Introduction
In the past, many companies relied on stand-alone systems and applications to handle routine tasks and business services, such as supply management and customer relations. With time, most of these entities found themselves dealing with a complex mesh of applications, as each new venture required a different application. Proper planning of integrated business management software often took a back seat. In fact, businesses prioritized short-term revenue acceleration goals (Linthicum 57).
As a result, a majority of these companies ended up with a tangled web of siloed business software systems, which led to a negative impact on flexibility and productivity. Ultimately, there was a slump in the growth of the enterprise (Linthicum 58).
Enterprise software packages, such as SAP and Axios Assyst, were developed to deal with these problems. They helped firms to streamline their business processes. In addition, they made it possible to carry out robust and centralized data collection and analysis procedures, which improved the delivery of services between colleagues, customers, and suppliers. Enterprise systems also helped to portray an integrated view of the firm (Zhang and Wang 246).
Today, almost all business organizations use enterprise applications. A wide range of these applications has been developed over time. Each holds an added advantage or functionality over its competitors, and as a result, most companies use more than one enterprise application. The integration of these applications helps to bridge the gaps between them. As such, data is able to flow seamlessly from one program to another.
In this paper, the author takes an in-depth look at the integration of two enterprise applications, SAP and Axios Assyst. The integration of the systems will be carried out through an application programming interface.
SAP: Systems Analyses and Program Networking and Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing
According to Myron, SAP is a multinational software corporation (65). The organization makes enterprise software that is used in the management of business operations and customer relations. SAP is often viewed as a financial application, and to this end, it has evolved into a set of integrated applications. The applications deliver the core functionality of everything needed by the firm, such as enterprise asset and cross-industry customer relationship management (Myron 65).
SAP provides a wide range of products in its business suite, a bundle of economic applications to help users to integrate information with processes. It also allows for collaboration and industry-specific functionality and scalability (Myron 65).
SAP’s ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is one of the most commonly used products by businesses today. It is typically a suite of integrated applications. Firms can use the system to collect, store, manage, and interpret data from many business activities [refer to appendix 1] (Myron 65). Generally, SAP products provide an integrated view of core business processes. This view is provided in real-time, using common databases.
Axios Assyst
Axios Assyst is a powerful, enterprise-class, Information Technology Service Management software. It helps an organization to align the activities of the company’s information technology (IT) with business needs. Axios Assyst provides a wide range of services, including IT and asset management. Two additional services are self-service and product categorization. All these services are provided in one package (Linthicum 90). As such, it allows for easy integration of modules, and also makes it possible to work with network, mobile, and integration tools. The move allows for seamless cooperation between the business and information technologies.
The company’s flexible application architecture integrates easily with external data sources. As such, it makes it possible for organizations to rapidly leverage existing asset and inventory systems (Linthicum 91). The firm is able to manage the delivery of new systems and products. Consequently, it becomes easy to control business plans. In summary, Assyst Suite makes IT more responsive to business needs.
Why Integrate SAP?
As stated earlier in this paper, most companies use more than one type of enterprise applications in their day-to-day business transactions. The main reason for this is because, regardless of the fact that SAP is an extremely powerful ERP system that handles heavy business transactions, it cannot do everything (Rehmann et al. 48). As a result, a majority of SAP customers have several other applications that provide insight into the areas of the business not handled by SAP. Thus, there is a need to integrate SAP with other third-party applications and systems.
Companies that do not integrate their SAP systems with their third-party applications face a number of risks. For example, they risk losing out on the full value of SAP and third-party software investments (Rehmann et al. 50). As a result of the many applications supported by SAP, integration methods may vary, depending on the version of the current system and the underlying technology of the application.
However, it is important to note that SAP has made efforts to address this issue by deploying the HANA cloud platform. This system provides an SAP supported hosting platform for all SAP-certified third party applications (Rehmann et al. 48). Over time, SAP will support only those interfaces that reside on the HANA cloud platform.
Advantages of Integrating SAP with Axios Assist
On February 19, 2010, Axios Systems received SAP certification, for the integration of the company’s top ITMS software solution, Axios Assyst, with SAP (Linthicum 47). Linking the two systems would allow for faster procurement capabilities, a consistent approach, and a centralized source of information (Linthicum 48). In addition, the integration would make it possible for organizations to access a comprehensive and integrated IT environment.
Full integration of the two applications by organizations would also eliminate the redundancies brought about by having each system collect and store data for its own purposes (Linthicum 47), and the additional advantage of creating a single point of data access for all the people using the applications. Bringing the two systems together would also result in increased agility of the organization. Agility is one of the highest benefits that businesses enjoy from any integration, as it helps business firms to recognize and respond to opportunities more quickly, from a single interface, as opposed to separate nodes.
Integration Interfaces
An Overview
Figuring out an appropriate integration interface is crucial when connecting any given systems. The process is challenging to the majority of organizations, for the reason that navigating software ecosystems during integration can be extremely complex. However, SAP and Axios Assyst ease the processes, by providing a wide variety of infrastructure, technical applications, and tools. The elements support application development and integration with other systems [see appendix 2] (Myron 65). One of the most commonly used interfaces is the Application Programming Interface (API).
Application Programming Interface
Kama provides a working definition of an API (95). According to the Kama, it is a set of routine definitions, protocols, and tools for building software applications (95). An API may be used for a web-based system, operating system, or database system (Kama 95). SAP has its own API, which is commonly referred to as the Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI). It allows for the integration of SAP modules with other third-party applications.
BAPIs are implemented as remotely enabled SAP function modules (RFM). In addition, they are defined in a business object repository (BOR). To this end, they are regarded as the methods of SAP business objects (Kama 97). A number of these strategies can be used to alter the inherent state of items. As such, technicians can operate without the need for information on certain implementation procedures.
BAPIs denote the interface layer that distinguishes the business object’s data from the technologies and applications that are used to access it (Myron 67). Technicians can analyze the condition of BAPIs with the help of a BAPI explorer. The explorer is used in the business object repository. A significant portion of SAP’s functionality is open for external development. Such developments can be carried out via Remote Function calls (RFCs) and BAPIs (Myron 67).
The user can operate with the catalogs freely provided by SAP. With the help of these networks, the function calls can be invoked in.NET, Java, C, and C++. The ”invocation” can take place across different platforms, such as Windows and UNIX. With the strong support that they offer for.NET and Java, Axios Assyst applications are well-suited to this environment (Clark 89). As a result, integration developers should be familiar with this synchronous function call interface approach (Clark 91). Today, most Axios Assyst and SAP integrations have been accomplished using APIs.
Integration Touch Points
The Kama provides a working definition of integration touch points (99). According to the Kama, the concept refers to the points in which applications interact with each other (99). There are several types of application touchpoints.
Data Level
At this level, data between SAP and Axios Assyst should be synchronized (Rehmann et al. 50). This synchronization can be achieved using a number of strategies. One of these strategies entails providing a link between Axios Assyst and SAP business applications. The connection is provided where a graphic illustration is required (Myron 68). The combination of the features of the two applications is done through foreign key mapping (Myron 68). As such, any SAP business object’s unique ID is associated with a corresponding Assist feature (Zhang and Wang 247).
Application Level
The application level is the second point of connection. Here, the aim is to link the two applications. The coupling is made in order to create new transactions that use the combined functionality and data from the integrated systems (Myron 68). The output of this process may require the user to carry out a number of activities, one of which entails updating the two systems.
The User Interface Level
The user interface (UI) level encompasses a number of approaches. They include Assyst-centric, SAP-centric, and composite approaches (Myron 68). SAP allows the user to retrieve the data, or alter it through customized SAP transactions. According to Myron, composite approaches are commonly used over the web (65). Here, the UI is tailored to specific roles and tasks (Myron 68).
Integration Approaches
Several approaches can be used when integrating SAP with other applications. Each of these strategies has its specific strengths and weaknesses. There are three major integrations, including point-to-point, mediated, and packaged integrations.
Point-to-Point Integration
The first strategy is point-to-point integration, which allows for batch export and import of data. As such, it requires a high degree of involvement with the human agent. If this strategy is used, both SAP and Axios Assyst should apply business rules at the application level. The aim of this application is to ensure the integrity of the database (Zhang and Wang 246). It is important to note that while this approach has low initial hurdles, in the long run, it is the most expensive and resource-intensive way of connecting with SAP (Clark 88).
Mediated Integration
In this approach, Axios Assyst can be hosted on an application server. The broadcaster in question hosts the integration-related APIs that are connected to Assyst’s servers. The broadcaster is also linked to proxy connections, from the server to the SAP server, and hosts the integrated applications (Myron 67). This method is highly efficient. In addition, it allows for scalability, as the approach avoids the need for unknown applications connecting to the back end of the SAP system.
Packaged Integration
A new form of integration is known as packaged integration. Today, businesses can access enclosed integrations specific to their sector. Such packages are fully supported, as far as upgrades and training are concerned, and the upgrade and training services are provided by the vendors (Linthicum 110). As such, packaged integration reduces the learning curve associated with a given integration.
Management of Errors during and after Integration
According to Zhang and Wang, user cases are widely used to enumerate and anticipate all the possible errors and challenges that may arise in the process of integrating SAP with other applications or systems (245). Both SAP and Axios Assyst work together with partners, to devise the best ways to manage and handle errors when they occur (Rehmann et al. 49). It is noted that the available solutions are often based on specific requirements needed by customers.
According to Zhang and Wang, integration errors are largely technical or application-based (247). The technical faults result from message failures. On their part, the application misnomers are caused by closed posting periods.
It is important to note that the two companies provide information on a number of ways through which integrations can be monitored. For example, the issues may be identified and reported from the user’s end, through email triggers. Errors and warning messages can also be reported through API calls (Rehmann et al. 48). The IT teams from the two entities are able to understand the issues received, by following a specific procedure. For example, the process may entail reviewing the status codes that identify the unique business scenarios.
Conclusion
In this paper, the author made it clear that enterprise system applications play an important role in contemporary business organizations. These applications perform a wide range of roles that are crucial to the success of the entity. However, in spite of this critical nature, conventional applications lack the capacity required to handle all the tasks associated with a modern business organization.
To address this shortcoming, it is important to integrate and combine the features of different enterprise applications. In this paper, the author analyzed how Axios Assyst can be combined with SAP to improve the performance of businesses. The analysis revealed the importance of choosing the right integration interface and approach. The two elements play a crucial role in minimizing errors and maximizing efficiency in the business environment.
Works Cited
Clark, Butch. Enterprise Application Integration Using.Net, Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2005. Print.
Kama, Nazri. “Input and Output Application Programming Interface for Plaid Standard Library.” International Journal of Software Engineering and Its Applications 8.1 (2014): 95-106. Print.
Linthicum, David. Enterprise Application Integration, Reading, Ma.: Addison-Wesley, 2000. Print.
Myron, Hatcher. “Integration of Enterprise Software, SAP, in a Management Information Systems Class.” Journal of International Management Studies 14.3 (2014): 63-68. Print.
Rehmann, Kim-Thomas, Changyun Seo, Dongwon Hwang, Binh Truong, Alexander Boehm and Dong Lee. “Performance Monitoring in SAP HANA’s Continuous Integration Process.” ACM Sigmetrics Performance Evaluation Review 43.4 (2016): 43-52. Print.
Zhang, Wen-Jun, and Junwei Wang. “Design Theory and Methodology for Enterprise Systems.” Enterprise Information Systems 10.3 (2016): 245-248. Print.