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A Publication Featuring The Information Services Technology of Maine State Government

EAI Overview – A Discussion with IBM

By David H. Ellis

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) software (middleware) sits between two or more application systems that exchange data and, among many other functions, it reformats and translates the data being exchanged into whatever format the receiving system requires. The main parts of an EAI system include the

1) workflow component that helps a) identify processing bottlenecks and b) provide an uninterrupted audit trail,

2) messaging component, and

3) integrator component which houses the business logic, and security functions including encryption and digital certificates.

At the invitation of the Chief Information Officer, IBM recently presented their perspective on Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) to interested State of Maine Information Technology (IT) and business managers. This followed a similar educational presentation by SeeBeyond Corporation held a month earlier. Central maintenance of the business intelligence hub (an IT task) is essential, says IBM, but definition of the business rules (a business task) stored in the hub remains a data owner responsibility¹. In other words, the interface is built and updated centrally by IT staff and the agency business analyst tells the IT person what business rules to include in the interface.

This EAI overview pointed out that an EAI project is not just about technology. To do it right, EIA requires some business transformation (process reengineering) and systems management. The typical IT shop now spends 30-40% of its budget on systems integration, but this is most commonly point-to-point integration that only enables system A to get data from, and send data to, system B. That money might be better spent on a statewide EAI system that would enable every system connected to the central business-intelligence hub to exchange data in an automated, real-time, secure, and controlled way with every other system connected to the hub. A big plus is that no changes need to be made to the legacy systems when they are connected to an EAI middleware system. And once systems are integrated, additional benefits can be obtained by leveraging the integration through techniques like data mining.

Presenters repeatedly observed that implementing EAI software to do what you want is not a problem. The truly difficult tasks are:

• defining what the enterprise as a whole wants from its EAI middleware,
• deciding at what level integration will occur (data or process),
• making desired changes to intra-agency business processes,
• agreeing on which agencies or systems should be allowed to share which specific data, and
• setting common Statewide data formats and semantics so data can be automatically shared across agencies.

They noted that political, legal, and organizational issues frequently make these tasks more difficult than they would otherwise be. EAI can be used with different enterprise strategies to: improve information and transaction processing speed, enable sophisticated information sharing and processing, create more flexible connections and relationships between systems and components, and increase the ability to link to other systems. Examples of how other state governments are using EAI to eliminate point-to-point system connections included wireless networks connecting emergency response units across several government agencies, connecting seven departments’ systems, health networks, an insurance portal, in the finance area, in the revenue area, online document management system, and data mining.

When attendees were asked what State agency concerns regarding implementing a statewide EAI system were, comments centered around worries of

1. agencies losing control, with the implication that remaining an "IT systems isolationist" was a safer path to take;
2. ongoing agency initiatives not being allowed to continue,
3. once a system connected to the integration hub their data being shared with those the "owner agency" did not authorize to see it, and
4. loss of agency control of updating the business rules that applied to their data.

IBM’s response was that none of these concerns is a true EAI problem, and that integration and data sharing is the direction to take, not stand-alone databases or point-to-point systems. The technology can do exactly what you ask it to do, so that all the worries expressed by the attendees may be easily addressed. Agreeing on what you will ask EAI to do is the hardest task.

Once State IT and business managers fully understand the intent, the role, and the position of EAI middleware in the systems environment, they will see that they have nothing to fear and lots to gain. For a partial list of benefits, see http://www.state.me.us/ec/eaireview/eaibenefits.htm. More EAI education for these managers is essential before Maine is ready to take the first step toward EAI – determining our enterprise objectives. Along with EAI vendor presentations like those arranged by the CIO’s office, articles on integration at http://www.state.me.us/ec/edi.htm may help us attain a deeper understanding and appreciation of EAI. EAI can provide significant benefits to almost everyone.

^1. typically an agency in the case of State governement.

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