Question

Write a short note on integration process

Answer 1

Integration is harder to achieve the greater the number of systems that are involved and companies often choose to have external contractors manage some or all phases of the development of the new system. Specific activities having to do with IT system integration include project planning, project management, design and implementation of application programming interfaces, Web services and any process that accounts for the free flow of data or information delivery.

Challenges to achieving integration mostly have to do with the inherent difficulties in linking a series of diverse existing systems that could be produced by multiple different manufacturers. Other integration challenges have to do with the lack of a coherent or unifying data structure linking all of the different systems, an unwieldy framework of multiple different applications and support systems, the sheer age of the different systems and the actual delivery of the information to key business units that need it. These integration challenges hinder overall process efficiency because poor data exchange between systems prevents quick communication among business units.

Because integration is difficult to achieve all at once, a common practice is to employ a strategy of short-term, ad-hoc objectives that slowly builds towards full integration by linking various subsystems where necessary. These links usually are established between the components of the process and control layer of each system to promote the free flow of data across systems. As more systems are linked, more business management and control layers can be connected until all systems are sharing data between each other.