BPM EAI is used to design high-level overviews of system interactions, making broad statements such as, "When an order is fulfilled by the order fulfillment system, that order should be marked as filled in the CIS system." Each statement is then given a specific definition to use with low-level EAI--for example, field names or stored procedures that map from the affected fields in the order-fulfillment system to the target fields in the CIS system.
For conventional EAI, there are two basic architectures--queue-based and message-based. In a queue-based system, changes in one system are placed into a queue by that system and pulled off the queue by any system interested in the changes. In a message-based system, changes in the source system immediately trigger a message that is propagated to the target systems by the EAI server.
Over time, most vendors have implemented hybrids that support both of these models. The queue-based system is often called the "publish/
subscribe" model--a misnomer because most message-based systems also allow for publishing and subscribing. The real difference is in the time needed to deliver the message and reliability if any part of the system goes down.
In a queue-based system, messages placed in the queue are retained until the receiver can deal with them. In a pure message-based system, if the receiver is not available, the message is lost; not surprisingly, pure systems are rarely implemented.
In "Smooth Integrators", we tell you how to determine the right EAI platform for your organization. But no matter which product you choose, your staff won't likely run the software right out of the box because of EAI's inherent complexity.
If you have people familiar with Java application servers, they should be able to configure and use any of the systems we tested, but the learning curve is steep enough that training is still in order. Most EAI vendors offer both training and professional services.
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