Enterprise Integration Solutions Research Articles

Enterprise integration solution for power supply company based on GeoNis interoperability framework

Throughout the years, electric power utility companies have been relying on their massive multibillion worth infrastructure in the form of electric power network. Control and maintenance of the network has been usually done through a set of isolated systems where each one of them was in charge for their own subset of data. Latest changes in the market, imposed by deregulation and its opening have pushed electric power utility companies into major changes in their ICT infrastructure. Dynamism of the network that the upcoming Smart Grid concept will introduce requires better collaboration and information sharing among different systems within such companies.PD Jugoistok, electric power utility company of the south-eastern Serbia is not an exception to this trend. On the contrary, PD Jugoistok has taken the first steps towards the Smart Grid by implementing enterprise integration of its information systems. The introduced enterprise integration relies on the GeoNis integration platform which uses translators/wrappers in order to map each existing data model into the common model partially based on the CIM defined in IEC 61968 series of standards. Solution implemented within PD Jugoistok uses WebGIS Portal as a central point of access to the integrated information for all possible users within the company or among external partners and regulatory bodies. The use of WebGIS Portal is based on the unique possibility of GIS to provide information in the spatial context thus properly abstracting the geographically dispersed nature of the electric power network.

Toward a Comprehensive Framework for Evaluating the Core Integration Features of Enterprise Integration Middleware Technologies

To achieve greater automation of their business processes, organizations face the challenge of integrating disparate systems. In attempting to overcome this problem, organizations are turning to different kinds of enterprise integration. Implementing enterprise integration is a complex task involving both technological and business challenges and requires appropriate middleware technologies. Different enterprise integration solutions provide various functions and features which lead to the complexity of their evaluation process. To overcome this complexity, appropriate tools for evaluating the core integration features of enterprise integration solutions is required. This paper proposes a new comprehensive framework for evaluating the core integration features of both intra- enterprise and inter-enterprise Integration's enabling technologies, which simplify the process of evaluating the requirements met by enterprise integration middleware technologies. The proposed framework for evaluating the core integration features of enterprise integration middleware technologies was enhanced using the structural and conceptual aspects of previous frameworks. It offers a new schema for which various enterprise integration middleware technologies are categorized in different classifications and are evaluated based on their supporting level for the core integration features' criteria. These criteria include the functional and supporting features. The proposed framework, which is a revised version of our previous framework in this area, has developed the scope, structure and content of the mentioned framework.

Enterprise Integration and Networking: Theory and practice

Research and technological developments in Enterprise Integration and Networking requires identifying achievements, challenges and trends in order to establish a set of coherent vision and roadmap for future research. This paper analysis and discusses on recent achievements and future trends on research for Enterprise Integration and Networking solutions, identifying principal challenges for this research area. Such challenges are then analysed with regard to the contributions of this special issue, organised with extended papers selected by the IFAC TC 5.3 and presented at the IFAC INCOM 2012 symposium held in Romania on May 2012.

A Review of Enterprise Information Integration from Content Level and System Level Perspectives

To gain insight into increasingly intricate business, and deal with highly complex problem situations, an enterprise needs a more generic, standardized, pervasive and scalable infrastructure to fully leverage the information from different data sources, applications, and environments at both system level and content level. Based on a discussion of basic problem of EII (enterprise information integration), this paper reviews a state of the art of existing enterprise information integration solutions from content level integration and system level integration perspectives. We evaluate existing approaches to content level integration by comparing the method used to describe and explain the data, and the topology structure of the data connected. We evaluate existing approaches to system level integration by in-depth discussion how the systems are coupled. Based on the results of our analysis we summarize the state-of-the-art in enterprise information integration and give the tendencies of further research.

From UML or DFD models to CIMOSA partial models and enterprise components

The development of enterprise integration solutions requires the identification of core business processes, enterprise objects and their flows as well as essential resources and their use in day-to-day operations of an enterprise or of a network of enterprises. This paper focuses on the enterprise model creation process using the computer integrated manufacturing open system architecture (CIMOSA) modelling framework, assuming that the models of the enterprise environment to be analysed are available in the form of data flow diagrams (DFDs) or unified modelling language (UML) use cases. The method mostly concerns the development of partial models and the specification of enterprise components to support knowledge capitalization about the enterprise structure and operations. Not only information-oriented models (i.e. data schemas) are needed to support enterprise integration, but also models describing function, information, resource and organization aspects of the business. Planning and development of workflow applications also require such an approach. For these reasons, it is useful to start from DFDs or UML models, usually available in many companies or easy to draft from user explanations, and to adapt or extend them with the approach presented in the paper to plan enterprise integration projects or to analyse the business operations from an industrial engineering perspective.

A model-driven framework for enterprise service management

With a steady pace of adoption of service-oriented architecture, enterprises have made significant progresses in implementing various kinds of Web services and converting existing applications to service-oriented architecture. As a significant number of services have been put into actual use, many service-oriented enterprises are faced with the problem of how to manage these services efficiently. In this paper, we propose a model-driven framework for a more efficient management of these services. In this framework, the creation and maintenance of enterprise integration solutions are modeled by flows, finite state machines (FSMs), role-based access control (RBAC) among other formal systems models as well as appropriate decision models. For instance, each enterprise integration solution would be modeled as composite services that can be described by respective flow, FSM and RBAC models. These solution models can then be stored, and later retrieved for the execution of these composite services. Furthermore, formal systems and decision models are also used to maintain and update these service-oriented solutions to improve the efficiency and quality of service management by taking advantage of the underlying service-oriented architecture.

Integrating EDI with an E-Scm System Using Eai Technology

Based on a real-world E-supply chain management system, this article describes an architecture design, logical model, and physical model to connect legacy EDI systems used by suppliers to the XML-based ERP applications of a buyer using EAI technology. the general benefits in system functionality and business outcomes are also presented. This basic primer can be used to inform business practitioners and academic audiences about this type of enterprise integration solution.