Understanding integration concepts

In my experience as Dynamics CRM consultant I am also involved in several integration projects. The requirements should be business driven, but it still happens that requirements for integration are defined by the IT/support organization.

In some cases due to lack of knowledge people tend to define or choose requirements within their comfort zone. Of course this is not surprising because it is for them known area and they basically keep doing their work without being confronted with new technology or new software.

The downside is that the integration design gets more complex as it should be. I prefer to design integration with according to the  'loosey coupled' principle, which basically means that source(s) and target(s) have no direct links.

In this scenario you would have for example a generic account template. A system that want to deliver account information used the template (in xml format) and the integration process moves it to the desired target system. Very import in this scenario that the templates are defined and changes have major impact, so you would need to take time to define a good generic template. Of course in case you use Scribe as integration platform you need to define a xdr or xsd file. In this file you define all fields, required, data types etc.

In the integration scenario where you exchange xml files you would most likely use MSMQ as reliable and proven technology. In my next post I will explain more about this scenario using Scribe Insight.

So, explore new possibilities by stepping out your comfort zone it could make your life less complex....

Comments

Penelope said…
It's difficult stepping out of your comfort zone sometimes. Occasionally there are legitimate reasons for being reserved, however for the most part unless you take on new challenges at work you never grow and/or improve.