Analysts from Forrester Research recently spoke with John Stenlake,
director of advanced IT at Ford Motor Company, about Ford's
deployment of "eHub", its corporatewide integration platform.
Ford's experiences offer valuable lessons for anyone considering
XML solutions.
The pilot version of eHub is now up and running with three
applications and Ford plans to extend the system to run tens of
internal and partners' applications. Ford's two key choices in
opting for the eHub system were:
- XML for both internal and external app integration
Ford realises that "integrating its own applications involves
similar issues as trying to integrate with [its] partners'
applications". By selecting a single method for sharing data and
managing processes, Ford solves the B2B and
application-to-application (A2A) problem in one stroke. Ford's use
of XML today also opens the door for Web services further down the
road.
- BizTalk as the corporate-wide standard for
integration
Ford is building its integration platform for
connecting internal applications and external partners on BizTalk.
Why? Ford required an "XML-based product and a vendor with a clear
vision for Web services standards". Ford was also looking for a
strong, stable partner to work closely on integration
projects.
Biztalk's XML foundation prepares it for the
future
Microsoft has extended BizTalk's original mission
of B2B integration with third-party adapters to prepare it for A2A
integration. Although Microsoft hasn't yet brought BizTalk in for
testing, Forrester believes that Microsoft has the following basic
components which will support both internal and external
integration:
- XML-based messaging and transformation
Microsoft built BizTalk from the ground up to construct and parse
XML. BizTalk transmits messages using SOAP and publishes interfaces
for apps with WSDL, which means that every application and partner
interface is managed using XML. Microsoft also provides a mapping
tool for connecting fields across multiple data schema based on an
emerging standard called Extensible Stylesheet Language
Transformations (XSLT).
- Easy-to-use modelling and mapping
With the acquisition of Visio, Microsoft offers users simple and
familiar tools for modelling business processes and linking data
fields. Using BizTalk Orchestrator, business analysts and IT staff
can model and manage business processes like online order
management that might span three or more applications.
Firms should road-test biztalk
Forrester likes the
standards-based approach that Microsoft has adopted. BizTalk is a
contender for integration projects that:
- Connect internal apps to external partners
BizTalk's strength is its original design as a B2B integration
platform. Ford's pilot project targets three applications,
including a logistics app for shipping cars via UPS and an
inventory utility for its suppliers. BizTalk also helps Ford
connect to the Covisint B2B marketplace by way of XML parsing and
transformation tools.
- Don't require straight-through processing
BizTalk, like most message-based integration servers, doesn't
handle end-to-end transactions natively. It suffers further from
the overhead of XML parsing, translation, and rewriting. Firms that
are looking for high throughput and transactional support should
look to vendors like Crossworlds and BEA Systems.
- Have few programmers available
Business users will be productive with the tools supplied with
BizTalk for building processes and mapping data schema in a short
amount of time. It's a good fit for companies in short supply of
experienced programmers versed in Java and C++ but whose
integration projects require complex process building and schema
mapping.
Early adopters face an uphill climb
Microsoft must
still prove that BizTalk can handle the high traffic loads and
processing power that Ford's eHub will demand. As Microsoft races
to fill out BizTalk's functionality for integrating applications,
firms that choose BizTalk 1.0 must deal with:
- Missing adapters for common packaged apps
BizTalk users will encounter recently built adapters from Microsoft
partners like Actional and Taviz for common ERP and CRM systems
like PeopleSoft and Siebel, but adapters for many other common
business applications are still in the works. Other integration
vendors like webMethods maintain large libraries of adapters that
have been tuned to work well with packaged applications.
- Few tool kits for building XML-based adapters
Today, Microsoft provides simple prebuilt adapters - BizTalk
Accelerators - to help firms start building connections to
applications, but developers will need to work hard to build
adapters to custom in-house applications. Integration vendors like
Vitria supply comprehensive tools for building and assembling
custom adapters quickly.
- No comprehensive process analysis tools
While Microsoft includes an administration tool for BizTalk, it
doesn't offer any tools for analysing message traffic, workflow, or
process health. Without thorough process reports and analytical
tools, business users won't be able to monitor or optimise their
processes effectively. Companies that purchase products like
SeeBeyond's eBusiness Integration Suite are able to assess process
status and analyse process performance using the built-in reporting
tools.