Copyright © Cloud Software Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Business Integration Scenario

To illustrate some of the functionality available as part of TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks, the rest of this manual uses a simple example scenario presented in this section. The section starts with a problem definition, then discusses the run-time implementation. Individual aspects of the integration project are discussed in later chapters.

Problem Definition

EasyWare Incorporated is a manufacturer of computer hardware. So far, the department responsible for purchase order management has received orders by telephone and has manually entered them into a PeopleSoft Order Management system. The customer service department uses the information in the PeopleSoft system as well, but finds that not all information they need is available there. An additional concern is that shipping information is not included in the Order Management system. As a result, customers do not receive notification when items are shipped and customer service representatives must access the shipping information in a two-step process: first extracting the Order ID from the PeopleSoft system, then extracting the shipping information from the shipping log using the Order ID.

Because a high volume of sales cannot be handled efficiently with this setup, and because currently information available to the customer service department is incomplete, customer satisfaction becomes an issue. Management decides to make the following changes:

•	Make order entry possible by way of a secure web server outside the firewall which communicates with an application server that supports JMS.

•	Add a Siebel customer service system that receives information about each purchase order.

•	Before order fulfillment, require approval by a credit check specialist for orders over $10 000.

•	Before the order is entered into the Siebel system, add information about shipping date and time to each item. The information should be retrieved interactively from the shipping company’s web site via the Internet.

Customer service representatives can then have easy access to all ordering information.

Addressing the Challenge

The challenge faced by EasyWare is to add the new capabilities to the business process while, at the same time, reducing complexity for the end user. After careful deliberation, the IT department decides to prepare a prototype using TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks.

Design

The goal of the integration project is to allow EasyWare to receive orders either by telephone—with direct access to PeopleSoft as before—or from an application server. The PeopleSoft Order Management system continues to be used, but data can be entered manually as before or can arrive from the Internet via the application server. In addition, the system must integrate with the Siebel customer service system.

This results in the following components of the integration project:

•	At the center is the business process, which interacts with the different services using the appropriate messaging protocol.

•	An order is entered by way of a web application and the order is sent to the PeopleSoft order-entry system through the PeopleSoft adapter. The PeopleSoft order-entry system responds with a new order that includes an order ID. This part of the process is a request-response service.

•	A ManualWork activity sends the order to the credit check specialist. The process is on hold until approval has been made.

•	The business process accesses the shipping schedule by connecting to the shipper’s web site using SOAP.

•	A Siebel adapter enters the complete order, including the PeopleSoft Order ID and the shipping information, into the Siebel system.

Figure 2 shows the components that are needed to execute the integration project at runtime.

Figure 2 Example scenario components

Example Scenario Run-Time Implementation

At runtime, the project would proceed as follows (numbered steps match the numbers in Figure 3):

1.	Orders arrive from the distributors on the Internet.

2.	The orders are processed by a customized order capture system built on top of an application server.

3.	A TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks JMS Queue Receiver activity receives the incoming order document.

In Figure 3, the box labeled Business process (coordinator) represents the TIBCO BusinessWorks engine executing the business process.

4.	TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks transforms the order, which was supplied in XML to a format PeopleSoft expects and the PeopleSoft adapter submits the order to the PeopleSoft Order Management system.

5.	The PeopleSoft system accepts or rejects the order. When it accepts the order, it includes an Order ID.

6.	If the order amount is greater than $10,000, the order is sent out for credit check. When the credit check is not successful, the customer is informed immediately and the order placed on indefinite hold. Otherwise, if approval arrives, the process continues.

7.	TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks checks the shipping schedule using a web service activity and adds the ship date to the order.

8.	TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks sends the information about the order, including the Order ID and the shipping information, to a Siebel adapter. The Siebel adapter adds a new customer service record to the Siebel system.

Figure 3 Example scenario run-time implementation

Copyright © Cloud Software Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved