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 IS in order to exchange data. The Oracle FLEXCUBE IS 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 IS 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 IS and the external systems will be in the form of XML messages. These XML messages are defined in FCIS in the form of XML Schema Documents (XSD) and are referred to as ‘FCIS formats’
FCIS 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 is ‘EJB literate’, i.e., the external system is capable of interacting with Oracle FLEXCUBE IS based upon the EJB interface. In this deployment pattern, the external system will use the RMI/IIOP protocol to communicate with the Oracle FLEXCUBE IS EJB.
In this deployment pattern the EJB displayed by Oracle FLEXCUBE IS 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 IS 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 IS EJB.
The web services deployment pattern will be used in integration scenarios where the external system connecting to Oracle FLEXCUBE IS 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 IS web services.
The services displayed by Oracle FLEXCUBE IS 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 IS 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 IS.
The HTTP servlet deployment pattern will be used in integration scenarios where the external system connecting to Oracle FLEXCUBE IS wants to connect to Oracle FLEXCUBE IS 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 IS servlet.
For this deployment pattern, Oracle FLEXCUBE IS 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 IS servlet. After the necessary processing is done in Oracle FLEXCUBE IS 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 IS
The MDB deployment pattern is used in integration scenarios where the external system connecting to Oracle FLEXCUBE IS wants to connect to Oracle FLEXCUBE IS 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 IS, 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 IS Notify Application Integration layer. This application layer sends out notification messages to the external system whenever events occur in Oracle FLEXCUBE IS.
The notification messages generated by FCIS on the occurrence of these events will be XML messages. These XML messages are defined in FCIS in the form of XML Schema Documents (XSD) and are referred to as ‘FCIS formats’
The primary responsibilities of Oracle FLEXCUBE IS Integration Gateway include the following:
Message communication - incoming or outgoing from/to an external system in Oracle FLEXCUBE IS will happen only through an Oracle FLEXCUBE IS Integration Gateway. Hence, it becomes the first point of contact or last point of contact with the database in message flow. The Oracle FLEXCUBE IS Integration Gateway can be deployed to support both the distributed and single schema deployments of Oracle FLEXCUBE IS:
Business Integration Needs |
Nature of Integration |
Oracle FLEXCUBE IS Deployment Pattern |
Remarks |
Inbound Transactions into Oracle FLEXCUBE IS |
Synchronous |
FLEXCUBE IS EJB |
Recommended |
FLEXCUBE IS HTTP Servlet |
This can be used if the external system cannot communicate to Oracle FLEXCUBE IS using EJB. |
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FLEXCUBE IS Web Services |
This can be used if the external system chooses to communicate only through Web Services. |
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Asynchronous |
FLEXCUBE IS MDB |
This can be used if the external system chooses to communicate only through JMS queues |
|
Inbound Queries into Oracle FLEXCUBE IS |
Synchronous |
FLEXCUBE IS EJB |
Recommended |
FLEXCUBE IS In Servlet |
This can be used if the external system cannot communicate to Oracle FLEXCUBE IS using EJB. |
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FLEXCUBE IS Web Services |
This can be used if the external system chooses to communicate only through Web Services. |
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Asynchronous |
FLEXCUBE IS MDB |
This can be used if the external system chooses to communicate only through JMS queues |
|
Handoffs from Oracle FLEXCUBE IS |
Asynchronous |
FLEXCUBE IS Notify |
Recommended |