recommended |