The Integration Process
It is easy to identify the benefits of integrating multiple systems and automating processes. But before you call your IT department and ask your developers to build an API to connect all your applications together you must understand the process involved or the project will lead to a lot of frustration for both parties, not to mention inflated budget costs and time to complete the project. Integrating systems through an API isn’t as simple as plugging the systems into each other. Usually the systems are written in different programming languages or reside on different platforms. The process becomes even more complicated if an organization is using an application that was developed in-house and updated by different programmers over a number of years as new technology was made available.
To simplify the process using an analogy, an API is like the plug adaptor tool kit I had to drag around Europe in the late 80s so my hair dryer would work. I visited eight countries in 12 days, and each new country needed a new adaptor. The adaptors worked great, until I managed to blow the fuse in a 900-year-old hotel in the south of France. Even though I had the right adaptor, it didn’t work in the old hotel. The electrical failure broke my hair dryer and plunged the entire hotel into darkness for several hours. The problem caused both the hotel and I time and money, and was a big hassle to fix. I was just grateful that the hotel didn’t go up in flames.
The developers are responsible for building the adaptors that have to make the new hair dryers work in the old wiring. Not only do they need to understand how the electrical wiring working in the hotel, but they also need to know how it works in the hair dryer. And they also have to be sure that the adaptors can handle all kinds of electrical appliances with different wattage requirements or the results could be disastrous.
Similarly, the developers working on your integration projects need to be well versed in the technologies of the systems they are integrating and they must understand the methodologies of remote services or the integration simply won’t work. However, it isn’t enough for the developers just to know the technology side. They also must know what you want to do with the integration from a business level and what your end goals are before they get started with the project. If not, you could end up with an adaptor that works with hair dryers but blows up if you plug an electric razor into it.
The real process is much more complicated. First, the developers need to meet with the marketing team to assess the scope of the project. During this phase, the developers will ask the marketers a series of questions regarding the existing systems and processes and will learn what they hope to accomplish from the integration. The developers then need to do due diligence on the environments and programming languages of each system. When all of the information is gathered, the developers will go back to the marketing team with a detailed list of features and functionalities, any pitfalls or obstacles they expect, and suggestions on ways the systems can work together and both teams will need to agree upon these items before a roadmap can be developed.
A roadmap is a detailed list of features which explains the steps it will take to complete each task, which API Web Method or XML call will be used to perform each task, and which system will be responsible for each step of the task. A Web Method is a piece of code that performs a specific task, such as “get activity report”, and each integration requires a number of different Web Methods in order to perform properly. It is extremely important to put this together in advance and to carefully review and approve the roadmap as a group. The developers will program the systems to work together as outlined in the roadmap, and the new processes will work according to the plans laid out in this document. If need be, developers may provide pre-formed sample code so the users may get a feel for how each task will work.
When the roadmap is approved, the developers will begin the development process to implement the changes. The length of time it takes depends on the complexity of the systems. When complete, the project moves into testing mode and is finally taken live. The entire process from assessment to implementation could take several days, several weeks, or even several months depending on the scope of the project.
